Tok, AK to Kluane Lake, YT – 239 Miles
Maybe a trend is starting: two sunny days in a row! We urban-boondocked last night in Tok. Since we had no wi-fi, the first thing we did after we got started was to stop at a tourist shop that had a big sign out front that said free wi-fi so I could check e-mail and upload the blog. I felt guilty as we were leaving so I bought a sweatshirt on the way out to help pay for the “free” wi-fi. The next stop was the small town grocery store to get some milk and some fresh veggies, and then we were on the road again.
The short section of road between Tok and Tetlin Junction was familiar since we had driven it after the Top of the World and Chicken drive on our inbound journey. East of Tetlin Junction was new territory, or at least sorta new – I had driven this stretch of the Alaska Highway from Haines Junction to Fairbanks back in the spring of 1996 with my friend Fred, so I recognized a few landmarks. Anyway, the first third of this leg is in great shape, smooth and wide. As soon as you leave Tetlin Junction the road runs up along the edge of a range of low hills overlooking the broad valley of the Tanana River. It winds through these forested hills, slowly gaining elevation as it heads toward the Canadian border. After a while, however, the recently upgraded pavement returns to a rougher surface with slight to moderate frost heaving. This continues until about 15 miles or so west of the border, obviously the “teaser” section of the road to impress people just crossing the border. Canadian customs is not right at the border, but is located at the small town of Beaver Creek, about 20 miles inside the Yukon Territory. Clearing customs took about twenty minutes, as there was a line of perhaps eight or ten cars, trucks, and RVs ahead of us. It took only a couple of minutes for each vehicle to clear, answering the usual questions before being waved through. After clearing customs we stopped for lunch at a place called Buckshot Betty’s, a popular spot because it looked like everyone who had gone through customs ahead of us was there.
Leaving Beaver Creek, we were immediately met with a roadside sign that said, “Caution. Rough road next 182 km.” This is the famous frost heave highway that we’d been hearing about. We missed it coming up because we had gone up through Dawson City and the Top of the World Highway. However, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we expected. While some of it was hard surface paving, most of it was new chip and seal, with a center line but no shoulder lines. However, it was wide and generally smooth with very minor frost heaves. For the most part we easily drove at the 90 km/hr (55 mph) speed limit. I guess that’s one advantage of coming up here later in the season – most of the winter damage repairs have been made. There were still short sections of gravel where more recent repairs had been made, and still areas of moderate frost heaving and potholes where we had to slow down to maybe 45 mph. The worst section was a stretch of perhaps twenty miles between the Pine Valley Lodge and the Kluane Wilderness Village. Here the frost heaves were severe for most of the way, creating a roller coaster ride. It was necessary to pay rapt attention to the road ahead, watching for the dips and potholes. 35 to 40 mph was the norm through here, and even for a few more miles into Burwash Landing. This is a beautiful stretch of road otherwise, with the foothills of the St Elias Mountains along one side of the highway and the Dawson Mountains on the other side. Northbound traffic has the better view, with glimpses of the 16-thousand to 19-thousand foot peaks deep in the interior of the St Elias Range.
At Burwash Landing the road begins to parallel the south (actually southwest) shore of Kluane Lake, a large natural body of water that looks to be at least two to four miles wide and thirty-odd miles long. Our campsite for the night is called Congdon Creek, a Yukon Government campsite that is the equivalent of a state park south of the border. We’re in a forest of medium-sized spruce trees right on the shore of Kluane Lake. All around us are mountains with the upper regions dusted with fresh snow. Looking out the back window of the RV we can see a group of taller peaks, probably in the eight- to ten-thousand foot range, with dense snow pack. A beautiful setting for sure.
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