Day 79 – June 21

After 5 nights in Whitehorse we were anxious to get on the road again. We needed a few groceries and while in town topped off our propane tank. Our goal was to get as close to Alaska as we could. As we had driven part of the Klondike highway twice on the previous day we opted to go to Alaska via Haines Junction and return to the Yukon by the Top of the World highway. Our first main community as we headed west was Haines Junction where we bought gas at an unstaffed gas station. Even though there was a new building and brand new pumps there was no staff on site, buying gas seems to have come full circle.

At Haines Junction we headed north west towards the Alaska/Yukon border and were once again awed by the scenery provided by the Saint Elias Mountains to our west. We stopped south of Silver City at Sulphur Lake for lunch (no fish) and then headed on towards Kluane Lake. For me even the name Kluane evokes visions of the Canadian north. The # 1 highway follows the western shore of Lake Kluane for many kilometres providing and unimpeded view of the aqua blue waters of the lake with the backdrop of the Ruby Range mountains to the east.

Kluane Lake

Past the lake we came across a memorial site along the side of the road that Jane and Ike had mentioned in their blog. Literally in the middle of nowhere this is a memorial to Douglas Richard Twiss II, a 23 year old First Nations man. An obelisk at the centre of the memorial has text inscribed written in the first person by ‘Dougie’ in which he thanks his parents, celebrates his children and siblings and acknowledges the support of his community. Radiating out from this central point are various sculptures and carvings both in wood and stone. Standing there you can’t help but wonder what kind of impact Dougie had in his short 23 years that would generate such an outpouring of emotion. I would have liked to have met him.

‘Dougie’s’ Memorial

Douglas Richard Twiss II

As the afternoon wore on we began to look for a place to stay. Having made better time than anticipated we had overshot our planned stop. We drove through Lake Creek campgrounds where Jane and Ike had been entertained by the beavers on their trip north but the lack of wind and the proliferation of mosquitoes made us move on. Not far down the road was White River RV Park, a private site with full hook up and Wifi. It was a well maintained site strewn with various artifacts including abandoned US army vehicles left over from the construction of the Alaska Highway. A sign on the door said ‘We buy junk and sell antiques’. That sort of said it all about the eclectic collection. The office was full of stuffed animals which included a bison whose front half appeared to be emerging from a wall and who was staring glassy eyed but intently across the room at a small grizzly bear.

Outside a pair of legs extended from underneath an old US army six wheeled personnel carrier. Still clothed in its army khakis I assumed the vehicle was decorative in nature but to my surprise it soon burst I to life and with a grind of the pre synchro mesh gears jerked off down the road. Later that night all the folks who had collected around the communal bon fire, which seemed to generate more smoke than flame, were treated to a hay wagon style ride around the park and across the road to the river, their departure being signalled by the fading sound of grinding gears.

We went for a walk down the highway before supper to explore the White River, it sounded promising. About a kilometre down the road I once again learned that there may be a lot in a name but frequently names reflect some euphemistic desired state rather than describing the existing one. ‘White’ River, a boiling mass of chocolate, closer to a rapidly moving mud slide than anything I would call water was a perfect example of this.

Based on the less than ideal results of barbecuing the lake trout fillet the night before I decided to fry the other side, hoping for results more like what I had tasted along side the Yukon River the day before so I dug out my portable stove and set up kitchen on the picnic table. Even at 9:00 at night, this far north the sun is still high in the sky and full of heat so we decided to eat outside. Frying turned out to be a much better method for cooking the lake trout and accompanied with potatoes, broccoli and white wine, made a great meal.

We played crib until about 11:30 and then did our best to darken the vehicle for sleeping, a task that is becoming more and more of a challenge.

Day 80 – June 22

Unlike in the movie where it is possible to go around the world in this time frame it appears that 80 days was not enough time for us to circumnavigate North America. Currently weighing in at just short of 18,000 km. and still heading north and west I think we are going to break into three digits. Taking advantage of the showers and moving at a leisurely pace saw us on the road just after 10. Speaking of the road, its condition as we headed north began to deteriorate, becoming much more reminiscent of a roller coaster ride than the preceding stretch had been. We were slowed by road construction and dusty gravel road conditions, crossing the Alaska border at 12:00 YT time, 11:00 Alaska time – meaning lighter later at night.

The border crossing was uneventful but somewhat cool. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I like to be welcomed into a country but on the bright side no cavity searches, I’ll take take that as a net win. Instantly upon approaching the border crossing the highway went from yippie aye oh ride ‘me cowboy to smooth as silk beautiful asphalt – what a treat. The beast doesn’t like bronco riding, sporadically popping open the odd door and displaying its contents to show her displeasure.

Roadside pedestrian

The scenery bar gets raised again

We stopped just across the border to buy gas, the next station being 100 miles I didn’t want to risk waiting even though my mental math said we were OK. The gas station looked a little worse for wear, with half of the pumps being marked out of order and the others having their credit card slots taped over with red duct tape, a nice decorating touch. So we are back into buying gas in the USA. I entered the station after a return trip to note my pump number (out of practice) in anticipation of which gas purchase option we were going to play. It turned out to be a simple round of Texas Hold’em – leave your card hostage and go pump gas, much easier than the Bob Barker ( refer to my buying gas rant earlier in the blog if you need a refresher).

Not far down the road the silky smooth asphalt deteriorated slightly but still a good highway for driving – so long as you are not trying to type a blog. We arrived in Tok around noon and had lunch in the BRT along the road while waiting for the outfitters store to open at 1:00 when I could get my Alaska fishing licence. We walked around one of the Tok stores which had displays of local crafts along side stuffed animals and tanned hides of wolf, wolverine, lynx and coyote.

We headed further down the road with no particular destination in mind, working our way closer towards our target for tomorrow Anchorage. After looking at and rejecting a couple of sites – no trees, muddy river (pass), lots of trees, no river, lots of mosquitoes (pass) nice stream, few mosquitoes, breeze (done) we stopped at the Tolsona Wilderness Campground on Tolsona Creek.

After looking at several prospective sites we settled on one on a bend in the stream with a nice breeze to keep the mozzies at bay. I got a smudge fire going to help with insect control and while Diane made an awesome potato salad I barbecued chicken breasts. We had dinner outside to the accompaniment of the creek running by. A couple across the creek busied themselves fishing while two ducks flew in to add to the stream side ambience. Not a bad place to have your supper. My fishing licence didn’t start until the next morning so I watched in anticipation of a stream side walk the following morning.

Things are just ducky in Alaska