Haines to Fairbanks Alaska – Our 6 Month Alaska Adventure Part 5

Overview

Our 6-month adventure continues with our journey from Haines to Fairbanks Alaska.

Finally, we are going to escape being in contact with the world of cruise ship travel on the coast, head into the Alaska interior and travel up to Fairbanks.

 

Day 1 – Transitioning from Haines to Tok (day 37 of the overall trip)

Haines to the Yukon Boarder Crossing

It is tough to leave the rental house in this tranquil setting of Haines, but we are ready to leave the Inside Passage area of Alaska and all the cruise ships that come with it.  Today is THE longest drive of all our transition drives “in Alaska” at 9.5 hours – and “in Alaska” is in quotes because in order to get from Haines, AK to Tok, AK, we have to travel for 6 hours through Canada.  We have some apprehension today because we have 2 border crossings – one into Canada and one back into the US.

So let’s chat about border crossing into Canada these days.  We remember long ago, before “9/11” when US citizens could just show a driver’s license to get across into Canada.  But since 9/11 and the Pandemic – the process is more onerous.  Canada now requires all foreign travelers to use the ArriveCan app to submit their travel plans which includes the name of the border crossing, the date/time you’ll be entering, the number of days you will be in Canada as well as where you will be in Canada.  Just a month ago, not only did you have to be COVID vaccinated, but you needed a negative test result within 72 hours of entering Canada – and the ONLY Covid testing site is in Haines (personal tests aren’t accepted).  If you were staying just one night in Canada, you also had to submit a quarantine plan should you test positive before leaving Canada.

The earliest you can submit a travel plan is 3 days prior but we had uploaded our passports and covid vaccine certificates into the system way back in early May.  We had some issues trying to fill out the ArriveCan app because it assumes you will spend the night in Canada.  We’re just passing through and the app requires a Canadian location of your stay.  One phone call to the Canadian border folks and they tell us to enter the name & address of the ENTRY border crossing station (Pleasant Camp).

BC and Yukon to Haines Junction

After all that angst, the border patrol crossing was painless.  A lot of questions about firearms, cannabis, fresh fruit, uncooked chicken and eggs as well as verifying we really are only driving through and not stopping.

And so we entered Canada via British Columbia for several miles before driving into the province of Yukon and officially joining up with the Alcan Highway.

We’ve heard that roads this far north are peppered with frost heaves and potholes – but so far, so good.  The first stretch in British Columbia isn’t too bad and the speed limit is 100kph (that’s kilometers per hour which is about 63mph).  We do switch our vehicles units from miles to kilometers and we feel a bit like a badass seeing our digital odometer reading 110.  Soon we cross into the province of Yukon and the speed limit lowers to 90kph – which is humorous since these aren’t roads where you can travel that fast.  This is the area of frost heaves and potholes – not to mention cracks and crevices in the road.  Roadside signs talk of former earthquake damage – which they apparently haven’t gotten around to fixing.  (FUN FACT – Alaska has 11% of the world’s earthquakes including 3 of the 6 largest earthquakes ever recorded).  The scenery is amazing even with some overcast clouds and occasional rain.  We see snow covered mountains in every direction. We really only get a glimpse of this beauty of this area with the clouds and fog and want to return in the future.

Haines Junction

There are only 3 towns along this route – Haines Junction, Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek (the western most town in all of Canada).  And “town” essentially means gas station and a restaurant and they are basically 100 miles apart.The first town we drive through is Haines Junction.  So many folks that we’ve met along this trip have raved about how beautiful Haines Junction is.  What do you think?

Haines Junction to the USA Boarder

The scenery continues to “wow” us with snow-capped mountains and luscious green valleys.

USA Border

The border crossing back into the US was even more painless.  We basically just flashed our passports and were in.

USA Border to Tok Alaska

We thought the roads might improve once back in the US and while there was some, this far up north it is just something they can’t keep up with.  We still have a 90 mile drive to Tok and there is only 1 town between the border crossing and there.   We make it to Tok from Haines (428 miles) on 1 tank of gas with 60 miles to spare- very gratefully since gas in Canada is even more expensive than in the US ($7.90 in Canada vs $5.75 in the USA at the time of this blog).

