Tuesday, September 12, 2017 West Fork BLM campgrounds south of Chicken, AK  to a roadside pull-out on the east end of Denali Highway.

After a cup of coffee/tea with the rest of a cinnamon roll we bought last night in Chicken, we continued south on the Taylor Highway to Tok. In Tok we filled up with gas, found a car wash (after being on another gravel road!), and then had breakfast at Fast Eddy’s – a very nice restaurant.  Just west of Tok we had to make a decision as to whether we were going north or south.  We made the decision to go north to Delta Junction where we would turn south on the Richardson Highway until Paxton, AK, where we would turn west on the Denali Highway.    

First Snow-Capped Mountain Sighting

Delta Junction - The North end of the AlCan Highway

All highways in Alaska are named for people, as well as are the bridges, creeks, and mountains - people who were influential in the area.

You may be asking why we are sleeping in the Acadia so often/camping.  We knew from the last time we were in Alaska, if you wanted flexibility, you need facilities to camp.  Yes, there are motels, but we don’t want to be deciding what we want to do according to where the motels are located – going motel to motel.  We are camping more than we thought we would be, and right now we are with the hunters.

We had beautiful views of Alaskan Range of Mountains today, that is until it clouded over late this afternoon. We stopped earlier than planned tonight due to the weather – hoping tomorrow will be clear.  The landscape has the fall colors, but they are not quite as vibrant as further north.  The tundra landscape is losing its color too.  Don’t get me wrong, it is still colorful, but we were spoiled with the colors on the Dempster Highway. 

The Pipeline - 40 years old

Tonight, we are in a pull-out along the road – one where there are no hunters – at least not so far!  From this location, we can see a glacier, river, lakes and a mountain range. We are having a little drizzle tonight, as we have been having almost every night. Due to the rainy weather, we are not having dust! But there can be mud!!

In the last half hour before we stopped tonight we saw out first moose – a Mama and her calf.  We hope at least 1 photo is good.  They keep moving behind bushes and trees. 

Female Moose and Calf

Our Camping View

Any one for some Rami Noodles