Day 14 Breaking Up is Hard to Do

See you soon Denali

Leaving Cantwell and Denali today was difficult. Denali is a healing place. The people are friendly. The place, the land is alive, even if you can’t see all of the lives it holds. The "great one" left an imprint on my soul. I already know I must, I want to come back and embrace this place again. I may have reached my destination however, the journey never really ends.

Good bye Cantwell

I got a late start this morning-11:30- because a group of RVers were filling up the RV park and were quite talkative. One of them was originally from Sedro-Woolley and still has family in Skagit and Snohomish County. We reminisced about the old days growing up in logging towns (I spent several years in Granite Falls which I will not reveal the goings on in this blog). Plus, the RV park owner wanted photos of me and Temp before we left. What a great place. Although, I’m a bit glad I left before the place filled up with a bunch of old people. LOL.

Train on its way to Denali

There wasn’t a lot of stopping today so I drove 339 miles from Cantwell RV park to Moon Lake campground just north of Tok. The campground is small and cozy, and my site is right on the lake. The sunset was amazing unlike the Aurora Borealis which didn’t do much. There is a sign warning folks that the lake is very popular with motorized craft. Why in the hell would you want to ruin this serene wilderness lake with all of that noise and water pollution? Fortunately, none showed up.

"Freeway" outside of Fairbanks

The drive today was through a lot of human presence. I wouldn’t say development because that sounds like there would be lots of homes and businesses, although Fairbanks is a city of 32,000+ and three times that when counting the borough (like a county) population. The drive outside of Healy is through a steep canyon which then levels out into a lower elevation and driving through miles and miles of birch-dominated forests. Miles and miles… In some places the birches were changing to a golden hue although many appeared to be brown. It isn’t quite as spectacular as the bright yellow and pink leaves I enjoy. Much more subtle. There were giant hillsides covered in the changing birches, though.

My second sighting of the pipeline

Somewhere past Denali National Park I did a slow swerve and horn honk at a ptarmigan trying to walk across the busy Parks highway. Honking worked, I noticed in my side mirror it flew safely across the road. Silly chicken.

I didn’t like the Fairbanks area. The energy was different, more like the frenzy of the Puget Sound area. Certainly not friendly like everywhere else I’ve been. Maybe it’s the military base. Besides I held out to gas up there and found that they have no signs letting drivers know what services are available at the freeway exits. The highway turns into a two-lane freeway just before, and up to, Eielson Air Force base. Low on gas, I finally stopped at a place quite a ways out of town called 12 Mile Roadhouse to ask for help. It brought back some interesting memories with its smoke-filled and beer scented barroom. They were very helpful in telling me where the closest gas station was located. The bartender even asked if I would make it to the station. I told her yes, I’d be okay. Who does that? Most of the people I’ve met in Alaska. I then found myself in North Pole Alaska at the gas station. I didn’t stop to see the giant Santa and candy canes or other tourist traps. I just got my gas and ice and hit the road. 

Road trip scene

The roads were good today, for the most part, so I managed to travel quite far. There were some fantastic views here and there but not continuous. It took a long time after leaving Fairbanks before I felt like I was back to wilderness.

I have a beef with the Alaska roads department. They put up these tiny little signs for vistas or parking areas with a 1,500 foot warning but then no sign at the entrance to these places. I constantly fly by them, especially since some are next to other gravel roads or driveways. They put out entrance signs for the rest areas so I can’t figure out why they don’t do it for these spots, too. Rant done.

The end of the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction

YES!!

I made it to Delta Junction which is the official end of the Alaska Highway. I arrived here in a roundabout way since I took a detour down to Wrangell- St Elias National Park on my way up. I had my photo taken and my official certificate that I survived. Ain’t that the truth! Now I just have to make it home in one piece. Although, I’m detouring again down the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. I have a couple of stops I want to make along the highway and it’s a shorter way home.

