Sunday June 1st 2008
Drive to Tok AK
291 miles – estimated 6 hours of driving
This drive included lots of dirt road as the ALCAN highway was being improved. For awhile we were behind a truck with a funny thing on the back, like a camper, but not. In Anchorage we got a close of view of the modern version. It’s a dog sled team transport vehicle, with kennels in the back and the sled on the top in some cases. It was very cool.
At lunch at Buckshot Betty’s I found another pair of birders who were having a great trip. People were very friendly on the road.
Tok is where I saw my first allegedly elusive snow shoe hare. I would see lots more of them on our journey, but it was very exciting to see my first one. Nick and I went birding and drove around Tok a bit. We found the appliance graveyard. I hadn’t thought about it, but it must be very hard to recycle stuff out in the middle of Alaska.
Fast Eddy’s restaurant in Tok was listed in our AAA guide and it was good. I think this was the last time I used the guide on the whole trip. I’m just too cheap to eat at most of the places they recommend.
The conifers in Alaska and the Northern parts of the Yukon are mostly these twisty, Seussian, black spruces.
Golden Bear Motel & RV Park
PO Box 500
Tok Alaska 99780
Receipts:
ALCAN Motor Inn – Haines Junction YT
Fas Gas – Haines Junction YT
Buckshot Betty (lunch) – Beaver Creek Yukon YT
Fast Eddy’s Restaurant (dinner) – Tok AK
Wildlife & Birds:
Moose
Snow shoe hares
Cliff swallows
Tree swallows
Bank swallows
Yellow bellied sapsucker
Golden eagles
Rough legged hawk
Lesser scaup
American wigeon
Mallards
Rusty blackbirds
Ring neck duck
Bald eagles
Gray jay (taiga)
Yellow-rumped warbler
Mountain blue bird
White-crowned sparrow (taiga)
Robins
Ravens
I really wanted to see a Gray jay. And Alaska welcomed us by having one perch on the customs point sign.
For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605552053113/
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