On The Alaska Highway

Lumber waiting to be processed

Sat. May 10, 2013 - Another nice day to drive. It was little cloudier today and at times I thought it might rain. We hit several significant up and downgrades. Some as much as 10%. Don’t know how they drive this road in the winter! 

The road conditions were not as good as I remember from last time. There was a lot of rolling lengths that necessitated slowing down. It took us 30 minutes longer than planned to make today’s trip. On the bright side, we saw our first bear of the trip. He was off the side of the road. That is the only wildlife that we have seen (besides the birds) so far. 

We got to the campground and it looks well cared for. The sites are well cared for and long gravel pull throughs. The manager told us that just a week ago there was 3 feet of snow on the ground. Now it is mostly gone. She also told us that they just turned the water on to the sites today. We have run into at least three other folks that are on the way to Alaska and were in Mile 0 last night. One couple have lived in Alaska for 30 years and they spent the winter in San Antonio. They are headed back to be camphosts at the Military base in Anchorage. They wanted to be there by May 1 but they had to delay for weather just like we have. Again we heard that the weather is running 3 weeks later that usual. Surprisingly, there are a lot of mosquitos out and they are HUGE! Where did they come from in just one week??? We’ll dump all of our holding tanks tomorrow because we know that our next stop is electric only and the one after that hasn’t turned their water on yet. We will have to run self contained for a few days.

Summit Lake

Sun. May 11, 2013 - Happy Mothers Day! Today’s trip was scheduled for only 188 miles. Guestimate at 3:45 travel time. Shortly after leaving Ft. Nelson, we started seeing sprinkles of rain on the windshield. As the day went along, the clouds got lower and the rain heavier. My fix on the leaky bays didn’t work well. When we stopped, I still have a puddle of water in two of them. Both bays are directly behind the rear wheels so I suspect there is a small hole where the water is forced into from the spinning tires. Not much I can do now except plan on drying them out if we travel in the rain. On a brighter note, we saw lots of Caribou today. 

Most of the time they were standing either just beside or actually on the road. You have to be very careful when rounding a corner! The road conditions have not improved any so travelling at the posted speed limit is a dream. Usually we travelled 10 to 15 kph lower than posted and still had instances where the coach rocked or rattled about. The scenery, however, was breathtaking (even in the rain). Tall mountain peaks to sheer valleys and roaring streams. There is one area where the mountain appears to be folded back upon itself. It is quite a unique geological feature. Muncho Lake is seven miles long and only about a mile wide and the highway runs along the shoreline. 

Today, the lake is mostly ice or covered with snow. It is showing signs of melting around the edges but not much is clear. We are seeing more snow along the highway, and the remaining drifts are deeper but so far nothing is on the road itself. We stopped at a little place called the Tetsa River Services and Campground. They advertise themselves as “The cinnamon bun center of the Galactic Cluster.” So we had to stop and try one (well two really… we don’t share cinnamon rolls very well.) 

Barb with her cinnamon bun

We also decided to fuel up there. The cinnamon buns were great but the gas is the highest I’ve EVER paid for fuel at $7.00 /gallon!! Luckily we’re getting better than planned mileage. Our stopping point was the Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. There is a campground (with no hookups or services) but the sites are nice, and level gravel. 

A short walk on a nice boardwalk leads you to the newly renovated hot spring pool. When we were here before, there were two pool where you could go to hang out and soak. When we got there this time, the upper pool was blocked off and no admittance signs were posted. We heard that someone had discovered some ancient snail that lived in the pool and the park closed it to preserve it and its environment. Anyway we went down to the lower pool and made use of the renovated changing rooms to put our suits on. 

Then we hit the water which was very warm with an aromatic bouquet of sulphur. Not overpowering mind you and it definitely did not deter us from soaking in the 106+ degree waters. We opted to stay hooked up and the park manager directed us to the bus parking site in the picnic area of the park. She told us to treat it like our own campsite (put down jacks, put out slides, and relax) so we did. We paid the same as if we had one of the campsites, but we didn’t have to unhitch the car (which I wasn’t inclined to do after the long days drive with a hot tub calling my name!) There are a surprising number of folks camping here. Again, last time was three years ago and a week earlier. Today, being a Sunday we thought that any weekend campers would be packing it up and heading home. Guess these folks wanted to spend the entire Mothers day camping out so most are slated to leave tomorrow. The park workers were scrambling around putting the finishing touch ups on the park. The manager told us that they officially open this coming Wednesday for their summer season (they are open year round but with only a skeleton staff). The next few days will be long and tiring drives. Luckily, the scenery helps to keep things interesting. Hopefully the roads don’t get much worse after Whitehorse (like they did before) but I’m not holding out much hope. We will just have to slow down and take it easy.

Mon. May 13, 2013 - Was a nice overnight. We stayed warm even without hook-ups. Got an early start since we were pretty much ready to go. Just had to pull in slides and pull up jacks. The car and the coach are looking rough after traveling in the rain. The car looks like it has taken a dirt bath! The drive started out sunny but soon turned cloudy. 

Came across a lot of Buffalo today. They just sit/stand by the side of the road. You can tell its spring as there are lots of little ones. Caribou today seemed to be pretty brave. Saw them several times and they were in the middle of the road. They would move as you approached, but you still slow way down just in case. We passed through Watson Lake and paused to put in some fuel. Watson Lake is know for the signpost forest. People from all around the world have put up signs from their hometowns.

Part of the signpost forest

It is quite a sight and well known on all of the tourist information brochures. We crossed the Continental Divide today. As we approached the snow was much more prevalent and the rivers were very icy. In fact, some places there were huge block of ice floating downstream. It started to rain again and rained for some time. This, combined with the usual spring road conditions, caused us to drive slower than planned. We made it into Teslin by mid afternoon and found our campground. It is just across the landmark Teslin Bridge and looks out over the lake. 

Our thermometers say it is 57 degrees out, but the wind off of the frozen lake makes it feel a lot colder. I have a feeling that tonight will be the coldest we have spent since leaving Kansas. But the views from our windows are again spectacular. We are set up for the night and now look forward to some reading and relaxation.

Tue. May 14, 2013 - Up early and on the road. Weather is mostly overcast but can still see the mountain scenery. Roads are better than I remember but Barb seems to recall that the stretch from Haines Junction to Tok was the worst so I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Nothing much to report for today. Easy drive with little to no traffic. Took our time and got excellent gas mileage for a change. Still paid a little over $5 per gallon to fill. Not exactly what I budgeted. 

Stopped in Haines Junction at Kluane Kampground. We have stayed here before and it offers some fantastic views of the mountains from our front window. Near freezing for the low tonight and snow is predicted overnight. Forecast for Tok is for snow tonight and into tomorrow morning. May be an interesting drive tomorrow… Rough roads, wet snow, and a border crossing. Stay tuned for how it goes.