Around Tok (rhymes with "smoke")

Setting sun near Moon Lake

WiFi Woes

I apologize for not being able to write as quickly as everyone might like, but wifi has been harder to find here in Alaska than it was in Canada. I can post more on Facebook now, because I have cell service more times than not (it seems to be fairly good along the main highways), but wifi is another story. Here are some of the situations I've come across:
- Wifi good for 10 minutes only. This is great if you just want to quick check mail, but these posts generally take several hours (yes, really) to write, although I'm getting quicker!
- Wifi available, but a password is needed. And if the place isn't open, then you can't get the password!
- Wifi shuts down after the place is closed. This has been happening in some libraries. Fifteen minutes before closing, everything shuts down. My best times to work are at night (when it's hard to sightsee), so that's a bust.
- The library in Delta Junction (where I'd intended to post from), was closed for the day — the one day I was there — because they were upgrading their systems, and the wifi was down while they were doing that. SOOL.

I'm now writing this from Glennallen, trying to catch up again, sitting outside the library at 11pm (still light). Fortunately, this wifi is on 24/7 (so far), but there's no power to plug into.

It's a juggling act.

Waterdrops on fireweed

From Eagle to Chicken, AK

Seems like kind of a let-down, doesn't it, going from Eagle to Chicken!

I last left off with a glorious sunset on the road out of Eagle. Awoke in the morning, and it was socked in with fog again... that ghostly, numbing fog that's disorienting because you can't see where you are in the world.

It keeps drifting: hiding hills and revealing trees, then obscuring everything in a wet blanket of mist. Every time you look around, the the scenery (such as it is), looks different.

Each and every panicle of grass, bud of fireweed, tree branch and leaf had drops of water on them. Very pretty, but not something I wanted to drive in. Maybe in awhile the fog would lift.

So I decided to explore just a bit. Maybe find some blueberries for breakfast. The landscape was pretty open, so I figure I'd see any bears before they saw me!

An unexpected find

What I didn't count on was coming across was what I first thought was insulation by the side of the road, maybe blown off of somebody's pickup.

But when I looked closer, I realized that the puffy stuff I thought was shredded insulation was actually... fur. And then I saw the caribou hooves.

The hooves I could understand, but I was surprised at the caribou hides, as I thought they were prized for their leather and insulating properties, so thought it odd that they would be cast aside.

Caribou hoof

(I later asked about this as the Dept of Wildlife, and was told according to Fish & Game regulations, the hunters have to remove all the MEAT, but nothing is written about anything else. She also said that sometimes caribou have blowflies that burrow into their skin, thereby ruining the hides. I learn something every day! I also asked if old hides could be salvaged, and the answer, basically, was "no.")

Well, that put something of a damper on things, but, well, this is Alaska. Hunting, and particularly subsistence hunting, is part of the life here, and has been for thousands of years. Caribou hunting (and bear, bison, moose, sheep and wolf) is strictly regulated, and the federal and state departments of fish and game take their responsibilities and poaching very seriously.

The famous chicken statue (made from high school lockers) and chicken sign at Chicken, AK

Chicken

I did want to stop in Chicken, I'd missed it on my dash down to get mail in Northway, so decided to stop this time. If there is any place that capitalizes on its name, it's Chicken.

The story goes that the early founders (gold miners) actually wanted to call it "Ptarmigan" because of all the birds there. However, nobody could agree on how to spell it, so they decided on "Chicken" instead.

In Chicken, it's all about chicken, oh yeah, and gold mining.

One of the many chicken statues

There is a big dredge, the Pedro Dredge (I wrote about dredges in my post about Dawson) and gold panning, along with an airport, restaurant/café, a very nice RV park on the creek, and several gift shops.

There are chicken statues, chicken postcards, and chicken on the menu. There are chicken quilts, chicken mugs, chicken stickers, hats and t-shirts.

Then there is a music festival (I missed it), called "Chickenstock."

If you want something chicken-y, this is the place to come.

Things really were looking up; the fog had lifted, it wasn't raining, the clouds were clearing, the sun was shining (at least part of the time).

The countryside here is not particularly exciting. Mount Fairplay (have to find out about why it's named that) us the biggest thing around, and it's not all that impressive.

Mt Fairplay

The land is big and broad and gently rolling in every direction. The elevation gains are deceptive. You don't realize you're climbing so much until you lose speed and have to go to a lower gear. Likewise, when descending, you can gather speed alarmingly quickly!

Lots of berry bushes, black spruce trees, bogs and moose ponds surrounded by grass. Not that this is a bad thing, I just didn't expect it, and had the mistaken concept that Alaska was all big mountains and glaciers.

Silly me!

If you squint, on a clear day, you can see — just barely — a mirage of big, snow-covered mountains in the distance. But if it had been foggy, as it had been earlier in the day, I would have missed it.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this area was NOT glaciated.

