Alaska Highway Road Trip: 6 Days Driving through British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska

the Alaska Highway which is often called the Alcan travels almost 1400 miles from Dawson Creek British Columbia to Delta Junction in Alaska it is one of North America's iconic road trips and one that many people drive every summer on their way to Alaska to explore the Last Frontier I decided to travel the route with my dad in the summer of 2023 and we spent six days exploring this beautiful part of both Canada and the United States it is one of those road trips we will never forget here's the full journey and be sure to stay till some of the later days as it just keeps getting more and more beautiful also there's an ebook Linked In the description if you want to do this drive yourself hey everybody Josh and pop today we're starting another road trip on the Alaska Highway about 1360 miles you ready to go this is going to be an epic epic trip I am so excited we've been looking forward to this for so long let's do it our journey began with our arrival at the Alaskan Highway sign and historic mile marker number zero official starting point of the Great Alaskan Highway it's a popular spot even for people who aren't doing the drive so you'll definitely have to wait in order to grab a photo we're not spending any time in Dawson Creek today because we did it yesterday I will show you all of that right now my dad and I arrived in Dawson Creek the previous day so that we could have a few hours of exploring and then head out early the next day you know how many Adventures we cram in in a day so we needed as much time as possible we started by heading to the visitor center which is right next to the Alaska highway sign here you can find knowledgeable people to tell you about the drive there's lots of different things that you can purchase and there's even a small Museum check it out it's what we're going to be seeing in Alaska later bears catching fish it's kind of actually how they do it they reach down with their hands and they carry it around you don't need to go anywhere else it's perfect the museum mainly focuses on the area's history but there is a small spot in the back that has history on the Alaska Highway there wasn't a lot here but there were some old photographs that were cool to see on the other side of the gift shop there's another small Museum on the rail station that you can see as well alrighty sir one take it to Alaska please be sure to grab some of the free maps and information booklets before you head out and then go over to the grain elevator next this is the only remaining of eight grain elevators that used to sit here and it's now home to an art gallery there's also a whole bunch of old historic photos from the Alaska highway so be sure to look in the stairwell as well I have a video of Pops doing the exact same pose in the Alaska video are you gonna do it when you get to the end of the road trip as well you'll remember me the last thing you should see if you're interested in history is the Pioneer Village on the outside of Dawson Creek when we went it was only open on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 to 4 so be sure to check that before you go check it out it's your first time on the Alaskan Highway sticking to your head at something are you gonna be the the woman or the man no civilians allowed in this area patrolman pops is on the job the museum focuses on a lot of the early Pioneers that settled in the area and it has over a dozen different buildings many of which you can walk into the main reason for us to come here was for this building which is the story of the Alaska Highway here's the path we're going to be driving starting in Dawson Creek right there and then we're going all the way to the end point big Delta Delta Junction we'll get into a lot more history while we're on the route but basically the highway was built between 1942 and 1943. the whole purpose was to create a road that allowed the United States to easily get to Alaska if needed to defend it during the war now that we've learned all of the history of the Alaska Highway all that's left is four our adventure your adventure meaning our adventure I am totally excited about this adventure I want to say too this is going to be amazing to end the day we headed over to post and row which was a great dinner spot in Dawson Creek it's a little more upscale but the food was delicious and we were definitely not disappointed alright now back to our first day driving the Alaska Highway before heading out of Dawson Creek you can go downtown and see the murals that they created for the 75th anniversary of the highway and you can also go over to another starting point sign if you're interested our end goal for the night was Fort St John and I do have to say that the first day on the Alaskan Highway is the least exciting of any of the days so be sure to stay with us to the end our first stop about 25 minutes outside of the city was to pull off and see the kisscatina bridge so this Old Bridge is definitely close to driving traffic but the people at the visitor center said that we could still go and walk on it to access the bridge you need to take about a five minute detour off the main road but it's definitely worth seeing so this is the only original wooden bridge that was built back when they built the highway that's still here and was still in use until a couple years ago when a landslide came through they haven't been able to fix it for cars to go on and again but you can walk on it it is definitely worth the short Excursion off the road the bridge was built in 1942 and it sits high above the river below it's 534 feet or 162 meters long when you come out here you're basically driving on the original road because you can see some of it's paved but some of it isn't so that would be the original unpaved Alaskan Highway right there heading on you'll reach the town of Taylor which has a few small stops with the first being Peace River Park and the Peace River Bridge you need a spot to chill for a few minutes there's a picnic bench with the Peace Bridge plus there's also a area for kids to play over there as well crossing the Peace Bridge and entering the town of Taylor we made a stop at Mile 35 and the visitor center this is the original Peace Bridge you can see what happened to that one in 1957. The Visitor Center at Taylor was Tiny But it's a great place to ask questions get more information on the highway and learn a little bit more about the history I stopped into this visitor center right here and they had a copy of this book which looks awesome there's so many different places 200 of them to see so I'm excited to use this to kind of check some off as we go along it even has a playlist that you can scan for driving songs as you leave the town of Taylor you'll enter Fort St John which also has another popular Museum turn on the lights for us we're the first people in the museum today yeah really nice we've been mainly focusing on Alaska Highway history when we go to these museums so there's one small section in the back here's an official stop sign from the Alaska Highway in 1942. this is probably the biggest Museum we went to on our first day on the drive so there's a lot of other history here as you guys know we like to show you everything you can possibly do on a drive so you might not be a big fan of museums but we're just giving you options and there's a lot more amazing nature coming leaving Fort St John behind there's a small stop along Charlie Lake that you can see if you're interested soldiers who were working on the Alaska Highway who died when their pontoon boat song heading on from there we started to get hungry and we stopped at a spot about 15 minutes down the road it's about lunch time for us and the person at the visitor center told us to come here you're gonna check it out see how it is the Shepherds Inn is a local spot with a restaurant