Drive to Alaska

What We Did

Day 0: Vancouver --> Williams Lake

We left Vancouver on a Thursday afternoon. It was a nice sunny warm day. We made a quick pitstop in Abbotsford before setting off on our journey. It was very exciting - I don't think either of us really grasped yet the scale of what we had in front of us. The first hour or two outside of Abbotsford was fairly normal - still beautiful nature but not too different from what we saw on the highways outside of Seattle. When we turned North, things changed. We entered a large gorge with waterfalls cascading down from steep cliffs. Going in and out of a series of tunnels in the mountains, it reminded us of similar highways in Colorado. The traffic slowly got more scarce around this point. The landscape also got a bit less dramatic. We sped through some grasslands with cows and horses grazing and lots of trucks on the road. 6 hours after we departed, we arrived in Williams Lake, BC. Williams Lake was bigger than expected - it's primarily a logging town, but seemed to have a fair amount of visitors. It's known for its annual summer Stampede. We stayed at a Best Western and there were many other hotels in the area; they were definitely ready for visitors.

Day 1: Williams Lake --> Stewart

We woke up bright and early on Friday. We had a longer drive ahead of us this day - about 11 hours in total. The first few hours breezed by. The landscape wasn't too spectacular, and we were pretty tired, so we just sped through to Prince George. After a quick stop at Tim Horton's, we continued on our way. The drive after Prince George was almost directly west (whereas the previous day was mostly northeast). It was mostly farmland for the next few hours until we arrived in Smithers. Smithers is a small ski town at the base of Hudson Bay Mountain. We stopped in the cute downtown area for a local pint and continued on our way. After Smithers, the rain picked up as we gained more elevation. We were again approaching the coastal mountain range. The turnoff to Stewart was at Meziadin Junction, where we started our long, rainy descent to sea level. The road was full of potholes so it was pretty slow going. The scenery however was breathtaking. Massive mountains rose on either side of the road, with glaciers melting into waterfalls flowing into the stream below. We wound right next to some very steep cliffs as the vegetation got thicker and greener. After what seemed like too long, we finally arrived in Stewart. Stewart is a tiny town (less than 500 people) right on the Portland Inlet and just a couple miles from the Alaskan border. We stopped for dinner at the only restaurant in town before going to our guesthouse. We lucked out with our lodging; our cabin was doublebooked so they upgraded us to the king suite. The suite was decorated with signed posters from the annual Heligrass Festival hosted in Stewart (a heli-ski/bluegrass festival frequented by the String Cheese Incident). We slept well.

Day 2: Stewart --> Alaska Highway Junction

Saturday would be the most remote day thus far. We kicked off the morning with a short walk on the town boardwalk, which stretched out into the marshland. The views from here were incredible. Families of geese and other birds were all around and the morning air was crisp. We started the drive by retracing our steps back through the potholed canyon road out of Stewart. On the way, we saw a family of 3 Black Bear cubs hanging out on the side of the road. We got back to the junction and headed out on the Cassiar Highway. This remote stretch of road heads virtually straight north until it intersects with the more well-traveled Alaska Highway. The word highway is a stretch. The road was two-lanes, and only sometimes had a dividing line in the middle. It was very winding and the trees were right up on the side of the road with very little shoulder. The views weren't as amazing as they could've been; the clouds were low and thick and it rained for most of the day. Despite this, the presence of the mountains were felt and occasionally the clouds opened up enough for us to get a sense of the scale. We made it out of the wilderness to stop at Dease Lake, a small community that was the first sign of humanity in about 5 hours. The weather after Dease Lake was a little better - the clouds parted and the scenery was more open. For a good hour or so, we passed through the remnants of an enormous wildfire. Before long, we crossed the border into the Yukon Territory at the 60th parallel and turned west onto the famous Alaska Highway. Our home for the night was the only option around: Nugget City. A campground/RV Park/restaurant/general store/gas station, Nugget City is a self-sustained traveler's stop. We stayed in a cozy little cabin. We arrived early enough (not that the late sunset was any limitation) to go on a small hike from the back of the campground down to a beautiful secluded lake. It was peacefully quiet, with a trio of swans gliding along the service. We headed back for dinner and soon shut out the bright nighttime sun to rest.

