Alaska Trip - Day 7

On the 7th day, we finally made it to Alaska.

We slept in the Rav4 again last night at a tent site in Haines Junction. He rained lightly most of the night. It also was fairly bright out most of the night, but we were so tired we didn't mind.

This morning we stopped by this cool coffee shop/bakery and used their wi-fi, then as soon as we left Haines Junction, a grizzly bear ran out across the highway in front of us, much like deer do here. It was crazy. By this time, the sun had also came out, so we got some good pictures of the Kluane National Park and the St. Elias Mountains, though not of the bear. It was just too quick.

The drive from Haines Junction to the Alaskan border was rough, but beautiful. This was some of the roughest roads we faced yet, most of it caused by permafrost. There were portions of the road where we couldn't go faster than 20mph.

When we finally did make it to Alaska, we rejoiced. Steven did get caught up in both countries, though.

After some more construction on the Alaskan Highway, in, um, Alaska, we then ran into some heavy clouds and rain again as we became closer to Tok.

Tok was a nice little in the middle of complete wilderness. We stopped there to eat a late lunch/early dinner at this diner there and were served literally half a chicken each. Needless to say, we didn't finish our food.

The rest of the day was somewhat depressing. In what was supposed to be one of the most scenic drives yet, all we got was a lot of rain and cloudiness that prevented us from seeing any of the gigantic mountains in the distance. One of the lone highlights was the sighting of a moose (finally).


We wanted to make it all the way to Anchorage tonight. Then we wanted to make it all the way to Palmer. Instead, we are in a small village called Nelchina, which is about two and a half hours east of Anchorage, staying in a little cabin. Tomorrow we won't have much driving to do, for once!