You've Got to Expect the Unexpected in Alaska!

In Alaska, just about anything can happen. During our trip, it happened that the Taylor Highway, which is a 160 mile gravel road that links Eagle with the Alaska Highway near Tok, wasn't quite ready for a motorcoach full of wild travel agents. In July, heavy rain storms had washed out parts of the Taylor Highway and at the beginning of August, commercial vehicles were still not allowed to travel over it.

The initial plan was to get aboard the Yukon Queen II in Dawson City and cruise 100 miles along the Yukon River to Eagle. From Eagle, we were to travel by motorcoach along the Taylor Highway to Tok. The new plan was to hop on a plane at the Dawson Airport which Holland America had chartered to fly us from Dawson City to Beaver Creek. From Beaver Creek, we would travel by motorcoach to Tok. Although I was sorry to miss the trip on the Yukon River, I wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of sitting in a motorcoach for 160 miles on a mostly gravel road. So, I was happy with the change in plans and looking forward to the airplane ride.

Upon arriving at the Dawson City Airport, all 40 of us proceeded to board a Hawker Siddeley 748, an older plane of the turbo-prop variety which looked as though it could have been the plane in Casa Blanca which Rick makes Ilsa board telling her that she would regret it if she stayed, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life." In reality, the Hawker Siddeley 748 isn't that old as it was designed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the DC-3 and is noted for taking off and landing on short runways.


The service on this short 45 minute flight was unbelievable. Our flight attendant was friendly, attentive and served us complimentary juice and snacks that rivaled anything the major airlines serve these days. And she actually appeared to like her job. What a concept!

During the flight, there wasn't much opportunity to take many good photos as the windows were too small and there was too much glare. However, I did manage to take a relatively good one of the braided White River.

I was happy that the Hawker Siddeley 748 was built for short takeoff and landings because the gravel runway at Beaver Creek Airport was only 3,745 feet long. Given that landing and taxiing to the tarmac (there is no gate) were uneventful, I was surprised to see that one of the tires was flat after I got off the plane. As I said, you've got to expect the unexpected in Alaska (and the Yukon, too).