I have been remiss.
We left Anchorage on Thursday (2 July) and were back on the Alaska Highway on Friday. We didn’t dawdle this time, making it back to Dawson Creek in 4 days. We didn’t meet with as many construction delays as on the way up, but I don’t think it can be driven any faster than that.
Wildfire is a constant danger in the north woods, and there were more than 600 fires in Alaska while we were there. The Tok fire started as we entered the state and eventually consumed several miles of forest along the highway.
And on the trip back, we drove through more than 100 miles of smoke,some of it quite thick, in the Yukon. The smoke alarm goes off when I boil water, but didn’t utter a peep through all the smoke.
Perhaps my largest disappointment with this trip was the fact that most days the vistas, though gorgeous, were no longer than we get in the Smokies. Although we were 1000 miles north of any serious industrial smog, we just didn’t get the “100 mile views” I had expected to see. I can’t help but think that the fires had a lot to do with that.
The Alaska Highway is notorious for going through windshields, but we almost made it the entire length, both ways, without mishap. But Sunday, on a good stretch of road, a gravel truck apparently hit a bump at 100 kph, spewing stone behind it. We were fortunate to come out with only a single stone chip, which we got patched the next morning. But enough is enough. No more repairs, please.
On Wednesday (8 July) we crossed back into the US, stopping for a visit to Glacier National Park. There were 150 glaciers in the park when it was created in 1915. Now it is down to 25, and they are all expected to be gone in another 15 years or so. But ice or no ice, it is still gorgeous.
Friday was an overnight in Billings (MT), then on to Devils Tower, with a brief stop at the Little Big Horn battlefield. Today (Sunday), we will go on to Mount Rushmore.
