Valdez, AK to Tok, AK – 257 Miles
Today was mostly just a driving day so this will be short. The day started out bright and sunny for a change. The temperature was 55 degrees when we woke up and the wind was blowing about 20-25 mph. We did a quick housecleaning of the motorhome, took a shower, and got on the road about 10:15.
The road up to Thompson Pass was quite different in the sunshine as compared to the rain and fog on the way in a couple of days ago. Horsetail Falls in Keystone canyon was in bright sunshine, so we stopped for a couple of pictures. The other large waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls, is on the other side of the canyon and in deep shade, so any pictures there today wouldn’t be an improvement over the ones we took on our way into Valdez. However, once we got out of the confines of the deep and narrow Keystone Canyon, the vista were amazing. We missed so much the other day due to the weather; we really lucked out with the sunshine today.
The road quickly climbs the 2700 feet to the pass in a matter of just 12 miles. In all directions are jagged, rocky peaks, most with a fresh coating of snow from the wet weather of the past few days. We stopped a half dozen times to get pictures, but we know the photos will never match the reality of seeing this wonderful place in real time.
After Thompson Pass the road drops less quickly, but steadily back to 1500 to 1700 feet before it more or less levels out and follows a couple of rivers northward. There is a large pump station for the oil pipeline alongside the road at one point, required to push the oil up and over the pass before its final descent to the terminal across the harbor from Valdez.
At Mile 88 there is a large pull-out on the shores of Willow Lake. Across the lake are the four major peaks of the west end of Wrangell-St Elias National Park. These are, from north to south, Mt Sanford (16,237 ft), Mt Drum (12,010 ft), Mt Wrangell (14,163 ft), and Mt Blackburn (16,390 ft). Because these imposing peaks rise from a plain whose elevation is approximately 2000 ft, they seem much, much higher than they are. And because the tree line is around 3000 ft and the snow line around 5000 ft, one could easily assume they are as high as Mt McKinley. This was great place to take a rest and have a sandwich for lunch.
The rest of the drive into Tok was uneventful, and for the most part rather boring. The first 25 or 30 miles north of Glennallen loop around the west and northwest sides of the three closer mountains, giving an ever changing perspective of them in relation to each other. About twelve miles north of Glennallen is the Gakona Junction, where the Tok Cutoff branches away from the Richardson Highway toward Tok, 125 miles to the northeast. The Richardson Highway continues toward Delta Junction and thence to Fairbanks.
There are several miles of construction just after Gakona Junction, with at least a dozen continuous miles of gravel at one point. Beyond that, there are several stretches of fairly significant frost heaving – enough to make you slow down to 40 mph or less at points. Beginning around Mile 75, the highway enters the Mentasta Mountains, a range of moderate 5000-ft hills that continues for 20 or 25 miles. The high point for the highway is the Mentasta Summit, 2434 ft, at Mile 79. Once clear of these hills, it’s a smooth and level drive into Tok, where we rejoined the Alaska Highway. The border is just a hundred miles to our southeast, so tomorrow we’ll be back in Canada, at least for a couple of days.
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