A Hyde Away Inn Tok Alaska

We find our lodging for the night – a little Bed & Breakfast just outside of town called A Hyde Away Inn.  Our room is up on the 2nd floor and has a small private balcony.

Tok

Tok is a small town with a main strip along the highway with  2 restaurants, a grocery store and 3 gas stations – plus 6 to 8 B&B’s/small cabin rental style hotels and a campground and about 1250 residents.  It was first established in 1942 as an Alaska Road Commission camp used for construction of the new Alaska Highway being built during WW2.  In 1947 the first school opened.  The US Customs Office was located in Tok from 1947 to 1971 when it was moved to the Canada-US border – remember, Tok is 90 miles from the border!

Bears Den Lounge

We drive back to the strip and do a small grocery run to get sandwich supplies for the next few days.  We stop in at the Bears Den Lounge for a beer.  At first our bartender is Aaron and he lets us know that we can order food from Fast Eddy’s Restaurant next door and eat our food here at the bar.  Fast Eddy’s only has tables and we love sitting at the bar – so Nancy calls in an order and walks over to pick it up 20 minutes later.  In the meantime, we have a bartender shift change and Amanda takes over serving us and listening to our tales.  Her boyfriend joins us at the bar – he’s just picked up a friend at the Fairbanks airport and complains about the drive (207 miles and 3.5 hours each way).

Day 2 – The Journey to Eagle (day 38 of the overall trip)

Breakfast at Hyde Away Inn

Our B&B hostess, Laura from Romania, is fun to chat with the next morning while she’s making breakfast for everyone.  She serves us pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and fresh fruit.  We meet some of the other guests.  There is a couple from PA that is staying here for 4 days while they begin plans to build a house on a piece of property they acquired – they plan to live full time in Tok.  We also meet a couple from Australia that is just passing through on their 3 week trip in Alaska – they flew into White Horse in Canada and drove the “Top of the World Highway” and tell us about the horrific conditions of that road.

Alaska Highway Bridge Memorial

With breakfast over, we embark on the 166 mile drive, over half of which is unpaved roads, to Eagle Alaska for the night.  We stop at the Alaska Highway Bridge Memorial and learn more about the construction of the Alaska Higheway.

Tok to Chicken Alaska

The first 66 miles are paved and take us to Chicken, Alaska.  Paved still doesn’t mean smooth pavement like it does down in the continental US – we are playing “dodge pothole” the whole way. Along the way we meet a Canandian couple who are traveling towards Dawson and chat for a few minutes.

Frost Heaves, Potholes & Road Damage

Those cracks don’t look too bad in the pictures, but they are deep and very uneven.

Chicken

If we had driven the Alcan Highway all the way from MT to AK – the last stretch of that is called the “Top of the World Highway” from Dawson – and after crossing the Yukon River and the Canadian boarder, the first town in Alaska is Chicken, an outpost in the wilderness alongside Chicken Creek.  Here again, “town” is a loose term that describes 2 souvenir stores, 1 café, 1 saloon and an old gold dredge with a population of about 17 people in the summer.  Chicken is one of the few remaining gold rush towns in Alaska.  Chicken Alaska is a very unique place, self-described as quirky – and those who have traversed the “Top of the World Highway” look at this town as almost a rite of passage.

We stop at an area with a few buildings to check this place out.  We’ve seen pictures of Chicken and we know it isn’t much, but this first area where we stop doesn’t seem like “it”.  We go through the rather large gift shop for a town this small and hear the café next door hasn’t yet re-opened since the Pandemic.  We figure that means we’ll probably be having a picnic lunch on our tailgate later in our journey.  Harrison meets a motorcyclist named Ken from New York and they exchange stories about travel plans.  Ken asks Harrison to sign his helmet.

