Thursday, April 23, 2009

Wednesday, April 22 (Watson Lake, Yukon - ALASKA!!!!!)

Woke up Wednesday to a beautiful Alaska spring day:



I got started with a great breakfast, including some of my newly acquired green tea:


and hit the road. It was an absolutely beautiful drive.

Photos of the drive

I got to Destruction bay, and saw some great beaches and other areas right by the water. I really wanted to set up camp for the night and have a fire, which had been missing from my routine for the past several days (motels or in the truck). I stopped for gas and asked the attendant whether such sites existed further up the road, or whether I should turn around and get down to the water in the areas I'd just passed. He was a little incredulous, and asked "you want to camp by the water? Here?" and proceeded to tell me the story of Destruction bay. Apparently it got its name because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was up here building the Alaska highway, and like me, thought that the bay would be a nice place to camp. Until the 100 mph winds came down through the valley, destroyed the camp, and killed a bunch of people.

I thanked the attendant for his sage advice and continued up the road. I had heard from Bob and Russ that the many quarries along the road were good places to camp, out of sight and sheltered. That would be good in the summer, but they were still snowed in for the most part. I was only about 20 miles from the border, and basedon my previous experience thought it better to do the crossing in the morning. I found a decent spot and had dinner, but when a truck cruised by slowly (twice) I decided to just get to the border that night.

I ended up finding a very welcoming border guard, who was into toyota trucks and travels in general. We chatted for a bit, and I found this as a place to spend the night. Not bad...


My route
Note: the time google lists is way off. I guess if you had a car and were going the speed limit, it might be accurate. But 75 mph across frost heaves in a land cruiser is f'n sweet.

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