Day 3: Alaska Highway Junction --> Tok

We were up early again today for the longest day of the drive. The first 4 hours to Whitehorse were gray and dreary. The forest was endless and traffic was minimal. The highway itself was getting bumpier as the land got more unforgiving. We pulled into Whitehorse (the capital of the Yukon where 80% of the territory's inhabitants live) around 11AM for brunch. It was definitely colder than the day before. The town is small but very historic and felt like a metropolis compared to our last few days. After brunch we continued toward the border passing a few more little towns along the way. Emphasis on little - these towns couldn't have had more than 100 people each in them. After Haines Junction we approached Kluane Lake, which marks the border of Kluane National Park and the start of our bumpy ride. The road here quickly deteriorated. The Milepost said that this stretch was the toughest bit of road to build and still requires extensive servicing every single year. It was about 100 yards of pothole filled pavement followed by another 100 yards of bumpy gravel, repeating the pattern for over 100 miles. We took it very slow. To make matters more intense, as soon as we rounded the lake into the valley beyond, we were covered by ominous thunderheads and the rain began to pick up. We took it even slower. We finally made it out well behind schedule, but car still working and spirits still high. The road got progressively better as we got closer to the Alcan border. We stopped for pics at the Welcome to Alaska sign before crossing customs and reentering the U.S. It felt surreal that we had been driving for so long through total emptiness and arrived back at 'home'. But the journey wasn't over yet. Our destination for the evening, Tok, was still another couple hours away and the road still wasn't amazing. We slowly swerved and bumped along, stopping for a few more views of the Mentasta Mountains on the horizon to the south, until we finally arrived in Tok. Our place in Tok was a motel that also housed the most popular restaurant in town. We enjoyed a well-earned burger and margarita to close out the long day.

Day 4: Tok --> Anchorage

We took our time getting up this morning. After several long days of driving, the 5 or 6 remaining hours we had felt trivial. We turned onto the junction of Alaska Highway 1 towards Anchorage for what started as an uneventful drive south. However, as we gained elevation the familiar rain turned to a light snow. It cleared up quickly on the descent though, and we enjoyed the speed allowed by the much better-paved road. The stretch between Glenallen and Palmer was picturesque, and also much more crowded than anything in our previous days. We were now close enough to hit the day-tripper traffic from Anchorage. There were cars carrying kayaks and fishing gear and other fun stuff for people's Memorial Day adventures. As we approached Anchorage it felt surreal to be back in civilization after so many days in the wilderness. The highway turned into a real highway again (with a median and everything) and towns actually had some town to them. The final stretch took us down the heavily-trafficked highway right through downtown Anchorage before turning towards our neighborhood south of the city. After what felt like forever, we finally arrived at our Airbnb ready for a month of adventure.

Thoughts

• It wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be. Even though it was very remote, we rarely let the tank get below half full and there was enough food around.

• We were surpised by how many towns and people there were in southern BC. Williams Lake, Prince George, and Smithers all felt as built-up as any rural town would be in the lower-48

• It's amazing that these highways were even built in the first place, especially considering the maintenance needed to keep them going.

• The scale blew us away. The wilderness on either side of the highway was endless. The Cassiar Highway day in particular was mindblowingly remote. We drove for 8 hours, going North the entire time, and only passed one tiny town.

• We made good use of Starlink Internet on this trip. They were the provider for everywhere we stayed.

• The restaurant at Nugget City had a whiteboard for cyclists to log their info. They wrote their start points, end points, where they were from, and how long they were on the road. Many of the entries were people biking from Deadhorse (the very northern tip of Alaska) to Ushuaia (at the tip of Argentina). They were from all over the world - dozens of countries represented.

Wild Animal Tally:

• 11 Black Bears
• 2 Grizzly Bears
• 4 Bald Eagles
• 1 Buffalo
• 1 Moose
• Dozens of swans
• River Otter

Favorites

• The Milepost - The 600-page must-have guide to driving in the North. The book contains detailed descriptions of every highway, including rest stops, road conditions sights to see, and historical/geographic facts about different places. It's been published every year since 1949.

• Highway 37A - AKA the turnoff to Stewart. This was one of our favorite stretches of highway. The glaciers, steep mountains, and waterfalls reminded us of Iceland.

• Guest House Austria - Our stay in Stewart was awesome. Loved the enormous suite.

• Fast Eddy's - The restaurant in our Tok motel. Easily the best food we had on the drive.

• The Bears - Our favorite animals to watch out for.