Chicken Gold Camp

We know this can’t just be “it” and we do see a large piece of mining equipment just a few hundred yards away.  We head that way and now we see “it” – the area known as Chicken Gold Camp.  In addition to the mining equipment and some building associated with the old mining operation, there’s a campground, cafe & gift shop, some cabins and there’s one long building with 4 attached “stores”.  The store on the left is a gift shop, next is the liquor store, next a saloon and on the far right is a café.  (Funny – that lady at the big gift shop never mentioned either of these other cafés).  Each of these “stores” is maybe 20′ x 30′.  First, we walk around the area known as Chicken Gold Camp to learn a little about the gold mining history in this area.  That large piece of mining equipment is Pedro Dredge that mined Chicken Creek in the 1930’s.  We also see a little stage with the words “Chickenstock” proudly displayed.

Chicken Creek Saloon

The Chicken Creek Saloon calls our name and we enter the very dark space with 6 bar stools.  The place is decorated with baseball caps, a few license plates and lots of shredded bras and underwear.  We meet our bartender, Jake, who has only been in Chicken now for 3 weeks.  Over a few beers, we learn that Chickenstock is their version of Woodstock – and it is an annual music festival that draws about 3000 people each year (and it was just last weekend).  Jake uses their record player to throw on an AC/DC album and we learn the story of the shredded under-garments.  The tradition is for women to be given a pair of scissors to cut off their underwear on each side – pants on, reaching in – that’s part of the experience.  The garment is then shot from a cannon into the parking lot and the shredded remains are gathered and stapled to the wall or ceiling.  Nancy does not yield to the tradition – most likely because there’s no audience today.

We meet Max, the owner of this here establishment.  We’ve just met him but he freely tells us his life story in four quick sentences.  Born and raised in Chicken, his parents owned these 4 stores and they had an au pair from France who home schooled him.  Daddy & Mommy split with Mommy getting this place and Daddy getting the au pair.  Daddy moved to France with his new wife, so he went to high school and college in France,.  Then came back to take over this place from his mother.  Well, well.  We order lunch food from the Chicken Creek Café next door and eat it at the bar in the saloon.

 

Henrietta the Moose

Jake spots the local moose they’ve named Henrietta hanging out in the parking lot.  We go outside to see our first Moose in Alaska (hopefully not our last).  We share more delightful conversation and then it is time to continue on our way to Eagle.

Chicken to Eagle Dirt Road

The road turns to “unpaved” and then twenty miles north of Chicken, we turn onto the road to Eagle.  We have 100 miles to travel on this unpaved road and we remark that it is actually in slightly better condition that the paved roads we’ve been driving recently.  There’s no posted speed limit because the conditions of the road speak for themselves.  We probably average 30mph so it takes us just over 3 hours to arrive in Eagle after driving through what is mostly wilderness with hardly soul to be seen.

The Falcon Inn Bed & Breakfast

Eagle is truly “the end of the road” where the road just ends at the Yukon River.  There are two crossroads as we reach town and we understand the population here is about 80.  There are no restaurants, but there is a small hotel, one bed & breakfast and a small “grocery” store. We know a lot of people don’t visit Eagle because it really is very remote.  We remark we hope someone else is actually staying in our B&B and we hope they are interesting and good conversationalists because there’s not much to do but talk with people.

Our first order of business is to find our lodging for the night.  We’re staying at The Falcon Inn Bed & Breakfast and we actually miss it first time we try to find it.  The instructions we received prior to arriving tell us that our key will be in an envelope by the front door with our room number.  Since there is no cell phone service here, we should use the land line phone to call our hostess to let them know we’ve arrived.  Sure enough, we find our envelope and a land line tucked inside a blue milk crate labeled “phone booth”.

We call the hostess and she lets us know she will be down to greet us in about 30 minutes AND that the rest of the rooms are all occupied by a really nice group of guys that will be coming back around 6pm as well.  We assume they are a group of guys out fishing or hiking. The Yukon River here is spectacular and it is running high this time of year.  It is in fact higher than usual since it is warmer than usual so the snow melt that feeds the river is fast and furious right now.  We check out our room and head out to briefly walk through Eagle.

