Tok (pronounced Toke), Alaska is not too far from the border, and seems to me to be a hub for travelers. I think most people would stop here for supplies or for the night, and then go either south west to Anchorage, north west to Fairbanks, or north east to Chicken and/or Eagle, the Top of The World Highway, and back across the border to Yukon and over to Dawson City.
Similar to Northwest Territories, I wanted to do a somewhat quick loop through Alaska, so my planned route was north east back into Yukon and over to Dawson City via the Top of The World Highway, another adventurous gravel road by the sounds of things. And who wouldn’t want to visit a place called Chicken on the way?! Get it? ‘Chicken On The Way?‘ (It’s a restaurant chain.) I could have added an extra day or two to my trip and done Anchorage or Fairbanks, but that will have to be for another time. Why wouldn’t I take a cruise up to Anchorage if I could?? I pondered for a bit about it though, as the Gakona Brewery is about a two hour drive from Tok toward Anchorage, but then I would have had to stay there for a night. As if anything was stopping me!! Rawwwr.
Back to Tok! The Alaska Highway from the border to Tok was in great condition, and the speed limit went up to 65 MPH or 105 km/h in spots. I felt ok doing that most of the time. I hope dash cams are legal in Alaska, I couldn’t find anything saying they aren’t, only found info regarding size restrictions when mounted in specific places and mine is tiny, so I’m presuming I was good to go!
Arrived in Tok, first thing on my hit list: GEOCACHE! I needed that Alaska souvenir!! Totally forgot to mention my Yukon souvenir which I got early on in at Watson Lake in the Sign Post Forest. This cache in Tok was a nice fun one. I like the easy ones!! And funny with how huge it was, and I’m looking all around worrying about not finding it and them BAM! There it is standing out like nothing else, despite its camouflage.
I left some SWAG behind along with the pirate geocoin that I wanted to keep forever and ever. This coin wants to travel to an ocean, so hopefully the next geocacher to pick it up will take it to Anchorage or have it reach an ocean eventually! I found this coin for sale online and got one for myself that I am now keeping in my own geocoin collection. My collection has exactly one geocoin in it now! I’m sure I’ll add to it, there’s just something about collecting things…
My Alaska souvenir from geocaching.com:
Next up was deciding on somewhere to stay for the night. There were lots of campgrounds and hotels around (no chains, all local as far as I could tell). I ended up at the Tundra Lodge and RV Park which had tenting as well. It’s a beautiful area and supervised, with flushing toilets and showers so that was nice!
I just noticed that all my camping supplies match. Coincidence? I think not!
It takes about 30 minutes for me to set up my tent, but I take my time of course. I don’t want to break any tent poles! Not worried about a tear though, I’ve got DUCT TAPE!!
Heavy duty fire pit:
I probably should post about some of the meals I feasted on that only required hot water to make. This one tasted decent. It even filled me up, although I think it’s supposed to be two portions. You can pour the boiling water straight into the bag and let it sit for 10-15 minutes, but I always used my handy dandy bowl which kept it nice and hot.
Now Alaska has SOUVENIRS!! As small as Tok is (pop, 1,258 as of 2010 per Google), they have at least 3 or 4 souvenir and craft stores that I saw.
Since I did not visit a brewery in Alaska, I searched out a liquor store with the hopes it would have some local craft beer:
Found some!! Four different Alaska craft breweries, and not one was the Gakona Brewery, gaaah! Oh well. I’m sure these will be great!!
Bye bye Tok, I enjoyed my stay here.
