Traveling from Tok to Delta Junction

There were some interesting sights to see on our drive from Tok, AK to Delta Junction, AK.  Take a gander!

 

 

Beautiful views as we begin our drive!  Here’s one of the times when we are actually sharing the Alaska Highway with someone!  For a main route up to Alaska, it’s remarkably not full of traffic!  The mountains that we are headed toward are the Alaska Range.

 

One of the things that we came across was the Alaska Pipeline – yes, the one that carries all that crude oil!!  I was really surprised that we could get so close to it.  Ok, so there was a sign that said we weren’t supposed to go beyond the metal gate……but……you can just call me a rebel! 

 

Delta Junction, our destination for this drive, is the official end of the Alaska Highway.  At this point, we join the Richardson Highway, which will take us up to Fairbanks.

 

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this metal art!  Alaskans jokingly refer to the mosquito as the Alaska State Bird!  They grow them BIG up here!

Enjoy!

They Built the Highway

 

In Whitehorse, at the campground where we were staying, there were number of old, rusty vehicles that had been used in the construction of the Alaska Highway.  They have definitely seen their better day, but I have always loved old beat up trucks and so I thought I’d enhance them to really show off their character!

 

I’m not certain exactly the type of truck this was, but it certainly looks like it was meant to haul something, either workers, equipment or other supplies.  The character in the broken headlights and windows, and the greenery growing up thru its bumper and grill are really cool, in my humble opinion!

 

This is definitely something you don’t see around – an ambulance from that time!  I can almost imagine the driver, gripping that steering wheel, racing down whatever passed for a road during construction, getting the injured help.

 

Check out the snowplow attachment on this truck!  Winters are harsh and tough up here in northern Canada, and the truck (and driver) had to be as well.  Compare this little guy, tho, to today’s snowplows – makes the accomplishment of building this highway even more amazing.

 

Jeff said this truck was a Canadian truck.  I can’t really speak to that – I just love the detail of the number on the side of the truck and the wild roses growing up thru its grill!

Enjoy!

Signpost Forest !

One of the cool things about the town of Watson Lake is the Signpost Forest!  When the Alaska Highway was being constructed apparently a number of the workers would post signs that indicated their home town and how far it was from Watson Lake.  It’s become a sort of phenomenon, with anyone who wants to adding signs from their home town – either handmade signs with their names and town indicated, road signs, street signs or even license plates!  If Jeff and I would have thought about it, we could have brought an extra street sign that Jeff had made from the airpark – oh, well!

 

It’s called a forest because when you walk into it, you truly feel like you are in a forest of sorts…..and it is much larger than it looks in this photo!!  It’s really just a fun stop along the highway!

 

Since Jeff is from Alaska and I’m from Illinois, I couldn’t resist snapping this photo of the 2 states’ license plates so close to each other!  What else could I find?

 

I feel like this is a sort of “Where’s Waldo?” type of shot – Jeff in front of more signs than he’s probably ever been in front of in his life!    If you look close, some of the license plates are from Europe, too – were they extra or are they now driving their cars with a license plate missing??

 

Oh, which way to go!!  I couldn’t resist playing around in the “forest” and Jeff was kind enough to snap me in front of quite a few handmade signs….

 

I initially lined up this shot to capture the different foreign plates from Europe……but just as I took it, I noticed another one.  Which one is your eye drawn to?  Wouldn’t it be funny to live on that road?

Enjoy!

 

Wildlife Sighting!

This was the most incredible day for seeing wildlife along the road – specifically, bison/buffalo and black bears!  I’m not including all the images, just the ones that seemed to show them off the best…..

 

In another posting (On the Road to Watson Lake), I talked about a very foolish woman who was standing much too close to some bison.  These are the big boys she was up close and almost too personal with!  We were viewing them from our RV, nice and safe!  We saw a number of bison like this when we were at Yellowstone National Park last year, and one of the more interesting things about them is that when they move, they sort of grunt like a pig.  You’d think something of this size (these 2 are probably around 2,000 lbs. each) would make a bigger noise than that….

 

Here’s one of the black bears we saw on this day’s travel.  It’s interesting to note that there are also a fair number of people (more that I would have guessed there would be) who ride their bikes (laden with tents, sleeping bags, and their gear – I wouldn’t last a block biking all that stuff!) along the highway heading up to or back from Alaska.  I asked Jeff if it wasn’t dangerous being around the bears (they tend to swing way wide of the bison, who leave them alone….besides bison don’t eat people), given that the bears are along the side of the road, and he said that at this time of the year, there’s so much other stuff for the bears to eat, they really aren’t interested in people.  Hmmmm…..hope all those cyclists are back home before it gets to be later in the season and there isn’t so much for them to eat.

 

Here are a couple other bison we saw further along the road.  We slowed way down and swung way wide to avoid them – they would definitely do some damage to our rig if they had a mind to.  In all, on this leg of our journey, we easily saw at least a dozen bison.

 

I couldn’t resist sharing this image of a shy bear with you!  He’s in the left center of the image, peeking out from behind some bushes.  He was very “into” the grasses and stuff that were over there.  As for the number of bear we saw on this day, I think we probably saw just about as many bear as bison, which is saying a lot, since bison tend to be herd animals and bears…..not so much!

Enjoy!

 

 

On the Road to Watson Lake

Our adventure continues!  We left Muncho Lake and our beautiful campsite and headed to Watson Lake, home of the Signpost Forest (but more about that in another post!).  There were some great photo ops along the way……

 

 

This image just spoke to me in terms of the vastness of where we were going, and how much more of our travel lay ahead of us.  It sort of felt like the parting of the Red Sea….

 

Isn’t this a cool sight?  I love the clouds sort of folding around the mountains in little wisps.  And look how the road just sort of curves and rolls along with it.  The entire image had fluidity to it, like it would move as we approached it…..but thank goodness it didn’t!

This photo reminds me of something a woman I worked with over 30 years ago said to me – “Stupid is forever”.  This woman is incredibly foolish (I’m choosing to be kind in the terms I’m using to describe her).  She was probably about 20 feet (give or take) from these bison/buffalo.  Adult bison generally range between 1200 to 2000+ pounds, and their looks are deceiving.  They look lumbering, but they can be amazingly quick.  She is very lucky that they didn’t startle at her being so close, or that 2 of the bulls didn’t decide to begin to fight.  By the time she realized they would have been coming at her, turned, ran across the road, and reached (not get into) her car, they would have been upon her and that wouldn’t have been a pretty picture.  Anyway, I’m getting off my soapbox now!

 

This last photo isn’t very good, but I’m including it to give you an idea of what a true “small town” along the Alaska Highway can be like……small is a bit of an overstatement, don’t you think?

Enjoy!