An Alaskan Adventure

Megan, your article about the Seward Highway, brought back memories of a trip (rather longer than your 1 day) my wife and I did in September 2000 with two of our relatives who live in Canada part of which was along this same highway.

Here is a synopsis of our travels which to us was just one great scenic drive.

We started in Vancouver and returned to Vancouver by way of Hyder (Alaska) where we had up close and almost personal encounters with Grizzlies and Black Bears;

Whitehorse; Watson Lake; Haines Junction; Tok (superb wilderness town where like you we struggled to get decent shots of Mother and young Moose and Elk but had great food in Fast Eddies);

Anchorage (we stayed in the Leopold David House) originally owned by the first Mayor of Anchorage; great food at the Grey Goose and met a waiter Daniel married to a Thai woman who lives in Thailand with their daughter (named Denali), Daniel went home every few months with money earned at the Grey Goose;

Drove to Portage and Whittier took the glacier tour of Prince William Sound, fabulous especially near Harvard and Barry glaciers when I was informed by the Captain as the Catamarran cut its way through the ice that the hull was the thickness of two coca cola tins opened up and flattened (that got my attention),

...then onto Seward on the Seward Highway breathtaking scenery, stayed at the Wildflower B&B Mr and Mrs Campbell, superb and gave us a great insight into the earthquake of 1964. Unfortunately could not stay to witness the “bore” in the Portage Channel.

Then drove via Anchorage to Healy near Denali NP. Early morning (5.30am) trip into Denali NP freezing cold, snow and ice everywhere but absolutely glorious scenery with Moose (including huge Bull Moose), Sheep, Fox, Bears, Caribou, Elk aplenty. Given 2 of the lottery tickets into Denali NP by visitor who could not stay. These tickets enable a limited number of visitors (400 I think) to drive by car into the park each year. Very excited about this.

However, next morning woke to heavy snow and news that the park was closed until 12 noon at the earliest. We had to drive to Fairbanks so gave our tickets to Dental Surgeon holidaying from Japan and his companion.

After Fairbanks drove to North Pole and Father Christmas’s house; Then Alaska Highway mile 0 at Delta Junction heading back to Tok; then across the Taylor Highway and TOTWH to Dawson City. This has to be the most nail biting drive I have ever done even with 4 wheel drive keeping the car on the icy and snow covered roads and hills was a nightmare. I think we were all relieved to get through that in one piece.

Dawson City was great and led us to buy and read Martha Black’s autobiopgraphy, fascinating! then drove on the Klondike Highway to Whitehorse. With constant sighting of Moose, Coyotes and occasional bird of prey and the explosion of colours (greens, golds, yellows and whites just south of Carmacks this was a really memorable drive;

Then drove to Watson Lake via Teslin Jct. placed our plaque in Sign City (along with the now 60,000 or so); Drove to Fort Nelson via Stone Mountain NP; Then to Dawson Creek (mile 0 Alaska Highway-from the other end believe this actually the beginning). Returned to Vancouver via Prince George (Barkerville ghost town), Quesnel, Valemount (I had a too close for comfort encounter with a black bear near here), then Canmore via Banff NP (fabulous);then Kamloops to Vancouver via Craigellachie (last Spike Museum).

Total trip mileage 8,764

Some memorable memories for us:

Denali Park Sunset the silence you could almost grab!

Yukon, silence and incredible wilderness. Like you say you feel incredibly small in these places

Anchorage to Seward and Prince William Sound the scenic drive and glaciers
Taylor Highway and TOTWH terrifying!

Denali Highway superb scenery and wilderness and views of Mount Denali
Hyder Bears & Salmon

Alaska Highway (you get a real feel for the trials and tribulations of building this road).

Banff NP indescribable.

Editor's Note: (This field report graciously provided by Mike Leonard)

Sounds awesome - thanks for sharing! Any photos that you could share? I'd love to do something similar someday...

Very cool - Alaska is awesome and glad you got to spend some time in Denali. Did you take one of the busses to Wonder Lake?