The Long and Winding Road Part 2 – And Narrow….

Day 12, August 26

We knew when we decided to spend an extra day exploring Jasper that we’d pay the price in long road days. Today was no exception. We had to get from our camp at Pine Lake to a site that allowed us the time we needed to drive the Denali Highway. I researched and most importantly looked for a spot we could camp that had SHOWERS. You really do not appreciate a good shower until it’s been 4 days since you’ve had one! It’s getting colder as we travel along and the idea of showering off the back end of the van is becoming less and less appealing. Found what sounded like a good place to land so we headed out for a small town off the TOK Highway called Christochina.

So many bodies water and vast wetlands, tempting to try and find a paddle but the weather was quite misty and at times very foggy. We passed through Tetlin Nation Wildlife Refuge and were surprised to learn that winter arrives in early October and doesn’t depart until April. Freezing temperatures of -40 F are normal and this area often takes the prize for the coldest in the state! Caribou roam this area in freezing temperatures searching for lichen as their major food source.

It was a major milestone of our trip as we did finally leave the Yukon and cross the US border and into Alaska. Our border agent was quite jolly and loved the van and our trip. His smile was infectious and the way he laughed as we explained our trip made us laugh. Easiest border crossing ever!

After a few hours we did have a decision to make, do we head southwest toward TOK or NW to Chicken….I really wanted to see CHICKEN but the best route was to head SW to TOK and then take the TOK Cutoff to our final stop at the RED EAGLE “RESORT”. Our host for the night was Richard who originally hales from Lewiston, Idaho but wanted a more remote lifestyle. The “resort” was a very ramshackle collection of log cabins, green houses (hmmm) and an airstrip. Thankfully, he’d built a very lovely bathhouse that included several showers, heated bathrooms and laundry. For $35 US, we got a shower and laundry done. Though his camping spots were rather willy nilly and the only wild animals we saw last night were two young dudes with bad music traveling thru Alaska in a Mini Winnie….

Richard was quite happy to chat and wanted to hang out – when all I wanted was a shower! We did learn quite a bit from him. He explained why so many of the road houses along the way are no longer open – it’s because of TIRES! From what I gathered the quality of tires improved as did the roads over the years so there was less and less demand for help with flats from the rough roads. This meant many of the stops along the Alaska Highway were no longer profitable! It was sad to see so many of these funky little stops along our route falling into complete decay.

WHACK A MOLE – POT HOLE

Day 13, August 27

We made the decision to drive the Denali Highway to get to Denali National Park versus driving North to Fairbanks as we heard that the Denali Highway was beautiful. It did not disappoint. We were so lucky to have a blue sky day for our 135 mile drive between POTHOLES. Yes, POTHOLES. The route took us through major delays for road work, road re routing and paving. Once we turned on to the Denali Highway it was just gravel and POTHOLES but WOW the views were spectacular. 60 miles of chipsealed road and another 50 of gravel made for quite the rambling route. We took a break about half way and grabbed a burger at the Alpine Creek Lodge – very rustic and very Alaskan. Happy we did NOT book a room here :). This is the area of Tangle Lakes – it’s filled with kames and kettles. You can hike along the eskers (silt and gravel ridges formed by glacial streams from receding glaciers). It’s also an area that subsistence hunting is allowed so we saw quite a bit of side by side activity as hunters were heading out into the tundra.

Survived the Denali Highway and found our camping spot at Denali National Park – we do love the “Senior Golden Age Pass” as our camping spot site for three nights was all of $60! Settled in and decided it was time to get some exercise after three days of driving. Headed out for a lovely late afternoon hike in Denali