While we we hiking the Totem Trail we met this cool native Alaskan couple. We asked them what we should do if the sun holds out for a few more days and they told us we had to drive up Harbor Mountain road. It was something we would have never done if we did not chat with this couple and it turned out to be a highlight of our Alaskan leg of the trip.
The road is narrow, gravel and has steep switchbacks to the top, but we saw all types of vehicles on it. However, I would not bring up a trailer or large RV. When you get to the top there is a parking lot off the road on the right, it has some of the most stunning areas to have BBQs I have ever seen in my life. We decided we were going to camp in the parking lot for the night for free (there were no signs saying you can’t to this….) and BBQ some chicken.
While we were up here we met a group of teenagers who said the auroras were at a 4 and would be visible around 12:30am, so decided to stay up and wait for them (and wait……and wait….and they never came). But the stars were spectacular and it was fun to just bundle up, burn a campfire and watch the satellites roll by.
The next day we drove another half mile to where the road ends to take a hike one of the locals at the BBQ site told us about. It was a spectacular hike along the ridges and around the mountain range, the total hike took us about 5 hours.