Memories of Midway Lake – Alaska

07/12/05: Back in Tok, Again

Yesterday I wound up back in Tok, thus completing a very large triangular trip through Alaska’s interior. From here I planned to head towards the Yukon on the Alaska Highway. Since I entered Alaska via the Top of the World Road and the Taylor Highway, there would be fresh scenery ahead. There appeared to be several birding opportunities up to the Yukon border, and I still had five days before I would catch the ferry in Haines. I thought I might as well look at some of these places … even if it was late in the season. 

I drove 21 miles out of Tok to Midway Lake. I pulled off the road to investigate. The dirt road to the lake led me to a small floating dock. I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to get the kayak (Folbot) in the water. I had been packing it with me since leaving Inuvik, and not found a suitable opportunity to put it into use.

It took me about an hour to get the boat down, hook up the motor and batteries, mount the camera support, and shove off. The lake was mostly pretty shallow and weedy. It caused me some grief with the propeller, but I learned a few tricks in clearing the tangled weeds from the prop. It was windy on the lake, and I had to develop some techniques to deal with that as well. I decided to head into the wind and cross the lake to the southern shore, then use the wind to come around the west end of the lake and back to the dock. On the lake there were ducks with young in tow, Pacific Loons feeding, but most were too far away for photos. 

Then I had some luck with Trumpeter Swans and six signets that came into my path. I got what I believe were some very good photos. The parent would fly and land near me and then try to lead me away from its half grown brood by swimming ahead. The whole procession started moving toward the dock where I needed to return. I got enough pictures in about 10 minutes and then spent my time trying to outrun the group and let them return to the area where I first encountered them. It took longer than I would have liked, but I was eventually successful in getting past them, and they went back as I’d hoped. The parent continued to lead me away, honking prominently, eventually finally flying off, making a big circle back to his or her brood.

Upon reaching the dock, I observed Spotted Sandpipers, including a mom and her two fuzzy young. I took some photos before they moved on.

It took me about another hour to load the boat and all its chowder back on the Samurai. When I got back on the road, the Samurai wasn’t running very well at all. It was almost like it was running on three cylinders. I stopped to check the wires, but that didn’t seem to be the problem. I considered that it might be some bad gas that I purchased in Tok, or some related fuel problem. Thirty miles further, I stopped at Northway and bought some Methanol additive to dissolve water in fuel. I added two bottles to the tank and pulled away, but the Sami died in the lot and would not start. I decided to call AAA and request a tow. Damn! Before the tow arrived (two hours later), I managed to get Sami started, but still running as bad as before. Sami rode back to Tok on a flatbed trailer. (Read the rest of this story <Here>.)