Today's goal was to drive almost 300 miles and get back into Alaska. We left Million Dollar Falls Campground around 9:00 a.m. on this gorgeous day.
On the road less than a mile, we saw a Black Bear in the area where I had five bear sightings the night before.
We finished the Haines Highway passing more beauty in the Yukon, but I just enjoyed the ride rather than taking photos. The Kathleen Lake and river area looked particularly appealing.
In Haines Junction, we fueled up the motorhome, and then got on the Alaska Highway (aka ALCAN) for the first time. The road was pretty good and we enjoyed the ride all the way to Kluane Lake. We made a stop at an overlook where I took these photos.
The blue of the lake was mesmerizing.
More lovely scenery as I took pictures from the passenger seat.
Now, there were certainly rough spots in the road, but the Yukon does a pretty good job of marking them with cones or flags.
Kluane Lake is huge, so we approached it again here.
More mountains.
Here are more "faces" of Kluane Lake - mountains to salt flats and in-lake "spits".
We made it to Destruction Bay on the lake, and that's where we were told the road deteriorates all the way to the Alaska border. We considered unhitching the Jeep for that section, but we decided to just see how it was.
The road definitely got worse, but it was a little past Destruction Bay when there were more damaged road spots. Now, there were long stretches between bad spots so we were glad we didn't drive separately, but the bad spots were often really bad.
Still, there was scenery.
And the road issues were still mostly marked, with a few exceptions. When you see this sign, slow down.
And when you see pink, red, or orange flags on the side of the road, slow down.
Even if the flags are only on the opposite side of the road, slow down as often the road problem goes all the way across and sometimes the flag on your side has blown down or dislodged.
This spot had the sign and the flags.
Linda drove extremely cautiously, but that saved a lot of stress on our rig. They don't give you a suggested speed limit and all the frost heaves and road damage are different. Her max speed was around 50 - 55 mph, but she drove anywhere from 20 - 40 mph through the rough sections.
Eventually, we crossed the border back into Alaska and were back on Alaska time. The crossing was easy as they kept the questions simple. On the U.S. side they were concerned about firearms, tobacco, citrus and tomatoes. Linda had some cherry tomatoes we had to show to the agent, but we were allowed to keep them.
Interestingly, at neither border crossing yesterday or today did they ask about cannabis or cannabis-related products. It seemed to be a really big deal when we crossed into Canada at the end of April where Linda's CBD balm was confiscated after she declared it, but up here there wasn't even a question. Since it is legal in both Canada and Alaska now, that seems more sensible.
We went by the "Welcome To Alaska" sign where others were taking pictures.
Now, the Alaska Highway on the U.S. side was worse than the short part we endured in the Yukon. While there were several bad spots in Canada, almost all of them were marked and they were spread out. In the U.S., the road was more consistently bad, and the bad spots weren't marked as well or at all.
Fortunately, we were only going about 28 miles in. The Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge operates and maintains two campgrounds along the Alaska Highway, Deadman Lake and Lakeview. Both are free but accept donations.
We pulled off the highway and drove a little over a mile back to the 15-site Deadman Lake Campground. We unhitched the Jeep and I went in search of a spot. The sites closest to the lake were all taken, but I found a really nice, secluded, large site - Site 7 - that we claimed.
I completed the loop and had Linda follow me in. She backed up the hill into the site where it was level, and we got set up.
The site was tucked in the trees, but it was open enough to get in some good solar.
The campground has no hook-ups, no place to take on water, and no dump station. But it has a nice little boardwalk nature trail, a boat launch, and canoes that are free to use on the lake.
Mosquitoes were a concern, but they weren't bad. However, we had to deal with lots of horseflies. I spent a bit of time with our tennis-racquet looking bug zapper swatting horseflies that seemed to only be around the vehicles.
I took a walk around the half-mile camping loop, and stopped at the front to see if we needed to register. They have a registration book for visitors, but you don't even indicate which site you are in. It's more an informational registration asking if you camped (RV or tent) or used the day use area, if you fished and what you caught and kept, and if you boated.
I walked down to the boat launch where there were canoes with paddles and life jackets to borrow.
There were two couples from Quebec that were taking out a couple of canoes. I walked out on the nice dock, and took some photos of them .....
and the lake.
After that, I walked the boardwalk nature trail that bisects the campground. It starts at the front near the refuge volunteer campsite and goes to a deck at the edge of the lake.
There are several informational signs on the trail describing the terrain and life of the boreal forest or taiga ("land of little sticks" in Russian).
Dominant in this area are the small, skinny Black Spruce trees which are not particularly attractive. At first I thought they looked like something Dr. Seuss might draw, but then I concluded they aren't that whimsical and that they are more akin to something that Tim Burton ("The Nightmare Before Christmas") might conjure up.
At any rate, the beauty of the campground was certainly enhanced by the beauty of the day. Our entire day was sunny and temperatures approached 80 degrees.
Back at the rig, Linda was relaxing and reading in a lounger. Our campsite had what we call the "it factor" with its natural surroundings, quiet, and privacy. It's the type of campsite that draws us outside.
I usually don't like to get out the Blackstone for just one night, but with a campsite like this one (and the last one) I don't mind. Plus, it helps that it stays light so long and it doesn't seem like such a hassle to rush to get it out, cook, clean it up, and put it away.
Linda had thawed some chicken thighs and cut up some peppers, mushrooms, and onions. I sauteed them all in butter on the Blackstone, and then we added cheese for our nice little smothered chicken dinner. We had only one thigh each and saved a third to split for lunch tomorrow.
Our keto foods keep us satisfied longer, so our appetites aren't as voracious - I would have had three or four thighs before. Because of this we aren't eating as much, and this is one of the reasons we don't have to count calories. As long as we keep an eye on our "macros" - fat, protein, carbs - and eat in the proper proportions, we're good. Of course, we have to eat enough calories for our bodies to perform all their necessary functions, but there is far less chance of us exceeding our daily caloric needs.
After dinner, we decided to take out one of the canoes and do some fishing. The wind that was blowing across the lake earlier calmed down, and we had a nice paddle.
It was sometime after 9:00, and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful sunset, but we couldn't stay out there that long as it was still a couple hours or so away.
We didn't have any luck catching the pike the lake is known for, but it was still wonderful to be out on the water. We had our binoculars and watched the antics of the ducks, the loons, and the ravens along the shoreline.
Another couple in one of the other canoes chased a Bald Eagle from tree to tree down the shoreline trying to get photos. Early on in our travels, I probably would have done the same, but we've got much closer eagle photos and some really good action shots now, so my efforts to photograph eagles are much diminished.
A little later, the breeze picked up again, so I took one last shot of the water lilies getting ready to bloom, and we headed back to the dock.
We pulled the canoe from the water and put the paddles and life preservers back.
While at the launch, we met a nice, handsome young man from Japan that is bicycling from Alaska to Argentina. Wow. I can't imagine taking on that challenge.
And with that, we returned to our campsite, pulled our black-out shades and curtain across the front and went to bed in the ever-present twilight of what was one of our best weather days yet.
Tomorrow, we continue toward Anchorage, but we're expecting the roads to get worse before they get better. We'll file our report at our next stop.
Sounds like a perfect day! :)
Posted by: Esther | Wednesday, June 19, 2019 at 08:43 PM