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Saturday, 6 August 2011 Kluane, Haines Crossing - Tok, Alaska
This morning the rain had eased enough for a hot breakie. So we heated up the water and cleaned up Clancy to head off. I must pausehere to describe the view in the morning which was magnificent - clear views of the ranges with their snow capped peaks and the forests leading up to them.
Breakfast done we were still considering the hike discussed the day before with the ranger. We drove the Haines Junction Walking Tour in the morning, the high point for me was the Antler street sign. I observed again the opportunities that were available to make a good subsistence living in these small towns. It seems that there opportunities to make money in this area, but as you need to make most of it in four months of the year it is unlikely to make you rich - but the view could make it worthwhile.
The weather however started to close in again so we decided against this and headed off toward Kluane Lake. The clouds were slowly covering the mountains as we drove which was another one of those scenic wonders.
The Kluane is based around the lands of one of the First Nations of the Yukon, the world heritage listed and covers Alaska, Yukon and BC. At the southern end of the lake is the Tachal Dhal Visitor Centre that leads into a series of hikes. As we were driving into the area I spied in the bushes what appeared to be wildlife.
Undertaking a careful u-turn we approached the driveway and there to my surprise was a Lynx! We watched the cat play around for a while before moving on to the visitor centre. This was located on a wide flat terrain at this end of the lake.
We entered the centre and had a chat to the ranger about available walks in the area. The very helpful ranger informed us that there were two families of Bears frolicking on the middle of the two paths and that it is preferable that you be in groups of four and 'O' don't worry too much about the memorial at the head of the first trail to a woman mauled here a couple of years ago.
Filled full of confidence we drove around on this gravel pathway to the head of the trails. We got changed and headed off, as a lady coming back with her family deciding it was a little too risky. I suggested we push on as there were other people ahead of us and that should make up for the lack of numbers. We got to the memorial and Shoeleh said No! With this we returned to drive along Kluane Lake.
We stopped along the way to go look at Destruction Bay, not worth it, then at Burwash landing we went into the Kluane Museum of Natural History www.yukonmuseums.ca/museum/kluane/kluane.html , very worthwhile. Although it has an imposing looking door and a tacky giant gold pan out the front the content is fantastic. Recommended stopping point on your journey.
For lunch we stopped at the Kluane River Overlook Rest Area, for some of the rest areas to look at try www.linkbc.ca/torc/downs1/yukonwildlifeviewingguide.pdf. Now while the promise of bears and salmon run was there the timing was wrong, so we had lunch and coffee then back in the car and heading north for somewhere to stay.
We were looking at Beaver Creek on the Canadian side of the border with Alaska. We arrived and the town was small but interesting, dropped into the tourist information office where the lady basically said don't bother staying. Honest but not the way to grow the town.
So we headed for our next US border crossing. There is a long distance between the Canadian checkpoint and the US checkpoint (18 miles) and while we saw a bear the only other sign to note was the 'no hunting' sign for the area between the checkpoints.
Zooming past the welcome to Alaska sign we pull into the booth to hand over our passports. Again questions as to why the Visa and how long are you staying. Then stamp and we were on our way. There is Border City, less said the better it is a place with two petrol stations with RV parks attached, we got some petrol and headed onward. Note we are now on Alaska Time which gives us a little more time to find somewhere to stay.
We stopped at the recommended Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Centre, only to find that it closes at 16:30! So a look at the scenery and then back in Clancy and onward to TOK. The drive to TOK offered little by way of exceptional scenery, though the views were great it was probably a combination of tiredness and repetitive nature of the scenery, along with the lack of animals that was most telling.
Finally we made it to TOK, the town has the look of a giant roadhouse pull-out. We got to the Tok RV Village www.tokrv.net/. The ads describe it as 'Alaska's Finest' which at first cut was worrying. Don't get me wrong the park was flat, clean and tidy, had laundry, toilets and showers. Its internet however is one of those one hour free ones so this raised our concern for the rest of the time in Alaska. The lady did suggest that the best food in town could be got at 'Fast Eddy's' www.fasteddysrestaurant.com/, this at least was good food and inexpensive.
So after a good feed and some free WiFi we headed back to the RV Park to settle down for the night. The change in time did highlight to us the length of the day as it was still quite light at 23:00.
Animals Spotted: Lynx, Black Bear, Ravens, eagle and insects.
Day Twenty-one
Can't say much about Tok, it is the first township after crossing the Alaskan border.
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