I Thought This Road Was Paved?

Days 7 – 9, Wasilla, AK – Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada

Leaving Wasilla, we drove to Palmer for a stop at the Musk Ox Farm, a non-profit with the goal of "domesticating" a small herd of musk ox.  (www.muskoxfarm.org) This turned out to be a fascinating stop and well worth the time.  The Musk ox is a prehistoric species, which has survived in the arctic tundra through several ice ages.  They have been around for at least 150,000 years and are comfortable in temperatures of 80 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.  The Palmer herd has about 80 animals and offers educational tours for a small fee.  Our guide was knowledgeable and we came away appreciating these special creatures and the farm’s efforts to educate the public.  The Musk Ox Farm also sell items made of Qiviut (key-vee-ute), the fine under hair of the musk ox.  This fur is very soft and warm – several times warmer than wool.

Musk Ox

Musk Ox Farm

As we set out from Palmer, we realized we had a long drive ahead through the Mat-Su Valley to the night’s destination, Glennallen.  The Mat-Su around Palmer is very agricultural and is known for its huge vegetables and also growing hay and other grains.  This is partly why the Musk Ox Farm is located at Palmer.

Mat-Su is the common name for the valley with its two largest rivers being the Mantanuska and Susitna.  The Glenn Highway stretches for miles through the valley, with the Chugach Mountains on the south and the Talkeetna Mountains on the north.  The highway is a series of high mountain passes and it is beautiful scenery along the entire route.  At MP 103 you get your first view of the massive Matanuska Glacier.  We found a nice state park here with beautiful views and where we could take a short walk overlooking the valley and the glacier.

Matanuska Glacier

Matanuska Glacier

In general we had good roads across this stretch but there were some places where we encountered gravel roads for several miles.  The roads in Alaska take a terrible beating in winter.  Many stretches of highway show evidence of frost heave, or permafrost thawing, which causes the pavement to roll in waves.  Of course, the short summer is the only time when the roads can be maintained so many sections of pavement were torn up for re-grading, compaction, and re-paving.  Sometimes there were miles on end of gravel road waiting for new blacktop to be laid.  We had first encountered highway maintenance on the Parks Highway between Fairbanks and Wasilla, particularly around Denali.  With all of the daylight, the crews must work the highway many hours a day and you can literally see progress each day.

The excitement for the afternoon was seeing our first bear!  He was a black bear and looked rather scruffy.  He was enjoying foraging for berries along the road when we came along; he decided he wanted to cross the road (in front of us) and then he kept pace with us as we slowly drove down the road.  It was exciting to see him . . . several feet away and with the windows rolled up!

Hey Bear!

You looking at me?

 We reached Glennallen, where we had a reservation at the Caribou Hotel.  Glennallen is little more than a spot on the road so we were pleased we’d made a reservation as the tour buses (there are many throughout AK) had sewn up most of the rooms.  Glennallen is just outside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park; the southwest part of is dominated by the Copper River.  We had looked very forward to having a Copper River salmon dinner but our hotel’s restaurant didn’t even have fish on the menu.  Really?  However, it turned out to be a blessing as we saw an ad for the historic Gakona Lodge, which was one of Alaska’s original roadhouses.  It was only a few minutes’ drive north and their restaurant had Copper River salmon and fresh from the oven blueberry pie . . .yummy!

Gakona Lodge, one of Alaska's original roadhouses

 

 Exploring Wrangell-St. Elias is not easy.  It’s the nation’s largest national park and most of it is not accessible by car.  We drove to the old town of Copper Center and enjoyed blueberry sourdough pancakes (when in Alaska . . .) and drove down to Willow Lake hoping to see views of Mt. Wrangell.  However, the weather was not cooperative so we settled for enjoying the NPS Visitor Center movie and cultural center.  The Wrangell Mountains are largely volcanic, and Mt. Wrangell is the world’s largest shield volcano, similar to those in Hawaii.  It’s last eruption was in 1884-85 but it continues to show evidence of fumarolic activity, emits ash which covers the snow, and on occasion steam can be seen rising from it.

