Top of the World Highway to Tok, Alaska

Day 23   Thursday July 7, 2016                                              Tok, Alaska              Tundra RV Park, site #15

193 miles           10.4 mpg

Today was to be a fairly exciting day.  We are going to take the Top of the World Highway to Tok, Alaska.  It is supposed to be one of the most scenic highways in North America.  But it also has a reputation for being somewhat dangerous in that most of it is unpaved and can get slippery when wet.  It is also very windy and built with steep drop offs.  I was ready.

 Left at 07:00 and started the 65 miles to the US border. 

It was nice and sunny until we climbed up onto the ridge and we were in the clouds for the next 50 miles.  Here’s a few shots from the very beginning until we hit the clouds.

A patch of snow as viewed through the rainy windshield.

 Couldn’t see any scenery and couldn’t see more than two car lengths ahead of me at times.  Drove about 25 mph for quite a while.  Eventually we got out of the clouds, but hit heavy rain, which also hurts looking at scenery.  We arrived at the border at 09:10 with about 4 cars and a tour bus ahead of us.  It was pouring rain when we got there.  The tour bus took a while to clear because the lone customs gal had to board the bus and check everyone’s passport.  Then the line moved better.  She was pleasant and asked us the usual questions and let us go. 

A dreary, rainy day at the US border

This was an old roadhouse on the border.

Now we were in heaven.  The rain was letting up and we had miles of nice smooth pavement. 

But it only lasted about 10 miles and then we hit some of the worse road we’ve been on the whole trip.  Mud, potholes, dips, frost heaves, stones, rocks, for miles.  It would be OK for a few miles and then all hell would break loose.  It was the worse ride ever experienced by the Oliver.  The cushions were on the floor, the window shade frames were off the windows, laying on the floor and the bed, the glass plate from the microwave was on the floor, and a jar of jalapenos in the fridge tipped over and spilled the contents all over.  Fortunately, there was no damage to anything.  The frames just clipped back into place.

The Oliver and truck were also coated with mud, like on the Dempster.  So was every other RV that was on the Top of the World that day. 

We pulled into Chicken, Alaska and saw that it was basically a tourist trap.  It was a real gold mine town in the old days, but the original site was in private hands miles away, so they made a fake one. 

We didn’t stay long and eventually hooked up with some paved road about the last 30 miles, called the Taylor highway.  The Taylor Highway connects to the Alaska Highway in Tok, Alaska.  Although it was paved, it had dips, gravel patches, and frost heaves. 

One of the nicer shots of the day

RV caravan

We chose to stay at the Tundra RV park instead of the other three RV parks in town because our Church’s RV guide said it is a nice campground that rarely fills up because it’s on the other end of town.  We pulled in with no reservations and had no problem getting a nice site. It was very quiet and we met quite a few old timers there who had been to Alaska many times.  We also had a 3G data signal and could work on the blogs at the campsite.

Our site at Tundra RV Park

We signed up and asked about the RV wash for $10.  She actually told us if we gas up at the Tesoro down the road, they have a free RV wash.  So we did.  All cars and RV coming into Tok from the Top of the World highway have to be washed due to the caked on mud.  Marsha helped me and it came out nice.

We went to a restaurant named Fast Eddie’s and it was pretty much the only one.  It was excellent.  I had a turkey hoagie and Marsha had the salad bar.  We came back later in the evening for pizza.  Also good.  It was a good value for Alaska . . . $25 for a 15” pizza and $5.50 for a beer.  This is Alaska!  Nowhere near as pricey as Canada.  Gas is $2.73/gallon in Tok.

Ed is always happy when pizza and beer are in front of him.

Day 24    Friday July 8, 2016                                                                           Tundra RV Park, Tok, AK

Not going anywhere today so made a nice breakfast of ham and eggs and English muffins.  It was a beautiful sunny day, like all day.  No rain.  Wow!  Could have used that weather yesterday on the Top of the World.

Concentrated on getting caught up with blog post all day.  Sat outside at the picnic table with our screaming 3G data uploading lots of photos.  Got three blogs posted after hours of sitting. 

We took a break and went to the Alaska Public Lands Information Center.  One of four in Alaska.  It was closed until Monday.  They consolidate information about the state recreation areas, national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, and BLM lands.  All in one place.  There is another in Fairbanks.

State flag of Alaska

So we went to the Visitor Center next door and picked up brochures for all over the state.

Tok Visitor Center

We went to the Three Bears Grocery store.  The only one in town.  It had a little of everything.  You could even buy a washing machine or refrigerator there.  Tools, household goods, and even groceries.  It was a little store, too.  I bought some electrical tape and some cinnamon rolls.

 We heard about a food truck serving Thai food and Marsha was up for some of that.  There had been good reviews on the internet, too.  We picked up some and brought it back to the trailer.  It was really good.  The name of the place was Jen’s Thai.  Jen is oriental (Thai or Chinese, I don’t know).  Very hard to understand but very nice and her food is great.

 

We got some take-out from here.  Excellent food.

The current plan is to go to the Fairbanks area and then on to Denali National Park.  Denali only allows traffic 15 miles into the park.  The road goes in for 90 miles, but beyond the 15 mile limit, you have to take the free shuttles, which look like blue school busses.  There is one exception.  There is a campground at the 30-mile mark called Teklanika.  You may drive there, but must stay three days and cannot leave by vehicle until then.  We made reservations for July 22-24.  That’s the earliest we could get in.  I am quite excited about this.

 We have about two weeks to kill before we have to be there.  What is there to do in Alaska for two weeks?

 We will just reverse some of the routing we were planning.  We will go to Fairbanks tomorrow to find a real grocery store, visit the Alaska Interagency Visitor Center, visit the University of Alaska Museum, purchase a better camera, and do laundry.  Then we will double back to Delta Junction and take the Richardson Highway down to Valdez and check out the Wrangell-St Elias National Park and take a Prince William Sound Glacier trip.  Then we’ll figure it out from there.  Maybe Seward and then Homer.

 We looked up the sunrise/sunset times for Tok and it was sunset at 12:04 AM and sunrise at 03:00 AM.  We are at the eastern edge of the Alaska Time Zone.  The three hours that the sun is below the horizon is not dark.  It is twilight.  Marsha took these two photos of the campsite at 02:30 AM without any flash.

 

2:30 AM, no flash

02:30 AM, no flash