Porcupine Creek State Recreation Site Alaska USA
Mileage: 43,515
We started our morning by crossing into Alaska from Yukon Canada! We are finally here on the mainland of Alaska!
We stopped at the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge. I had read that you could pick up an auto tour CD at the visitor center that describes the wildlife and habitats, construction of the Alaska Highway and the culture of the local Athabascan people. The ranger working at the center had a wealth of information to share. We left with the CD and with lots of ideas about how to plan for the day and later this week.
We stopped at the Hidden Lake trail-head. It was an easy 2-mile round-trip hike to the water. We neglected to read the sign advising that you bring insect repellent, but even so it was a nice walk. We could see swans in the distance. Apparently nesting swans like their privacy and choose isolated ponds or lakes to raise their cygnets.
The Tetlin Wildlife Refuge is a noted IBA or Important Bird Area. Lots of raptors, trumpeter swans, and sandhill cranes migrate through this passage. We learned a lot from the audio narrative.
The road conditions continued to be erratic. The road was a mishmash of good, then bad, then patched, and then bad again, for miles and miles and miles. The permafrost wreaks havoc on the asphalt. So far no one has come up with an economical solution to preventing the damage to the highway…but they are trying. We passed two experimental sites on our way…one failed and the other in progress. They are actively trying to arrive at a solution. In the meantime, the road continues to be undulating! There was also a significant earthquake in this area in 2002 which caused damage to the roads.
The scenery though…
The permafrost also affects the way things grow. The black spruce trees appear to be stunted in their growth, crooked, and even sickly when in fact some of the trees are over 100 years old and their trunks are no more than 4 inches round. The telephone poles also lean very far over – looking like they could topple at any moment…also due to permafrost.
At Tok I asked google maps how far we were from home…3,954 miles from Reisterstown!
We fueled up, got some groceries and then we took the Tok Cutoff. This road will take us south to Valdez. This is another side trip. Apparently lots of people go straight up the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks and they miss the opportunity to go to southern Alaska and Valdez. Everyone we met who has been there says to go!
We saw two she moose grazing in the ponds beside the road and a couple other swans.
We chose to stay at Porcupine State Recreation Site this evening. The first thing we noticed after we had parked was some scat behind the RV.
We have 7 rather significant piles of this same scat around our campsite. When I walked around the campground I noticed that this scat is present at every site. Our best guess is caribou or maybe moose…we hope to find out before the evening is over. We have a great site right on the creek and there is a rocky area on the water’s edge where we know that something large has been eating the shoots off the trees to about 9 feet high.
There is awesome drive on Nabesna Road 4 miles away that takes you 42 miles into the backcountry on a gravel road. We thought about going there but then decided to stay put…enough driving today! We cannot possibly stop to see everything there is to see.