Copper Center

 

Bear on ceiling!

Fish Wheel at Wrangell Visitor Center

Our indulgence for the day was to drive up to the Copper River Princess Lodge, owned by the cruise line but open to the public.  It is in a beautiful setting and the lobby was more than comfortable.  We enjoyed a coffee break and a walk overlooking the beautiful Copper River.  Refreshed, we drove north, along the west side of Wrangell-St. Elias, hoping for a break in the overcast skies so we could view the Wrangells.  All we ever saw was the snow-covered base of the range, teasing us.

Copper River

Princess Lodge Fireplace

From the menu

Mt. Wrangell is partially capped by the Nabesna Glacier, headwaters of the Nabesna River.  There’s a very friendly NPS Ranger Station down Slana Road, along the Tok cutoff road.  We had a delightful conversation with two rangers who explained that Wrangell is both a National Park and a Preserve.  This concept is unique to the Alaska parks; it allows for people relying on subsistence living within the parklands to co-exist with wildlife and nature.  Legislation supports this concept through the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

We continued to the town of Tok, at the junction of the Glenn Highway and the Alaska Highway. Tok is a small town that greets many visitors to Alaska.  If you are driving from Canada, it is the first town you come to.  The visitor center is very nice and has information and brochures on all the regions of AK.  Something for every tourist, no matter your destination in Alaska!

The next morning we hit the road for our longest day of driving, from Tok, AK to Whitehorse, Yukon along the famed Alaska Canada Highway (Alcan.)  This road going east toward Canada is very scenic with the Wrangells in the distance and 65 miles alongside the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.  We stopped at the visitor center for a break (mile 1229) and enjoyed the displays and the deck overlooking the refuge.  Also the center docent was doing traditional beading.  Beautiful!

Tetlin Nature Preserve

Tetlin beading

 Again, we encountered road construction.  One section of the Alaska Highway around the Alaska-Yukon border was gravel for at least 20 miles – just like the original Alcan Highway.  This caused us to reduce our speed considerably and made our long day even longer.  Bob remembered that Avis had made him sign a form that stating he would not take their rental car on gravel roads.  It wasn’t supposed to be gravel – everyone told us the Alaska Highway is totally paved now but driving miles and miles of potholed road takes a toll.  That being said, the Alcan is probably one of the great engineering and construction feats of modern times since its 1500 miles was built in less than a year during WWII, and it is one of the most scenic drives in North America.

Along the Alcan

 

Alaska US/Yukon Canada

 

Entering Canada, we cleared customs at Beaver Creek and drove through beautiful western Yukon for the next 100 miles appreciating the scenery and solitude.

Realizing how far we still had to go we decided to gas up the car in the tiny hamlet of Burwash Landing but had to go on to Destruction Bay.  Both these communities are along Kluane Lake, which stretches for probably 40 miles on the edges of Kluane National Park and Preserve.  The park and preserve are huge, roughly the size of New Jersey.  We had hoped for a glimpse of Mt. Logan, Canada’s highest peak and the continent’s second highest peak, however, the clouds and immediate front-range mountains blocked the views.  There are however, views of the St. Elias and many glaciers, and Sheep Mountain where people were stopped with their binoculars looking for . . . yes, Dall’s sheep! This is a beautiful stretch of highway and there are several opportunities to stop at waysides for a much needed break. The Canadian government has done a good job of providing interpretative display boards to enlighten the weary traveler.

Beautiful Lake Kluane

We arrived at Haines Junction, literally the junction of the Alaska Highway with the Haines Highway.  Going east, it was obvious that the land was changing.  We were seeing more ranches and farming but there were a number of roads leading to small lakes and campgrounds.  Eighty miles later we reached Whitehorse, a frontier town along the mighty Yukon River.  Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon, is rich in its mining history and also home to two First Nations and their traditional cultures.

First Nations

From the old Whitehorse Inn

 

As we settled in for a couple days at Whitehorse we realized we had lost track of time.  We were off by one day.  Maybe our insight into retirement is to take the time, not worry about the time, and enjoy the journey, bumpy roads and all.  Thanks for traveling with us!