Days 5-7 Aug Alaska Highway at last
We join the Alaska Highway at km 86, just north of Fort St John. The highway is amazing in every way - 1500 miles originally, stretching from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks Alaska. It was built hurriedly in 1942-43 by the US military, with Canadian support, in order to supply the US military base at Fairbanks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Thousands of troops, many of whom had never been north of the 49th parallel, were sent to build the most challenging road imaginable - through muskeg, bog, river bed, mountain, mosquito swamps and winter. The first 1000 km travel north and west through BC, then another 900 km across the Yukon before entering Alaska. The highway was measured in historic mileposts, many of which are still used as reference points, although after 75 years of paving and straightening, the highway is 50 km shorter and there is no accuracy in the old mileage.
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| This camp even has an Atco trailer gym! |
Much of the highway is beautiful, but the first stretch is so marked by oil and gas exploration that the landscape is sometimes lost in the ugliness. There is pipeline construction aplenty and the road is busy with massive trucks carrying heavy machinery, giant pipes, steel girders. There are help wanted signs at every stop, and work trucks from all across the country clearly indicate where the employment lies. Every gas stop has its accompanying Open Camp - a field of Atco trailer motel rooms lined up in ranks, with a central cookhouse and washhouse. Dusty trucks stream in at the end of the work day and I imagine clusters of Newfoundlanders joking with the Albertans across the way. You can see how it might be too much of a stretch to imagine a green energy future when your way of life is tied to oil and gas.
The sides of the highway already reveal the changing seasons. The odd aspen glows golden, and firey red rosehips dot the brush. The hot pink of fireweed just a day ago gives way to the pale fluff of arctic cotton grass seeds along this stretch. A skein of dozens of geese passes us, heading south. When we stop for a hike or a pee break wild blueberries and cranberries lure us to linger.
But somehow, despite the cooler nights and shorter days, the wasps are still thriving. If all of BC has seen a surge in wasps this year, the north has seen a tsunami. We stop in Fort Nelson for the night, and immediately our truck is surrounded by hundreds of divebombing wasps. They smack into the windows like kamakazi flyers, circling us like a buzzing tornado. I refuse to open my door. We decide to drive 10 minutes down the road to get gas, and see if things improve. If we hit 50 kmp, we lose the crowd, and the gas station and grocery store seem somewhat better. We try the campground, where locals sit on the porch armed with zappers. It's safe enough to exit the vehicle, so we decide to stay. And in fact, once they've eaten their fill of the road killed bugs on our front end, they disperse to find better pickins. In the morning, the mass of dead insects is gone from our grill! Mother nature's vaccuum cleaner at work!
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| Route finding our way up a dry canyon to see sheep. |
North of Fort Nelson is the real attraction of this road - long stretches of gorgeous vistas, rushing rivers, tangled forests, and rocky peaks. We cross back westbound over the most northern Rockies - a more eroded, and sedate range than it's southern ranges, but the peaks still surprise and delight. The smoke from the Telegraph Creek fire is stronger here, and we lose the distant horizon in many spots.
I've been collecting oddities as we go, and find the best of many amusing signs on this stretch. For many miles along the hwy Tetsa River Gas advertises 'the best cinnamon buns in the galactic cluster'. The anticipation may contribute, but we definitely have to agree.
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| A beautiful campsite despite the smoke. Fishing and swimming were fine. |
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