Tok, Alaska - August 26th to 27th, 2022
Tok is a small community in Alaska on the Alaska Highway near the Canadian border. It is a great place to regroup either after crossing the border into Alaska or before crossing the border into Canada. We stopped in Tok as we prepared to cross into Canada and start our long trip back home.
Friday was a pretty uneventful drive from Palmer to Tok. This was a stretch of highway we had been on before. On the Glenn Highway, we passed by the Matanuska Glacier that we went on with a guided hike (Matanuska Glacier, Alaska - June 26th to 27th, 2022). On the Tok Cutoff, we recognized the Nebesna Road entrance to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska - June 24th to 25th, 2022). We were hoping we would get a better view of the Wrangell Mountains than we did before. The last time we were in the area, the mountains were behind a smokey haze. This time they were shrouded in clouds and rain. We were just thankful we had a good view of them from farther away, from the west, as we drove up Richardson Highway (Big Delta, Alaska - July 29th to 30th, 2022).
The rain during our drive was not heavy enough to block all of our views of the surroundings. We could see some mountain peaks which looked like they had a fresh powdering of snow. The aspen trees were turning yellow, making a nice contrast against the green spruce trees. The landscape reminded us of the Rocky Mountains back home in Colorado. Although the fireweed no longer had any flower blossoms left, their red stalks still added some nice color along the side of the road. Other plants on the mountains sides were starting to don their autumn colors as well.
Our home for the next two nights was Tok RV Village Campground. It is a large campground, but, for a private RV park, the sites are nicely spaced in the woods. The restrooms and showers are clean with no extra charge for the showers. The laundry facilities also looked nicely kept, but we didn’t need to do laundry this time. A large caravan of RV’s spent the first night with us, but the campground still seemed pretty empty. We’re guessing most people only stay one night, as there isn’t much to see or do in the immediate area, but it is a great place to chill before crossing the border into Canada on the Alaska Highway or to relax after crossing the border into Alaska on the way up the Alaska Highway.
By the time we reached Tok, the rain stopped. After we filled out our ArriveCan info for our border crossing on Sunday and walked a couple of laps around the campground, we called it a day.
Saturday we chilled in Tok. Tok is a great place to resupply. There are gas stations, a hardware store, an auto parts store, an RV repair shop, several gift shops, and a Three Bears Grocery store. We resupplied at the grocery store the last time we passed through Tok, when we first arrived in Alaska. However, this time, we were getting ready to cross into Canada, so we didn’t want any fresh fruit or vegetables left, so we didn’t visit the grocery store. We had some carrots leftover, just like we did the first time we crossed into Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia - May 12th to 15th, 2022). Instead of throwing them out like we did before, we decided to cut them up, cook them in the microwave, then put them in our small freezer to use later in a soup while we’re in Canada. The freezer needed a good defrosting, but we were able to fit the carrots in by removing one of our two ice cube trays.
Our chores for the day were taking showers, filling our fresh water cans, and dumping our gray. We filled up our collapsible water container as well. Our plan is to stay a couple of nights at a couple of Yukon government campgrounds which don’t have potable water available (however, you can boil it or otherwise treat it). Keith walked over to the hardware store to try to find a part. Since our groceries were rather low, we decided to eat out for lunch and dinner.
We remembered there was a food truck selling Thai food, Soho Thai Takeaway, next to the gateway visitor center. It was less than a mile from the campground. Since the sun was shining, though there were a few dark clouds, we walked over. There are paths on both sides of the highway that are set back from the road which makes it pleasant to walk up and down the highway to get around town.
Keith ordered the Rad Nha with beef while Ann chose Pae’s Special with chicken. While we were waiting the twenty minutes for our meals to be cooked to order, Ann wandered across the street to one of the gift shops. She found a couple of Alaska T shirts she liked. Our food was not fast, but we found both of our dishes very tasty. It was definitely worth the wait.
Before we reached Tok, we had several different conversations with other travelers. Whenever we mentioned we were staying in Tok later, the next thing each one of them said was to make sure we ate at Fast Eddies. It was already on our todo list from recommendations of people on the RVing to Alaska Facebook group. So, naturally, we had to eat dinner at Fast Eddies.
Of course, there are not many other options in town anyway. Surprisingly, the place is rather nice inside. They have a lovely salad bar and serve a variety of dishes, such as steak, burgers, pizza, fish, and seafood. Keith had the sockeye salmon while Ann ordered a small pizza. Keith thought Fast Eddies salmon was better than the salmon he had at the Alaska Salmon Bake in Fairbanks (Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska - July 31st to August 1st, 2022). Ann’s pizza was tasty. It was a hand-tossed crust, not the New York style that she loves, but still good. Fast Eddies puts a generous amount of cheese on their pizzas.
Between the thicker crust and the amount to cheese, Ann could only finish half of the twelve inch pizza. Of course, that was after having a salad from the salad bar and she wanted some room for dessert. Ann ordered the apple pie and ice cream. She was hoping Keith would have some of her pie, but he refrained. The pie was OK, but not the best she’s had. Despite that, she ate the whole thing.
We had walked over to Fast Eddies, but it is right next to the campground. We needed it to be farther away to help burn off all the calories we consumed. However, we just waddled straight back to our camp site and called it a night.
We were leaving Alaska, but we still had about a month and a half of traveling left in our itinerary. Even though we were excited about the rest of the places we planned to visit, it felt good to start heading towards home.
Check out our related video: Tok, Alaska
(Ann)