8/4/15 DESTRUCTION BAY 2.0

Today's weather was what you would hope to have when traveling in Alaska and Canada.  The temps outside when we left Tok, AK was 45 degrees. We've been using the central heat in the motorhome for the past 2 weeks now every morning to take the chill off. By the time we settled into Otter Falls RV Park, east of Haines Junction in the Yukon Territory, the temperature had soared to almost 80 degrees (a heat wave in northern Canada).  We had blue skies and sunshine all day allowing us to see parts of the Wrangell- St. Elias Mountain in the US and Kluane Mountain Range in Canada that we had never seen before.  Here are some of the highlights of today's trip:

We stopped at the Tetlin Wildlife National Refuge Center in Alaska just before crossing the Canadian Border.

It wasn't long after we crossed into Canada we hit gravel roads and construction for about 50 miles.  Our speeds ranged from 5 to 50 mph on the dirt portion of the highway.  There were a lot of other RV 'rs  traveling and complaining about "the road from hell" at the rest areas along the highway- some had clogged fuel and air filters.  The only saving grace for this part of the trip was the view out the window.

Due to the permafrost and the harsh climate this section is always under construction.  The pilot cars were very efficient maneuvering the lines of traffic (usually about 4 or 5 vehicles)  from left to right around working equipment and through the construction areas.  Water trucks routinely dump water on the road to cut down on dust, but in doing so make a fine concrete covering of mud on the moho and toad.

The views continue to be spectacular.

The dust was intense and so bad it clogged the air filter on the generator set in the motorhome. We stopped in a rest area and Joe disassembled the air filter and cleaned the air filter, But we are now in need of a new air filter for the generator and we've been searching across the small towns of northern Canada for the part . We may have to wait until we get down to the lower 48 to find the filter.

We saw our first grizzly bear near Burwash Landing, Yukon Territory.  He was munching on some young tree leaves minding his business.  Our dog Shiloh started barking at him causing him to look our way. 

More spectacular scenery around Kluane Lake and Destruction Bay.

We stayed at a dumpy little campground called Otter Falls Truck Stop, east of Haines Junction, YK.  There isn't much to choose from for camping in this area, but we made the best of it.  The campground was infested with Marmots (lots of holes for the dogs to go nuts over), but after a long day with rough roads, we were ready to stop most anywhere.

Tomorrow we continue east on the Alaska Highway thru Whitehorse to Baby Nugget RV Park at Ft Nelson, British Columbia