Day 1: The Start of an Adventure

Day 1: Anchorage to Tok, AK

Wildlife Spotting: Caribou, moose, dall sheep, eagle, ravens, waterfowl

Distance Traveled: 524 km/327.5 miles

Total Distance Traveled: 524 km/327.5 miles

The Ultimate Road Trip Begins!

When planning this adventure, we decided to keep the first day fairly short.  Border crossings are so unpredictable that we didn’t want to make a push to Whitehorse, YK to only get stuck at the border.

This morning, we left Anchorage around 10:30am, with a planned easy six-hour drive ahead of us.  We’ve done half the drive before when we travelled to Eureka exactly one year ago and then again home from our Valdez adventure.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather on our way out. 

We wondered what it would have been like before the highway was created.  What did it look like?  How exactly did they know where to place the road?  Was it planned or just a go with the flow attitude?

We stopped along the side of the road to breathe in the immensity of Wrangell St Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest unit in the National Park System.  It was so quiet – absent were the sound of traffic and day-to-day “city life”.  Instead we heard the sound of a bubbling creek, chirping birds and the wing rushing through the trees.  It was so peaceful.

The Wrangell Mountains towered in front of us.  At 16,237 feet, Mt Sandford, a dormant volcano, is one of Alaska’s 10 tallest peaks.

We saw caribou at the side of the road, minding their own business until the car got a little too close. 

We ended the night in Tok, AK, with a delicious burger and a cheers to completing our first day and making it one step closer to home.

Until next time, when we say goodbye to Alaska and hello to the mother land (and a Timmy’s coffee).

Have you ever gone on a memorable road trip?