This story was originally published in Travel Awaits on May 10, 2022
One of the
very first items my husband wanted to cross off his bucket list after we
bought our first RV (a used 26-foot Class B Telstar by Firan) was to drive the
Alaska Highway. So when we finished showing off our new “home” to our children in Seattle,
Boise, Denver, and Calgary, we were excited to drive to the one in Anchorage. Banff and Jasper National Parks, two of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Canadian
Rockies, were right on the way, so we briefly explored them. And, after Jasper,
we braced for the rugged trip, what my husband promised would be my first epic
road trip in an RV.
Make Her Part of the Family
By this
time, I had begun calling our new “moving mansion,” Star. She took us through the
winding roads of northern British Columbia which gave me my first close
encounters with North American wildlife I had never seen before except in zoos.
A herd of bison lay peacefully by the roadside but one of them decided to walk towards
Star. I huddled inside and that’s where I stayed because soon a mother and her baby
bear showed up among the grass and wildflowers. It was good the big moose hiding
in the shrubs was at a distance. Following a small arrow sign, we stumbled upon
a multitude of birds and insects by a river.
I finally found the nerve to step outside Star!
When we
reached Dawson Creek, British Columbia, we could not contain our
excitement. The small town of about 13,000 is Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway! Her
bragging rights were all over. I asked my husband to take my picture at the signs
declaring the official start of the Alaska Highway and I wanted to mark the huge
milestone with Star.
Pro-Tip: Make sure your RV is fully prepped for the trip: tires, generator, batteries, oil, roof, grey and black water tanks, etc. And make sure the kitchen is fully stocked for a week.
Familiarize Yourselves
with the Road
The next
town was five hours away at Mile 300. Even smaller, Fort Nelson, British Columbia, the administrative center of the
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, had a population of about 3,500. It
hosts the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum which explained how the Alaska
Highway actually began there, how the US and Canada cooperated in the building
and how they divide the maintenance today. The 1,422 mile-long highway has
connected Alaska to the lower 48, militarily strategic in WWII and economically
so now.
Pro-Tip: There will be no mileposts for the first 1000 kilometers. You will cross the British Columbia/Yukon border several times before reaching the first
big town of the pristine and primitive province of the Yukon.
Learn about Services
and a Few Tricks
On the way,
we stumbled upon “a highway service community,” those small villages that
support the travelers on the highway. Toad River consisted only of a gas station, a
restaurant, and a country store. It was a place to enjoy local fare and to fill
up Star. A section of the store was dedicated to thousands of hats, and my
sentimental husband didn’t hesitate to leave what he had on.
About a
hundred miles north, we saw another arrow we could follow! It led us to the Whirlpool Canyon with a river that made a powerful
swirl as it wound its way around a bend. A Canadian couple who were making
their way to fish in Nunavut past the Arctic Circle, taught us about not being
shy to dump gray water (from washing dishes and showering) almost anywhere, and
drinking creek water, if necessary, as long as we were sure there was no beaver
contamination.
Pro-Tip: Before
reaching The Yukon, you will encounter The Summit, the highest point on the
Alaska Highway, at 4,250 feet. The area is called the Serengetti of North America. Feast on views of Stone Mountain, and Muncho Lake. Stop for photos at the Liard River Hot Springs
Provincial Parks.
Give Yourselves Rest
and Fun
Watson Lake, Yukon was an even smaller town of about
800 at Mile 635 and we loved the good night’s rest at the Downtown RV Park. The
next day we thoroughly enjoyed being the 67,000th visitor to place a sign
(there are over 80,000 now) at the unique Signpost Forest. We bought a wooden board at a Home Builders’
Centre in town and got free paint from the Visitor’s Information Centre. That’s
also where we registered as Yukon Gold Passport holders which will give us 5,
10, or 20 troy ounces of gold if we collected 10, 20, or 30 stamps of tourist
spots.
Along the
highway between Watson Lake and Whitehorse were rocky embankments (between
Upper Liard and Rancheria) that are being used to arrange rocks into letters
memorializing passersby. We originally thought we could spell out our names,
but we found out how difficult the endeavor was and ended up with just the two
letters of our first names: BC. On the way back to the mainland US, the letters
were still there!
