Route Two to Tok

The Klune Mountain Range

After crossing the border into Alaska, one of the first entries in the Milepost is a warning written in red:
"Watch for gravel breaks, bumps, dips and chuckholes next 72 miles.  Slow for loose gravel!"
Somehow we thought the highway would improve as soon as we got back into the US .... how silly of us.
We did read that the Alaska Highway Permafrost Research Project, implemented in 2008, is monitoring the permafrost temperatures and testing various construction techniques in order ito improve the road conditions.  That's a promise for tomorrow, but for today we got to rock and roll..... for 72 more miles!

Chisana River, AK

In 1913 there was one more "flash in the pan" when gold was discovered in the Wrangell Mountains/Chisana River area. About 2000 stampeders came running only to be disappointed since just a few creeks had any gold.  This was the last major rush of the gold rush era, and lasted just over a year.

"Braided" sections of the Chisana River

Many of the rivers here are glacial rivers that are grey or white in color because of the silt they carry.  When the currants are slow they drop some of the glacial sediment, creating sandbars.  The rivers sculpt the land as they meander. They carve out new channels and abandon the old ones, creating a braided look.  This is always a work in progress.

When the road climbed higher we had good views overlooking the Chisana River Valley. There were miles and miles of  small lakes and muskeg (bogs). We passed the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge which stretches over 730,000 acres.  It contains hundreds of small lakes and two glacial rivers, the Nabesna and the Chisana, which combine to form the Tanana River.  I was interested in the fact that the Tanana River (pronounced TAN-ah-nah) flows 440 miles northwest to join with the Yukon River.

It was fun to think that we were travelling along the route flown by hundreds of thousands of birds.  More than 115 bird species nest in this area, and some migrate from as far away as South America!

A Husky I met in Dyea..... he had hiked the Chilkoot Pass!

We finally reached Tok, which like many other towns in Alaska had its beginnings as a construction camp on the Alcon Highway in 1942. It is the only town in Alaska that travelers must pass through twice, so it serves them coming and going.  How it got its name, nobody really knows.  One theory is that it was once called Toyko Construction Camp and the name was patriotically shortened to Tok.  Another theory claims it was named after a husky pup. 

Tok is known as the "Sled Dog Capital of Alaska" because so many of its residents are involved in some way with dogs and dog mushing.  I learned that dog mushing is Alaska's official state sport. There is a well-known dog mushing trail in Tok which runs along the Alaska Highway for many miles so people can easily watch the races.The races start in November and extend until the end of March.  I'd love to see one.... but who wants to be here in the winter?  Tok set a record low of -71 degrees in January 1965, and that's enough to scare me off.

Mother Nature's Mixed Bouquet....  Snag Lake, YT

There are many RV parks in town, and David and I checked out a few before selecting the Sourdough Campground because there we could get internet service.  We both spent hours trying to get caught up on our Blogs. For a break we joined the other campers for a night of live entertainment.  A local ensemble played old familiar country-western tunes and we were invited to sing along, which was fun.  The group included an older woman clogging and playing the washboard, and a man stumming a wash bucket! The music was followed by a sourdough pancake toss.  A free breakfast was awarded to anyone who could toss a pancake into the "buck-it".  Both of us gave it a try... and both of us missed.

The next morning we decided to eat in the cafe' and try out their famous sourdough pancakes even though we did have pay for them.  And pay we did.  The cost was $12.00 each for a breakfast buffet of limp pancakes, canned fruit, reindeer sausage and biscuits and gravy.  The saving grace was that the coffee was good.  On our limited budget we did not like spending so much money for a mediocre meal.  Next time we will check out the buffet before we pay.