Day 8 Of Mighty Muskeg and Massive Mountains

284 miles of muskeg and massive mountains can sure make one feel small. Snag Junction campground to Tazlina (Athabascan for "swift water") Rest Area today. The Alaska Range always seems to be nearby. Today I crossed into Alaska! The border crossing wasn’t too painful. No searches- yay! 

Yukon-Alaska border

It’s funny because I still find myself calculating meters when I see a mileage sign. Gas is half the price as Canada's and I don’t have to calculate that! I can’t believe I’m 8 days from home! What a long way I have traveled. 

Today was the first time I let my gas tank go to ¼ tank. Somehow I missed the “gas station” in Burwash Landing, Yukon. I talked to the Beaver Creek Information Center person- Gisele- and she agreed that they don’t make that one obvious. These stations are often just big tanks with a hose hanging off them and no sign. This is why I have 5 gallons of gas in the back of my truck. And why you always keep that tank at ½ for much of the trip.

I am worried about snow on the way home, especially the roads in the Yukon. They say it does snow at this time of year but generally doesn’t stay. Gisele mentioned the Alaska Ferry so I might check into that. We’ll see. Considering the issues I had with rain I don't think I could tow the trailer in the snow.

I sure got spoiled in B.C. and the Yukon. They had litter bin pull offs at regular intervals (ALL with bear proof garbage cans) and semi-regular rest areas with clean pit toilets. In addition, the rest areas in the Yukon all seemed to have interpretive signs. Alaska- yeah the rest area is a gravel pull off, that’s it. Not very travel friendly.


Spent some time at the 730,000 acre Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. It's designated an Important Bird Area, part of an international program to designate and protect habitat areas. Tetlin is critical for migrating sandhill cranes and nesting Trumpeter swans. I took a short walk down to a couple of old trapper cabins to stretch my legs. Amazing that people lived in these cabins so far from any civilization.

A view over Tetlin

The Tazlina Picnic Area along the Copper River is my stopping point tonight. It’s about 4 miles from the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center. Nice big paved lot with clean pit toilets and a view of the river. The river has really undercut the banks. I can see why, as it is really rushing and full of gray silt. This is the river the famous salmon come from? Tough life.

Tazlina

Copper River in background

As I was driving through the vast mighty muskeg this morning I saw a strange shape on top of one of the stunted spruces. I pulled over to the side (no cars so not too worried about hanging out) and took a look with my binoculars. What to my surprise but a Northern hawk owl!! I grabbed the camera (couldn’t get to the 500mm lens) and took a bunch of photos. It was much too far away but I can crop a photo if it’s halfway decent. Later on down the road I spotted a large raptor fly over the road and land in the trees. As I got closer it flew up and with deep powerful fast wing beats headed over the forest. It was a gyrfalcon; there’s no mistaking that wing beat and the swept back falcon wings! I found our trumpeter swans hanging out up here. They nest on the ponds all over the place. I’ll be following them home soon. 

Northern hawk owl

In Tok (pronounced toke) I stopped at the information center to get more info and talk to the folks. Great stories! Apparently, two different RVers lost their dolly towing their vehicle on the roads up here and didn’t realize it until they pulled into Tok! One was on the Taylor Highway and the other was on the Alaska Highway. How the hell do you not notice?! I can attest to the ridiculous speeds these people drive over the frost heaves and dips. (So can my windshield. Once the bugs were cleaned off I discovered a bunch of tiny chips.) Hell, I hit a frost heave and the front end of the truck caught a tad bit of air. Fortunately, I was slowing down so the hitch and the trailer didn’t get hit quite as hard. Alaska doesn’t give any warning like the Yukon road folks do. This trip and especially these roads are not for the faint of heart. Can’t wait to turn around and do it all over again! Ugh!

Wildlife- Northern hawk owl, gyrfalcon, red squirrels, trumpeter swans, common loons, ducks, and gray jays. No moose.

Yet another lovely lake along the drive

Lesson #8 A long hard amazing wonderful journey can take you places you never dreamt of.