The Alaska Highway

Three days of travel across the northern part of the United States started the journey up to Alaska.

This part of the journey didn’t contain anything exciting, just long days on the road working closer to a reward. I did take note of interesting things along the route to make it a little more exciting. Arriving up to Minot ND, I noticed several missile silos and command centers off the side of the road. The night of July 3rd, I stayed a the campground on Minot Air Force Base. Knowing that I was surrounded by fields of nuclear tipped missiles and B-52s ready to be loaded with additional nuclear ordnance was an eerie feeling. Thankfully, it was a peaceful night!

I woke up on America’s Birthday and promptly crossed the border into Canada. Sorry America, no celebration this year because adventure called. I spent the night in a Provincial Park just east of Calgary which was peaceful. Best of all were the hot showers!

The next day was an adventure into Banff National Park and a tour of the Columbia Icefield, and specifically a trip onto Athabasca glacier. I opted for a pricier tour that offered a smaller crowd, more intimate setting for the guides to talk about the glacier, and which took us up higher on the glacier to ungroomed parts. The experience was amazing along with the people I met. Yes, I drank the glacial water despite my hiker mentality screaming at me to filter it first. I didn’t die!

I camped at the Lake Louise campground and waking up early the next morning took the bus to Moraine Lake and mostly beat the rush of people to the lake (I can’t say the same about Lake Louise about 2 hours later). I’ve seen photos of Moraine Lake come up on screen savers and such which were beautiful in their own right, but as you know things are so much more beautiful in person. This is where my brain started to try to tell me that I needed more time for this trip. I didn’t listen and kept pushing towards Alaska and soaking in the sights of Banff and Jasper National Parks as I inched my way north.

I wish I would have slowed down for this section. I would have, but I had two things against me. In my initial planning I miscalculated distance and ended up leaving out a whole day’s worth of driving. Second, I had to make up a day because I had a campsite inside Denali National Park reserved. Despite driving the entirety (plus a little more) of the Alaska Highway in three days, I still managed to soak it in with stops for pictures and a soak in the Liard Hot Springs. I even did laundry and an oil change just before hitting the pavement of the Alaska Highway.

It was pretty smooth sailing up until Haines Junction, YT. After that point the road started to become rough, and by the time I reached Destruction Bay, the frost heaves demanded a slower pace. It took some energy to navigate this stretch of the highway and I was thankful I didn’t have a trailer. I can’t begin to imagine the struggle of those with the big campers going down the road. Once in Alaska, the road was like brand new! At least for the first 15 or so miles until I hit almost non-stop construction to Tok. While waiting for a pilot vehicle, I met the sweetest flagger who was happy to chat with another girl. I learned her parents are truckers on the Dalton Highway which is were I am headed to next.

I successfully traversed the Alaska Highway and my final destination of Deadhorse is in sights. Deadhorse Alaska is at the end of the Dalton Highway, which is also the northern terminus of the Pan-American Highway (that’s an adventure for another year(s)). It is also the farthest north you can drive in the United States while remaining on public roads.

The Dalton Highway is mostly unpaved, but it is maintained. But just like the Alaska Highway, it is rough as the permafrost is brutal on it. It can also be dangerous due to the remoteness, conditions, and large trucks that use it. If you have ever seen the TV show “Ice Road Truckers,” they have which are the Dalton Highway. It was an adventure, and ultimately I was able to wade into the Arctic Ocean.

With it being summer time, at that far north there was 24 hour daylight. It was weird waking up in the middle of the “night” and seeing the sun overhead, but to the north. Although it was less than a week that I was in total or near total daylight, I really missed darkness and the stars.

Once I got back to Fairbanks and off the Dalton Highway, I took some time to do laundry and wash my truck, which it desperately needed after being caked with mud from the highway. After that, I headed to Chena Hot Springs and relaxed for a few hours. Natural hot springs are truly one of the best things in this world!

The next day I arrived at Denali National Park and boarded a bus into the park, which dropped me off at my campground well inside the park. The campground was small, with just two families and a young couple staying there. Everyone was great to talk to, and I enjoyed hearing about their backgrounds and travels. On the way out of the park, we spotted a grizzly bear with a juvenile cub foraging in the distance. Beautiful animals, though I was happy to be watching from a safe distance.