First glimpse of big mountains (had to use the telephoto to see them)!

Tok

Tok is a happening place. It's at the junction of two primary highways: the Alaska Highway (Hwy 2), which goes north and west to Fairbanks, and the Richardson Highway (Hwy 4), which goes south and west to Anchorage.

Tok has gas stations, gift and native craft shops, hotels and RV parks, machine shops, houses and restaurants: Fast Eddy's seemed to be popular; Jen's Thai food truck (patronized by locals, and me).

Mowing the roof in Tok

It's a popular sled dog town, too, the headquarters of the Dog Mushers of Alaska. There's a winter sled dog trail here, that I guess a lot of people use.

In Tok, I wanted to stop by the National Wildlife Refuge office and ask about Tetlin NWR, which I will probably stop by (again) on my way south. By that time, there might be some migrating waterfowl there. I wanted to get my "Gray Goose Passport" stamped, check if they had wifi, and get groceries and ice, and mail some things from the post office.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, even the Federal NWR office didn't have wifi (or at least a system they were willing to let me on). As the gentleman said, "Well, you can try, but it hasn't been working lately." I guess they do most of their business on the phone!

One of the gift shops advertised "Free WiFi" so I gave them a try after making a few purchases, but it was one of those places that had it for ten minutes, then shut you off. More of an annoyance almost than being useful.

With business taken care of, it was time to just explore again on my way to Fairbanks. 

This is what I am loving about this trip — no reservations, no timelines, just the ability to wander like a true nomad, according to the interests of the day, tempered by weather and circumstances.

In the long twilight, I meandered up the Alaska Highway towards the actual END of the Alaska Highway, Delta Junction.

All of a sudden there were mountains! They were bare of snow, and looked something like the mountains in Nevada on the beginning of this trip. There had been a forest fire, so none of the trees had leaves on them. (Kills me to say it, but forest fires really do add to the ability to see views!)

Low sun and mountains(!) along the Alaska Highway north of Tok.

The beautiful low, golden light on the silver defoliated birch trees, with dark storm clouds above and sapphire blue pond edged with emerald and peridot grasses below, gave the landscape a dramatic flair that just made me want to stop and enjoy it.

Which I did, drinking in the beauty and quiet.

Moon Lake

Soon after that little pond was Moon Lake State Recreation Area, where there was very pleasant camping for $18/night. The lake was flooded (there had been a lot of rain recently), and I spent some time here, too, walking around. Out of the 30 or so campsites, only maybe five of them were occupied, and half of those by German tourists! It was a delightful spot, and I could easily see coming back here on a warm (not rainy) summer day and take the kayak out for a paddle. Just the right size lake, with enough little bays and inlets to keep things interesting.

A Dali-esque landscape: recent rains have flooded the campground!

Rabbit washing its face after dinner!

Being late in the evening, some animals were out, getting ready for the short night. Rabbit families were entertaining, with their twitching noses, munching on grasses and loping all over the place. (The don't seem to hop as much as lope or run.)

In fact, I'd never seen a rabbit wash it's face before, but they do, just like a cat! You have to be very quiet and still to make them think you're a tree, but once they get used to you, you can observe them playing and going about their rabbit business. It brought to mind the world of Watership Down. That author must have spent a bit of time observing rabbits!

A lesser yellowlegs was finding little tasty tidbits in the shallow water of the lake — undoubtedly there were new things to eat with the water so high! 

It was such a peaceful place, I could have stayed a week!

Sunset over Moon Lake

I'm trying to save money, though, even at $18/night, so found a campsite off of one of the many gravel pits that are by the side of the road for road repair. It was a pleasant enough place, but by the time I got there, it was close to being dark — that twilight that in the Moody Blues song Tuesday Afternoon goes "... when red is gray, and yellow white." While it didn't appear to be occupied, it HAD been occupied at one time: there was a fire ring, cigarette butts, candy wrappers, beer cans, and a kind of scary-looking bit of debris that could have been a body wrapped in a sleeping bag. Or something else.

Roadside wildflowers

I don't often get jumpy, even by myself, but it was getting late and I didn't want to look for another place. I talked myself into staying there, thinking that my headlights had shone brightly and the car engine had made enough noise to wake the dead. If the guy really WAS dead, there was no doing anything about it late at night, anyway. My car doors lock, and I'd check in the morning.

I had a lot to think about: one friend had offered to go by the house and check on some of the things that I was worried had water damage. 

Grasses are exploding!

And there was a possibility that a friend might fly up here and visit for a week or so. Pretty exciting, as I haven't seen anyone I know for three months! It means reconfiguring the car arrangements, but I think I can do that. It will just be a little more crowded, but I'm thrilled to be able to share this beautiful "Great Land" with someone I know.

Too fun! So many things to look forward to!