We attempted to leave Pioneer RV Pak, but kept being delayed by fellow RV’ers. The guy next to us had a broken blind, so we showed him our new MCD blinds. Wayne was waylaid by a guy in the Adventure Caravan who had no electric, like we had last evening, due to our power management system shutting down our electric.
We finally pulled out of the park and drove north .We are taking a side trip on the Klondike Hwy. The Alaska Hwy. goes west we are going north.
Since we are driving about 150 miles today, we decided to stop at the Takhini Hot Springs for a soak. The hot springs were about 6 miles off the Hwy., but they had an RV park, so we thought they would have RV parking. They did, a large gravel parking lot. We hopped out and went in, spending about 2 hours soaking. ( $8 senior rate).
After our soak, we ate lunch and continued on our way. More rivers, lakes, mountains and trees!
Carmacks is one of the larger ‘towns’ on the highway, population 444! Most of these towns are small, with just a gas station which has a gift shop, lodge, campground and visitor center. Most have some history. Carmacks was named for George Carmack, who established a trading post here in 1885. He had come north to prospect, hoping to strike it rich. He spent the next 10 years prospecting, unsuccessfully. He moved his family to Fortymile where he could fish and cut timber, when his trading post failed. That summer, 1896, he unearthed a $5 pan of course gold, when a 10 cent pan was the norm. Over that winter, he mined over a ton of gold. He renamed the river the Bonanza River. When news got out, the next year, it started the Klondike Gold Rush.
Our next stop was the Five Fingers Rapids overlook.
Five Fingers was named by early miners for the five channels, or fingers, formed by the rock pillars. They are a navigational hazard, and the only safe passage is through the closest passage, on the east.
When we got out of the motor home to look at the rapids, we noticed that the motor home and car where covered in mud! The passenger side is worse, but I did not realize that when I took the picture. The picture does not show how bad they really are!
Between Carmacks and here, we had passed through a construction zone, about 3 miles long. Wayne passed through ahead of us, and a water truck pulled out after he passed, putting water down on the road. So as we were driving through, we threw mud onto the motor home and the CRV.
Nothing we could do about it at this point, so we continued on our way to Pelly Crossing. Another small town, population 296. It had a gas station/restaurant with a visitor center.
We pulled into the Pelly Crossing RV park ( free) across from the gas station. This nice little campground had picnic tables and free firewood. We had to boon-dock. The temp was 95 degrees, so it was HOT!
We were having Margie and Wayne over for dinner tonight, so when it was time to cook, I turned on the generator and the air conditioner. Meanwhile, Bob washed the motor home. He did not even try to clean the car, as it was so much worse!
We ate dinner and by the time we went to bed, the temp had dropped to 79 degrees. It dropped overnight to 61. There were quite a few mosquitos at this stop, as we were right on the Pelly River.
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bobanddenisewanderlust 
Denise that mud is nothing. Unhook and drive separately on the day you plan to arrive in Tok. The entry into Alaska. Everything that day will get MUDDY. But the Sour dough Campground has a pressure washer to clean you up.