Driving to Alaska

Location: British Columbia (BC) and Yukon (YT)     

When: Mid August         

Miles traveled: 2031.3 (46 hours)

Price of gas: $4.88 to 5.52

Interest: White spruce trees   
High point: Red Squirrels chattering, eating mushrooms & marshmallows 
Low point: Car windshield cracked   

One thing learned: Canadian bills are water proof.

 

Note: I planned camping stops along the route to Alaska based on driving 5 hours most days and an occasional rest day.

 

    Day 1: Starting at a rest stop north of Seattle, I drove to the campground at Narin Falls Provincial Park.  The road, highway 99, also goes by the name Sea to Sky Highway.  It is considered the most beautiful scenic hwy in Canada.  I learned of this after I drove it.  Had I known before, I would have taken more time in the towns along the way.  Live and learn.... At the campground I hiked to Narin Falls and found some respite from the 100 degree heat.  The cool breeze off the water felt nice.

 

 

    Day 2: After a morning run and shower at Pemberton Community Center, I drove to Lac La Hache Provincial Park (PP).  I stopped at a few beautiful pullout spots along the way.  One is pictured on the right.  Smoke from wild fires also brought a haze during part of the drive.  The evening was cooler than yesterday and I was very tired.

Shell's inhabitant

    Day 3: A planned "rest" day in 100 Mile House (just south of Lac La Hache PP).  I washed laundry, restocked my food supply, and visited the shore of Lac La Hache lake.  Some of the shells at the beach were translucent!

    Day 4: Before driving to Fraser Lake, I stopped at Station House Gallery in Williams Lake.  Built in 1919 as a train stop, Station House Gallery (pictured on left) is the oldest building in the town and served many functions over the years.  Two art shows, one about moments of joy and the other about food, were on display when I visited.  When I continued driving, I went through the town of Vanderhoof, known as the geographical center of BC.  I saw two small bears today!  One was along the side of the hwy, and the other was climbing out of Fraser Lake near the entrance to the campground. I made sure to be in bed before dark that night!  Day time highs were 70-80s.

    Day 5: After mass at St Andrew's Catholic Church, a shorter day of driving brought me to Tyhee Lake PP.  While exploring the campground, I encountered a bear.  I was walking on a trail that paralleled the lake when I heard something like a large tree branch falling.  I stopped, and a moment later a bear the size of a young adult jumps onto a tree trunk farther down the path.  After a moment of not hearing anything, it climbed down the trunk and looked around.  Having not yet been initiated into the "stand your ground" bear policy, I waved my arms, talked to the bear, and slowly backed up.  (Waving arms and talking let the bear know that you are a human animal.)  It looked at me and started climbing the tree again.  When I was out of the bear's sight, I turned around and walked back the way I came.  Since then, I have read many posters about bear encounters.  They all say to stand your ground.  If the bear is curious, a person should try to scare it off.  If the bear is aggressive, a person is supposed to talk quietly to try to calm it down and ultimately let it know you are not a threat but big enough to avoid.  None of the posters say what to do if it climbs a tree.  Thankfully, this was my only close bear encounter and all other bears I saw were far away or on the side of the road.

    Day 6: Bear number four, was a little cub I saw on the left side of the road as I drove past.  Today brought a lot of road construction and my car received a crack in the front windshield while on a section of road that was not under construction.  The small five inch crack would grow to longer than my forearm before I had it looked at in Whitehorse.  Kinaskan Lake PP. was a beautiful end to the long driving day.  Owls were near the lake, and they could be heard in the silence when no cars were driving past.  Many of the provincial campgrounds along the route to Alaska are just off the hwy.

    Day 7: I made it to Watson Lake, Yukon!  During the drive I saw a red fox, and slowed for a porcupine crossing the hwy.  Why did it cross the road?  I don't know, but it was cool to watch.  In Watson Lake, I visited the Northern Lights Center and learned about the science and history of the aurora borealis. (Solar flares and the earth's magnetic field create the Northern Lights.  A super storm on the sun in August 1859 caused the lights to be clearly visible in Colorado.  The different colors are caused by solar energy hitting different atoms in the atmosphere.)  I highly recommend stopping at the Northern Lights Center if you are ever in that area.

    Day 8: I drove to Whitehorse and discovered the awesomeness of visitor centers having the answers to all my questions.  I am getting closer to the land of the midnight sun.  My visit to Alaska is not during the height of summer when the sun never sets, but there will be only a few hours of full dark this time of year.  In Whitehorse, the sun set after 9:30pm, while yesterday in Watson Lake, the sun set at 9pm. 

First part of fish ladder

    Day 9: Rest day from driving!  I washed laundry, bought groceries, went to market, ate an Elk Morel (elk+ mushroom+ potato empanada), explored Miles Canyon (named after a US army general) and visited Whitehorse's fish ladder!  The fish ladder helps the fish swim upriver past a dam to the shallow creeks.  Hatchery fish are released each year into Wolf Creek to help maintain the salmon population.  When the fish return to the creek years later to spawn, they are counted and observed in the fish ladder.  Clipped fins and an ID number help the public know how many wild born and how many hatchery fish have made it back to the creek.

 

     Day 10: In the morning I got holes drilled into my car windshield so the crack would stop spreading and then I started driving.  In the evening, I arrived at Snag Junction and found a squirrel eating a marshmallow on a stick.  The squirrel made a racket at me from its' tree when I scared it off and took the marshmallow away.  Snag Junction is my favorite campground because the lake was very still.  It reminded me of a kaleidoscope.

     Day 11: (Beaver Creek is the most western community in Canada.)  Arrived in Alaska!  During this last part of the drive, I saw pink flamingos and a zebra by the side of one pond, and two moose grazing on the side of the road!  The flamingos were plastic and the zebra was a flat picture, but the moose were alive and looked at me as I drove past.  There is a lot of construction on the US side of the Alaskan hwy, and after a section of construction I continued to drive slow because the road was very poor.  A red pickup truck passed and before it fully merged back into the right lane, a big (insert choice words here if you so choose) knife was tossed out the passenger window!  Thankfully, I was going slow enough and was far enough behind the truck, that the knife did not hit my car windshield nor the tires.  I hope none of the cars behind me took damage either.  I am grateful I did not encounter that pickup truck again.  

    In general: Driving to Alaska was like driving to any other state.  The highways and byways were in mostly good condition, there was construction delays, and time zone changes.  Canada's rest stops (vault toilets only and no water) were more frequent than the US and often had scenic views.  I saw cars from a variety of US states (Texas, Idaho, Florida, Washington, South Dakota, Wisconsin +).  Frost heaves are harder to drive around than potholes (going slow is key).  And Yukon campgrounds provide free firewood!

Day 4, Bear

Day 5,  Stand your ground around bears

Day 9, Second part of fish ladder

Day 10, Lake at Snag Junction

Day 10, Squirrel with marshmallow