Airplanes

One thing we learn is that most folks who live out this way don’t drive that road in/out – they own their own prop planes to get in/out.

Eagle Alaska

Eagle definitely has charm. We walk for about 25 minutes knowing we want to get back to the B&B to meet the hostess.

Fort Egbert

Fort Egbert was established in 1899 during the Klondike Gold Rush and was designated as the first station in a network of telegraph lines connecting Alaska with the contiguous US.  The Fort was abandoned in 1911 (except for the Army Signal Corps) which continued in operation until 1925 when the wireless station (which replaced the land lines) burned to the ground.  Five building remain under the jurisdiction of the BLM.

Meanwhile, back at the Inn – Meeting up and Talking to Fort Egbert Hazmat Workers

We see many trucks in the parking lot as we come back to the Falcon Inn.  We hear “the guys” talking on the front porch and we climb up the stairs to meet them.  It turns out they aren’t other tourists, or fishermen or hikers – they are Hazmat workers that are removing lead and asbestos from Fort Egbert here in Eagle.  There are about 12 guys who have been living here for about 6 weeks already.

When we ask how long they will be there, they laugh as they tell us they have to be done by October or the road out closes till next April.  They do think they will be done mid-July as the full days of sunlight allow them to work very long days.  And so – we are delighted that we get to experience living in a “work camp” and will get to hear stories from people that live in Alaska, not just chat with other travelers for a change.

Within 5 minutes, the hostess Marlys shows up bearing dinner.  The Hazmat company (Absolute Services) worked out a deal with her to not only provide breakfast each day, but to also provide dinner for the guys.  Tonight she’s prepared meatloaf, macaroni and cheese and mixed vegetable with home-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Marlys says we’re welcome to enjoy the food too, but we want to make sure they all get fed before we do anything. One by one they head in and manage to devour all but 2 scoops of mac-n-cheese.  Knowing the town had no restaurants, we came prepared to make our own dinner – but the kitchen is just a pile of casserole dishes and plates with no real room to “cook”.  We opt for ham & cheese sandwiches and finish up the last of the mac-n-cheese.

We sit on the porch and drink beer with “the guys”.  We meet Mike and his son Waylon and further learn that Mike is remarried and that his son ended up married his wife’s daughter (aka his stepsister – and they live together in a remote cabin outside of Talkeetna.  Waylon and his wife have 4 kids including a set of twins.  He’s gone home once so far this summer to see them, but it is a 2 day drive, so they flew out of Eagle on a bush plane.  We met Jake who just arrived 2 days ago to replace a guy that lost his pinky finger in an accident and has been told he needs 4 weeks off before he can return to work.  We hear stories of the Hazmat process.  We ask for the worst job they’ve ever worked on and hear yucky details of working around sewage that we’ll spare you the details on.

We also hear the story of the crazy Germans” that floated past the Inn a week or so ago on a homemade raft. According to Mike they brought all the barrels and wood in and built it just upstream from the Inn (see picture). “How did you know they where German?”  “We shouted back and forth as they floated by”. The hazmat guys thought what they were doing was absolute insanity given how strong the Yukon was running. Did they make it? Who knows? Its not like there’s a lot of news in this corner of the world that travels here quickly.

Day 4 – Transitioning from Eagle back to Tok (day 39 of the overall trip)

Breakfast

Marlys arrives sometime early in the morning and quietly cleans up the kitchen chaos from the previous night.  We emerge from our room and see the guys starting to emerge as well.  We meet Carl – nicknamed Coffee Carl – because he LOVES his coffee and Marlys has provided him with a very large mug.  Marlys serves up scrambled eggs & bacon from breakfast and we just eat with the guys.  She volunteered to make us a special breakfast more deserving of a B&B, but we opt to make her life easy and just enjoy the work camp experience.

