June 28, 2014 - Gakona, AK to Haines Junction, YT

We left our luxurious cabin at Gakona fairly early and headed north on the Tok cutoff.  We headed to Tok of all places, lol.  It was a beautiful highway.  Every curve presented a new postcard picture.  Lakes, rivers, ponds, forests, lovely.  Especially lovely because it was dry!

Today was basically a travel day.  A day to enjoy the ride with our only destination our motel at Haines Junction, YT.  We only made a few stops so not so many pictures today.

We made it to Tok (been here before), fueled up and headed to the Alaska/Canada border.

We stopped at a roadhouse just before the border crossing for brekkie.  It took a while but the wait was worth it.  Yummy good food.  Not much else here.  I did notice that the gas pumps were busy the entire time we were there, about 1 1/2 hours (yeah, it took that long to get our food and eat it).  Oh well, we weren't in any particular hurry.  And, we were enjoying the ride in the nice weather.

Shortly after our meal we came to the border crossing.  No issues but as soon as we passed the border control point the road deteriorated.  We were now on the Alaska Highway.  The road went from pavement with good center and side lines to a total mess of construction at Beaver Creek, YT.  I mean total mess!

Gravel with potholes, potholes with gravel, two yards of pavement with potholes and more gravel and potholes.  One hundred miles of bone jarring gravel, potholes, spots of pavement followed by more potholes and gravel.  One hundred miles!!!!  Oh and the frost heaves.  Oh my gosh!!!! The frost heaves.  You had to keep your eyes open and stay alert because those frost heaves would heave you off your bike!  Good thing we both have good brakes and Eric put on new brake pads, front and back on my bike before we left.

I'd just get used to the gravel and get some speed going when the road would start to look like a roller coaster with the frost heaves.  I had to slow down!!!  Man, that was a tough 100 miles.  They say the Alaska Highway is now paved the entire way.  Baloney.  It might have been paved for 10 minutes before they decided to tear it up again :-)

Oh well, we motored on, stopping for a few pictures.

We had a surprise on this day.  We saw TWO grizzly bears!!  One was on the side of the road munching in the bushes.  A light brown with gold highlights.  His hump was distinct and no mistaking it was a grizzly bear.  A motor home was stopped and we just went around because the bear was close to the road, we didn't want to stop and be a snack!

Then, further down the road, another grizzly.  This was was a bit further off the road, sitting in the mud on the edge of a pond.  So sad we didn't get a photo.  It really was comical to see this HUGE bear sitting in the mud and just looking around.  This one was blond and BIG.  I mean, really, really BIG.  Wow, awesome stuff.  I think that was it for the wildlife today but a fantastic show.  Grizzly bears!!!!!!

We finally arrived at our destination motel in Haines Junction, YT.  Sorry, no pictures, we were tired and intended to take pics in the morning.  It is called the Parkside Inn and it was paradise!  I mean, paradise!  A king size bed, hardwood floors, kitchenette with tile floor and backsplash, soft close drawers and cabinet doors, a FULL bathroom with a TUB, fluffy towels.  And more and more and more.  Oh my, I was in heaven after some of the places we stayed in.  I really needed a 5 star night and this was it.  Again, sorry no pics.  I was just too busy enjoying the luxury, getting a good shower and shampoo and having some food that I fixed in the room.  Oh yes, this is a wonderful place to stay!!!

So that's it for our day from Gakona to Haines Junction.  

Cheers,
Cletha