Tok

There is a red fox in the campsite as I’m breaking camp in Whitehorse. The teenagers in the site next door were up all night talking and drinking, so the fox is going through all the food they left out.

Another great sighting, the VW bus. I now know why I never see any in Texas, they are all in Montana and Canada, and they are all 100% outfitted for camping. They are everywhere up here.

Speaking of VW’s, this place is a hippy haven, if you want to check out some bohemian people, this is the spot.

After leaving Whitehorse, I find myself on the road without my usual travel companions, the RV with the green gas can and the fat girls from Iowa. Actually, there is hardly anyone out at all.

The road is winding through some very desolate and beautiful country.

I stop for lunch at a gas station, and end up meeting three other bikers. They are three friends from Victoria, Pete and Richard are on V-stroms and Derrick is on an older KLR, like my first one. We are headed to the same destination, Tok, Alaska, so I end up tagging along with them.

They are a complete riot to hang out with. They enjoy everything they do, and bicker and argue like a three-way married couple.

We cross back into the good ‘ol U. S. of A. without any trouble.

Below, you can see the border. American trees and Canadian trees don’t get along apparently. It’s pretty eerie, this line of nothingness right in the middle of the forest.

The country here is starting to get much wetter, there are lakes everywhere and the parts that are not pure water seem to be very muddy and boggy.

We arrive in Tok and find a camp site recommended to me by the BMW guy I ate dinner with in Whitehorse.

An older couple has started this camp which caters to motorcyclists. It is very nice, you can camp in your tent, in one of their wall tents, a teepee, a cabin, or a bunk in the bunk house. It’s called Thompson’s Eagle Claw and it is awesome. The couple lives right there in a cabin they built over 6 years. There is no electricity or running water at the camp because they don’t even have electricity or running water in their cabin. Very cool.

This is a typical road in Tok, nothing special, but notice there is a paved street, a sidewalk, and in between a dirt path. This is for ATV’s, dirt bikes, and snow mobiles, and every major street has these. Crazy.

Odometer: 10,594

Elapsed Miles: 7,403

Fast Fact:

Mr. Thompson (from Eagle Claw) is a logger. He informed us that since all the ground around Tok is gravel, the trees do not have a good root system, the roots only go down about 6 inches but make a giant round mat around the base of the tree. Therefore, if you are camping and hang your food up in a tree, a bear can simply push the tree over to get your food.

This also makes wildfires especially dangerous, because after the trees die, the slightest wind can knock the whole forest over.