The guys all head out to work and this gives us a chance to talk with Marlys and learn more about her life in Eagle.  Marlys lives about a mile from the B&B with her husband.  We learn she only goes to Tok twice a year to get provisions (that’s a 166 mile drive that takes at least 5 hours each way).  She heads out in April when the road opens to get provisions for the summer when she’ll have guests and again in October to have all she’ll need for the winter.  The only way in/out in the winter is by bush plane and she reminds us that several residents here have their own planes.  She did an extra trip last year to attend a wedding in Minnesota.  She can get fresh eggs from neighbors with chickens and grows some produce herself.  She only buys from the small grocery store in town when she’s desperate because the prices are so high.  She has some regular guests that she knows well enough to ask to pick up a load of groceries she orders ahead of time and bring it to her when they come.

Tok to Chicken

We are only heading back to Tok today, so we take the drive nice and slow probably averaging 18mph.  We always appreciate when we can drive a road in both directions to truly experience the beauty of the scenery along the road.  We pass a few more cars and motorcycles today on the way out than we did on the way in.

Chicken Again

We had so much fun at the Chicken Creek Saloon that we opt to have lunch there again.  This time Jake is manning the Café and Billy is manning the saloon.  There are a few more people in Chicken today so we meet some bar buddies, Chris & Terry from Marathon, FL which is located along the Florida Keys.  We have a fantastic time talking about our travel plans and theirs.  We also meet Ted, a local Chicken resident who stops by for a beer or two and some conversation.  Word comes in order the ham radio that a car has overturned on some back road (not the main road we travel on).  We learn the folks that run “this place” are also responsible for ambulance duties – so they meet up to figure out who will go to the crash site.

Chicken to Tok

We decide to leave them so they can focus on this important task and we head back to Tok for the night.  The road is as bad as we remember, but again, we are blessed with the opportunity to drive it in the other direction to truly appreciate the scenery.

Caribou Cabins

With several lodging options in Tok, we opt to stay in a different place for a different experience – and our choice is Caribou Cabins.  This is a collection of 6 modern cabins and we’ve opted for one that truly resembles a hotel room on the inside – just one room with a small fridge, microwave and bathroom.   As we check in, the owner is clearly socially distancing himself and tells us our cabin number (unlocked with keys in the room) and he scurries back inside his office.

We are in cabin #6 on the end and the first thing we notice is the plethora of mosquitos.  This is the worst we’ve seen them and with unloading/loading into our room, at least a dozen enter with us.  It’s like they’ve been trained to gather at the door, so we spray it with insect repellent  to hopefully minimize their ability to get in.  We see one squeeze through the window screen so we close the windows.  We decide NOT to go back to Bear’s Den Lounge or Fast Eddy’s for dinner and once again enjoy a delicious ham and cheese sandwich with chips and cookies in our room.  We flip on the TV and fall asleep after watching a movie.

Day 5 – Transitioning from Tok to Fairbanks (day 40 of the overall trip)

Tok to Delta Junction

We have a relatively short drive from Tok to Fairbanks today, but we make sure we maximize the experience.  We jump on the Alaska Highway in Tok and take it to where it ends in Delta Junction and joins the Richardson Highway (formerly known as the Valdez Trail).  The Richardson Highway goes north to Fairbanks or south to Valdez and is the main connection between the coast and the interior of Alaska.  The other connection is the Parks Highway that goes from Fairbanks to Anchorage.

Delta Junction and the Visitors Center

We stop at the Visitor Center to get a lay of the land and read about how the Alaska Highway was built during World War II as a military road to bring supplies to the interior and to nearby airfields. The entire Alaska Highway was built in a quick eight months in 1942.  We also learn that scientists believe Bison became extinct in Alaska about 500 years ago, but in 1928, a herd of 23 were located here to Delta Junction and today number around 500.  And we learn there were 2 roadhouses in Delta Junction for turn of the century weary travelers to rest up before moving along on their journey.

Delta Junction Farms

The guidebook tells of a scenic drive you can take in Delta Junction that shows off the farming culture of the area.  We have 2 different maps and both prove inadequate for understanding the path so we circle around and around.  We also learn there is a lot more farming in this area than we expected given how far north this area is.

