Return to Alaska

My dad and I just finished our drive to Alaska. We left Sacramento on May 6 and arrived (ahead of schedule) on May 11.

Our first day started with a marathon packing session. It took a lot longer to pack the last of my belongings than I'd expected. But we eventually got everything in the truck. We dropped off the keys to my apartment, quickly swung by my cousin Shelby's place to say bye and hit the road.

Shasta was visible through the clouds as we passed through California's northern mountains. Our first stop was in Ashland.

The next day we made it to Olympia where we stopped to have dinner with Rob and Katey.

Friday we started driving in earnest. We made it across the border and swung north through British Columbia's interior. The lush area around Vancouver gave way to the dry Fraser River valley. The landscape became dry in the rain shadow behind the mountains. We each had a DQ cone in Cache Creek, dinner in Watson Lake (log cabin capitol of the world), and spent the night in Prince George. In all, we'd done over 600 miles that day.

The next day we continued north after grabbing coffee. The landscape really opened up. Snow began to appear amongst the brush and trees on the roadside. We didn't cross any major ranges. The day was mostly spent crossing a vast area made up of low hills, creeks, rivers and ponds. We got to Fort Nelson that night. We checked into a hotel and ate dinner while watching Pittsburgh play Washington in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Sunday we got into some really great landscape. Between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse (our goal for the day) lay the Rockies. Soon after leaving Fort Nelson we began to climb. For the rest of that day we climbed over passes past alpine lakes and descended into valleys dominated by braided, glacier-fed rivers. We also began to spot wildlife in abundance. Caribou and Big Horn Sheep became a common sight on the roadside. A few moose wandered about. Several large Bison herds were munching on the roadside grass on the western side of the mountains. The day was largely clear with decorative clouds in the distance. Eventually we made it to Whitehorse and had dinner at the Klondike Rib & Salmon BBQ.

Monday morning our goal was to make it to Tok, Alaska. The day was sunny in Whitehorse, but clouds hung in the distance. The day's drive would take us around the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains.

The road headed west to Haines Junction where it headed north-west. Snow flurries began to fall. We saw some moose and a solitary, but curious, black bear. The road was just about empty. Destruction Bay, the south-west arm of Kluane Lake, was completely socked in with snow. But the road was clear. This was the day of the frost heave. (Frost heaves are areas where the roadbed has sunk after water froze over the winter, expanded and then shrunk, leaving a suspension killing depression.)

We crossed the border and continued on to Tok. We arrived in Tok well ahead of schedule. We had a choice: stay in Tok (a small junction town) or push on Anchorage. It wasn't a hard decision. We now headed south-west around the Wrangell mountains. Mount Sanford and Mount Drum dominated our view. We ate dinner in Glenallen.

Our final push came as we headed down the Glenn Highway. The Chugach Mountains were still capped with snow. Trees were just starting to bud out with fresh, green leaves. The clouds began to part, and the late light slanted in to light the mountains. With the sun just beginning to set, we arrived in Anchorage at 10:30pm. It was a long drive, but my dad and I had loved our trip.

PICTURES: http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.r.mckenna/ReturnToAK