The trip to Tok was a return to the Tok RV Village; however, on this trip we traveled the Richardson Highway to the Glenn Highway/Tok Cut-Off. The Cut-Off definitely saved on mileage but it was a road that had major construction, lots of frost heaves and took lots of maneuvering and concentration to drive the road to avoid the worse areas. And this is after major improvements have occurred over the summer.
As we traveled through the Keystone Canyon, we again got to view the beautiful waterfalls along the route. The Dirt Yacht had no problems making the 8 mile pull up to Thompson Pass. It only has an elevation of 2,678 feet but its still above the timberline. It was named by Captain Abercrombie in 1899. I am glad we are not here in the winter as this area gets extreme snowfall. Record snowfalls from December 1955 measured 62 inches for one 24-hour period. During the winter of 1952 – 53 the record measurements were 974.5 inches for the season. Fortunately, we had clear skies on our trip across Thompson Pass.
The pipeline was visible as we traveled along the Richardson Highway, Alaska Rt 4. We were lucky that we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a pilot escort in construction areas. At least the first couple of times. We know others had considerable waits as we caught up with John and Carol who had left early from Valdez. The construction areas on the Tok-Cut Off were numerous and lengthy. We did not hear until later that it was the first day of subsistence hunting so that explained the numerous four-wheel vehicles and people with hunting rifles. Others in the caravan that left later than we did, were also delayed by police, SWAT and emergency vehicles. We never heard more than they were looking for someone with a gun, but it must have been a planned raid for all of the law enforcement vehicles and staff to be together in such a remote location at the same time.
Since we had driven back out to Thompson Pass while staying in Valdez we did not need to stop to get a scavenger hunt photo on Thompson Pass or Bridal Veil Falls. We did stop late in our drive to get another scavenger photo at the Alaska Road Commission sign. It was a long day, and after driving 256 miles, Randy was exhausted. This was definitely a route that could damage a vehicle if you did not pay attention or drove too fast. The caravan that was a couple of days ahead of us gave John mile markers where the roads were the worse. There were quite a few areas.
We had enough time to fill up with fuel, wash the RV and Jeep (thank you Tok RV Village for allowing), a little shopping (I finally got the Alaska jacket that I had been looking for) and a nice salad and pizza dinner provided by the Caravan, before we called it a day. Even though John set up a propane fire pit to enjoy which helped with the bugs/mosquitos, no one lingered after dinner. This was the first time I was bothered by mosquitos on this trip! It was also the first time that everyone made an concentrated effort to investigate the Northern Lights to see if we will be lucky enough to see them. No prediction of lights in Tok for tonight.
