We knew it was going to be a long day of driving to get through Canada in one hit from Haines to mainland Alaska. During non-COVID times we’d probably have taken two or three days to traverse the north section of British Columbia and western Yukon Territory, but with Canada so far behind the US in its vaccination program we were pretty sure the border station was going to require us to jet through in a single day. We were up and at ‘em early with breakfast and latte for Lisa at Haines’ Rusty Compass Coffeehouse, some seriously delicious homemade baked goods on offer. You always know you’re in a small town when the coffee shop has half of its floor space dedicated to a rotating group of locals who wile away the hours discussing politics and the good ol’ days. Each time one gets up to leave another walks in the door to take their place.
We motored out of Haines on the Haines Highway headed for the Canadian border crossing 40 miles/64 kilometers north, the surging glacial waters of the Chilkat River only a few feet from the edge of the highway in many spots along the way. It had us feeling a little edgy as we drove through the mist! So much silty water charging out of the mountains, there was debris everywhere flowing south to the Chilkat Inlet west of Haines. We handed over our COVID test results from Juneau along with our passports at the border and were given a day pass to traverse the 315 miles/507 kilometers across Canada to Alcan Border, all of us breathing a sigh of relief as we were handed back our passports and waved through into Canada.
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There were two 3000 foot passes as we motored north of the Canadian border, unfortunately we remained in the mist so couldn’t see anything but a few hundred feet of road in front of us and to either side. It was amazing how quickly the trees disappeared as we climbed up Three Guardsmen Pass and into the alpine, fields of snow dotted the sides of the road and the temperature plummeted. As we crossed the second pass – Chilkat Pass at 3510 feet/1070 meters – the clouds broke up and we were blessed with some majestic views of the Saint Elias Mountains to the west.
The Haines Highway is a bit of a unique stretch of road given it passes through three times zones and two countries. The stretch from the Canadian border to Yukon Territory crosses three time zones – Alaska, Pacific and Mountain – in only 45 miles. It was the first time I’d ever crossed three time zones in a single day in a vehicle. We crossed into Yukon Territory just north of the Blanchard River, at which point the road transitioned to gravel and I had to keep my wits about me as the truck and trailer floated across the rubble. Amazingly picturesque mountains bordered the highway as we cruised northwest, snow covering the upper peaks and behemoth beaver dams dotting the rivers and streams close to the road. If we’d had time there looked to be a ton to explore along the section of road between the British Columbia/Yukon Territory border: turquoise colored rivers to fish, a ton of hiking trails and even a river rafting outfit guiding trips down the Blanchard. Maybe next time… With all the COVID-related travel restrictions, on the Haines Highway – which is 146 miles/246 kilometers long – I think we only saw one other vehicle the entire time!
We refueled at Haines Junction and bid goodbye to the Haines Highway as it merged into the Alaska Highway. The $4.66 per gallon price we paid for diesel was the most expensive fuel we’d seen since leaving California. It was an incredibly picturesque cruise through southwestern Yukon Territory as we motored north, the towering peaks of the Saint Elias range to our west dictating our route as we hugged their base. The chilly temperatures in the alpine north of Haines disappeared and the truck’s thermometer climbed up to 76°F/24°C, the warmest weather we’d experienced since leaving Washington a couple of weeks earlier. With our windows down, the wildflowers bordering the highway filled the truck with some amazing scents (which was a welcome change from some of the other scents being generated in the back seat…). Armed with the trusty Alaska Milepost (thanks for the tip Alan), Lisa kept us all engaged as we drove, chirping historical facts about the areas through which we were passing and pointing out landmarks of interest. Lots of gold rush history through this area of the Yukon.
Behemoth Kluane Lake was a sight to behold as it came into view, the lake the largest lake in the Yukon, covering a whopping 154 square miles/400 square kilometers. The turquoise and navy colors of the water in the sunshine were very impressive. Quite interesting to learn from our tour guide Lisa that over 400 years ago a glacier at the southern end of the lake blocked its drainage to the Pacific Ocean, causing the lake to rise more than 30 feet/10 meters and reversing the lakes outflow to the north. The drainage shifted from a 140 mile/225 kilometer journey to the Pacific to a 10X longer route north to the Bering Sea as a result of the switch. As the glacier receded (how is it possible glaciers started receding before the industrial revolution?!) the lake dropped to present day levels, but the northern drainage to the Bering Sea remains.