gas station and hotel that's been here for 41 years you know you're in a different place and they got cheese whiz and Nutella as options on the side of the table I don't see either one of those uh in the United States this is panic it was something that we had to try when we were in Canada it almost looks like a pancake but it's this flower of water and they say sometimes fat lard sometimes sugar or milk but it was a staple of early settlers diets it's really good it's like a biscuit consistency I think it would be good to put some butter or some jam on it but definitely nice additions especially to a meal like this with the breakfast food guys that might be doing a biscuit pancake a little sweet it's fun for a nice hearty meal if you're looking for that we're heading about 100 miles before our next stop for the first day driving on the Alaskan Highway it's beautiful and green with lots of trees but not a lot of mountains you'll basically be driving through a remote part of British Columbia with some construction a few gas stations and a few restaurants along the way so here's the deal we got a bit five Canadian dollars to the first guy who sees a moose five Canadian dollars to the first guy who sees a bear so there's a potential of 10 Canadian Dollar Bet here who do you think's gonna win I have no Canadian dollars so uh so you have to pay in America though and I owe you this is what today has looked like lots of trees and basically not much else to see or to stop at but beautiful big sky there are also a fair amount of rest stops with bathrooms every 20 to 30 miles and information plaques at some of them first bear sighting pops owes me 10 Canadian dollars only five hey bear there's a good meal right here in pups tastes like chicken we got really lucky in British Columbia and this is the first of many bears we see along this drive [Music] we didn't have any other stops planned until we got to Fort Nelson which is about four and a half hours drive from where we started in Dawson Creek it's incredibly remote out here and even things that said they might be there in the book were often not there anymore we made it to Fort Nelson but first things first where's my bear money at you not only saw the first one you saw the first three three bears I'll take it maybe you'll get it back if you find the Moose first also this looks like a pretty strong stop Fort Nelson Heritage Museum was our last major stop on day one and my favorite of the museums we saw on the entire route be sure to check the hours online as it's only open a few days a week and you don't want to miss it if you're interested in the area's history these are the guys we saw on the road so they are black bears and they can move fast this Museum was the life's work of one man named Marl their website says that in 1957 he worked as a mechanic in the Canadian Army and saw so many different things being thrown away that he decided he wanted to save them in the 70s he had collected so many things that he needed a place to store them and after fundraising the museum was opened in 1987. it's only a little bit on the Alaska Highway here but there's some old photos and a little bit more information yeah this place is incredibly epic but incredibly overwhelming here you can see everything from construction equipment that was used for the Alaska highway to different historic buildings and all sorts of other things I mean the inside is all about tools and things that they built which is what the highway is all about so it's interesting to kind of see that kind of a museum like that that's all around building and producing things like that and this is another of the seven buildings they have this one's all dedicated to cars there really is a lot to see here and we didn't do it justice as we came right near when they were closing and we had already had a pretty long day of exploring there was a docent that came by to show us in a few buildings though which was pretty cool look at the neck on this uh mannequin that is a good neck right there helicopts there's another one we found for you oh you're a settler in Fort Nelson I would give that museum two thumbs up that was very cool you could spend a lot of time there there's an overwhelming amount of stuff what do you think and the doses were very very helpful so yeah definitely definitely see it on your drive our last order of business was to get something to eat and this place came highly recommended to us in the small town of Fort Nelson so we're ending our day with something that's Canadian they call it a Donaire pups what is it it's a Canadian take on a hero we had a whatever we had for lunch I don't remember what it's called so now we're trying this Canadian delicacy it's pretty good actually pretty different so with that our first day on the Alaska highway is done we will see you tomorrow starting day two on the Alaska Highway for our second day on the Alaska Highway we set out early as we had a full day with six hours of driving and lots of stops that we wanted to do along the way I also knew that this is where the drive started to get beautiful so I wanted to make sure we had the most time to just soak it all in pups do you ever not turn off when you see a sign that says cinnamon bun Center when it's accompanied by lots of stuff in books about these are the best anywhere we actually have to do it we will see cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster cinnamon buns are actually a thing on the Alaska Highway and there's multiple places that sell them along the way however the ones at Tessa River Lodge are probably the most highly recommended have bun will travel we skipped breakfast and just made our way here to grab coffee and we each got our own cinnamon bun in hindsight we probably could have just gotten one to share they're that big pops is diving into the famous cinnamon roll it's a cinnamon roll I would say it is yeah very nice yeah just the right breading to Sweet consistency gooey warm what's not to like about that pops can you please use this for the rest of the trip I don't want any sniveling from you all right leveling no sniveling just so you're not disappointed that place is closed on Mondays so don't come through here on a Monday or you won't get a cinnamon roll you're saying goodbye to the cinnamon buns we began a great section of the Alaska Highway we stopped at this random pull-off tetza River Bridge number two because look at this View my dad and I are always keeping our eyes peeled when we're on these drives and we often just pull off at the side of the road if we see anything that we're interested in taking a photo of what I didn't realize when we pulled off here though was that we were about to enter the Stone Mountain Provincial Park which is what I thought was one of the most beautiful spots in the entire Alcan I've never really wanted to have an RV but when I got to Summit Lake Campground I would have loved to have spent a few days here check out my friend traveling Robert on YouTube who did a video on the Alcan and he was able to stay here if y'all are camping how do you beat this Campground definitely look it up I'm trying to get this show on the road but pops found a spot and I can't get him to leave grab me on your way back from Anchorage I'll see you like 30 days I would have loved to have gone on a few hikes here but unfortunately for us we had to continue on looking for this sign for Summit Pass which shows that we're at the highest point this is technically the highest point on the Alaska Highway for the next two hours or so of driving the road is stunning and different at every turn there are lakes rivers massive mountains and deep valleys so the types of views that you think about when you think of British Columbia and Alaska it probably goes without saying but this is a really remote area with not a lot of services and you should definitely get gas before you get in here as we cross the bridge of a racing