Beaver Creek, Yukon to Tok, Alaska – 11 July 2024
If we thought the road from Haines Junction to Beaver Creek was bad – the road from Beaver Creek to Tok Alaska was atrocious. The drive seem to take forever as we crept slowly along roads which were like driving on a wash board. That being said, we did appreciate the fields of Fireweed (Yukon’s floral emblem) which stood out against a beautiful backdrop of mountains and green trees. Needless to say, we were extremely relieved to finally arrive in Tok.
Tok, Alaska, is pronounced “Toke” as the town was once called “Little Tokyo”when it was first founded as a construction camp for the Alaska highway. Those working on the highway spent so much money in the camp’s construction and maintenance that it earned the name “Million Dollar Camp.” Tok is known as the “Sled Dog Capital of Alaska,” and many of its residents are involved in some way with dogs and dog mushing. Tok is the first community from the Canadian border, and for us we used it as a time for replenishment (need to top up those cocktails), walks in the area and vehicle prep. as we readied ourselves to proceed south.
While exploring town we visited one of the gifts stores which were decorated inside and outside with black spruce logs with large burls. They also sold many items in their store made from burls like bowls, cups, plates and furniture. We subsequently saw these burled logs used as decoration at entrances of ranches and buildings. Burls can form on many different types of trees with the Buckeye Tree Burl being the most sought after because of its unique swirls and hues. It is a favourite with woodworkers.
