AlCan Highway

Hey folks: I hope everyone is having a fine weekend.

I am wondering if any of you good folks have photo itineraries, diaries or

journals of the journey from the continental US to Alaska via the AlCan

Highway on a motorized (car/truck) road trip?

I am interested in image-making stories as well as day-to-day travel issues

and any practical travel advice you can provide.

Also ... I am interested in studying Alaskan artists. Should you know of

someone who's work implores you to make mention of him/her, please do let me

know? THANKS!

Many kind thanks and returns ... gloria@gloriahopkins.com

Gloria

I have travelled the AlCan (or "Alaska") highway twice (1985 and 1998)- at least that portion from my hometown of Dawson Creek, BC, which is "Mile 0" of the hiway. .<br>It's a wonderful trip. Valuable guidebook is "the Milepost", IMO. Although I took some photos along the way, I do not have a photographic 'diary' per se of the trip.<br>The highway is paved road end to end, although short construction detours may be encountered. Given that, interesting side trips are not necessarily on paved roads, although many of them are on well graveled, easily passable roads. Long stretches do exist between stops, so pay attention to your gas guage.<br>Some worthwhile sites along the way include:<br>

The Bennet Dam at Hudson's Hope between Chetwynd and Fort St. John<br>The Art Gallery in Dawson Creek has interesting info on the construction of the highway<br>Liard Hotsprings between Ft. Nelson and Watson's Lake<br>Watson Lake also has an information centre on the hiway and the North in general, including the multitude of signposts erected during the construction<br>Whitehorse is a major town/city along the way, with information on the Yukon gold rush<br>after Whitehorse, if you stay on the Alcan because you are unable to detour up to Dawson City, the centre of the Yukon gold rush, interesting side trips are from Jake's Junction to Atlin, and to Haines and Skagway.<br>once in Alaska, the hiway goes thru Delta Junction, where there is substantial agriculture<br>the end point of the Alaska highway is at Fairbanks, from where you can travel South towards Anchorage passing by the entrance to the park and access to Mt. Denali. Access into the park is restricted, but tour buses conduct day tips<br>from Anchorage you can go down the Kenai peninsula, possibly witnessing a tidal bore along the way<br>in Anchorage you can (and I highly reccomend) book passage on a train from Portage thru a tunnel to Whittier, on Prince William Sound, where you can board a boat (prebooked in Anchorage) to view calving glaciers. I think there are several charters available, but I suggest the catamaran, as it's faster and you spend more time at the glaciers<br>in Anchorage photographer Johnny Johnson used to have a lot of wonderful bear pictures in a gallery<br>if you can swing it, taking the "top of the world" hiway from Tok, Alaska to Dawson City, Yukon is a wonderful trip<br>Dawson City, as I mentioned earlier was the centre of the Yukon Gold rush, and is very interesting.<br>from Dawson one can return to Whitehorse, or..<br>go up (and back) the Dempster Highway, which goes to Innuvik, NWT on the MacKenzie River and nearly at the Arctic ocean. Beautiful country!, at least for the first two-thirds before one drops down into the delta. and you could brag you'ld been across the Artic circle.<br>other people will no doubt have other hilights to recomend<br>Do pardon my rambling, but I remain enthusiastic about my my travels up there.<br>___ DO IT ! __

Hi,

I did a trip from Ohio to Alaska and the Northwest Territories in 1999 on a BMW motorcycle, along with a friend on another BMW motorcyle.

We ferried up the coast via the Inside Passage, debarked at Haines, headed inland to Whitehorse YT, then north to Dawson City YT and north to Inuvik NWT. Then turned around and headed south solo, partly on teh Alcan and partly on the Cassiar Highway (parallels the Alcan, but in the mountains instead of the plains).

Here's a link to it, with photos and book and camping checklists:

http://www.ibmwr.org/pastevnt/grosjeanalaska/alaska.html

The first respondent gave lots of good advice. If you like the outdoors, beautiful scenery, great campsites - the most fantastic scenes you've ever seen, as well as perfect campsites, are a dime a dozen up there. You'll be spoiled and jaded, and find all other destinations lacking, all other mountains crowded, after spending time up there.

A few more things, after looking at your profile and viewing your website (nice site BTW, nice pics of you and nice artwork - never seen Aspen in winter, have kayaked whitewater there):

Icefields Parkway on the way home. Glaciers and more glaciers, and motorized rides out onto the glaciers. About 150-200 miles of glaciers.

Junneau has bald eagles like my native Ohio has cardinals, probably more.

And based on the western mountains you've been painting, you'll love the Cassiar Highway. Five hundred miles of scenery like Rocky Mtn. Colorado, but usually better.

Yet one more thing....

There's an amazing panoramic photographer named Ron Klein, I think in Junneau. I've seen his work, Google his name and you can too. Builds old-fashioned pano cameras, and is quite reknowned for it. If I were going to Alaska, I'd look him up. I've emailed back and forth with him a little bit, and he seems incredibly knowledgeable.

Hi Gloria, <p><p>

Driving the Alaska Highway is a great adventure, I do it almost every year. The name was changed from the Alcan to Alaska Highway a few years back, but it seems like most Alaskan�s still think of it as the Alcan. <p><p>

Make sure you work in the Canadian Rockies on one leg and drive the Cassiar Highway on the other. A trip to the coast is also a must � either Skagway or Hyder / Stewart would be my choice. The Milepost is also a must. <p><p>

Here is a little more on the <a href="http://www.wildnatureimages.com/DrivingToAlaska.htm">Alaska Highway</a>.

I drove up and back from Southern Oregon last August/September. Here are my

suggestions for slow-down points. In the Yukon, the area around Kluane Lake is

wonderful: there's a great gallery there at Destruction Bay; Also a ghost town with an

adjoining B&B on the shore of the lake (the Kluane B&B). The side trip down the Haines

Highway is very nice.

In Northern BC, don't fail to stop at Liard Hot Springs. Also slow down in the northern

Rockies around Mucho Lake. The town of Teslin has good lodging and an internet cafe

which is a good place to meet the locals. The Yukon and BC have great campgrounds. If

you're going in the fall, make sure to get outside towns and try to see some Aurora on

clear nights. I found the Milepost and the AAA guides to be most helpful.

I thought that the best scenery on or near the road was in BC and the Yukon. Generally I

felt like side trips in Alaska offered better scenery, like the road to Valdez, and Wrangell-

St. Elias.

Laird Hot Springs and Kluane are the highlights IMO. As Ron noted, the Cassiar is an excellent return route.

The most scenic road in AK is south from Glennallen to Valdez, in the area of Worthington Pass.

I took the trip up the road in 1960 and have many pictures of the old gravel road. There was fantastic scenery along the way, and I especially prize a picture taken nearing the Haines junction. We took the Haines road for a while but not all the way to the border. In Alaska we went to Valdez, Anchorage, Fairbanks, saw Pt Barrow before the oil development, then flew to Whitehorse and to the White Pass down to Skagway, ferry to Juneau then flew home. We bought an old car for the trip and sold it in Fairbanks to a young guy who wanted a beater. I have many beautiful pictures I have just scanned. The best pictures are the road ones, and the ones along the

White Pass.