The
Milepost 2009: Alaska Travel Planner ,
edited by Kris Valencia
2009 brings the 61st edition of the king
of highway guides. The Milepost 2009, edited
by Kris Valencia, is the road trip bible for anyone
driving to Alaska or through the four Canadian provinces
along the way from the northwestern United States. As
the name implies, The Milepost provides mile-by-mile
descriptions of the roads and scenic attractions, making
it ideal for all travelers to this spectacular region.
(Megan Edwards found
the 2007 guide to be especially helpful when she visited
Anchorage and took a one-day
road trip to Seward, so it's not just for thousand-mile
trekkers.)
This is at least the seventh edition of
The Milepost I've read and reviewed. The astonishing
thing to me is that although the total page count stays
roughly the same, the editorial group behind this guide
manages to add several pages of new content each year.
Flipping between the 2008 and 2009 editions, I was struck
by the many new photographs in the 2009 volume -- well
over 700 color photos and 100 maps. The hot news in
this year's edition is the digital edition that is offered
free of charge to all purchasers of the book. Formatted
as a PDF file, the entire book is searchable by keywords.
I tried several searches and got thumbnail views of
the book pages relating to "24 hour gas stations",
"motels in Tok" and "bear viewing."
It was easy to zoom each page to a readable level, and
all pages are printable. There's still no beating the
printed book on the seat next to you when you're on
a roll, but this new digital version adds wonderful
flexibility when you have a computer available, and
even more when you have Internet access: all the external
resource links are "live" on the digital edition.
In addition, a "turning the pages" sound effect
makes using the digital edition seem more like leafing
through a good old-fashioned book.
As in past years, The Milepost has
four "special feature" topics. This year,
they cover the role of the military in Alaska highway
lore, Alaska's path to statehood, several native heritage
sites, and driving along the coast of Vancouver Island.
Each year, The Milepost's field editors drive
all sections of the roadways described in the book and
provide current information about conditions. This year,
thirty major routes are profiled, and itineraries for
sixty side trips are provided. The field editors also
seek out new and out-of-the-way discoveries of the sort
that make road trips so memorable. Every traveler to
the far north ought to read the first forty-seven pages
of The Milepost, because the detailed information
provided there covers just about every topic needed
for planning a road trip to Alaska and the Canadian
provinces. Included are excellent overviews about vehicle
preparation, insurance, road conditions, mosquitoes,
bear and other wildlife viewing, time zones, sled dog
tours, and just about everything else you might need
to know.
One of the best things about The Milepost
-- and an excellent reason to buy the latest version
-- is that it includes detailed updates about changes
in the roadways each year. Alerts printed in red provide
information about truck lanes, caribou crossings, improved
sections of highway, and changes made since last year.
It could be my imagination, but it seems like there
are far more photos of motorcyclists on road trips than
in any previous year. The motorcyclists seem pretty
adventurous to me, considering the stories I've heard
about rocks and gravel so often kicked up by passing
vehicles.
One place described in The Milepost
that I would love to visit is the Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park. Wrangell, which covers 13.2 million acres,
is the largest national park in the United States. It
features nine of the 16 highest peaks in the country,
a 300-foot waterfall, and two canyons that are said
to exceed the size and scale of Yosemite Valley. Wonders
like that almost defy the imagination - even when you're
looking right at them.
Up-to-date, well-written, and now digital,
The Milepost remains the gold standard of Alaska
road trip guidebooks.
Mark
Sedenquist
6/19/09
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