2005/07 Alaska and Back Again - Stone Mountain park |
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Sunday August 7th
We had a cloudy, wet start, which didn’t augur too well for a day of sightseeing within the park. We were also going to take a look at nearby Stone Mountain park, which we’d also driven through last year, but not really seen because of the foggy wet weather. It was also an opportunity to look at the parks without the trailer attached, as we knew from last year that the roads were really narrow, and we’d be unable to stop and look with the trailer along.
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Alaska Highway (Muncho Lake and Stone Mountain) |
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We passed a motorhome by the side of the road, burned down so that only the ribs of the body were left. Even the “toad” (towed vehicle) behind it had been burned out. Shortly afterwards we stopped at the Toad River Lodge for gas, and Sandie overhead this young guy on the phone explaining to his parents about how the motorhome had caught fire and he’d only just got out in time before the whole thing went up. Definitely a vacation for him to remember!
Early on we saw a couple of woodland caribou, larger than those up in the tundra, but with less impressive racks. Later on we saw this cute younger one skipping along the road. We had lunch beside the Racing River. This is a spot we camped at last year, but the rain came on before we could do much exploring. We moved on out of Stone Mountain park and had afternoon tea in a park on the Tetsa River, but the rain came down again!
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Muncho Lake & Stone Mountain (4.52) |
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We turned around at this point, but the rain became really heavy so we stopped again at the Toad River Lodge for dinner. The lodge is famous for its hat collection but not for its food, but at least we were in the dry. We found out that the name came from the early days of the Alaska Highway when there wasn’t a bridge over the river. Traffic had to be pulled or towed across the river, and that’s when it became known as the Towed River Lodge.
Although the service was slow, it’s quite an achievement to stay in business for that long, when the highway is littered with closed motels, lodges, and gas stations. The delay helped us on the way back as we now saw more animals as the sun went down. We thought we saw an elk but, looking at the pictures,it was actually a large mule deer buck.
We also drove one of the “designated routes” which I think are meant for all-terrain vehicles. We could only drive as far as the first bridge, which we were too big for, but we saw a couple of beaver from the bridge. Further along, 
we saw a sheep high up on the mountain, and a black bear, who seemed reluctant to give 
up his space.
At another of the “designated routes” we came to a bridge that was labeled “Cross at your own risk”. If I’d only had to cross it once I’d have tried it, but as we’d have to come back across it too, I wasn’t about to chance it. Shortly after, the rain came on heavily and that was the end of our day.
The burned out motor home had disappeared, leaving just some ashes on the road.
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