May 30 - 31, 2024 - We are in Alaska!

May 30th, 2024

We are so blessed!   We woke to another beautiful day and I just had to get more pictures from our campsite:

Andy waiting for me again - LOL!  Notice the slides are in and the jacks are up!

We said goodbyes to our neighbors, Penny and Mike, and hopefully we will see them again. We continued our journey north.  From previous reports we knew that this section of the highway up to Tok, Alaska was not the best so we knew it was going to be a slow day.

The first time we saw this guy was at the beginning of the Cassier, right after we saw a bear cross the road.  I said to Andy that he is very brave or very....  Anyway, we have passed him a few times in our travels.  I think he goes so far, stops and continues the next day.  I have to say - KUDOS to him!  He is on a mission!

Here is the start of the frost heaves and bad road:

Notice the white line on the right.  When you see the waves, you know that you are in for a roller coaster ride!

We passed this memorial and I now have it marked in the "Milepost".  So hopefully we will stop on the way back and see the significance:

Burwash Landing - World's Largest Gold pan:

St. Elias Mountains and Glaciers and remnants of a fire:

What a treat - although she did not like us coming down the road:

The wide river valley..  When we were in AK in 2009, we learned that the rivers in the valleys make their own path when the snow melts - it depends on the amount of snow that winter and how fast it melts.  That is why we see such wide river valleys.

And the road continues:

With breathtaking scenery:

We see so many memorials along the highway dedicated to those folks who persevered and built the Alaska Highway.  I did not include the history in my posts but I highly recommend if you are interested, please Google the history - it is fascinating!  They - the US - built this 1200 mile road in less than a year in some of the harshest conditions!

The road continues and I will say we went slow.  Some of the frost heaves were marked, some were not:

Wide river beds:

Bare mountain tops:

Wide valleys:

Possible rock slides:

So many beautiful lakes:

The Road:

This is what we can "tundra area"!  The trees are growing on permafrost - their growth is stunted!  When we see this, we know there will be frost heaves.

“In a 1943 report on the highway, Senior Highway Engineer R.E. Royal wrote “By far the toughest job of grading was in building the 90 miles of road from the Donjek River in Yukon Territory to the border.  Swamp ground underlain by permafrost, numerous creeks, lakes and rivers, and a thick insulating ground cover made this section difficult to penetrate for establishment of camps and conduct of work.  Army forces pushed through the pioneer road late in 1942 as the ground was freezing and a limited number of vehicles went over the frozen surface during the winter.  During the spring thaw in 1943, this frozen road completely disappeared and there was no traffic during that summer.

According to Public Works Yukon, most of the soil along the north Alaska Highway is of glacial origin and unsuitable for road embankments.  “Anything that causes the permafrost to melt will cause the ice-rich soil to liquefy, and liquid soil has little strength and will settle or subside.  Then if this soil refreezes during lower air temperatures, it will expand or heave. This process wreaks havoc on the drivability of the road surface by creating undulations and cracking.”

 And yes, it did undulate and crack!

The road should not be built on permafrost but it is!  The US and Canada has been doing experiments and monitoring since the 1940's on the best way to secure the roads.  This is one of those experiments.

"These structures are part of the Alaskan Highway Permafrost Research Project , which is testing specialized construction techniques – a joint venture involving Yukon Highways and Public Works, The U.S. Federal Highways Administration, 1 American University, 2 Canadian Universities and a few other public agencies. The techniques are designed to minimize thaw of the permafrost by allowing cold air to penetrate the road embankment and increase surface reflectivity.  Permafrost temperatures will be monitored for the next several years to assess the effectiveness. If the designs prove to be practical and effective, they may be used more extensively along the highway."

A PS on this - they have made some progress but it is slight.  Mother Nature says NO!  

Love the reflections:

The road was ... dirt, gravel, macadam, asphalt, frost heaves, and start all over again - it was slow going and we are grateful that there was little traffic:

Beautiful reflections:

Fire on the tundra - so sad:

Another permafrost monitoring station:

Our journey continues:

Beaver House:

And we made it!

This is the border between the US and Canada. 

"This is part of the 20 foot wide swath cut by surveyors from 1904 to 1920 along the 141^st meridian (from the Arctic Ocean to Mount Saint Elias) to mark the boundary between Alaska and Canada.  It continues south to mark the boundary between southeastern Alaska and Canada.  Portions are cleared periodically by the International Boundary Commission."

This is a real interesting spot with historical information plus signs and flags.  We met a few folks here that are on the same FB Traveling to Alaska pages so it will be interesting to see if we see them down the road.

Border Crossing - Easy Peasy!:

You know, even though Canada is our neighbor with no issues, it still felt good to be back in my country!

The views and the road at the start were awesome:

Telephone poles slanted or in water or partially buried - not sure why.  About half did not have wire so we assumed they were old but the other half did have wire.  ????

The road!!!

I will say (my opinion only) - this is the WORST road we have ever drove!  We thought the road from Kingman, AZ was bad but this is about 5 times worse.  So many dips and damage and no markings - Oh My!  Sadly this is the US!  Now it looks like they are doing new sections so it will be interesting to see when we head back.

In 2009, they just finished this part of the road and it was beautiful...  Life and nature happens!

A fire tower - did you know that most are electronic now?  I didn't!:

The Alaskan Range:

Oh, the stories this building could tell:

Heading into Tok:

We settled on Tok River State Recreation Campground.  We have been here in both 2007 and 2009 and loved it.  When we pulled in, we were the only ones here so we picked a site near the river and set up.

Later we went in to explore Tok and see the changes since 2009 - yes there are some.  Our last stop was the Three Bears Market for supplies..

We picked up a pizza for supper and then just relaxed!

Daylight is long here!

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 232 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Yukon: YT-1(Alaskan Highway)

Alaska: AK-1 (Alaskan Highway)

May 31st, 2024

Today was hang out day!  But we spent a good portion of it fixing things that broke on the "bad roads".  Have to say that they do not make RV's like they did.

While Andy did some "dust/dirt cleanup", I did some planning on our next two weeks.  As you know by now - I hate making reservations and concrete plans - Just in case we find something more interesting..

So tentatively... we will be here until Sunday and then go to Chicken for two days.  We were going to do a truck trip for a night over the Top of the World Highway and stay in Dawson City to see the sights but it is going to be rainy..  So we were try it on our way back.

After Chicken, we will come back to Tok and then head to Valdez.  From there we hope to take the ferry to Whittier...

But our plans are written in jello - may change at any time.

We decided to go to one of the local restaurant for supper - Fast Eddy's .  Great place and great food.

Tomorrow we hope to play tourist so stay tuned and enjoy today.