River we notice that there are some beautiful views back the way we came so we turned around went back found a pull out and explored there was a small gas station near toad River if you need it but do note that these aren't always guaranteed to be open when you come through one of the best sections was when the road was going right along the river with massive mountains in both directions ever since we injured mucho Lake Provincial Park it has been insane views gorgeous everywhere you look just beautiful soon after the road went around another Bend and we were greeted by muncho Lake muncho lake is in the top three if not the most beautiful place along the entire Drive there are lots of turnouts along the left hand side so you can pull out whenever you want to look at the lake [Music] wow this is so cool it's not even fully sun and it's still amazing look at how clear the water is and look at all the different colors as it goes out good the lake is about 12 kilometers or seven and a half miles long guys can you even believe this spot look at this dream this is amazing and it's even overcast but look how incredibly beautiful it is 2 out of ten two Park website describes it as a rare Jewel and I have to say that's probably the best way you could ever describe it all right I think I'm done with the Alaska Highway so nothing left to see yep this is another place I'd love to come back and spend some more time hiking fishing doing whatever other adventure activities they have to offer unfortunately the rain moved in on us though so we kept going this is the first of many reminders that the weather can change on you quickly and also to watch out for wildlife [Music] we're heading out on a 1.5 kilometer about three quarters of a mile round trip to the Salt Lick viewing area we're now in the area where you want to make sure that you have bear spray apparently when unique bear spray you make the old man go first he's the one with the spray I don't have any spray I'm just I'm just hoping you protect me even though this is just a short Trail it really feels fun to be out hiking in British Columbia along the Alaska Highway this Trail is basically a single track that heads downhill as you make your way to the Viewpoint there's trees surrounding you most of the way so you can't really see any of the views until you get to the end we're almost to the Viewpoint I think this is going to be a pretty good one that's the Trout River mineral lick behind us wow that is one of the best views I've ever seen for a quarter mile Trail beautiful the river and the huge Salt Lake with the minerals in it yeah very unique this kind of structure here with this muddy looking thing it's very different than everything else that you see around this Trail is in muncho Lake Provincial Park and it looks out over the Trout River it's often a good place to spot Wildlife as well as they come up and they lick the minerals from the salt licks we didn't see any Wildlife when we were there but we were just thankful to have the rain stop what do you think pops about time to go soak in a hot spring I think I need to go soak my head our anticipation was building as we headed towards the world famously art Hot Springs but you know we have to stop whenever we see anything of interest and for me bridges are always of Interest so we had to stop at the liarde river bridge well right when you cross the bridge on the right hand side there's a little path that takes you down and gives you this View this bridge was built in 1943 but after taking in the views it was time to go to the hot springs when we arrived at the park we were greeted by a 15-minute line to pay our fee to get in also note that if you don't have towels you can rent them here through the electric fence this is an active Bear area and it's about a half mile walk just to get to the hot springs so do be prepared we got lucky while we were walking as there was a mama moose and her baby right along the boardwalk could this sign be any more perfect moose and minerals and look there's some moose minutes just taking it all in before we continued walking is it hot that might be the hot part you might not want to go in on that section my dad went right to the hot springs but I saw a sign for hanging gardens and decided I needed to check that out before I went in it's about a tenth of a mile to walk to the top of the trail and there's two different viewpoints along the way it's pretty unique the water's just cascading off that mountain back there so there's a little waterfall and then just going all the way down the hill into the pool you can see the water just coming right underneath the stairs and then going right down the other side it's basically the worst time for a hot spring but I gotta get in because I'm on the highway it's hot outside after exploring the rest of the boardwalk he was back to the hot springs to soak they have a small changing room here and bathrooms if you need them the way that it's laid out is it's the most hot at one end and then it gets gradually cooler as you make your way down it is weird the way that the water flows as it's very hot on the top of the water and then down below it's not as high and you can actually move the water around to kind of cool it down [Music] is a lot hotter than the water that wasn't over there for me though the best spot was towards the end where the water was much cooler and you could Explore More you could basically walk down the water as far as you want and there was even a small little Ravine you could walk into that had some cool pictures that was a really nice stop on the Alaska Highway hopefully it's not as hot when you come so you can enjoy it a little bit more but even with it being hot it was still pretty nice it was nice as we got back on the road almost immediately we saw our next Wildlife sighting as a day of wildlife we saw a buffalo now too Buffalo Caribou Bears this is awesome about 20 minutes down the road we had a detour to go to Smith River Falls the road to get out here is pretty sketchy and only one lane so definitely don't come out here in anything big here we are at Smith River Falls we heard that the trail was washed out so this is about the best we can do and this road is not something I would recommend for an RV it's been rough but it is a pretty good view even without being able to hike down to it Smith River Falls is about 35 meters or 115 feet tall it's really far away from the viewing area but it's still a beautiful waterfall to see after making it back down the road it was another 15 minute drive to our next stop next up we turned off to see Whirlpool Canyon supposed to be not a Rapids at whirlpool I mean it does kind of look like it's been flowing in a circle like pop said there's some water maybe coming back up right there and then look at all the debris that's out here as the Raging Water goes past the rock it's forced around this Bend and it brings Rock and debris up along the edge foreign back on the road we quickly saw another dozen or so Wildlife sightings [Music] we've already seen so many Buffalo that we have to debate whether we want to stop each time we see one that's a good problem to have this is Allen viewpoint hopefully there's a view somewhere maybe over there pops how this Viewpoint is and he said it's basically just a very large river flowing but I said it was beautiful this Monument is dedicated to the surveyors of the Alaska Highway their skill and dedication made construction of this route possible if you thought the road was remote before keep heading north as there's nothing around here we are about to cross over into the Yukon for only a short period of time [Music] something that I've been wanting to do for a long time we have made it to the Yukon baby yeah the Yukon is just one of those things that you read about in books and hear about as you're growing up and it's amazing to be able to see it with your own eyes check it out it's the U