Riverview RV Park, North Pole, AK, USA

Sunday, 7 August 2011
Riverview RV Park, North Pole, AK, USA

Hello all,

It's been a couple of days without WiFi / Internet access, so no posts till now...

We are safely setup at the Riverview RV Park, North Pole, AK, just east of Fairbanks.  The park is OK, but not nearly as nice as the last several places we've stayed.  It will do.  The drive up to here from Haines passes through some incredibly beautiful parts of BC and the Yukon.  We were a bit late leaving Haines because I spotted a screw in one of the trailer tires, and had to get it fixed.  Fortunately, the folks at Big Foot Service got us on our way quickly.  We had a nice day, partly cloudy with lots of sunshine.  We covet the sunshine as there hasn't been that much of it.  Our day's destination was Kluane Lake / Congdon Creek CG, and it was a beauty.  A dry camp, but wonderfully set along the shore of one of the most beautiful lakes we've seen yet.  We got set up and were looking forward to our first campfire of the trip, when the sun disappeared and we heard the patter or falling raindrops; so, no campfire that night.  In fact, we got a real downpour for several hours.  Fortunately, when we awoke in the morning, it was beautiful.  There was fresh snow on the mountain tops, and the sun was out in full force.  Here is how it looked from our trailer:

Kluane Lake CG

We walked to the lake shore, and wandered the beach a bit:

Kluane Lake, YT

Then it was time to finish our breakfast, pack up, and be on our way to Tok, AK.  The drive was as beautiful as one could hope.  Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a wayside and recorded these views:

After lunch, we drove past more beautiful countryside and saw our second moose, a young one, as it crossed the road ahead of us.  We arrived in Tok, without any problems, and set up at the Tundra Lodge & RV Park.  We were both tired after the long drive over some rough roads, so we opted for dinner at Fast Eddie's diner, along with most of Tok.  We shared lasagne and a salad bar; and were quite satisfied.  We visited several of the gift shops in town, but didn't really find anything of interest.  Up the next morning, we had a good breakfast of pancakes and sausage.  Then packed up and got on the road again.  The drive up to Fairbanks passed along snow topped moutains to the South (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Reserve), magnificent rivers, wide areas of run-off, braided channels across broad gravel beds.  Wonderful scenery. The only problem was the lousy weather: 

Now we are set up in Riverview, it is time for breakfast, and then we are off to do some sight-seeing in Fairbanks.  More, anon...