KL1V

26 September 2026

Alcan Road Trip Day 2 - Tok to Haines Junction

Day 2 was Tok to Haines Junction. 293 Miles. The roads improved significantly once leaving Alaska and progressing towards Haines Junction.

Some neat clouds the morning of leaving Tok.

A bridge crossing the Tanana River just outside Tok. There was a pullover with a few neat little historical displays, including sections of the old steel arch bridge.

Some of the lakes and scenery in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.

There wasn't a corresponding "Leaving Alaska Time Zone" sign, so this will have to suffice.

I also couldn't find a "Welcome to Canada" or Yukon Territory sign. Was a little disappointed. Do better Canada.

Survey monuments at the Alaska - Canada border

A working pay phone in Burwash Landing. Unfortunately, the museum it was attached to was closed.

A glacially fed river at the southern tip of Kluane Lake. The wind here was incredible. It was causing glacial silt to pile up into large sand dunes. The blowing silt got into literally everything. My poor brakes were never the same.

Mountains above Haines Junction. There's a sprinkling of termination dust if you look close.

I am amused by the directions with a complete lack of milage. One of these days I'd like to make time to explore more of Southeast Alaska.

25 September 2026

Alcan Road Trip Master Post

This post will serve as a place to bring together thoughts on my road trip that do not fit cleanly into the daily posts or general thoughts.

Day 1

Day 2

Lessons learned:

Google maps was helpful, but do not rely totally on it, and know which way you're supposed to be going before you set off.

On the topic of mapping, an automotive head unit that is capable of navigation would have been incredibly useful. Definitely an upgrade to consider for this current truck.

This truck can only display metric or imperial units, not both. I'd print out a cheat sheet of kilometers to miles and tape it to the steering wheel instead of trying to make sense of everything in metric.

Bring a fire extinguisher.

Bring a gas can. Even a small 5gal can is sufficient.

A dash cam and/or 360 camera mounted to the roof of the vehicle. There were so many scenic areas with nowhere to pull over for a picture opportunity.

Starlink was an absolute game changer. There were multiple areas of extended cell phone gaps, with not another soul for miles, and it was reassuring to be able to text or call family whenever I wanted.

Let someone know where you are and where you plan to make it by the end of the day. Status checks ideally daily, at least every few days.

Know where your finishing point for each day will be before setting out for the day. Include alternates and stretch goals.

Focus more on camping as opposed to hotels/motels each night. This would open up more options of where to stop each evening. A small teardrop trailer would have been a good fit, given I was travelling solo.

A small camp fridge would have been a better option than a cooler.

A battery bank plus inverter or combo unit would have made a fridge possible and Starlink much more flexible. It was not an outrageous inconvenience, but it would have been nice to be able to power Starlink through short stops when the truck was turned off, such as at gas stations.

From a Ham Radio perspective:

APRS coverage was intermittent until approximately Fort Nelson, although my jank install of the mobile radio did not help matters at all. There was constant interference from the truck right on 144.39MHz. If I were to attempt this trip again I'd take the time to install an HF radio and run HF APRS, as documented by WA8LMF. The following screenshots, courtesy of aprs.fi, show how relatively poor the performance was.