966 June 25, 2023 Broken Road To Tok

We had a quiet night. Thirty minutes after awakening, we were on the road. We knew that we had a long day. We wanted very much to join Lee and Claudia in Copper Center this evening.

The drive started well.

We knew that after Kluane Lake, the road deteriorates. This is because the roadbed is built on swampy ground and permafrost. The overwinter freezing and thawing wreaks havoc on the pavement with mighty frost heaves causing unpredictable bumps and dips. It is like an undulating rollercoaster ride…but it is NOT fun. Many damaged sections were marked by signs and flags and cones and then suddenly, not so much. Maybe the Yukon government ran out of orange flags! Then there were miles of dusty, loose gravel throwing rocks up onto the tow vehicle. Pick your poison! Either way it was a very slow go. We had ambitious plans to get all the way to Salmon Grove tonight. It was 390 miles; which is a lot for us on any day.

We were not going to complain. We had been warned. There is no other way to go. Thank goodness for air ride suspension!

We would get a decent stretch of pavement and then back to the hippie dippy stuff again.

The White River.

A wrecked car. This road is no joke.

We saw a few swans in ponds and lakes by the road. It was kind of hard to appreciate our beautiful surroundings because lots of energy was devoted to being alert to the driving conditions.

We took a break before the US Alaska border. When we continued our drive, it was rough to Beaver Creek. It got a little better with bumpy patches further apart. When we got into Alaska we had gravel and then some good road and then 38 miles of road construction. We had to wait for pilot vehicles to come and lead us through.

In early afternoon, we knew we were not going to last another 4 hours on crappy roads. We decided to quit at Tok. Our sincere apologies to Lee and Claudia for missing dinner tonight; we really were trying. We know that nobody understands better. This is their seventh or eighth trip to Alaska from Tucson.

We took advantage of the campground WIFI to get the blog caught up. We will travel on to Copper Center tomorrow!