Conn British Columbia border right here I am in both places Yukon and British Columbia wow that was really amazing that time we spent in the Yukon you cops what did you think UConn's an epic place not much going on there but uh but it's still pretty Epic no I'd like to go back sometime no British Columbia here we come hooray back in British Columbia look how beautiful right when you cross over again keep your eyes peeled for contact creaking so contact Creek is an important Point historically on the Alaska Highway the 340th regiment was coming down from White Horse and the 35th regiment was coming up from Dawson Creek and this is the place where they finally met to complete the southern portion of Alcan there's an interesting book that you can read that tells kind of the history particularly of the 35th regiment that was coming up from the south that I'd really recommend I've enjoyed reading it gives you a lot of color on the background of the highway especially when the only thing they have for contact creakies this sign that's it that's it all right we finished British Columbia and we are back in the Yukon is there a sign this time this is something I've been wanting to do for a long time we have made it to the Yukon [Applause] [Music] and just like that we're back in British Columbia another great trip to the Yukon we don't stop for one bison anymore but we will stop for three on this side of the road and a fourth over here one of the funniest things about Crossing back and forth over the border is that whenever we are in the British Columbia section we saw a ton of Wildlife and then when we crossed over into the Yukon there wasn't any so apparently the wildlife don't like crossing the border either also we've been joking a lot with it but it does cross back and forth into the Yukon and British Columbia three times during this short section of the Alaskan Highway [Music] the 60th parallel where the North Begins the 60th parallel puts us with a Yukon Northwest Territories Finland and Russia we are way up here it's just a small thing but it's cool to be on latitude 60. I'm so excited about this something I've been wanting to do for a long time we have made it to the Yukon and we've been joking about that on the way up here but in reality we've been talking about how much we want to be here this is a place that's associated idyllic it's like with danger and wild and uh the Canadian mounties and people eking out in existence so we are like crazy excited to be at this part of the world also with that we're officially in the ucot now there's one little section towards a couple days from now where we leave it again and come back in but for the rest of this trip until we make it to Alaska we are in the Yukon Believe It or Not based on the light it was actually getting pretty late so from here we just continued driving to Watson Lake checked into our No Frills motel and explored a little bit the main thing to do in Watson Lake and one of the most famous stops on the Alaska highway is the signpost forest this was created by a homesick soldier in 1942 when he put up a sign that showed the direction to his hometown Forest is massive now with over a hundred thousand signs here from people who have driven the Alaska Highway over the last few decades we only walked through for a few minutes as my dad had something he needed to do and we were going to spend a lot more time here the next day I look who I found this is another great Channel check out their video on the Alaska highway I will link to it in the description hey guys pops is teaching a class and instead of just sitting there I decided to go to the Northern Lights Center and watch their movie the Northern Light Center is basically just a theater with a few different displays you can see out in the lobby the 100 seat eater is domed like one of the ones you'd see in a planetarium after purchasing a ticket you'll find whatever seat you want and then they play two shows one that rotates and one that's on the Northern Lights is definitely not what I expected at the Northern Lights Center but it was a relaxing way to spend 45 minutes that was pretty fun it was a show inside of a planetarium and it had a Planet movie first and a Northern Lights movie afterwards if you're looking for a way to relax in Watson Lake it's not a bad way to do it that's it for day number two on the Alaska Highway we will see you tomorrow for more morning day three on the Alaska Highway we are heading to get some coffee hopefully there's only one spot in this town and we're gonna go to one of the top stops along the Alaska Highway the signpost forest so we found the only coffee shop in this town it is inside of a rec center and the woman working there is very awesome so I'm uh I'm hopeful pops with a french toast I went with the omelette shout out to Lori she's awesome so definitely go see her if you're in Watson Lake looking for breakfast plus it's connected to the visitor center which has a lot of information on Alaska Highway history and the history of the signpost forest as of 2022 there are over a hundred thousand signs here we're not the first person to leave a sign here well but ours will be the nicest Carl Lindley is the one who created the signpost for us and there's recent pictures of him from when he came back and visited about a decade ago also they have nails and hammers so if you didn't bring your own you can borrow one from them to put up your own sign all right pops you got the hammer the hammer ready to go here we go all right now is the moment of truth of whether we can find a place to put our sign believe it or not it's actually pretty hard to find a place to put up your sign pretty much all the spots are taken unless you have a ladder so you can climb high up on the posts they put new posts in often but they get covered up as fast as they're put up [Music] eventually we found a spot for our sign though so pops what was your artistic inspiration about this throw my lens.com this is Josh's logo Josh pops 2023 and you just chose the cake pan as your medium well I I was trying to find something to paint it on when we were already on the road and so you can make cookies sheet or you can uh continue to do this so we've got a great spot I think it's gonna be a good spot all right so Puffs is putting in the Sun all right I'm putting the other nail in we've officially added our sign to the signpost forest in Watson Lake Success right at ground level you'll be able to find it I'm sure it's it's easy towards the bottom but yeah if you want to see our sign it's right there and uh it's kind of next to this building but uh this is a massive Place definitely come check it out it's so much fun to see and if you find our sign be sure to send us a picture [Music] a lot of people put them on trees because there's not a lot of space around here but the lady at the visitor center told us not to put them on trees and that they're not counted if they're put on trees either I walked around for 30 minutes last night I couldn't find a spot so I can't believe that we just walked in today and we were able to find one right at the bottom super fun you gotta come here on the Alaska highway but we are heading on now towards White Horse during most of the days on the highway I was the one that drove and Pops looked at the milepost book to see what was coming up we found this awesome song for our Alaska Drive neither one of us had heard it before but if you're driving to Alaska check it out according to the book this place is supposed to have well-priced souvenirs but it's not open today so let us know if it's well priced when you come the spot is right outside of Watson Lake in an area called nugget City this one's 24-hour self-serve and there's a little pave machine in there I'm fascinated by all the different gas stations that they have along the way and how you pump each one of them I had heard horror stories about how gas was on the drive but