Alaska Highway Trip, 2002

Beth's Journal - "North to Alaska"

Week 1 - Littleton, Billings, Lethbridge, Whitecourt, Sikanni Chief, Watson Lake, Skagway
Week 2 - Skagway, White River Crossing, Fairbanks, Arctic Circle, Denali, Anchorage
Week 3, Anchorage, Whittier, Seward, Soldotna, Homer, Cooper Landing, Tok, Dawson City, Whitehorse
Week 4 - Whitehorse, Dease Lake, Smithers, Prince George, Oliver, Spokane, Bozeman, Littleton

A Few of the Photos
 (Click on thumbnails for larger images.)


Littleton to Fairbanks, 3300 miles. Overnights at Billings MT, Lethbridge AB, White Court AB, Sikanni Chief BC, Watson Lake YT, Skagway AK, White River Crossing YT, and Fairbanks AK.
05/26, south of Lethbridge, AB. The first of 6 border crossings. Lots of snow on the ground, eh? A few days earlier it had snowed 2 1/2 feet, eh?



05/27, Nanton, AB. A very common sight in southern Alberta, the green Pioneer grain elevators and the orange ones of Alberta Wheat Pool.



05/28, MP-0, Dawson Creek, BC. Three and a half days from home and we've reached Milepost 0 of the famous Alaska Highway. (After dreaming of the trip since the mid-70s.)


05/28, MP-101, north of Wonowon, BC. Miles and miles of highway, this section near a town that I first thought was named after Indians. Think about it: won-oh-won.


05/29, sw of Steamboat, BC. The highway winding its way into the northern Canadian Rockies, some of the best scenery on the trip.




05/29, MP-392, Summit Pass, 4,250', higest summit on Alaska Highway, west of Ft Nelson, BC.





05/29, MP-456, Muncho Lake, BC. Blue-green from copper, covered in slushy ice that was shifting and moving, making a sound like marbles being stirred in a bowl.


05/29, Yukon border, east of Watson Lake, YT. Wow, after all these years, finally visiting the Yukon, home of Sgt. Preston of the RCMP.




05/30, MP-635, sign post forest at Watson Lake, YT. Started in 1942 by a GI far from home, there are now over 46,000 signs. We spent several hours wandering around reading and smiling.

05/30, MP-650, west of Watson Lake, YT. Snow-capped mountains. For miles and miles and miles.






05/30, MP-698, Continental Divide, west of Watson Lake, YT. Water flowing to the west ends up in the Bering Sea, to the east in the Arctic Ocean.




05/30, Summit Lake, Fraser, BC. A pretty, icey lake at the US-Canadian border north of Skagway.






05/30, Alaska border north of Skagway, AK. After 5 full days on the road, we arrive for our first ever visit to Alaska! The photo doesn't show the high wind but does show the impressive mountains near the coast.
06/01, Riding the White Pass & Yukon Route north of Skagway to... White Pass. Very scenic and fun, especially since we were dressed for the cold and spent most of the time on the platform between the cars.

06/02, Carcross, YT. Back into Canada to a little town on the headwaters of the mighty Yukon River, where the folks on the way to the Klondike quit walking and began paddling.
06/02, Canyon Creek Bridge (1942), east of Haines Jct, YT. The only original bridge from 1942. It's been restored a couple of times, but you get the idea.


06/02, Kluane Lake, west of Haines Jct, YT. A BIG lake. It took 5 shots with a wide-angle lens to get a panorama of this scene.




06/03, Our Lady of Grace Mission, Beaver Creek, YT. Made from Army surplus quonsut huts.





Traveling around Alaska. Stops in Delta Jct, Fairbanks, the Arctic Circle, Denali National Park, Anchorage, Whittier, Seward, Soldotna, Homer, Tok, and Chicken.


06/03, MP-1422, end of the Alaska Highway, Delta Jct, AK. We're there, only 1422 miles from Dawson Creek. Sure was a neat drive!



06/05, Dalton Highway and Alaska pipeline, north of Fairbanks, AK. Up the famous Haul Road on a day drive to the Arctic Cirle. About 50 miles of pavement, 150 of gravel, each way.
06/05, Arctic Circle, 200 miles north of Fairbanks, AK. Way North. But still 300 miles to Prudhoe Bay. Maybe on our next trip.



06/06, near Denali Nat'l Park, AK. We saw Mt McKinley on a sunny day from 120 miles away in Fairbanks, but didn't see it while at Denali.
06/08, Whittier, AK. The train we rode from Anchorage, along Turnagain Arm, to Whittier. The heavy rain and wind doesn't show up in this photo.

06/08, Whittier, AK. The 50-knot catamaran that took us out into Prince William Sound.





06/08, Harvard Glacier in Prince William Sound, east of Whittier, AK. Lots of ice! A very neat excursion!




06/08, at Surprise Glacier in Prince William Sound, east of Whittier, AK.





06/10, Seward, AK. The clouds were hanging low in the seaport of Seward. As they were for most of our visit to the Kenai Penisula.



06/11, Russian Orthodox church, Ninilchik, AK, south of Soldotna, on the western side of the Kenai. The early Russian settlers left a lasting impression on Alaska.

06/11, north of Homer, AK, along Cook Inlet, home to large numbers of impressive bald eagles.






06/11, Bishop Beach, Homer, AK. As Tom Bodet says, "The end of the road". Our turnaround point on the trip. Only 3800 miles back to Littleton.




Homer to Littleton. Overnights at Cooper Landing AK, Tok AK, Dawson City YT, Whitehorse YT, Dease Lake BC, Smithers BC, Prince George BC, Oliver BC, Spokane WA, Bozeman MT, and home.
06/11, near Cooper Landing, AK. The pop-up looks rather small compared to the motor coaches, but for us long-time tent campers it was luxurious. And it protected us well from the rain and mosquitos.
06/13, Taylor Highway, north of Anchorage, north of Tok, heading north to the Top of the World Highway. (And sunny skies again!)





06/13, Chicken, AK. Just like Luckenbach, Texas, this town put a smile on everyone's face. Why 'Chicken'? The miners couldn't spell ptarmigan, a common game bird in the area.



06/13, Dawson City, YT. The home of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. Many of the buildings are maintained by the Canadian National Park system.




06/14, Fox Lake, north of Whitehorse, YT. There is no end to beautiful lakes in the Yukon and British Columbia.





06/15, Cassiar Highway, southwest of Watson Lake, YT. The beginning of the Cassiar Highway, a 400-mile road through north central British Columbia. Not many towns, but lots of unspoiled scenery.
06/16, Cassiar Highway, north of Iskut, BC. After a while we quit counting moose. And drove on plenty of gravel roads.






06/16, Stikine River, north of Iskut, BC. One of many wide, deep rivers in BC. No water shortage up there.


06/16, Kitwanga, BC. Another very interesting church building.




06/17, Prince George, BC. After 3+ weeks on the road, with many miles of dusty or muddy gravel, it was time to clean things up a little.
06/20, Coeur D'Alene, ID. The roaring water, and the rainbow just out of this picture, gave us a break from I-90.


06/20, Grant-Kohrs NHS, Deer Lodge, MT. A monument to the cattle drives and big ranching days of the late 1800s.


06/24, Littleton, CO. Back home again after 28 days and 8500 miles. Time for some serious cleaning.
06/24, Littleton, CO. The only Xterra in town with those stickers. :)



Back to top
Back to home page

Copyright © 2002, Randy Bishop
Last modified: February 5, 2005