Time in Tok
15 July 2018
A Quiet Day in the Woods
Photos:
When I woke up, it was clear that I was the last one to roll out of bed. The Belgians were packing up tents and loading up. Gerd, The German, having sprung for a “fancy” bunk, didn’t have to pack up his tent today, although he did have to repack all of the things that he had unpacked inside his bunk. The man from New Jersey had already skipped town, eye patch and all. After making the rounds, I learned that the Belgians, Jonas and Pieter, were headed for Fairbanks today, and tommorow were going to start on the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse. Gerd, on the other hand, was headed for McCarthy, south of where was now, and way out of the way. This left me with a choice - I could also head to Fairbanks and do more group riding which I had no real love for, or I could just hang out for a day. I had been pretty much in the constant company of people since before heading up the Dempster Highway, and it didn’t take me long to realize that once every one left, I would have the entire campground to myself. That sounded pretty nice - a day in a quiet corner in Alaska with just the trees.
So, thats what I did. I spent the morning catching up on maintenance on the bike - adjusting the chain, re-working the mount for the exhaust heat shield so that it wouldn’t be rattling around, as well as a general check of the tires. One thing that made this a real treat was that this was a motorcycle campground, the owner loves motorcycles, and she maintains a shed full of basic tools that make DIY maintenance a breeze when you’re on the road. She also seems to collect a few various parts, so that can be helpful too.
After completing all the work I had been avoiding, I went for lunch at Fast Eddies, which is a fairly famous restaurant right on the Alaska Highway. The food was good, the prices were appropriate for Alaska, and it was comfy. A nice place to stop for a weary traveller.
After lunch, I spent the afternoon with a nap, some reading, and a couple hours of work catching up on notes and the blog. It was a perfect place for it - even though we were less than a mile from the Tok Cutoff highway, the sound of traffic was rare due to the dense forest. I didn’t see a whole lot of wildlife, but I think I was less out in the middle of the woods than it felt like. As usual for July in Alaska, the weather was cool and dry, so sitting in the spots of sun that made it through the forest felt good so long as I could see my laptop screen. I was also a little at the mercy of my laptop battery - I hadn’t found the one power outlet available in camp.
Eventually I got hungry, so I hopped on my freshly adjusted bike and scooted into town. Tok doesn’t have an overwhelming number of eating establishments, and I don’t really ever get tired of Thai, so I lined up again at Jen’s Thai. This time I went for a pad thai, which was a minor mistake. The food was delicious, but the portions were huge, and my bike doesn’t have a fridge (yet), so leftovers were not an option. I was the only one there at the time, although there were several people that had called orders in and picked them up. Rainy weather had blown in so I got to sit and listen to the rain on the canopy as I enjoyed my meal. No complaints here.
Stuffed with Thai, I rolled back to camp and sought shelter from the rain. When you’re tent camping, there’s usually only one option, the tent, which gets pretty old. But, the Eagle Claw campground has a proper group campsite complete with a shelter. Its just a wooden structure with a metal roof, but it does have a little fire ring under it, and there was no shortage of firewood. I made a nice little fire and took up a cozy spot with my Kindle and enjoyed the warmth. I was eventually joined by Vanessa, the campsite owner, who came out to collect my rent. We chatted for a while about everything, as she does with all who travel through her campsite. She was originally from Pennsylvania and had moved to Alaska with her husband, then settled in Tok. They opened up the Eagle Claw campground and ran it together. Eventually they decided to go their separate ways, and so she bought his half of the operation and now owns it herself, but her ex-husband occsionally stops by to help out. The campground is really just a side job, her real job is working at Forty Mile Air, the local airport. She really enjoys meeting people and motorcyclists, and Tok is in such a perfect spot, and so the campground is a perfect seasonal job. Word has gotten out in the motorcycle community and many of us make a point to stop there whenever we can. Every year there is an event in Dawson, where I had just been the other day, called Dust to Dawson. As motorcyclists travel to and fro from that event, Eagle Claw does good business. They cram their tents in every available corner, fill up all of the bunks, and generally have a good time.
We also talked about the sauna that had just been completed. She offered to get it going for me, but I had to explain to her that I’m from Houston - heat and humidity isn’t something that I would seek out intentionally. I don’t think the point really got across, she’ll just have to visit sometime. The sauna she has is actually the second iteration. Last year a couple of wet and weary motorcyclists from the lower 48 had come into camp and needed to dry their clothes. The only place to do that is the sauna, so she got it up and running for them, and left instructions on how to throttle the fire by adjusting the wood burning stove. Well, they missed that part, the fire got too hot, and the sauna itself caught fire. By the time the fire department got it out, there wasn’t anything left. There was no insurance and everyone felt bad about it. It was the end of the trip for the visitors, and the end of the sauna. They left their motorcycles in Tok and flew home since most of their gear was lost in the fire, but planned to return the following summer to help rebuild the sauna. Well, things happen and they haven’t made it back yet, but being resourceful Alaskans, Vanessa and friends rebuilt the sauna with a new stove, and hopefully better operating instructions.
Nobody else had shown up to the campsite that night, and so after Vanessa left the fire, I had the place to myself once again. I kept a very close eye on the fire, enjoyed the rain, then headed off to bed when it seemed like it was late enough.