My Moon Lake camp site

Driving along this trip has enlightened me to just how many people rent RVs! There are 100s of them which may also mean they have no idea what they’re doing. Be careful when traveling up here.

Sunset photos over Moon Lake

Waiting up for Aurora Borealis again tonight. It wasn’t as spectacular this morning at 1am but I still love it!

Wildlife- pretty slow day with eared grebe and red-necked grebe on Lost Lake, northern goshawk, magpies, heard a great horned owl at lake.

Moon Lake Reflection

Lesson #14 Following your instincts instead of planning every detail for places to stay- priceless.

Day 7 Frost Heaves and Dips, rain, wind, and Autumn?

Autumn!

Long title for a very challenging 268 mile day- Whitehorse Yukon to Snag Junction campground. It rained all night and well into the day. I couldn’t find my way out of Whitehorse because the signs weren’t clear on getting back on to the highway. The Guide to the Alaska Highway warned about the confusion and I got totally sucked into it! I earlier wrote about the highway being a metaphor/simile for life and today took a dramatic turn. I nearly just stopped- dead- no more- too scared. The roads today were mostly

awful. It doesn’t appear that they crown them so they drain the rain from the driving lanes. In one area where the rain was steadily coming down the truck and trailer started hydroplaning both toward the center of the road and toward the shoulder. Fortunately I kept my head and didn’t panic. Took the foot off the gas, ignored the cop behind me, and put the truck in 4wd. Then white –knuckled it for several miles. It scared me so bad I wanted to stop, just top. Problem is, I was in the middle of nowhere. I arrived at Haines Junction and visited the Kluane National Park and Reserve Visitor Center/Da Ku "Our House" Cultural Center and calmed the anxiety by breathing and a little crying. 

The view of the mountains.

It didn’t get much better down the road with excessive frost heaves and dips and miles of construction driving on wet slick muddy gravel (4wd again although it seems to be having issues). Between these two challenges the wind kicked up so hard the truck and trailer was bucking all over the place. Did I mention wind? Might be another reason I’m only getting 14mpg because it’s either a head wind or a cross wind. Why oh why can't I get a good tail wind!

My weight equals...

Here's the thing, you can stop and get out of this life but it’s better to ride it out watch the change, be a part of the change, embrace the change. Why? Well, once I got closer to tonight's destination the sun shone and the autumn colors dazzled! Besides I saw 15 Dall sheep on Sheep Mountain in Kluane National Park eating sage! Can’t beat that.

Kluane National Park Yukon

Sheep Mountain Kluane National Park

I should have known, though, that the day would be challenging when I went to buy some groceries this morning and found you have to pay to use a shopping cart. I lugged the water, ice, and few groceries around because paying is just weird. Besides it builds muscle!

The clouds and rain have hidden the mountains and icefields yet I’ve still seen amazing views of massive mountains arising from the land many covered in all shades of yellow and a little pink here and there. Apparently what I thought were cottonwoods are balsam polar (similar species). The tamaracks are bright yellow on the mountains as are the aspen and other shrubs and trees I’m not familiar with. In many ways it is already autumn here.

Wildlife today- sharp-shinned hawk, goshawk, ground squirrel, kestrel, red-tailed hawk.

Snag Junction Camp site.

Stopped tonight at Snag Junction government campground just south of Beaver Creek. It’s located on a lake so I’m hoping for loons calling. Yes, I’ll go out in the morning and look for the elusive moose. Then off to cross the Yukon-Alaska border. After that, we’ll see how the drive to Tok goes and then south towards Valdez to Wrangell St. Elias National Park. There’s a wayside camp spot four miles from the visitor center. Looks like I’ll have some great views of the pipeline. (update: never did see the ugly thing along this highway).

The end of the day has been taken up by drinking tea and meditative contemplation picking grass awns out of Templeton’s fur.

Lesson #7 Good tires, good brakes, and good sense will save you every time.