it was never really an issue for us we were driving a passenger vehicle and not towing anything so we only filled up once a day when we got to our destination I'm sure it'd be a little bit more difficult if you're driving an RV and I've read many stories that say you should take Canadian cash because they don't always have working ATM machines at the gas station and you don't want to be left out to try again this wasn't an issue for us as all the pumps had working ATMs when we were there but it's better to be prepared also this drive from Watson Lake to White Horse is relatively remote during the first half without a lot of places to stop after about an hour and a half of driving we made it to our first real stop which is Rancheria Falls Trail is only a third of a kilometer there's something cool about hiking in the Yukon pretty much the entire trip coming up we haven't had any mosquitoes but now that we've gone to the Yukon the Watson Lake area we're getting some mosquitoes this short Trail has a nice Boardwalk that goes through a boreal forest on the way to the waterfall I hear a waterfall up ahead after about seven minutes of walking you'll reach the Overlook that looks down on the waterfall there's a boardwalk here that connects to multiple different viewing platforms of both the waterfall and the river there's also a second little Cascade over there that you can walk to as well the main Falls is only about 20 feet tall but it's still a really nice stop this is a beautiful little spot two nice waterfalls different color water we've been used to this turquoise water and this is brown I wonder about the path out here it might be wheelchair accessible because it's got this nice wooden kind of pathway so you have to check it out if you want to come out here and your person use the wheelchair these last two days the scenery has just been incredibly impressive at every turn it's a short little walk off the highway to see this this is a beautiful drive as we drove on almost immediately we saw a grizzly bear right on the side of the road I've seen that Grizzlies next level look at that oh my gosh this is pretty epic wow we thought I was gonna walk into the bush but it ended up sitting right along the side of the road for about 30 minutes he's playing right now pops can you see him look at these police like rolling on his back oh my gosh what a great shot he's literally just eating flowers right now get a nice shot of him with a flower in his mouth for the Wildlife part of the picture competition as you can tell by our random commentary this was one of our favorite parts of the day bye bye bear thanks so much for hanging out with us for a little bit that was one of the coolest experiences we've had on the drive so far popsicum made it the Continental Divide do you know what other video we did together where we reached the Continental in the vibe baby route 66. we've reached the Continental Divide and we are right here the Continental Divide is basically what decides whether the rain that falls runs to the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean it's always fun to see whenever we pass it on one of our road trips as we continued on we came across a black bear it's just so crazy that they're right next to the road and they're just like eating these plants we saw a couple more bears on this stretch of the highway and it's so interesting that they don't care at all about people pulling over to the side of the road none of the Bears paid us any interest at all we just passed another black bear on the side of the road that was our 10th black bear we've seen on our three days on the Alaska Highway also look I got a nice welcome to the Yukon with a mosquito bite right on my forehead after that we arrived in the town of teslin which is pretty much the biggest town between Whitehorse and Watson Lake the town is known for its Bridge which is 446 meters long or 1400 feet long once you cross the bridge there's a couple different restaurants that you can eat at but we pulled into the first one which was a large restaurant and gas station I got a chicken quesadilla and Pop's got a hot roast beef sandwich which apparently is one of his favorite things that I did not know that so we made it to our next stop but pops just can't stop commenting about his hot beef sandwich we stopped at this little place right here in teslan and got a hot roast beef sandwich and it was fabulous so apparently if you want the best meal you're going to have on the Alaska Highway go to the Yukon Hotel no argument here George Johnson Museum George Johnson was a larger than life photographer and member of the clingit First Nation people group I loved this Museum and the people working there as I got to learn a lot more about this interesting man captured many photos of what clinging at life was like between 1910 and 1940 before the Alaska Highway came by he was also a legendary Trapper and was responsible for bringing in the first car to the area the first car had to come over 200 miles on the water and there was no roads to drive it on so he just drove it on the frozen lake and hunted from it pretty awesome that's the car right there 's a picture of the car on the frozen lake there are also a few other buildings on the property that you should explore before leaving the museum this building is one of the only remaining communication buildings that the Alaska Highway was actually built to connect it wasn't originally here they had to move it here man it is cool to see the history of this building that was a fascinating Museum and great people working there so if you're interested in the area's history see this one on the way out of town there's also a klingit Heritage Center that's definitely worth visiting if you want to learn more about the First Nations you can't take any pictures inside but it was a cool stop after leaving it was about 20 minutes to our next stop which was right along the side of the road and you definitely miss it if you're not looking for it this little stop was the canal oil project which is basically a failed oil pipeline that they tried to build during the war and then when it ended they actually left all these cars and everything and people scrapped them and so it's kind of interesting to read about and to see cars out here if you want to see this it's just a small rest area on the side of the road before you go over the Tesla River Bridge crossing over the Tesla River Bridge brings you into the town of Johnson's Crossing here you'll definitely want to turn out if you need to get gas but if you don't need to get gas you should still turn out to get cinnamon rolls I told you they love their cinnamon rolls on the Alaska Highway all right this is the second world's best cinnamon rolls on the there Road I already think this is probably not going to be as good but you got to try all the cinnamon rolls you can try on the Alaska Highway I like the George raisins in them it's very doughy I think the other one was better yeah crispiness on the outside yeah this looks like a very strong scone though plus they have coffee which we haven't seen in a while and get a nice view while you're eating I can confirm this one is actually pretty good but it's definitely not as good as the other one but I do like that Alaska Highway likes their cinnamon rolls and I hope there's more that we can try on the drive probably a good idea to stock up on some gas here if you need it because it's a pretty remote section for a while until you get to Marsh Lake and then on to White Horse pretty soon is where you'll be reaching Jake's corner and from here you can take the road down to car Cross or even to Skagway if you want to see more about that area which includes the world's smallest desert you can see that in our 24 hours in White Horse video for us though we wanted to make sure we drove the entire Alaska highway without going off of it at all and so we stayed the course and continued