Yesterday was a lazy day in Anchorage for me. Was staying in friend Tom’s garage and was
superbly comfortable, given that it is centrally heated, and has a bedroom and
bathroom and all mod cons !! After a month living out of just the tent and car,
you occasionally need a couple of days to just sort yourself out, and do some
of the things both personal and to the car, that just don’t get done when you
are perpetually cold and outdoors. It was so nice just to sleep in a bed after
4 weeks on the air mattress, and I know the car appreciated getting a bit of
oil, and a clean air filter that was caked with mud and grime. I also got hold of Joe and Dave, and while
Joe had only just got back into town from a business trip and was tied up, it
was good to touch base with him again.
And I arranged to meet Dave for coffee the next morning. And on the way home in the evening, I
couldn’t decide what I wanted for supper, but just at the bottom of the hill up
to Tom’s house I saw an ad for Burgers that were kind of home made - “Wee-B’s Burgers”. Anyway, went in and t was one of the best
burgers and fries have had in a long
time – Buffalo meat, juicy, perfectly cooked, with cheese and jalapenos, and the
chips were hand cut – Not machine made.
Just delicious – and I told them so !!
Then it was off up the hill to the garage and to bed.
Tom’s house is at the end of a very long hill – coincidentally
it is the same hill that takes you to Flat Top Mountain that I (almost) climbed
a couple of weeks ago – Tom is just half way up. So the view from the top, overlooking
downtown Anchorage, is spectacular – Especially when there are no clouds. Anyway got up early this morning, made sure I
had caught up with my email with lots of my travel buddies along the way, (some
of whom have been stuck in the floods cutting the Alcan near Teslin), packed
the car, and set off to meet Dave and Marie for coffee. I had met them in Whittier campsite a few
weeks ago, and we agreed to meet for coffee before I left. Dave, being
previously in the Police Force and Military, had also promised to get me
another badge for my windscreen collection .
A very pleasant hour or two with them and some of their friends – in
particular Sharon who is a teacher in remote SW Alaska – I think near Tununak
over there in the extreme SW of the state – She only leaves to come into
Anchorage for the 3 month summer vacation – and was telling me some fascinating
stories of lie out there – Including photos of a snow drift in her hallway that
had been blown in / under the door by 90 mile an hour winds !! It would be interesting to fly in there to
see her at work one day !! Also Chris,
who is one of the guys Dave goes hunting with when they take their boats up
to the Yukon Camp on the Dalton, and
then go some 550 miles west up the Yukon river to go hunting !! Some pretty amazing stories there too ! Anyway, a lovely start to the day, so I left
there with a smile on my face, ready for whatever the day might bring me.
Not 10 minutes up the road, the oppressive grey clouds
that had been threatening rain suddenly blew away, and blue sky patches meant
that I stopped immediately and removed the roof. Good move, because I then had a delightful
drive WNW to Glennallen, and then NW to Tok.
The road to Glennallen is good, with the Talkeetna mountains to the
north, and the 13000 ft Mt Marcus Baker, Matanuska Glacier, and the Chugach mountains to the
south. The road weaves between them, and
is quite spectacular. After that, into
the forested area towards Glennallen – Which is boring in comparison, but
equally spectacular in its own way.
After Glennallen, there were a lot of roadworks where they put coarse gravel down on tarmac. The surface is OK, but some of the SUV's go through them without slowing, so it can be quite lethal with flying gravel, and I continue to be very glad I have the 4 tearoffs on my windscreen - I am sure I would have had a broken windscreen by now without it. I stayed on the Glenn Highway as we crossed both the
Alaska Pipeline and the Richardson Highway, and the scenery became even more
spectacular again, with the tail of the enormous Alaska Range to the left, and
the 16,000 ft peaks of the Wrangell-St Elias NP to the left / South. This Wrangell-St Elias NP is said to rival
Denali for its sights and hiking, but is far less developed, and really needs a
good 4WD to enable access. This park
flows on down into Canada, where it is called the Kluane NP, and is home to
Canada’s tallest mountain, Mt Logan, at
5950 metres (yes, Canada uses metres, unlike the US !!) The drive up was great,
and then about 40 or so miles from Tok, the skies suddenly got very very black,
so I quickly stopped and put the roof on – Just in time, because not 2 miles up
the road, the heavens opened and we had torrential rain for about half an
hour. It cleared up a little on the run
into Tok, but the skies are still very black, so I have taken a little log cabin
in the camp site rather than tenting it tonight, because I want to set off
early to Chicken and across the Top of the World Highway tomorrow. I have to cross the Canadian border 80 miles
up the road, and then I have 100 miles of dirt road through to the Yukon River
(where I have to catch a ferry), and Dawson City, where I intend to spend at
least tomorrow night, and maybe if the weather is reasonable, the whole
weekend, as there is some kind of festival on in Dawson. I also have a few errands to run in Dawson,
including a bet about a certain bar in Dawson – All will be revealed in due
course !! Right Ian ?!!!
Anyway, nice to be back on the road again today. Another spectacular drive, with the ever
changing Alaska weather always making sure we stay on our toes and keep an eye
on the skies !!
