Kluane Lake, Congdon Creek Campground

Day 58, Thursday, August 11, 2016    Destruction Bay, YT    Congdon Creek Campground, site #7
239 miles           11.8 mpg

Today we got to drive on virgin roads again and see new things.  It was our last day in Alaska, but not.

We left the Tundra RV Park at 07:25. We put everything away last night and even coupled up for a fast getaway this morning. Our whole trip for the day was to follow the Alaskan Highway southeast for 238 miles. 

From Tok to the Canadian border it was easy going and a good road.  The Wrangell Mountains could be seen off the south.  There was hardly any traffic, like one car every 15 minutes.

After crossing into Yukon, it was about 14 miles before you go through customs.  Going through customs into Canada was easy.  The usual questions.  Where are you from, where are you going, what’s your truck license plate number, any firearms, any animal products, any liquor, and how long are you going to be in Canada.  We always make sure we have no fresh fruits or vegetables on board or any firewood.  Especially coming back into the US.  We want no excuses for them to search our truck and camper.  So far we’ve never been searched at a border crossing.

Canadian border crossing, Alaska Highway.

The first 50-60 miles in the Yukon the road was OK.  Here’s some scenery after entering Canada.

The cloud that looked like a smoke ring.

Another glacial river.

These mountains have some ice fields near their summits.

Our first view of Kluane Lake.

The section of the Alaskan Highway between the border and Haines Junction is said to be the worse condition due to low land frost heaves.  So I was really happy wondering what all the fuss was about.  Then it happened.

Huge section of the road, like 20 mile sections, were under repair and were down to bear gravel.  The road was all washboard.  And the dry sections were extremely dusty.  Occasionally water trucks would wet down the roads to keep the dust down and that created a muddy mess.  All the RVs in the “caravan” were covered in mud.  Many areas were one lane and required a pilot car to control our speed to about 30 mph.  It was a few hours like this.

This rental motor home ended up being our Swiss neighbors at the campground.

All that spray is mud.

And this was dust.

The last 30 miles to the campground was paved and in good condition.  Our campground is on Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon Territory.  The campground is named after a nearby creek that empties into the lake.  It is a Yukon government campground, their version of a state park.  No hookups, $15 CAD per night, and here’s what I like:  FREE firewood.  I used at least $20 worth of firewood while I was there.  Yukon government campgrounds are very nice.  The sites are large, and there is a lot of separation between sites. 

The lake behind our campsite.

Looking South from our campsite.

When I go to a rustic campground, I always make sure

I have adequate water in my fresh water tank. 

Topped it off at Tundra RV Park before leaving.

View from picnic table.

There were a lot of bear signs there.  Evidently it is a pathway along the creek to the lake from the upper elevations of the nearby mountains to eat the soap berries plentiful in the area.  In fact, they banned tents from this campground.  We did not see any bears during our stay.

Soap berries. 

This cartoon sign had all the bear precautions portrayed from the

bear's perspective and how to take adequate bear practices to

avoid problems.  This campground was said to be an active bear (grizzly) area.

We wanted to canoe the lake, if possible, but it was very windy with white caps.  It was only 64^oout and the brisk breeze made it chilly.  It is a huge lake surrounded by mountains.  Very beautiful too.

The firewood they provide is in large pieces.  You have to split it yourself.  It is some kind of spruce or pine, but very dry and burns and splits well.  I split four or five pieces and had what would equal about four $5 bundles.

Firewood bin, two sites down from us..

When I took this, I had split three piece.  Went back and got two more.

Our neighbors came over to ask, in very broken English, if they could borrow my splitting maul and of course I let them.  She explained to me the wood is too big and they need to make it smaller.  She had to point to the maul because she didn’t know what to call it.  They were a family of four from Switzerland and had a rental RV.  They flew into Whitehorse and rented the RV and spent 3 weeks in Alaska.  Splitting mauls aren’t part of the RV package.  After they got their fire going, the whole family gave me the thumbs up.  I was happy to have helped such a nice family.

We had a burger patty and mashed potatoes for dinner.  Made a fire while I was cooking and we sat out after we ate.  It is so nice to have free firewood. 

We took a walk around the whole campground later on and went down to the lake to take some pictures.

The mist you see coming off the lake is wind blown dust. 

The lake is very low and there are some flats on the end

that are uncovered and the wind blows the dust over the lake.

Tomorrow we continue on the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction, where we take the Haines Highway south to Haines, Alaska.  We will start out in Yukon Territory, cross into British Columbia, and then go through a border crossing at US Customs to reenter Alaska.

We went from Alaska Time to Pacific Time when we crossed into Yukon Territory.  We are 3 hours behind eastern time now, not four.  Tomorrow in Haines, we will be four hours behind again.