"Mile Zero" - Dawson Creek, BC, Canada
If you chose to drive from the Lower 48 to Alaska, you will take the Alaska Highway, also known as the AlCan (Alaska-Canada Highway.) You don’t have a choice. This two-lane road is your only option. And it is an adventure all by itself.
The Alcan is long. The road is about 1365 miles long, crossing several mountain ranges and three time zones. For perspective, that’s about the distance from Miami to Chicago. Or for our West Coast friends, the distance between Tiajuana on the Mexican border to the Canadian border in Washington, if for some reason you wanted to get from Mexico to Canada.
Construction of the AlCan in 1942. It has been improved somewhat since then.
It is also very remote. The road was constructed during the Second World War (aka The War to End All Wars – The Sequel) because the US had no way to connect with and defend Alaska via land. With the cooperation of the Canadian government, who also did not want to be invaded by the Japanese, the road was constructed in just 8 months by plowing through the vast Canadian wilderness in northern British Columbia and the Yukon. At that time there was practically nothing between the start in Dawson Creek, BC and the end in Delta Junction, AK with the exception of the mining town of Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon, which lies somewhat in the middle of the route. Today, although the road has been improved, it is still very sparsely populated. It can be up to 600 miles between “civilization,” as defined by a community’s ability to support a Walmart, Tim Horton’s, or McDonald's.
"Extreme Dust" (said in the voice of the guy that announces Monster Truck races.)
It is rough. At times, like Mad Max Fury Road rough. The most common road sign – “Extreme Dust.” Although it is technically paved the entire length frost heaves, rock slides and washouts keep the road crews busy during the short construction season. During the summer the construction is ongoing and since they have to keep the road open delays can be long. During our trip, a beaver dam broke and took out one of the bridges – fortunately after we had already passed through. Within 36 hours the road crews had created a temporary detour to keep traffic flowing!
Typical road construction - wait your turn for a pilot car to escort you through the construction, One section was over 18 miles long.
Most of the way there are no pavement markings, and you end up using both lanes to dodge monster pot-holes. Some are both massive and unavoidable. These are usually marked with orange flags, or sometimes with piles of wheel covers alongside the road. When you ultimately hit one of these holes and find that you haven’t broken any teeth and your vehicle is still drivable you count your blessings. We ended up victim to “the road” on two occasions – but those are stories for another time.
Just a bear licking dandelions. Nothing to see here. Move along.
You never know what you are going to see. Beautiful scenery, of course. A variety of wildlife, including bears, elk, mountain sheep, porcupines, bison, and foxes. And pretty much every mode of wheeled transportation you can imagine. You are sharing the road with tandem tractor trailers, busses, RVs, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and even skateboards. Yes, skateboards. There was a fella that was skateboarding from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic down to Banff, Canada. We ran across several folks on bicycles and motorcycles that were working their way from the Arctic down to Argentina. In all, just a bunch of crazy people on a pilgrimage from one end of nowhere to the other end of nowhere on the same stretch of two-lane road.
In all, it would take us a week to conquer the AlCan. In the next several posts we’ll share some of the adventures along the way.
Below the Line
How far is it? Well, it depends.
The Official "Mile 0" Marker in Dawson Creek
When the AlCan was constructed in 1942 both the US and Canada were still using the good old “Imperial” measurement system. From “Mile Zero” in Dawson Creek to the end in Delta Junction was a total of 1422 miles. Fuel depots and outposts along the way were referred to by their milepost – for example, Nugget City is located at Historical Mile 650. Over the years, the road has been improved and straightened and has actually shortened in total length to 1387 miles. So, the modern Nugget City is really located at actual mile 627.
This got further complicated in the 1970s when Canada joined the rest of the world and adopted the metric system and the mileposts were converted to kilometerposts. And these kilometerposts have been “recalibrated” several times over the years as the road continued to be improved and shortened. So good old Nugget City is technically 1002.8 kilometers from Dawson Creek. At least for now.
Another interesting complication –the mileposts on the Alaskan portion of the road still reflect the Historical Miles, resulting in a 35-mile discrepancy between driving distance and physical mileposts at the US-Canadian border. It all can become very confusing, but the reality is it doesn’t really matter. There is only one road. You’ll ultimately get there when you get there. And you’ll know you are there when you see the sign.
The end of the road. Delta Junction, Alaska.
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