As we motored along the western edge of Kluane Lake we were all watching the scree-covered mountains alongside the highway for signs of Dall sheep, which breed in the area and can often be seen from the highway. Eagle Eye Dad at the wheel spotted three of them in the brush right next to the highway, but after a few seconds my passengers all yelled in unison, “They’re not sheep, they’re bears!” Pretty awesome to see a female grizzly with her two cubs roaming in the wild up so close, we pulled off the side of the road and watched them for a few minutes from the truck. We were downwind of them so they didn’t really give us a second glance, a real treat for the kids.
North of Kluane Lake we refueled again at Burwash Landing, not a lot of fuel availability in the Yukon so we topped up whenever we could. The road started to deteriorate noticeably north of Burwash, some of the toughest driving I’ve ever had to tackle. Lisa and I drove thousands of miles of dirt roads on our trip around Australia during the first chapter of Our Walkabout, so many deep river crossings and endless corrugations in The Tank. Those I can handle. But the way the permafrost destroys the roads in western Yukon Territory made driving – especially with a trailer – a constant battle. The western Yukon and bulk of the Alaska interior is covered with a layer of permafrost: ground frozen solid that stays frozen under the soil when the upper crust thaws in summer. Every winter the temperatures drop so low in this part of the continent that the top layer of soil freezes as well, and then when it thaws, portions of the boggy marshes completely liquefy, warping the road and forming it into an undulating mess. Driving on the frost heaves – as they’re called – is similar to flying a small plane through turbulence. The constant braking and accelerating took a lot of fuel and also kept me on my toes as I was constantly watching for ripples in the road, definitely didn’t want to hit one of them going too fast while towing the trailer. The undulations coupled with a maze of tire-popping potholes and interchanging sections of gravel and asphalt made for slow going and a less-than-pleasant couple of hours of motoring (although the scenery was magic!).
We stopped to take in the massive Icefield Ranges on our route north, none of us realized that there were such tall peaks in Canada: Mount Logan towers to 19545 feet/5959 meters and there are six peaks over 16000 feet/5000 meters visible from the highway. The edges of the largest non-polar icefield in North America was also visible extending fingers out of the mountains. At some points the ice is more than 2200 feet/700 meters thick!
We eventually made it to Beaver Creek and handed in our day pass to the Canadian border guards (if we hadn’t done so a warrant would have been issued for our arrest at midnight!). The horrible road conditions continued and about 30 seconds after Lisa uttered, “I can’t believe nothing on the truck or trailer has broken on this road” we all heard a horrible sound from the rear of the truck. In the rearview my stomach dropped as I looked to see the rear window of the truck’s camper shell missing. Fortunately the window was hanging onto the camper shell by a thread of the rubber seal that bordered the glass, otherwise it would have dropped onto the road and been completely crushed underneath the trailer as we motored along. Took me about half an hour in the rain to get it back into place and rig some straps to keep it there, could have been a lot worse!
Lisa and I were very happy to see the US customs official at Alcan Border as we passed through. To be honest, I think he was happy to see us as well as we were probably some of the only other humans he’d seen all day! We quizzed him about spots to camp given we were back in Alaska and allowed to stop driving, eventually setting up shop at a beautiful spot called Lakeview Campground just west of the border. Temperatures continued to climb – hitting 79°F/26°C at the campground – and Max was straight in the lake after we pulled into camp. He wasn’t entirely stoked to discover the leeches that were on his legs after he came out of the water, though! I was happy to see my rear window repair held fast, although the amount of dust that crept into the trailer across the gravel sections of the highway in the Yukon was astonishing. Everything in the trailer was caked in dust, and there were piles of it towards the rear door. All part of the adventure!
Back on the road we motored west at a more relaxing pace given we were back on US soil, the road was also in markedly better condition compared to the frost heave-ridden section we passed in western Yukon Territory. Lisa piloted us with her trusty Milepost at hand for a fabulous day of fishing and scenery across the Alaska Interior. We stopped off in Tok to stretch our legs and grab an ice cream at Three Bears Outpost, the exceedingly friendly store owners gave us a rundown of fishing in the area and also a great printout of spots to fish as we headed west. There was some serious hunting gear on display at Three Bears (Lance/Jarrid/Bret/Luke you guys would have loved it), and the bear skins pinned up on the wall were quite impressive. Cruising through Tok gave us an idea of just how few tourists were passing through Alaska this summer due to the Canadian border closure: multiple RV parks with hundreds of sites completely deserted, it must crush the economies in the small towns along the Alaska Highway.
