Why are you moving to Alaska?: Day 11

Day 11 was our last day on the Alaska Highway (you have to turn off to drive the last stretch into Anchorage), so we won't have anymore posts about it after this. But the Highway is more beautiful, and its history more interesting, than our words could describe. If you want to learn more about the history of the Highway and your computer can do the job, you can watch the one-hour documentary "The Alaska Highway" online. Just go to http://www.360north.org/ at one of the following times:

Monday, October 5 at 1 a.m. Eastern/12 a.m. Central
Friday, October 9 at 1 p.m. E/12 p.m. C or 7 p.m E/6 p.m. C
Friday, October 16 at 1 p.m. E/12 p.m. C or 7 p.m E/6 p.m. C

If you go to that website at one of those times and click on "Live Feed" at the top of the page, the documentary should pop up (I think watching it live is the only option - I don't see a way to watch it any other time).

As for the future of the Highway, here is a gloomy article I saw a while back: http://uphere.ca/node/443.

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The weather was beautiful as we left Whitehorse on the morning of Day 11. Here are some mountains right outside of town:

We wanted to get out and enjoy the weather, and we liked the pictures of Kluane Lake in our guidebook (The Milepost), so we stopped at the Kluane National Park Visitor Centre in Haines Junction, Yukon. The guy gave us a map and recommended a couple of short hikes. We were all set. But then Lindsay asked about bears. The guy told us that we were in the heart of grizzly bear country and that the hiking paths he had recommended were popular grizzly hangouts. As we listened in horror, he asked us if we wanted to watch the DVD "Staying Safe in Bear Country." Do we want to watch it? Ya gotta be kiddin' me. Of course we wanted to watch it.

After the video ended, Lindsay crawled out from underneath the table, I unfurled from the fetal position, and we began serious negotiations about our hiking plans. We decided that we had to get out and do it. We were moving to Alaska, and we couldn't let the possibility of a bear encounter alter our plans.

We got back into our car, map in hand, and headed for Kluane Lake. It was, like The Milepost suggested, lovely:

Then, a funny thing happened. We missed our turn. By the time we discovered our mistake, we were 30 miles past the recommended hike . . . much, MUCH too far to turn around. What a shame (seriously, though, I was driving, Lindsay was holding the map, and neither of us saw a turnoff . . . maybe the bear gods gave us a free pass).

Though we wouldn't be seeing a grizzly in person, we were hoping to at least see one along the road. Just as it had done with black bear, The Milepost told us that "bears are common along the Alaska Highway" and provided a picture of some grizzlies. Alas, just as with the black bear, we didn't see any grizzlies (probably because they were waiting for us back on the hiking path). Fortunately for you folks, we were able to get this shot of the picture in The Milepost:

While we didn't see any grizzlies during our time on the Alaska Highway, we did get to see the World's Largest Gold Pan in Burwash Landing, Yukon. Majestic:

Right outside of Burwash Landing, our tripometer hit 4000 miles:

Surprisingly, even after all those miles, Lindsay wasn't insisting on a shady Yukon divorce.

Just miles from the Alaska border, we saw another rainbow:

For weeks, I had been thinking about the perfect picture we would take in front of the "Welcome to Alaska" sign. Lindsay had apparently been thinking about sitting awkwardly and waving her right hand as we got our picture taken in front of the "Welcome to Alaska" sign:

Initially, the lack of guys named Joe with six-packs and hockey moms saying "You betcha" made me suspicious of our true location, but the sign left me convinced that we had made it to Alaska.

This next photo was meant to leave you fascinated by the fact that I was in one country (AMERICA) while Lindsay was in a different country (NOT AMERICA), but another person's parking job left it looking like a Craigslist car ad:

Everyone has heard of Fairbanks and Anchorage, but few people know that Alaska also has many junctions:

Our time on the Alaska Highway ended in Tok, which is where we stopped for the night (and where it got down to -70--no windchill, just -70--last winter). We saw the Tok face-hole-photo-op board, and we didn't even discuss whether we should go take our pictures. After 4000 miles, we just knew that we were supposed to: