DAY 24 OF OUR ALASKAN ADVENTURES

We left Kluane RV Kampground at 630am with the sky clear and the sun bright, temperature 27 degrees. We are trying to get an early start today, in hopes that we can make Tok, Alaska this evening. We only have to drive approximately 300 miles, however, between the "rough" road and crossing the border we wanted to have enough time. I guess we didn't have to worry about it getting dark, since we could drive until 1130pm and still have day light.
We crossed over Bear Creek Summit (3,294ft) the highest point on the Alaska Highway between Whitehorse, The Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska. At the crest of the hill, we were totally surrounded by mountains. You are probably getting tired of reading the word - spectacular - however, there is not more descriptive word to describe this area. We continued to parallel the Kluane Mountain Range on the west side of the Alaska Highway. We passed through spruce forests that have been attacked by the Spruce Beetle. They can destroy a tree in a matter of weeks and the needles turn reddish brown/grey after a year or more.
The road deteriorated just before we reached Kluane Lake, the largest lake in The Yukon, to washboard/gravel. We crossed the Sims River Bridge and approached Sheep Mountain at 30 mph. This lasted around 5 miles and we were back on paved highway and on our way to Destruction Bay. Kluane Lake was still covered in ice, but it must be a wonderful place to camp in the summer. Unfortunately we did not see any Dall sheep which spend the winter and spring on Sheep Mountain. We only saw a couple of raven along the side of the road.
The road swung away from the side of Kluane Lake and headed toward Destruction Bay (population 55). All of a sudden the mountains were lost in a heavy, dark cloud cover and our first thought was "is it snow or is it rain"? We passed through Destruction Bay in a blink of an eye. It was one of many relay stations spaced at 100 mile intervals to give truckers a break and a chance to fix their vehicles - no kidding! As we entered Burwash Landing our question was answered - snow flakes were hitting the windshield. Burwash Landing is one of the oldest settlements in The Yukon, however, it appeared to be deserted when we passed through. Traveling at this time of year is difficult, because most RV parks and campgrounds are closed along with most stores with fuel. We learned earlier to "keep it at the top of the tank". Leaving Burwash Landing, we hit not only the worse frost heaves to date but actual holes and crevices in the road without any warnings - no acceleration here, Bob was lucky to be driving 30mph.
When we crossed the Donjek River Bridge, we ran into a slushy mix of snow and rain. We should have been able to see Mt. Logan (the highest peak in Canada, as we mentioned before), however we were driving through the clouds - not looking up at the clouds! I had been kidding Bob - saying they should just put a continuous orange line along the side of the road to indicate the frost heaves - and low and behold we came to an are of the road where there was a series of flags for about a mile. It was like driving on ribbon candy! A Volkswagen bus even passed us!!
About 50 miles south of Beaver Creek, the cloud cover began to lift and we were able to see some of the mountain ranges again.
We stopped for lunch at Beaver Creek and saw our second RCMP (no red uniform/no horse - what a disappointment) pulling over a truck camper to give him a ticket. The only thing open in Beaver Creek was "Buckshot Betty's" a little diner/gift shop. There was one gas station open at the edge of town. We saw a moose along the side of the road, just as we were leaving town, but we were not quick enough to get a picture before he scurried into the woods. The sun is out, still some puffy clouds, and we are about 17 miles from the Alaskan Border. It has been a long haul, but despite the breakdown, well worth it. The posted speed limit was 55mph, however, the frost heaves continue to keep our average down to around 30mph. It actually seems like the road was even a little worse and the warning signs fewer.
At 12:45 PM Arizona time, we crossed the border from "the Yukon" into Alaska. After 23 days on the road we have reached our destination (almost). Right now the terrain looks like "the Yukon". At the first, Judy took over driving. The road is still very rough and 30 MPH is about top speed. Lots of frost heaves and holes filled with gravel. Once we past Northway Junction, the road greatly improved and appears to be newly paved. Judy was able to maintain 50-55 MPH.
Just South of Tok the road got a little rough again and she had to slow down a little but soon there was Tok and we had made our goal for the day at about 2:30 PM. We checked into Tok RV Village and could have had FULL HOOKUPS but choose to save a few bucks since we didn't need to dump our holding tanks and just got a WATER and ELECTRIC site.