Monday, June 12, 2017

Western Yukon to Alaska.

Beware....
Frost Heaves!
Perhaps that would have been a better title for this post, but since we were aware
 of what was to come...

The stretch of the Alaska Highway from Burwash Landing at the north end of Kluane Lake,
to the Alaskan border is... bumpy.

This stretch is notorious.
Since the Army built the highway 1942, this stretch of road across the swampy permafrost
has been the bane of the Yukon highway engineers.

As soon as a section is repaired, mother nature freezes and heaves the roadway,
creating a several hundred mile long roller coaster,

Navigating this stretch of roadway ( and others in the Northcountry) requires one watch the lines.
The center or sidelines of the roadway give you the clue of a big bump ahead.

Click on the photo below.

See the curve of the sideline where the arrow points?
That is a bump that will send you skyward if you don't slow down.
Hit one or two of these and you learn your lesson fast.


There are stretches of  road where you need to be going about 50kmh or 30mph,  or even slower
or else you are going to shake you - our your rig - apart.

The above photo was just one heave.  Sometimes they in series, and even side to side heaves.

Below - a stretch of road construction...
A bridge was washed  out.


A couple of hours after leaving our last campground on Kluane Lake...
We crossed the border back into the US and Alaska.

The photo below I pulled from the internet.
We've passed this sign before and didn't stop this time.



In this stretch we are back into early summer.   The seasons continue to
come and go as we travel.

The silver green of the White Birch against the dark green of the spruce make for
an appealing color contrast.

Alaska Highway - Eastern Alaska
Arriving in Alaska is bittersweet...

While sparsely populated - Alaska is still much more populated 
than the Yukon from whence we came.   

Knowing there is a town within 100 miles starts to feel confining.

We see "no trespassing" signs and chains stretched across every side dirt road...
it seems such a contrast to the Yukon.

Canada seems so much more welcoming...

We are currently in Tok, Alaska for a couple of nights and then will head down to
Valdez which is the southern terminus of the Alaska Pipeline.

We'll spend a few nights in Valdez and check out the sights.
Valdez will be a new venue for us.

With every mile we mover ever closer to our rendezvous with our friends Eric & Pat 
who are flying in to Anchorage in a little over a week from now.
We look forward to seeing them and introducing them to the RVing world.

Let the good times roll!

7 comments:

  1. Valdez is the most fun we had in Alaska.!

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    Replies
    1. Well then - I'm looking forward to it even more now 😀

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  2. While in Valdez go to the RV park in town where a local guy feeds eagles every afternoon. Look in the Church's book for which RV Park and the time as my memory fails me at the moment. I believe it is 5pm each day but just double check. Well worth watching to get the best photos ever of bald eagles up close and personal. He feeds them fish heads and all he has to do is go stand out with his large bags and the eagles start flying in and scooping up the heads. Quite interesting to watch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tip Linda. I googled it - Bayside RV Park. May till mid June. It stops when the Salmon start running. We will definitely check it out. Enjoy that ferry ride. I'm jealous. We missed Newfoundland last time.

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    2. The road from Tok to Glennallen isn't much better.

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    3. Yes I remember that bumpy ride from a few years ago. We saw a decent amount of Moose on that stretch though.
      Are you folks in Glenallen now? We will be passing thru tomorrow.

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  3. Glad your good times are still rolling, just more slowly at those certain spots in the road. Thanks for the update and the great scenery photos. Can't wait to see photos of you with Eric and Pat!

    ReplyDelete

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