Travelling the Alcan

It recently came to my attention that the Alaska Highway,otherwise known as the Alcan is now completely paved. I feel a little sad about that.

The Alaska Highway was built during World War II by the US Army,though most of it is in Canada. It used to be an unpaved highway through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory,over 1500 miles of it.
For years there would be talk about paving it,but the discussion would always end when it would come down to who was going to pay for it. The U.S. would say because most of it was in Canada that the Canadians should pay for the paving,and the Canadians would tell the US: "You built it,you pave it." I'm glad a war didn't erupt between the US and Canada over this dispute. As far as I was concerned,they could continue disputing who was going to pay for it and leave it unpaved because in my book,the Alcan was the spot for the great North American Adventure.

First of all,how many highways have a book dedicated to it? The Milepost was a mile by mile guide for the Alaska Highway,and was considered a must have if you planned to travel it. It was especially important to know where the gas stations were. Back before it was paved,the Milepost told you things like expect your windshield to be cracked,and shut all your vents if you were travelling during the summer because the dust could clog up all the vents in your car. Right away,this tells you that the Alcan was not for the casual traveller.

The highway takes you through some of the most breathtaking landscapes on the planet. Mountains..lakes. forests.. Lots of wildlife around. I heard my first wolfpack on one of my travels.

I drove the Alaska Highway twice. After the first time I said I'd never do it again,yet when the opportunity to ride it came again,I jumped at it. It's that way if one has any sense of adventure. I view life in a sense as one huge adventure,and both excursions on the Alcan lived up to its billing.

My first Alcan Adventure came in the summer of 1974. It was with my college roommate David Trent. The trip for us began in Kansas City after a Crosby,Stills,Nash,and Young concert there.We were returning for school. We were later joined by Doug Shand,a hitchhiker from Winnepeg back in the days when one wasn't risking one's life picking up a hitchhiker.

In Dawson Creek BC,the beginning of the Alaska Highway,we were informed that it had been raining heavily along the highway and by the time we reached Fort Nelson BC,the highway could be closed. We were told to proceed at our own risk. We sure as hell weren't going to turn around,so forward we went with plans on arriving in Anchorage in a few days.
We got to Fort Nelson. By the time we arrived,the rain had stopped,but the rain had done its damage and the highway was washed out. At the time,the population of Fort Nelson was barely 1,000. Close to that many people were stranded there. I don't know it was like for the retirees riding in their Winnebagos,but for us college aged kids,this was like a 3 day party!
Because the General Store quickly ran out of food,the Canadian government resupplied it via helicopter and gave us all food vouchers. Rainbow Family-like food camps quickly sprouted,and at night,the bar never seemed to run out of beer.

Finally,the road dried up and there was going to be a convoy leading out of Fort Nelson. David,Doug and I tried to be at the head of the pack by hiding the car in the tall bush before the convoy was to begin,but the Mounties busted us and sent us to the middle of the pack. Just days before,this road was mostly mud..now it was kicking up dust. You knew why the Milepost told you to close your car vents now. Our windshield got cracked shortly after the convoy got started. The reason we attempted to get ahead of the convoy was to avoid what we knew would be excessive dust caused by so many vehicles travelling this road at the same time. There was so much dust,we could barely see the car in front of us when the convoy came to a sudden stop. Story goes is some animal cut in front of the convoy. We stopped before hitting the car in front of us,but that didn't stop the cars behind us smashing into us. For whatever reason,we found ourselves as part of a 30 car pileup. None of us were hurt,but the car was in pretty bad shape.
Doug chose to leave us at this point. He had to get on and knew nothing about cars and didn't feel he could help us. David and I knew nothing about cars either,but somehow by tinkering with wires,we got the car started,and by not stopping the car even when we filled up for gas,a couple days later,we hobbled into Anchorage.

I said at the time that I'd never drive the Alcan again,but a year later I was back at it. This time it was in November..winter on the Alcan. My passengers this time were an old high school buddy who decided to move from Connecticut to Alaska,and a friend of his.
It was on this trip where I knew I was in Jack London Call of the Wild territory when I heard with my own ears a wolfpack take out a domestic dog who had wandered into the woods. It was also on this trip where I saw my first Aurora Borealis.
There was one major problem however. The Milepost warned that chains were an essential item if one was to travel the Alcan in November. I relayed this warning to my buddy prior to making the trip.
His response? "No need for chains for my vehicle.I have the best snow tires money can buy!"
His vehicle was a rather bulky van..Impressive if one is driving the streets in Connecticut,but on the Alcan when we were faced with blizzard conditions riding up mountain passes with no guardrails,I was convinced I was riding in my hearst. Down below one could see car carcasses,no doubt from previous attempts to ride these mountain passes without chains. No doubt those vehicles were hearsts for the passengers of them. 10 mph seemed too fast going over them. There was a 2 hour period where all one could hear was the motor of the van,and the wipers pushing away the snow.
I've never been much for hard alcohol,yet when we landed on lower ground and camped for the night, a few swigs of Jack Daniels were called for.

It's been a few years now since I last took that road.Don't know if I'll ever have the opportunity to drive the Alcan again..I'd love to if the opportunity arose. Maybe this time the adventure would be actually seeing the wolfpack,or maybe an earthquake will change the highway landscape. I hope I'm wrong,but I cant imagine a paved Alaska Highway as being the same..