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20050629 Tok AK 49/87 Nice AM, warm afternoon, hot in late afternoon. Picture Link
Wierd day. We left the RV park in Dawson around 9:30am and joined the line for the ferry. We read books and talked with people until we finally got over the river at noon. The caravan of 26 large motorhomes/5th wheels with Adventure Caravans was the big contributor to the delay.
Once across, we headed up to the top of the ridge and went west on the Top of the World highway. We've been this way before, but we've always had problems getting good pictures. Fog, rain, clouds, all that stuff. Today, it was smoke from a forest fire in the 40-Mile River area. We actually got a few good pictures of the smoke rising from the fire at one vantage point.
The other problem today was traffic. There were vehicles of all descriptions going both ways - everything from transporter trucks carrying cranes to truck campers and cars. Very dusty (which is better than slick clay and mud). The problem with the traffic was that one unsure or confused driver can slow up a whole string of vehicles since the road isn't very wide.
We got held up by rental Class C's, the transporter trucks, a road grader, a string of 5'ers, an old Oldsmobile 98, a Discovery, and another Class A. Eventually, we got around them and went on. We didn't stop at Chicken (been there, done that) and kept going.
We cleared customs at Boundary. The agent, when it came out we'd been this way twice before, asked, "Why?". We made some lame excuse.
We went through a tremendous burn area. This 2004 fire closed this highway for several days and burned 1.3 million acres. Burned trees (mostly black spruce) stand for miles and miles, sometimes on both sides of the highway. Last year was the highest burn year in terms of acres burned in Alaska - 6.39 million acres.
We drove down the Taylor highway past Mount Fairplay to Tetlin Junction, where we rejoined the Alaska Highway. Twelve miles later, we pulled into Tok.
We went to the Post Office to claim our medicine from General Delivery. It was there and all's well.
Then we came back to the campground, checked in, and set up the trailer. As we were checking in, it came out that we had done the Top of the World 3 times - again, the question was "Why?". The car wash was in use and people were lined up, so we skipped that.
We hiked next door to Fast Eddy's for dinner. We both had delicious grilled Halibut.
Perhaps we'll say "enough" to this ToTW road. The traffic is getting worse, and the road is no better. It's slightly better than the mid-part of the Dempster, but it's no easy drive. Enough is enough.
We'll take it easy tonight, then wash the rig in the morning, fuel up and go to Fairbanks.
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