I continued south to Wasilla, then took the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, camping a few miles north of town along a river. The next morning, I drove closer to the toilets, took care of business, and cooked breakfast. Once I was packed up, I went to start my truck… and nothing. I troubleshot what I could with no luck, so I had it towed to a repair shop in Glennallen. They couldn’t do anything because the issue was tied to the anti-theft system. I called the Ford dealership in Wasilla, and they told me to bring it in, and after a $1,500 tow, I arrived, only to find they’d already closed for the night.

The next morning, I got punched in the gut when they refused to work on it because my truck is badged as a Mazda, even though they admitted the Mazda B-Series and Ford Ranger are essentially the same vehicle, and the anti-theft system would be different. Defeated, I got breakfast and thought through my options rather than immediately paying for another 60-mile tow to the Mazda dealership in Anchorage, which I was fairly confident wouldn’t actually be necessary. After some digging, I figured out the problem was the transceiver that reads the chip in the key and relays that signal to the computer. It had failed. I pulled the bad part and brought it into the parts department, expecting them to not have it in stock. To my surprise, the Anchorage Ford dealership had exactly one, and got it to Wasilla within the hour. Five minutes after installing it, I was back on the road and relieved to be moving again, but still annoyed about that unnecessary tow (even though I hadn’t known it was unnecessary at the time). I didn’t let it ruin the mood of this adventure, however.

I had to backtrack a little on the Alaska Highway to just before Watson Lake, where I then headed south into British Columbia on Highway 37. Along the way, I stopped at Tā Ch’ilā Provincial Park, which had caught my eye during trip planning because it stood out in satellite imagery. On the map, and I’d even say in person, it looks like tropical waters. While not tropically warm, the lake is warm enough for swimming, unlike most others in the region, and light reflecting off its silty bottom (called marl, a mixture of silt and shell fragments) gives it that striking aquamarine color. This was a relaxing spot; I took a kayak out for a couple of hours and fully shook off the delay from my truck troubles.

After that, and another night of camping, I started to struggle on the highway. I decided I needed a break, got a hotel room, and took two days off once I reached Prince George. Well rested, I made my way back toward the border, passing through Mount Robson Provincial Park and once again through Jasper and Banff National Parks.

As soon as I crossed the border back into the US, I made my way to Glacier National Park. This year they had timed entry reservations, and I was fortunate to get one for the park and Going to the Sun Road. I only hiked a small portion of Glacier in the past, but driving Going-to-the-Sun Road was a great one-day trip that gave me a broader taste of the park.

After Glacier, I made my way to Mt. Rushmore. I’d been there before, but it holds sentimental value for me. I spread a small amount of my father’s ashes there. He always wanted to see Mt. Rushmore but never made it before he passed away, so after his death I brought some of his ashes and left them there. In a way, visiting Rushmore feels like visiting him. Right as I was about to leave, I heard an announcement that some Air Force jets were about to fly over and it might get noisy. I stuck around to see what it was, and to my surprise, it was the Air Force Thunderbirds! I grabbed my radio, tuned to their air-to-air frequency, and tracked them as they came around for multiple passes, which let me snap some really good photos.

From Mt. Rushmore, I visited Badlands National Park and the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. Badlands isn’t as dramatic in scenery as Glacier, but it has its own kind of beauty and is a great place to reflect. Erosion has carved out some stunning formations here over time. The Minuteman Missile site has several locations spread around Badlands: a silo with a transparent shield so you can see what a loaded missile silo actually looks like, a visitor’s center, and the launch control facility, which is tour only. I wasn’t able to snag a spot on that tour this time, but it’s on my list for next time.

From there, I headed east, making a quick stop at the Mall of America which is a place I’ve wanted to visit since I was a teenager. Then on to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore before continuing down to Youngstown, Ohio. There’s an arcade there that doubles as a museum, packed with hundreds of pinball machines and other arcade games from the ’80s and ’90s. That was a fun, nostalgic stop before the final push home.