on towards White Horse next up for us was Marsh Lake this is Marsh Lake one of the largest lakes we've driven past it's gigantic it looks like it's a good place to hang out on the sand or use some water activities but we're heading on from Marsh Lake it's about 45 minutes into the town of Whitehorse and so we just pushed on as that was our end destination for the day before getting into the city though be sure you stop at Miles Canyon which is one of the coolest places along the Yukon river we made it to our last stop of the day Miles Canyon with a suspension bridge Miles Canyon is Infamous is one of the most difficult places to cross for people seeking gold during the Klondike Gold Rush here the Rapids were so treacherous that it wasn't recommended to do unless you really knew what you were doing since then they put in a dam down river which rose the water levels significantly and made this area much less treacherous to go through how epic is this view from the suspension bridge you know the color of the water pops was saying he's excited about the river why is that well in reading about the Yukon Gold Rush this was like the main route from the Pacific Ocean if you can believe it that went way way back in here and that's how steamboats did the uh you know providing of supplies and took everything out of there too so this is an incredibly important river to the history of this area my dad loves all the history related to the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon river so check out the 24 hours in White Horse video where I surprise him with a boat tour of the river just like that day three on the Alaska highway is done we're heading to White Horse and we will see you tomorrow starting our fourth day on the Alaska Highway we spent all day yesterday in Whitehorse which you can see over here and if you're here on a Sunday no coffee shop is open so Tim Hortons it is so Timmy's they have the seven Canadian dollar meal which is a sausage biscuit a donut and a coffee that's uh pretty strong start to the day right there this is the shortest day we had on the Alaskan Highway as we wanted to just focus on exploring kluani National Park from White Horse it's about an hour and a half drive to get to Haynes Junction which is the main Central Point that people start from when exploring the park [Music] there hasn't been a lot of stops today as we're making our way to the National Park as quickly as we can but we did want to see the Canyon Creek Bridge this bridge was an important crossing point for people during the Klondike Gold Rush and then when the Alaskan Highway came by they dismantled the old bridge and built a new one in 18 days it's supposedly one of the most ambitious Bridge buildings they did during the Alaska Highway it was rebuilt in the 80s though and not much of it is still here from there we entered kulani country with the mountain range out in front of us just continuing to get more and more Majestic as we drove I looked at the purple flowers and it says they're a hey dress I have no idea how to say that but that's the purple flower on the side of the road after a short morning drive we arrived at Haynes Junction made into the town of Haynes Junction we're going to the visitor center before we start exploring the National Park The Visitor Center is a good place to go to as kulani National Park is so massive it could be hard to comprehend the sheer size it's one of the four parks on the coastal part of Alaska in Canada that was designated a world heritage site for its icefields landscape plus The Visitor Center spotlights a lot of First Nations history and there's Rangers here if you want to ask questions about the park [Music] I weigh the same as 1.5 sheep I'm only 20 of a moose you're 90 of a Grizzly you better back up check it out this ice ax was used on the first Ascent of Mount Logan which is the tallest mountain in Canada 1925 there's the Canyon River Bridge with people actually going across it talk to the people at the information center and they recommended a couple short Trails throughout the park so we're gonna see many different parts of the park on shorter Trails starting with the rock glacier Trail before heading into the national park or grabbing a sandwich so we can have a picnic somewhere fun Haines Junction is Tiny so there's not a lot of options but we went to Village Bakery multiple times while we were there as it was a great spot for food and for coffee got our sandwiches and pasta salad heading into the park as we left Haynes Junction there was a sign that noted we were entering the national park and it had a lot of information including a map that showed the four parks that make up the UNESCO world heritage site our first stop was to drive over to Kathleen Lake which is one of the most popular places in the National Park I don't know it's pretty hard to beat this spot for lunch there are lots of mosquitoes though and Pops overreacts hardcore when there's mosquitoes overreaction is called salt protection mosquitoes really like my camera for some reason no idea why have you ever seen a better place for lunch this is one of the best we've ever had I think one of the best it's Rivals Yosemite [Music] that was a good lunch for us and for the mosquitoes as well we're just gonna walk along this Lake out to that point there's also another Trail here called the King's throne Trail which takes you up to right there or you can go all the way to the summit but it's not maintained if I had more time I would have loved to have done the King's throne Trail but we wanted to make the most of our time in the Parks we were doing a lot of shorter Trails we're heading out on the Kokanee Trail which goes all the way over to here this Trail is only a half kilometer round trip and it is wheelchair accessible on an elevated Boardwalk so it's definitely a nice one good this is the end point for the wheelchair accessible portion and you can also continue walking along the beach since the trail was short and it was a nice day we decided we wanted to continue hiking a little bit more to get around the bend and see what the views were like I mean two perfect red chairs with this View and how do you beat this spot yeah these chairs are set up as a grizzling feeding area you know so you're unaware when you're sitting here you think you're just looking and all of a sudden boom out of the bushes comes the grizzly that's right that's how they feed the population of bears here something really cool about Parks Canada is that they actually have 400 of these red chairs and you'll find them all over the country at different national parks they're usually had the best viewpoints as well incredible Viewpoint it's basically one kilometer from the parking area now we're heading back to the car into our next stop in the park if you don't have a lot of time in this area definitely come down and see this spot it's beautiful and something you'll never forget that was a good introduction to the National Park beautiful spot heading on we went about 15 minutes south to our next stop at the rock glacier Trail you are in Bear Country you got the bear spray all right we're ready to go the rock glacier Trail is about 2.4 kilometers or 1.5 miles round trip the first half of the trail is beautiful with an elevated Boardwalk that takes you over a marshy landscape before arriving at the rock glacier from here the trail is basically Rock steps as far up as you want to go this rock mass that we're standing on is the edge of the former Glacier that was here [Music] says that all rock glaciers have wave-like patterns and it does kind of look like a wave as you're looking up at it this is actually a pretty cool Trail the views are awesome and it's really well maintained but it's crazy windy a rock glacier can actually be a couple different things it can be rocks that cover ice and that actually have a real Glacier underneath or it can be like this one which is just a big