While road-weary travelers of the Alaska Highway enter Alaska just north of Beaver Creek in the Yukon, Tok serves as the gateway to the 49th state. The town is 93 miles from the Canadian border and is at the major junction between the Alaska Highway and the Tok Cutoff, an extension of the Glenn Highway, which heads west toward Palmer and Anchorage. In Tok, most newly-arrived visitors get out of their vehicles wide-eyed, still not believing they made it this far north, and then load up on brochures, maps and travel information for the rest of their journey.
The town has been a trade and services center for travelers ever since its beginnings as a construction camp in the 1940s. From Tok, you can drive south 254 miles to Valdez and Prince William Sound, 328 miles to Anchorage or continue northwest 206 miles on the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks. Additionally, the Taylor Highway heads north to Chicken, Eagle and the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve.
For most visitors, the first stop is the Tok Mainstreet Visitors Center (907-883-5775), a massive 7,000-square-foot lodge that is said to be Alaska's largest log structure. With its racks of brochures for travel in and around the state, pay phones and restrooms, the center houses displays on wildlife, gold panning and the construction of the Alaska Highway. Nearby is the Alaska Public Lands Information Center (907-883-5667) with additional information on Alaska's parks and outdoor activities, exhibits and a large picture window that often frames the Alaska Range.
Often considered the "Sled Dog Capital of Alaska," many of Tok’s residents are involved in some way with dogs and dog mushing. Sled dog pups provide education and interaction during the summer season while sprint races steal the show between late-November and March. The town’s biggest event is the Race of Champions, a sled dog race in late March that features the largest field of any sprint race in Alaska.
The origin of the town’s name is still a lively debate in Alaska. Some believe it is named after the nearby "Tokai River" which in 1901 was recorded as the Tok River by the U.S. Geological Survey. The town was founded in 1942 as a construction camp for the Alaska Highway and those working on the highway spent so much money in the camp’s construction and maintenance that it earned the name “Million Dollar Camp.” Others believe it was first called Tokyo Camp until anti-Japanese sentiment caused locals to shorten it to Tok. And, still some believe it was named after a husky pup that belonged to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in charge of building this section of the Alaska Highway.