Alaska RV Camping Journal- Day 24

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Alaska Recreational Vehicle Camping Journal

An RV camping trip to Alaska is a dream most RVers will never get to experience. We are fortunate to have been able to spend the time to take this amazing RV camping trip. Follow our daily RV camping travels as we cover over 6000 miles of the most incredible scenery in North America. We'll share a few pictures of the trip along the way, but pictures can not do justice to this beautiful landscape.

The Campers

Passengers on our RV camping trip were Brian, Margie, Helen (Brian's Mom is 87), Casey our 4 ½ year old Golden Retriever, and Sox, a 10 year old gray house cat with an attitude. Brian and Margie have been living full time in their 36' Class A motor home over 3 years, and boondock (remote dispersed camping) almost always. Mom has RV camping experience since she and Brian's Dad owned both a pickup camper, and Class C motor home.

Mileposts

You will notice that we often refer to the Mileposts book throughout the journal entries. We feel that if you drive to Alaska, you MUST have this book! Alaska, and Canada's British Columbia and Yukon are rich in History. Jack London wrote popular novels such as White Fang, and Call of the Wild, and the contemporary poet Robert Service helped make knowledge of life in the north country wilderness well known. The Mileposts book will help you learn about the history as you go, with descriptions of what happened in the past, as well as what to expect on the road ahead.

We recommend that you only use the most current issue of Mileposts as it contains the most up-to-date road and service availability information.

Do You Know The Way To Chicken?

Up early and on the road by 6:30 am, still cloudy. It was fun watching the tide come in last night and it's out this morning. Margie wasn't feeling well and actually stayed in bed for the drive up to Worthington Glacier. Mom wanted to stop at the glacier since you can walk up to it, so it was a good place for breakfast too! There is an interesting plaque showing glaciers and the changes they have gone through as the world has warmed up in the past century. They have lots of parking available and pit toilets too.

The road from Glenallen to Tok is very scenic but lots of frost heaves. This is the first real serious road construction we've encountered and the first wait was 30 minutes. Second one was only 10 minutes, and we were treated to a cow moose and calf crossing a stream right next to Gozer!

Arrived in Tok at 1:00-time for lunch at Fast Eddies! Mom has the Halibut fingers, Brian has the Cheeseburger, and I go for the Lasagna! Everything is really tasty again, and I buy a t-shirt from this place. The Pizza looks really good passing by our table, so maybe the next time we're in Alaska we'll try that!

Quick trip into the Grocery store, Post Office, filled up with diesel again and then onto the Taylor Highway towards Chicken. Fuel stop mileage 77838, 51.48 gallons, miles since last fill-up 573. Our mpg works out to 11.13 this tank.

We encounter lots of burned timber from a fire in 2004. We don't drive out of it until almost to our Campsite 47 miles later! The road was very winding with some steep grades, pot holes and frost heaves.

We pull into a BLM Camp Ground about 62 miles from Tok called West Fork-the sun is shining! Looks like we'll have some neighbors as three Airstreams are just ahead of us. The campground is $4 a night with Mom's Golden Age Passport, but there are no pay envelopes. There are both pull through and back in spaces for a total of 25 sites. Also vault toilets but no trash facilities or water. We do have a fire ring, picnic table, and LOTS of mosquitoes! At one point Brian looks like a Symphony conductor waving and wapping his bug zapper through the swarms! We do get several quick walks with Casey and the mosquitoes love him too!

Total mileage on Gozer 77900 - 317 miles today

Road Notes: The construction zones we encountered had some extremely narrow areas in which to pass the road crews. One spot was where a culvert was being replaced and Brian had maybe a foot on either side of the motor home to get through. Another spot forced us off the hard surface to avoid a piece of road grading equipment. If there had been a shoulder to the road Brian wouldn't have minded but it had just rained and there was a significant drop-off from the road and you could just envision the whole thing falling away. The semi truck behind us refused to pull off the road where we had, and they had to move the road grader so he could get through. The road north from the Alaska Highway toward Chicken is in fairly good condition. Several pot holes and frost heaves make it a bit more exciting. There are also some 9% grades.

Let's Relax!

Day 25

Cloudy on and off all day. .We've decided to spend another night, and there still aren't any pay envelopes. All of our neighbors pull out this morning, a motor home, a travel trailer, the 3 Airstreams from Florida. We discuss how far it must seem to them having driving all those extra miles across the United States!

I noticed some folks wearing mosquito nets and it really makes sense! This is a haven for them!

We have scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, bacon and toast for breakfast. We are hearing thunder off in the distance so hurry out with Casey for a quick walk before the next downpour. Glad the rain doesn't last long.

We spend most of the day reading and loafing, it is very relaxing.

Grilled some steaks and fish for dinner. The bugs are a lot less pesky after the storm.

0 miles today!

Tomorrow - Gold!

Yesterday - Richardson Highway To Valdez