field of Talus Rock from where the glacier used to be at this bench there's an information plaque and it's basically the end of the trail you can keep going all the way to the top which is what I did or you can just turn around here reach the end of the trail top of the rock glacier they even built a little throne for me to sit on and relax with a view out there and there's pops way down there this isn't a good trail for his knees so he stopped all right we made it back down you probably don't have to go all the way to the top of the views from where my dad stopped are really good and it's less hard on your knees but if you want to go to the top it's good views up there as well now we're heading on to our next stop in the National Park after a 20 minute drive we made it back to Haynes Junction and checked into our hotel at the Cozy Corner it was a fine motel for what it is there's not really a lot of options in this area we decided to drive north about 45 minutes to the last hike we wanted to do in the National Park called Soldier Summit you definitely don't have to do this as you'll be driving the same direction the next day if you're following the Alaska highway but I wanted to do a flight see over the national park and I knew that was going to take a lot of the mornings we decided to head out and do this unfortunately as we got close to the trailhead the wind had kicked up and basically created a dust storm on this section near the lake we've made good progress along the Alaska Highway we are here so we drove all the way out here because we were going to do a longer hike that was right next to this one but if you see all that Haze that's just dust and dirt blowing through that Canyon so it's not a nice time to do that hike we're just gonna do this short Trail and then head back to hands Junction if you're interested in Alaska Highway history then this is a trail you absolutely have to do the trail walks to the location where the opening ceremony of the highway took place this is all about the Alaska Highway and it says the soldiers could complain if they wanted to but there isn't he wasn't wanting anybody to complain to they could run off but there was nowhere to run they were there this Trail is about 1.5 miles or 2.4 kilometers long it's a pretty easy trail with the gradual incline and as you continue to head up you'll get great views over the lake along the way there's many different information plaques that tell you a lot more about the Alaska Highway history we've made it to the end point there's Flags information some chairs you can see that up there at the top you'll find an American and a Canadian flag plus a plaque that commemorates the opening of the Alaska Highway [Music] what's interesting about this hike is that we're actually hiking on the old 1942 Army road so we drove in on this one but they cut it through here because it was hard to go around the lake and it needed almost constant maintenance from the way that the lake waters come in and out there's a few more of those famous red Parks Canada chairs here too if you want to take a break and just soak it in there's two nice red chairs like we had earlier today you can see the dust is just getting worse you can barely even make out the mountains on the other side all right now we're making the 45 minute drive back to Haynes Junction gonna find something to eat and call it a night on the way back the dust conditions worsened but once we left the lake Basin they actually cleared up pretty good this was the perfect time as we saw a field of purple wildflowers that we pulled off to take pictures and got to see them with the stunning mountains behind them I can't understand how beautiful this section of the drive is is these types of mountains are just something that you never see foreign [Music] we stopped to see this unique art piece which is right in the center of town before heading over to get something to eat so that spot is known as the animal cupcake in town and is right next to mile 116 Pub which is where we're gonna have dinner outside of the main towns like Dawson Creek and white horse it's basically Burgers is what you're gonna have on this fruit this is pretty pretty only place in town that was open but it wasn't a bad spot for dinner back at our hotel at the end of day four on the Alaska Highway and tomorrow we're actually heading into Alaska after spending so much time in the National Park yesterday I really wanted to be able to experience the true National Park which is more than just what you see from I called up one of the flight scene tours and luckily they had one spot available for me on the morning flight we're doing this tour today Unfortunately they didn't have a spot for pops but he wasn't too upset about it as he didn't really want to go on a small airplane I set out on an hour and a half flight seeing tour and I have to say it was one of the highlights of my entire time on the Alaska Highway I'm just gonna play a few clips for you here of some of the top highlights but I have a full video on this on my channel if you want to see more we got pretty much the perfect day for our flight with almost no wind and no clouds Mount Logan which is the tallest mountain in Canada basically creates its own weather system so it was pretty much the only thing on the horizon that had any clouds this collection of parks has some of the biggest non-polar ice fields in the entire world and once you see them they basically stretch out as far as you can see with untouched snow [Music] it's honestly unlike anything I've ever seen before [Music] plus the mountains here are staggering and the Glaciers are basically everywhere I think the flight was around 300 when I went but it was well worth it and it was just incredible the entire time I was actually surprised by how well I fit inside of this airplane and it had little window slots where you could stick your camera out to take pictures which was pretty cool made it back from the flight Adventure one of the coolest things I've ever done in my entire life shout out to Stewart that guy is amazing who's a pilot nicest guy basically I've ever met so if you come out here tell Stuart I said what's up if you do it and definitely definitely do it if you can incredible now I'm gonna pick up Pops and we are heading back on the Alaska Highway I saw these mountains from above they're not as exciting from down below when you get to see them from above you know some people got to see some things and they become obnoxious well it's definitely me we started with the 45 minute drive we had done the previous day along the beautiful mountain range with all the wildflowers and then finally arriving at the lake luckily for us this time the dust storm was gone and it was just beautiful views there's a National Park Visitor Center here and supposedly they often have views of sheep on the hillside so we decided to pull in and see that we didn't see any sheep when we were there but it was a great spot to ask the Rangers any questions you had on the park fun little area in here for families to hang out with some really great views so it's interesting if you look over here you can kind of see this cut in the hillside that is the original Alaska highway right there that winded up around there and when we were at at soldiers access that was that continuation of that and he wasn't sure exactly when but then later it was paved and moved down closer to the lake itself it is so cool to be able to see the original road going through the Mountainside there oh heading on WE continued driving around the lake until we made it to the town of burwash Landing here they have the kulani Museum of History which we were told was one of the best museums on the drive oh look I have trash in the display a loon how's the Black Bear feel very coarse not like the grizzly Grizzlies the grizzly you've hit on the side of the road good if you want to learn more about the wildlife that you'll