Pro-Tip:
Don’t make the mistake of going to the Northern Lights Center in Watson Lake. Even with displays about the Aurora Borealis,
it was really a brief video of the lights recreated on the dome ceiling for
effect, not worth the time or money.
Give Her a Good Mid-Point
Check
At Mile 918 we
reached Whitehorse, the biggest city in the Yukon with
a population of about 25,000. Many
places, including the biggest fish ladder in the world, were already closed for
the season. But our main purpose here was to give Star a thorough mid-point
check-up for the shorter but harder second half of Alaska Highway.
We were
fascinated at finding the largest weather vane in the world (in the Guinness
Book of Records)! It was a DC3 plane! Smith House at LePage Park gave us two
souvenir Whitehorse pins. And we got to chance to climb aboard one of the only remaining
steamboats that transported precious metals on the Yukon River at the SS Klondike National Historic Site.
Pro-Tip:
This is the only place on the Highway where you can dine at a branch of Tim Horton’s,
Canada’s favorite coffee chain. Get a bowl of chili!
Go Slow for Two Reasons
From
Whitehorse, smoke from 50 fires around the Yukon (since it had been so hot and
dry that summer) obscured all the beautiful scenery. We could hardly see anything beyond Star’s
nose! In fact, Burwash Landing, population of just over 70, including
most of its wildlife displays and artifacts, was almost wiped out by a huge
forest fire caused by humans camping (although lightning is the more common
cause).
Another
unfortunate thing is the road damage caused by permafrost effects, especially
after Destruction Bay. There were many road fissures and small ponds on the
fields along its sides. The highway had a roller coaster feel to it, and
evergreens in nearby fields could not grow any taller than a few feet. Orange flags were everywhere, designating
permafrost-damaged areas. The cost of maintaining these roads must be high. And
they exacted a toll on Star.
Pro-Tip: Stop to view White River, so named because of its off-white color
due to volcanic ash from two pyroclastic eruptions of Mount Churchill in the
Wrangell Mountain Range, in 1890 and 1950. Alas, the ecology could not be
restored; the river can no longer be used for boating.
Don’t Succumb to “Get-there-itis”
We finally
reached the Yukon’s Haines Junction at Mile 1016, but it was not what we
expected. We were supposed to be able to get a glimpse of the Juneau glaciers
and the highest mountain peak in Canada.
We couldn’t because of all the smoke. We decided to stop for the day at
the Kluane RV Park.
The village,
with a population of a little over 600, is east of the Kluane National Park and
Reserve. We looked for a good hiking trail. We thought we did but we had to quickly
go back to Star after finding the mosquitoes were so big and hungry. But it was good we found a quaint Quonset hut
that also served as a church for as many as 30 people. We hoped for a
clearer tomorrow.
The next day
was clearer and we resumed our trek. We passed Mile 1202 at Beaver Creek, Yukon (population, almost a hundred). Soon we reached Delta Junction,
Alaska, (population, almost a thousand), the official end of the Alaska
Highway. The sign at the Visitor Center said it all. From Mile 0 in Dawson
Creek to Mile 1422 in Delta Junction, we completed the Alaska Highway in seven
days. It was the rugged one-of-a-kind trip
my husband promised, the unforgettable
epic first RV experience of this former “desk jockey.”
Interesting Fact:
Constructed at a total cost of $115 M in about nine months, at its peak the
project utilized 7 Army regiments and 77 Contractors with 15,000 employees and
11,000 pieces of road-building equipment. Two teams, one from Dawson Creek and
another from Delta Junction completed the highway when they met at Soldiers’
Summit at the Kluane Lake in the Yukon in November 1942.
FOR THOSE ON MOBILE, THE SHARE BUTTONS APPEAR WHEN YOU CLICK WEB VERSION AT THE VERY END AFTER COMMENTS.
PREVIOUS POST
6 Unique Dining Experiences in the Shrimp Capital of the World
