June 9-12, 2024.
Dawson City
At about 3:30 pm on June 9, 2024, we reached Dawson City and the start of the Alaska Highway. What started as a crazy idea on the couch nearly 4 years ago suddenly became a reality: we’re driving to Alaska.
Throughout the planning and execution phases of this long road trip, we’d learned about the Alaska Highway. The now highly utilized RV travel route was hastily constructed during WWII in fear of a land invasion. The United States military built the 1,397 mile long road in less than a year, allowing military vehicles and supplies to be transported across Canada. The Alaska Highway project also enabled the oil pipeline and telephone/telegraph line to be completed. Nearly every museum and visitor center along the road today has a display about the history of the Alaska Highway. You can read more here if you won’t be driving the highway any time soon.
We got our photo under the large sign at milepost zero. It should be called kilometer-post zero, since the entire roadway in Canada is marked by kilometers instead of miles. Since the parking lot is always buzzing with travelers, we asked another road warrior to take our photo, then swapped stories from our drives so far. He was on his way back home and had taken this route a few times before. We were excited to be doing this for the first time.
In the visitor center, we picked up some more informational brochures and got our questions answered by the friendly staff. We also wandered through a nice museum with local history, military history, taxidermy and other miscellanea. All of Canada’s visitor centers so far have been extremely well-outfitted with free information and interesting exhibits.
Kiskatinaw River Park
Since much of the day had been spent driving, we were happy to be less than an hour from camp. We stayed at Kiskatinaw River Provincial Park, one of Canada’s many excellent government campgrounds. Before picking a site, we drove to the historic Kiskatinaw Bridge, the first curved wooden bridge to be built in Canada. The engineering that went in to build the original Alaska Highway, as well as its more modern iterations, is staggeringly impressive. We walked across this abandoned stretch of road and enjoyed views of the river far below.
When we drove through the campground, we were shocked to see that we were the only people there! We chose our favorite spot, which had a short path to the river bank, and set up for a long, relaxing night.
Roadside stops
Since we planned plenty of time to do this drive, I pinpointed several stops to make along the way. Some were pullouts for quick pictures, others were for points of interest, parks, towns and other roadside curiosities.
Not long after hitting the road, we got our first Alaska Highway souvenir: a fat bullseye rock chip in the windshield. After the initial shock and grumpiness, we realized there was nothing we could do about it at the moment and we were almost certain to get another one sometime on this highway. We continued driving. After a brief visit in the Fort St. John Visitor Center, we pulled into the parking lot at Fish Creek Community Forest. I made some sandwiches and we ate lunch at a sunny picnic table before taking a walk. We saw some new flowers and listened to some new birds as we explored the short trail system there.
We put in a few more miles and landed at Inga Lake, a free campground I located on iOverlander. It was quite large, and besides the campsites right on the lake it was fairly empty. Another awesome campsite! We even had enough trees to string up our hammocks for a relaxing afternoon.
The next day, we drove a bit, stopped at a wayside with bathrooms and kept driving. These micro-stops are necessary not only for bio breaks but also to stretch the legs and break up the monotony of being on the road. I used to be able to crank out long stretches of driving, alone even, but now I’d much prefer a stop every hour or two.
Our next stop was even better. After making lunch near a roadside pond, we walked along the water on a rough user path. We found beaver sign, wild calla, bunchberry and funky patterns in the aspen leaves. Later I’d learn that these were left by aspen leaf miners, a pretty common thing that I never noticed before!
Fort Nelson and beyond
A few things drew us to Fort Nelson. One was the prospect of exploring a larger museum. Two was the fact they have a community center. For less than $5 USD we took showers, swam in the pool, dipped into the hot tub, steamed in the sauna and then showered again. We left that place feeling SO refreshed!
That evening, we camped at another free campground on the Muskwa River. We found wild strawberries growing in a patch near the parking area and chatted with some folks who’d also camped at Inga Lake the night before. It was a beautiful place to spend the night.
In the morning, we headed straight to Tetsa River Lodge to feast on their famous cinnamon rolls. I’d heard about this place from multiple sources: the Milepost, an Alaska travel podcast, the Driving the Alaska Highway Facebook group, their own marketing, etc. We ordered a couple coffees and a couple cinnamon rolls, then chose a seat near the fireplace. The cinnamon rolls were very good and very ample. We wouldn’t know at the time that these would be the first in our cinnamon roll tour of the Alaska Highway.
A couple of fellow travelers sat at the table next to us as we ate and we shared lots of stories. They came out to the parking lot for a van tour as we both got up to leave. We excitedly showed them our rig and talked about our grand plans for this road trip. I often feel a bit conflicted about showing off this life we’ve crafted for ourselves. It’s not my intention to come across as braggadocious or somehow “better than”. However, I feel like that is the way some people take it when we explain what we’re doing.
But in response, one of the men said something I’ll never forget. “You deserve the best. We all deserve the best.” It was an odd thing to say less than 30 minutes after meeting someone, and it’s not a colloquial phrase I’d heard before. He repeated it a few times as Aaron wrapped up the van tour. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it should slip into casual conversations. What a kind thing to say to someone. An acknowledgement of our interconnectedness and how everyone deserves to be happy and in a position to live their dreams.
I don’t know that this stranger will remember running into us that day, but I sure will. And I’ll do my best to show that kind of shared joy and empathy with others as I travel.