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July 22, 2009, a Wednesday
S of Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada, to S of Tok, Alaska, USA
— Alaska Highway Day 15: Made it to Alaska!
Had a quick breakfast and made coffee to go. We left in the Jeep at 7:30 set up to photograph from the car.
We stopped to photograph a female spruce grouse by the side of the road at 7:45. After getting some images from one location, I tried moving the Jeep to another location and the grouse flew into the woods followed by another female and maybe a dozen chicks that we had not seen until they flew.
There was a pair of possible trumpeter swans in a lake where we turned around, but they were way too far away to photograph and also to positively ID.
Got back to the RV around 9:30 and I had my normal breakfast. Prepped the RV to go, turned it around, then hooked up the Jeep. Got underway at 10:13.
Stopped at the FasGas in Haines Junction to fill up the RV. Got underway at 10:37 and headed up the Alaska Highway.
When we got to Kluane Lake, J said the scenery this morning has been the best she's seen in quite a while. We went by a juvenile bald eagle perched atop a tree near the road. Had to slow down for construction at the bridge over Slims River which feeds Kluane Lake.
We had a short pit stop at the Sheep Mountain (Tachal Dhal) Visitor Center just across the Slims River at 10:35.
We stopped for lunch at 1:00 at an overlook of the Donjek River valley and the Icefield Ranges in the distance. The Icefield Ranges form the main group of peaks in the St. Elias Mountains and include Canada's highest mountain, Mt. Logan, at 19,545 ft (5,959m). When J opened up the fridge, the sour cream and spreadable butter fell out onto the floor making a big mess, so lunch was delayed. Our neighbors from last night with the Bigfoot trailer arrived. Got underway at 1:46.
Listened to an episode of Car Talk, and boat payments came up. :)
We stopped at the Fas Gas in Beaver Creek at 3:14 to get about 25l (about 6 gal) of gas in the RV so we could make it safely to Tok. Gas was $1.199/l!
By Canadian Customs just a bit out of town at 3:27. We hit a very washboardy section of dirt road at 3:43. :(
To US Customs at 2:51 Alaska Time (3:51 PDT). There was a green light and a red light over the car/RV lane and the red light was illuminated, so I went to the truck lane that didn't have any lights. A customs guy came running out and said we should have gone to the car/RV lane. Huh — why was the do-not-use-this-lane red light illuminated? He asked if we had any fruit, and after I said we had two apples and two bananas, he asked where our apples were from. The tag said they were from Washington, so they were OK to bring in. Underway at 2:55.
The first speed limit sign I saw in the US looked very odd — only 55 after it had been posted 100! :) The gas station just inside the border was selling gas for $3.50-something/gal.
We saw a cow moose out in a pond that was too far away for us to photograph, but other folks were really excited about it. J pointed out that her iPhone was showing AT&T service at 4:30, the first time she's had regular coverage since leaving the states. (She had a prohibitively expensive plan with AT&T while in Canada so she mostly used one of my phones while we were in Canada.) I checked my phone shortly thereafter, and I was getting data through a 1X Extended Network. :)
We got to the Tok Post Office at 4:53, just in time to pick up our mail that had been sent there for general delivery. We went online using our USB sticks, and it was an acceptable National Access connection.
We had dinner of leftover black bean burritos and fresh guacamole.
We took the RV over to the Alaska Gift Shop (or something) parking lot to borrow their WiFi. Their connection was very slow, so I went back to using my USB stick. We got underway at 8:30.
I was pooped after driving the Jeep for about two hours this morning and then driving the RV for eight hours. So pooped that I forgot we were going to get gas in the RV while in Tok, so we turned around a mile or so out of town to go back.
We went to the Chevron and used a 10c/gal coupon from a Yukon travel brochure on their regularly-priced $3.329/gal gas to load up the RV. Got underway again at 8:45.
We went by two young red fox at 8:54.
We stopped by the side of the road at 9:11 to photograph a cow moose with calf and another cow moose in the same large pond. The calf left the pond before I was able to get any great shots, but the image to the left shows the little guy and its mother. A beaver swam close to the near shore while we were photographing the moose. We left at 9:57.