Agriculture got a start in this area in 1946 when a dairy farm was established.  It expanded a great deal in 1978 with the auction of 60,000 acres for the Phase I of the Delta Agricultural Project. This has been enlarged several times over the decades with thousands of other acres added devoted to farming.  They raise Bison and they grow wheat, potatoes and other crops in the area. We catch a glimpse of the Alaska Farmers Co-op as we pass through the area.

We take a short driving tour of the area and  some of the large farms before we  head to our next destination.

Delta Junction to Paxson

We have extra time so we decide to drive the Richardson Highway south down as far as Paxon.  In 5 weeks or so we will come from the west into Paxson on our way to Glenallen and eventually drive it all the way south to Valdez.  We’ve heard this is a particularly amazing stretch of road and about 10 miles in, we start to see some truly magnificent scenery.  Up ahead are tall mountains with snow still covering half – and we make a note to ourselves that we’ll be able to compare the amount of snow today vs when we are back in this area.  Words don’t do justice to describe the beauty – so please enjoy the photography.

Paxson is just a blip on the map.  We were expecting a little more but only see one community of houses about a mile north of the official Paxson marker and a closed hotel & restaurant at the Paxson marker.  We turn around and do the drive in reverse and it is equally spectacular.  We stop for a tailgate picnic about halfway back and remark how excellent a choice we made for lunch with a view.

Big Delta State Historical Park & Rika’s Roadhouse

As we head north past Delta Junction, have little issue finding Big Delta State Historical Park which includes the restored turn-of-the-century Rika’s Roadhouse as well as several other restored cabins and buildings.  When we do locate it (we were coming to it from a back road in the aquaculture area) , we are disappointed that Rika’s Roadhouse is closed but we still walk around the historical site.  It appears permanently closed, a victim of the Pandemic – perhaps to open up again in the future, but not today or tomorrow or next week.  We meet some very disappointed folks who had planned to camp here, but they will have to look for another location.

Delta Junction to Fairbanks

We don’t have a long drive left to Fairbanks and Alaska continues to deliver beautiful scenery along the route.   We pass Eielson Airforce base and get to watch 4 fighter planes take off and practice some maneuvers.

We will be in Fairbanks for 23 days and are definitely ready to be in one place for a long time without feeling pressured to fit in all the things we want to do in an area.  If it rains or if we’re tired, we have more days to explore. When you are on a 190+ day road trip, you can’t just go, go, go all the time.  With 23 days, we will get a chance to feel like we’re actually living there.   It will also be nice not to have to pack a smaller bag for that 1 to 3 night stay – but to have all our things at our disposable without having to go out to the truck.

Arrive in Fairbanks and Settling In

We find our “home” for the next 23 days and it is perfect!  We have a 1 bedroom apartment in a quiet, clean neighborhood near the university that is right on the Chena River.  After unpacking, we decide to do a grocery run and just drive around the city to get a feel for where things are.

Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska (Anchorage is the largest) and the largest in the interior region.  With a population just above 32,000 we have access to a Walmart, Costco, Toyota Dealership and other infrastructure common to a US city.  Interestingly enough, other than a FEW fast food chains, we find NO chain restaurants in Fairbanks (which is honestly fine with us).  Summer temperatures are higher than we anticipated – we learn the location in the Tanana Valley between two large mountain ranges coupled with 24 hours of daylight and low humidity means an average high of 73 and an average low of 52.  Add in a nation-wide heat wave at the moment and we will be experiencing days that may reach 80!

Summary

Chicken is a hoot – a “do not miss” experience!  Eagle isn’t for everyone, but we definitely recommend it if you have the time.

Up Next

We will settle in Fairbanks for just over 3 weeks.

Prior Legs of the Journey

Part 1 – The Trip to Key West is located  here.

Part 2 – Cross Country to Bellingham Washington is located  here.

Part 3 – The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Juneau is located here.

Part 4- The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Haines & Skagway is located here.