Alyeska Bound

Day 37, Friday, 5/25/18
Lake Creek Campground, Alaska

After spending the night at Young's Motel we had breakfast at Fast Eddy's, mile 1313 on the ALCAN. About 80 miles from Tok to the Canadian border, we crossed over the Tanana River into the Yukon. The Tanana flows in a northwest direction and feeds the Yukon River.

Rivière Tanana

The Canadian customs stop is just outside Beaver Creek. There weren't any cars ahead of us, most of the traffic heading in the other direction. The June rush to Alaska is on! The custom agent was pretty relaxed, asked us a few questions and sent us on our way with a 'Enjoy your trip!'.

We stopped at the visitor center in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. (While the sign said 'Tetlin', it's really Kluane National Park in Canada - go figure.) The refuge shares a border with Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. It's a diverse landscape consisting of forests, lakes, tundra, wetlands and glacial rivers.

Behind the visitor center and a short walk downhill are two cabins that were used by trappers passing through the area. The cabins are slowly sinking into the ground. Halfway down the hill, there was a 'Caution! Bears in are!' sign attached to a tree. Of course, just a few hundred feet from the sign was a pile of fresh bear shit. We continued down the path making a lot of noise, bear spray in back pocket.

Continuing east, we started seeing the mountains of the Saint Elias Range.

We made camp at the Lake Creek Campground. Of course, it's on White River... Lake Creek Campground is a Yukon government site and pretty much in the middle of nowhere on the ALCAN. When we set up, there wasn't anyone else there and the only unnatural sounds were the occasional passing of a vehicle. A few people drove in then out, probably just looking around. Later that evening, a camper and a motorcyclist showed up.

It was a nice site right on the river bank with views of the Saint Elias mountains. The birds were hanging out, looking for a free meal.