We went by a cow moose with two calves at 10:25.
We stopped for the night at a picnic area around 10:40 (11:40 PDT!) with four other RVs already there.
We stopped to photograph a female spruce grouse by the side of the road at 7:45. After getting some images from one location, I tried moving the Jeep to another location and the grouse flew into the woods followed by another female and maybe a dozen chicks that we had not seen until they flew.
There was a pair of possible trumpeter swans in a lake where we turned around, but they were way too far away to photograph and also to positively ID.
Got back to the RV around 9:30 and I had my normal breakfast. Prepped the RV to go, turned it around, then hooked up the Jeep. Got underway at 10:13.
Stopped at the FasGas in Haines Junction to fill up the RV. Got underway at 10:37 and headed up the Alaska Highway.
When we got to Kluane Lake, J said the scenery this morning has been the best she's seen in quite a while. We went by a juvenile bald eagle perched atop a tree near the road. Had to slow down for construction at the bridge over Slims River which feeds Kluane Lake.
We had a short pit stop at the Sheep Mountain (Tachal Dhal) Visitor Center just across the Slims River at 10:35.
We stopped for lunch at 1:00 at an overlook of the Donjek River valley and the Icefield Ranges in the distance. The Icefield Ranges form the main group of peaks in the St. Elias Mountains and include Canada's highest mountain, Mt. Logan, at 19,545 ft (5,959m). When J opened up the fridge, the sour cream and spreadable butter fell out onto the floor making a big mess, so lunch was delayed. Our neighbors from last night with the Bigfoot trailer arrived. Got underway at 1:46.
Listened to an episode of Car Talk, and boat payments came up. :)
We stopped at the Fas Gas in Beaver Creek at 3:14 to get about 25l (about 6 gal) of gas in the RV so we could make it safely to Tok. Gas was $1.199/l!
By Canadian Customs just a bit out of town at 3:27. We hit a very washboardy section of dirt road at 3:43. :(
To US Customs at 2:51 Alaska Time (3:51 PDT). There was a green light and a red light over the car/RV lane and the red light was illuminated, so I went to the truck lane that didn't have any lights. A customs guy came running out and said we should have gone to the car/RV lane. Huh — why was the do-not-use-this-lane red light illuminated? He asked if we had any fruit, and after I said we had two apples and two bananas, he asked where our apples were from. The tag said they were from Washington, so they were OK to bring in. Underway at 2:55.
The first speed limit sign I saw in the US looked very odd — only 55 after it had been posted 100! :) The gas station just inside the border was selling gas for $3.50-something/gal.
We saw a cow moose out in a pond that was too far away for us to photograph, but other folks were really excited about it. J pointed out that her iPhone was showing AT&T service at 4:30, the first time she's had regular coverage since leaving the states. (She had a prohibitively expensive plan with AT&T while in Canada so she mostly used one of my phones while we were in Canada.) I checked my phone shortly thereafter, and I was getting data through a 1X Extended Network. :)
We got to the Tok Post Office at 4:53, just in time to pick up our mail that had been sent there for general delivery. We went online using our USB sticks, and it was an acceptable National Access connection.
We had dinner of leftover black bean burritos and fresh guacamole.
We took the RV over to the Alaska Gift Shop (or something) parking lot to borrow their WiFi. Their connection was very slow, so I went back to using my USB stick. We got underway at 8:30.
I was pooped after driving the Jeep for about two hours this morning and then driving the RV for eight hours. So pooped that I forgot we were going to get gas in the RV while in Tok, so we turned around a mile or so out of town to go back.
We went to the Chevron and used a 10c/gal coupon from a Yukon travel brochure on their regularly-priced $3.329/gal gas to load up the RV. Got underway again at 8:45.
We went by two young red fox at 8:54.
Moose Cow And Calf
Tok Cutoff, Alaska, USA
Canon EOS 1D Mk III, 500 f4 &1.4x,
1/45 sec, f8, ISO 400
1/45 sec, f8, ISO 400
We went by a cow moose with two calves at 10:25.
We stopped for the night at a picnic area around 10:40 (11:40 PDT!) with four other RVs already there.