The Interior west of Tok is littered with shallow lakes dotting the permafrost, Moon Lake was an easy one to access and it was right around lunchtime so we stopped for a bite and spot of fishing. The mercury hit 80°F/27°C and it was time for board shorts, I definitely didn’t envision the temperature and water being so warm in Alaska. It was game on at Moon Lake when I hooked into a massive burbot, quite an unsightly fish but evidently excellent eating. The thing was so big that it wouldn’t completely fit into Max’s trout net and so heavy that Wild Man could hardly lift it out of the water when the bulk of the fish was in the net!
Lisa Lake was a must see for obvious reasons, we were lucky to roll up right at the moment when a local was cruising along the highway in a side by side and offered us a ride into the lake, which was about a mile off the road. Our chauffeur was a recently retired Alaska Department of Transport engineer who specialized in managing frost heaves across Alaska’s road systems. He was super interesting to chat to about the massive sheets of permafrost that underlie most of the Alaskan Interior, the black spruce lining most of the landscape a telltale sign of permafrost often lying a mere six feet below the soil during summer. He deposited us on the west shore of the lake, where we were able to use a rowboat provided by the Department of Fish and Game to enjoy the lake from the water and throw in a few lures for rainbow trout. We reeled in a few nippers while enjoying the vistas from the water, a beautiful spot.
We continued west bound for Clearwater State Recreation Site near Delta Junction, a spot a friend of mine in Fairbanks said we had to stop to camp and fish. There are two types of water in Alaska’s interior: glacial flows, which are identified by their muddy look from glacial silt, and clearwater creeks. Clearwater creeks are usually spring fed and don’t freeze solid in the winter like all the other bodies of water in the Interior. Clearwater Creek is, unsurprisingly, a spring fed example and although its crystal clear water was very picturesque the temperature of the water was absolutely icy. I didn’t have waders – I’ve never needed them to fish in the lower 48 – but wasn’t about to let that keep me out of the water so just waited until my feet went numb and then I couldn’t feel the pain! It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived at Clearwater and the hatch was on, the arctic grayling were going bananas with all the bugs on the water. It took me a little while to figure out the appropriate rig to get them to bite, but once I did it was super fun to reel in a few on some spinners. Was also cool to see some of the local teens fishing with flies and hauling up some absolute hogs out of the water. The amount of light in summer at this latitude is incredible, I didn’t have a way to keep track of time while fishing and ended up getting back to camp at almost 11PM to find everyone dead asleep. The sun was still shining bright and hitting the water even at that time of night!
Unfortunately the clear skies disappeared for our last day of driving west into Fairbanks. Wild Man still wanted to fish Clearwater Creek in the morning rain, but the bite had disappeared with the sunny weather. Even the dry flies I was flicking out onto the water – the same flies I saw the teens using the evening prior – weren’t able to excite the fish. A great spot to camp at Clearwater, but the plague-like mosquitoes were a constant bother. Even in the warm weather we fished with hooded jackets or sweatshirts so only our hands and faces were exposed. We were again thanking our lucky stars to have an enclosed camper to escape the bugs.
We continued to motor northwest, the Alaska Highway officially ending at Delta Junction just west of our Clearwater campsite. Some beautiful hay and barley ranches started to appear in the area around Delta Junction, Lisa and I were wondering what they do for the six months of the year when the ground is frozen solid… We stopped off at Delta Meat and Sausage Company to stock up on some local products, pumped to see them offering the landjäger we first discovered at Icicle Brewing in Leavenworth. The matriarch of the establishment – a transplant from Montana – was very excited to discuss politics and quiz us on whether we’d voted to recall Governor Newsom when she discovered we were from California.
The 96 mile/154 kilometer stretch of road from Delta Junction to Fairbanks is actually a small section of the Richardson Highway connecting Valdez to Faribanks. More huge deltas of glacial meltwater as we motored northwest, coupled with a lot more signs of civilization as we approached Fairbanks. Lisa spotted a moose alongside the highway, the first one I’ve ever seen and also a first for the kids. Lots of tourist traps on the route into Fairbanks – like the Knotty Shop and Santa’s first house in a small town called North Pole near Fairbanks – the first couple of which we were sucked into, but after that we put the kibosh on any more detours. Eielson Air Force Base was the last major landmark before we hit Fairbanks, unfortunately no photos due to the big signs alongside the road prohibiting stopping or photos as we passed the runway. It was a sight to behold: the second longest runway in North America was littered with fighter jets and A-10 Thunderbolts as well as some behemoth cargo planes.
What a journey! Some great fishing and camping along this route, and such picturesque landscape across the Yukon and Alaskan Interior. I definitely don’t need to drive through any frost heaves ever again (but we’re going to have to to get back to California!). Time for hot showers and civilization in Fairbanks for a few days.
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