Delta Junction, AK (End of Alaska Highway)

We stayed in Tok for 3 days for R and R and then left on June 24 for our destination of Delta Junction (the end of the Alaska Highway).

We had pleasurable 100 mile drive north along a well paved, gravel free road. The snow peaked Alaska Range came into view to the northwest. It was a warm (low 70’s), sunny, crisp, clean air day. We did make one stop so that John could put on the cover over the CRV windshield. We’ve seen many devices that people have used on their windshields to stop the flying gravel from making chips or breaks on their windshields. John chose the cheapie route and bought a plastic carpet runner at WalMart that wraps around the windshield and is secured in the closed doors. It’s worked great, so far. We’ve seen lots of broken windshield-mainly the locals.

Up to this point most of the trees have been spruce, but we are now seeing lots of different deciduous trees-aspen, birch, poplar, etc.

We decided to stop short of Fairbanks and picked the Green Acres RV Park where we stayed under some trees. We did laundry, caught up on e mail (they had WiFi), bought groceries, and tried some of the local cuisine. (black bean buffalo chili, it was good). The town was very small, but had a grocery store (one), some restaurants and several restored roadhouses. In the past, there was a series of roadhouses along the trails about 20 miles apart (a good day’s walk). The miners and trappers would stop here for food and lodging. Local volunteers have restored and the roadhouses. It was interesting to see how they lived back then.

We had our picture taken at the end of the Alaska Highway. (Although, Fairbanks contests this and says they are the end of it.) We gathered more material at the visitor’s center (we have lots of reading material).

We stayed at the RV Park for 2 nights (June 24/25) and then decided to move out 10 miles to a local state park that we had been told was “one of the nicest parks in Alaska.”

They weren’t kidding. We had a site overlooking the water. Quartz Lake State Recreational Area has camping, fishing, swimming, and LOTS of MOOSE in the area. We could see moose everyday coming down to the water’s edge to eat the grass.

We were watching a moose through our binoculars and a local pulled up in his boat and asked us if we wanted a ride in order to get closer. Another couple, who have a vacation cabin on the lake, talked our ears off about things to see and do in Fairbanks. What friendly people.

We spent our time watching wildlife, reading, and enjoying the warm, sunny weather.

There are no roads to the cabins around the lake, so people have to use small fishing boats to ferry supplies in We were told that during the winter when it gets 30, 40, or 50 below that the lake freezes to a depth of 5 feet. We found that they wait until winter, when the lake freezes over, and they can drive on it to deliver larger items to their cabins.