Otter Falls, YT to Tok, AK

We left Otter Falls, YT (near Haines Junction) this morning. It was 42 degrees outside. However it warmed up into the 70’s by afternoon and evening. We saw the Kluane Range Ice Fields. When we arrived in Haines Junction we saw the Our Lady of the Way Catholic Mission built in 1943. It was built from an abandoned quonset hut left there by the Army when building the Alcan Hwy. There are quite a few buildings up here that use abandoned quonset huts. In Haines Junction, there was a monument with statues of native animals. The monument is affectionately named “The Cupcake” because its base looks like a cupcake paper liner. When we reached the Donjek River Valley the road was really bad. The road is built on permafrost. It looks like dirt, but when you put a hot highway on top of it the permafrost melts and the road sags, then the water freezes and expands and pushes the road up in a different place. This was also a major problem with construction in Dawson City. Here in Yukon Territory, Canada, they gave up on maintaining the Alcan Highway between Haines Junction and the border because it was mostly used by people from the U.S. headed to or from Alaska. So, the U.S. Government agreed to repair the road. Only they were met with quite a challenge when they discovered that none of the usual road construction techniques worked. There are currently experimental areas where they put pipes under the road with elbows out past the shoulder with stove pipes on top of them. They are trying to take the heat away from the pavement so it won’t melt the permafrost. The road was really bad for about 120 miles. In addition, we had taken four rock chips and a number of scratches to the windshield and lost a rear running light on the trailer. We had the windshield repaired when we arrived in Tok, AK, where we are spending the night.