We were warned that the road from Mendeltna Lodge to Tok was a rough ride. The first 35 miles to Glennallen were easy. A few miles north of Glennallen we picked up the Tok Cut Off, which is a continuation of the Glenn Highway. The Tok Cut off is approximately 130 miles long and even by Alaska highway standards should only take us 2 1/2 - 3 hours... it didn't. The road was very rough gravel in spots and had some serious mountain curves that kept our speed down to 35 miles per hour or less. Then we hit the construction areas which only allowed one way traffic with an escort vehicle. The wait at one of these area was 25 minutes. As a result of these delays, the ride was over five hours.

The bad ride was compensated for by the view. For approximately half its length, the Cut Off is on a ridge line above the Copper River Valley. The view of the valley and some of the surrounding mountains is beautiful. We did not get the full impact of the view because the clouds obscured the higher mountains of the Wrangell - St. Elias range. The road then turns in a northerly direction following a series of valleys towards Tok. The few pictures below are just a sample of what we saw along the road.

By the way... we had sunshine today. After nearly a week of clouds and rain, we did get to see the sun this afternoon and the temperature reached into the 60's. No complaints about the weather today.
The Copper River Valley
The Slana River, 50 miles south of Tok
View northwest from the Tok Cut Off bridge over the Slana River
The mountains to the west of the Slana River