Tok to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK

​June 16, 2023

Well, there was a bit of adventure this morning. Starting at 2 AM when the door slamming visitors came around to wake me up. Two cars, and as I peered out, it looked like they were changing seats or stretching legs, who knows, but heard at least 10 slams. Ugh. This is to be expected in an open lot behind a gas station. I am prepared for that in this environment, but was hoping to not have an issue.


I’m definitely in the early stages of a head cold and feeling quite tired, so I was slow and sluggish after the wake up encounter to get going. On that note, my sore ribs have vastly improved, thankfully, so I’m able to get around a little bit easier regarding that issue. I got ready to do a favorite job, of my RV experience…off to the dumpsite. And at that point, I noticed the handle of my black tank valve was missing. Flashback to running over the dirt berm back near Dawson City. Ugh. I had a man next to me with a straight handle pliers who is able to bend under there to help me. I do have a straight pliers that’s buried. I stopped at three different places to see about a handle. One place normally carries them, but they were out of stock, nothing was out there. So I added a nut and washer, and fortunately, it fit perfectly on the thread. I can do this indefinitely, but I will look for a handle as I get towards a larger city. I’ll probably buy at least one extra one as an insurance policy. So I got my sneakers nice and dirty, and I ripped the bracelet off my wrist, and I made a bit of a mess which was the beginning of my morning.

But I didn’t get too far down the road as I wanted to go to the visitor center at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. My app didn’t quite take me to the campsite I had in mind, but the park ranger referred me to Rufus Creek wayside, in the park, which is where I spent the night. There was only one other camper here and I did a few chores to keep me busy while it rained on and off. My original plan was to go to McCarthy, then Valdez, but I’m wondering about switching it out right now just doing a bit of driving towards Valdez, as I know McCarthy will be a busy adventure down a 60 mile dirt road. I think that will be the plan.










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