mike@rabbit.UUCP (Michael J. Hawley) (01/18/84)
Dave (et al)
About the alaska highway -- god, what a great road.
Yes: get the "milepost"; it is a must. It contains all the
beat-road driving tips you need.
If you can find it, there is a book called "rough road to the north"
by Jim Christie which is a couple of years old. It has a few pictures,
some funny stories, and lots of history.
For general alaska reading, get John McPhee's
book (Coming into the Country) and Joe McGinness' (Going to Extremes).
These are both classics, and paint a broad sweeping canvas of alaska.
Must reading.
You might want the sketch of our trip.
Last summer, three friends and I decided to canoe the Peel river
in the Northern Yukon territory. Year before, I bought my first car
(a 1966 ford wagon, tahoe turquoise, 110,000 miles, just $150).
This clunker went deep into the bowels of Northern Quebec and back
suffering only a loss of muffler. I thought there was a chance
it would make it to Alaska and back. To make a long story short
(get out your atlas) we drove from Murray Hill NJ to Fairbanks AK
and back. It took 15 days to get our canoes in the water of the Peel,
and 15 days on the river. In all, we went about 11,000 miles by car,
500 by ferry, and 300 by canoe. This took about 50 days.
We tried not to drive more than 8 hours a day, but had many more long
driving days than I wanted. The cost of everything was about $850
a person. $150 each paid for a ride on the ferry from Haines to
Prince Rupert. We camped, stayed in occasional hotels and with friends,
and, except for carefully hitting just about every hittable bar
along the way, traveled pretty cheaply.
Our itinerary was roughly this:
north to ottawa (to buy maps from the Canadian govmt)
west on the trans canada highway to calgary. (The trans-can is
a fantastic road, two lanes, well paved, not crowded, no
tolls, pretty driving.)
north through banff and jasper along the parks roads. (This is
spectacular, and the roads are newly paved and in excellent
shape.)
north to Dawson creek. Roads in BC -- northern BC -- are pretty
crunchy. Beautiful; first taste of wilderness road.
left at Dawson Creek, onto the alcan highway. The alcan continues
for 1500 miles to fairbanks. It was built in 9 months during
ww II and is in generally good shape now, with all but about 200 miles
paved. It is entirely paved in Alaska. Still, big chunks
of the road sometimes disappear. The worst spot for us was
a mudhole about 4 miles long. They had closed down this stretch
of road for four or five days, stranding hundreds of people in
the middle of nowhere. The 18-wheeler ahead of us left 2' deep
trenches in the muck; I am still amazed that the old Ford, with
4 big bodies, 2 canoes, and gear, made it.
No problems with gas.
right at Whitehorse YT, north on the Klondike highway.
This is a beautiful road, all gravel, eminently driveable.
right, onto the Dempster. The Dempster is an unbelievably wonderful
road. We had four flat tires, and lost the muffler in the
Northwest Territories. The drive is absolutely stunning.
(hard to believe after the alcan, but it is). You go through
the ogilvie mountains, the tombstone range, northern boreal plains,
sheer tundra, the weird richardson mountains, and down into the
flatness of the mackenzie delta. Aside from the Dalton raod
in alaska (not nearly as nice), this is the only road on our
continent on which the public can drive north of the circle.
It is about 500 miles long, with a gas station at the start,
one in the middle, and some in Inuvik and Fort McPherson.
There is lots of great lore (eg, the mad trapper of rat river,
the lost patrol of Francis Fitzgerald, ...). If you have a chance,
I strongly recommend it. Bring many spares (but be warned: even
brand new steel belteds will get punctured by the sharp shale gravel;
better to use cheap old tires which you can patch for c$9.00 a shot),
gas cans for about 10 extra gallons, and be prepared to pay the
equivalent of $2.50 a gallon at the middle "oasis" gas station.
(This was by far the most expensive gas on the trip, but gas has
always cost about $2.50 up there, ever since 1930. In general,
gas averaged around 1.30 and the car got about 12 mpg)
The Dempster provided convenient access to our river (a three-day
hitchhike aside). We stayed at the Klondike river lodge (at the
start of the Dempster) where the owner, a guy with a hooked arm
(lost to fan belt? ... or grizzly...?) charged the four of us about
c$48. A nice place.
right turn on klondike highway to Dawson City. Dawson is pretty boring,
basically a stop for tour buses. There is lots of historical
interest.
North to fairbanks on the Klondike loop (the top of the world highway)
and the Taylor highway. The Top of the world road was spectacular.
What a view of those mountains! All gravel. The Taylor
was "under construction". This is a bad sign to see on such roads.
It was as tough as any piece of road. The poor ford -- a punctured
brake line meant we had to careen our way through the mountains of
eastern alaska for about 20 miles before reaching Tok where the
brake line was replaced ($60). The Taylor is beautiful but rugged.
At this point, rejoining the alcan, we drove on beautifully paved
road to Fairbanks.
From Fairbanks, south to Haines. We had hoped to drive on the Parks
highway past Mckinley, but no time.
(The Denali highway is not recommended).
The Haines road was gravel, and paved in spots, very nice drive.
We took the ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert and the Land of
Real Roads. I strongly recommend the ferry. I hope that, if you
take it, you go on one of the three or four days of the year when
it isn't raining. It can be one of the most beautiful boat rides
in the world.
The road out of Rupert was fine. We drove back to nj via idaho,
montana, colorado.
Timing was important. We left June 1, and were ahead of the tourist
wave all the time. We hit the river just after ice-out and before
mosquito-in. Bugs were hardly noticeable.
For bugs there is one thing to get: DEET. If you look on "off", you
see something like "9% active ingredients". The 9% is deet, a wonderful
chemical devloped by the army in ww II. It is harmful to all known
organisms, and keeps the bugs off. Look for a bottle of 95% deet
(muskol is one brand). It is colorless, odorless, and it works.
Sorry about the length of this.
I can get much more specific if you like. (I know a great place
for caribou meat in Fort McPherson ... and did you know that Wonowon
got its name for being at mile 101 of the road? ...)
I wish you bon voyage. It is a great trip.
Wish I were going. (There is a remote chance of a paddle
on the Noatak river. Remote by any standards...)
all the best,
Michael Hawley
alice!mike