Alaska Highway
From World travel guide
The Alaska Highway is the road connecting Alaska with the rest of North America. It is primarily in Canada. This itinerary will cover the trip from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks. This distance is 2395km (1488 miles). This is not a Sunday Drive...
Contents |
Understand
This highway was built during World War II to help the American Military transport equipment to and from Alaska.
Prepare
{Time of year comments}
Get in
Getting to the Alaska Highway is no small feat in itself. It starts in Dawson Creek in Northern British Columbia. You can get to Dawson Creek either by driving north from Southern British Columbia through Prince George or by driving Northwest from Edmonton
By Plane
Dawson Creek does have a regional airport that is served by Central Mountain Air and Hawkair. However, it would not be advisable to try and rent a car in Dawson Creek for this long drive. It would be more reasonable to rent a car in Edmonton. Another alternative would be to rent an RV for this drive. However, this is usually quite expensive and after the cost of gas, probably more expensive than staying in a hotel every night. However, with the sparse provision of hotels, having an RV can be more convenient.
Drive
The only real possible way of doing this trip is driving. Many of the travellers do this trip with a Recreational Vehicle (RV).
Although Canada generally uses metric, most points along the Alaska Highway are identified by the Mileage:
- Mile 0 - Dawson Creek
- Mile 283 - Fort Nelson
- Mile 437 - Mucho Lake
- Mile 613 - Watson Lake
- Mile 887 - Whitehorse
- Mile 985 - Haines Junction/Kluane National Park Reserve
- Mile 1314 - Tok
- Mile 1422 - Delta Junction (Official end of the highway)
- Mile 1488 - Fairbanks
Alternate Routes
Highway 37 goes North from Terrace and joins the Alaska Highway near the BC-Yukon Border.
Rather than going west from Whitehorse, you can go North along along the Klondike Highway to the Historic Gold Rush town of Dawson City then take the Top of the World Highway to the Alaska border at at Poker Creek and then Take the Taylor Highway back to the Alaska Highway.
Side Trips
At about Mile 800 (?) you can turn south to Carcross and go to Skagway. The Historic Whitepass & Yukon Route Railway connects Carcross and Skagway.
Another sidetrip that leaves the Alaska highway at the same point is a trip to Atlin. Atlin is a small town in British Columbia that is only accessible from the Yukon.
Stay safe
Get out
Return by ferry as an option.