see in this part of the Yukon this is what I flew over today and look at that that's what the plane looked like don't forget to go outside and see some of the old buildings and the large gold pan that they have on display this is a way better museum than you'd expect to see in a small town like this there's animals there's First Nations history there's mining history some old cabins it's worth checking out as we continued on we started to leave the beautiful mountain ranges of kulani national park behind and head towards Alaska this is also where the road starts to become pretty bad and it continues all the way to the end in Delta Junction here we encountered a lot of dirt roads sections of construction and a lot of frost teams Frost thieves are one of the most dangerous things for people driving the Alaska Highway with RVs basically these are like speed bumps in the middle of the road where the ice has actually pushed up parts of the highway the hard thing about it is that the location can change so where there was one a previous week there might not be one the next week this is a pretty remote section and there's not a lot going on until you reach the town of Beaver Creek which is the westernmost town in Canada here you'll find a visitor center some gas stations a few motels and a few restaurants we didn't really stop anymore ourselves though and we just kept going towards the Border we're about to cross over into Alaska but we gotta stop at the international border before we go across as you drive north you'll actually get to the international border before you go through customs to get back into the United States I think I'll stay on this side this is a cool spot to take some pictures along the border and to see how the borders cut through the trees out into the distance we made it to us it's really bad to film out there right now with all the construction but we have made it to Alaska five days into the Alaska Highway Journey I'm so excited to be back here are you excited so cool I'm so excited to be back in Alaska yeah that is assuming they let us back in it's always a possibility that one of us will not be around from there it's only about a five minute drive to reach the border crossing to go back into the United States well we made it back into the United States but pops tried to joke with the guy and he was not having any jokes so I thought I might have to leave Pops at the border I'm glad he made it in I guess my I guess my joke was uh was not bad enough though that I had to be retained detained yeah it was bad but not bad enough our welcome into Alaska is on gravel roads as we crossed over the Border our first stop was at the tetland Wildlife Refuge come in and rest your wings Don't Mind If I Do this Refuge is protected and located right along an important Corridor that migrating birds use one of Pop's Favorite Things is being able to put a pin in the map because there's less pins than there I normally are right near California there we go there's a lot of information here at the visitor center and there's also hikes and other things you can do here but we didn't do anything else while we were on this drive one note if you travel in Alaska during the summer it is construction time and there's often a lot of construction going on this is our third time we've stopped since we've been in Alaska and we've waited for probably an hour now at the different construction sites thoughts pups I don't like construction sites they make you wait too long there's just a lot of construction on this road you would think it'd be much more developed than it actually is but there's a lot of work being done yeah a lot of damage in the winter I guess that they have to fix in the summer so yeah just plan on everything taking a little bit longer than you think especially when you enter Alaska during the summer construction season and be careful with those Frost heaves and potholes as you're driving along this part of the highway we rushed through toad because we wanted to go to mukluk land which is a popular spot with lots of silly stuff it's only open from two to seven every day but unfortunately today it's closed for family illness we do not get to experience it luckily on the way back through this area a couple months later we were able to go to mukluk land so here's a few clips from that check it out you can play a tetherball here jumper you can jump in and right here we have Santa's rocket ship I didn't realize that Santa went in a rocket ship but makes sense faster way to travel and here in this unassuming house we have a whole bunch of dolls I challenge you to whack-a-mole challenge acceptance and if you're in this area come these are really really nice people here yeah it's just a fun silly spot and the people are great so it was late in the day when we got back to tokes only one restaurant was open Fast Eddie's lunch today had just had breakfast and a little bit of snacks so we are ready for food hopefully Fast Eddie's it's fast Fast Cities was fast and a good spot for dinner we were calling it a night it's been a long day we will see you tomorrow to finish our time on the Alaska Highway we stayed at this great little B and B last night called a hideaway which is about five minutes outside of town made breakfast for us in the morning it was an awesome stop and now we have two hours left to finish the Alaska Highway [Music] we headed into the town of toke for a few stops we heard that this was a good gift shop and apparently it has an animal display as well since most everything was closed when we got in the previous day we decided to head back in town and do a couple stops the first was this gift shop which was actually pretty massive and I have to say that the prices were not too bad here [Music] what a bad store I got a bear for 12 bucks and shirts for 10.99 or something for my kids so not too bad heading on the other stop we made was at the toke Visitor Center just to see if they had any history on the Alaska Highway and my dad wanted to talk to them about fishing in Alaska which he was planning to do later there is a little information on the Alaska Highway here if you want to see it saying goodbye to toke we headed out on the last two hour portion of the drive to get to Delta Junction a lot of people who do this drive actually don't finish it because they leave from toke and head down to Anchorage which is quicker but we wanted to make sure that we saw the entire thing and so that's why we went to Delta Junction there are not a lot of stops along this section but we did pull off a Moon Lake Recreation Area this looked like a pretty cool Campground and it had a beautiful lake with butterflies flying around the shore what's not to like Ford we crossed the Johnson River and started to get great views of the Alaskan Range out in front of us the Alaska range is one of the most staggering mountain ranges in all of Alaska and I'm always excited to see it every time I'm here [Music] as you can see Highway 2 the Alaska highway is almost connected with Highway 4 in Delta Junction and just like that about two hours after we left Hoke we arrived at the end of the Alaskan Highway Delta Junction all right so we have made it to the end of the road but before we go to the end of the road sign we're going to the Sullivan Roadhouse Museum so this building used to be on the Fairbanks Valdez Trail it was right here and then when the road came in it made this unnecessary and so they kind of closed this area off and then they moved it over here and that's where we're at standing at now roadhouses were a very important part of Alaska's history these houses were spaced apart so that Trappers and people traveling between the Big Towns could have places to stay on their Journey While most of them have been destroyed it's really cool to be able to see one preserved this well right here in Delta Junction here on Wednesdays if you happen to come through on a Wednesday [Music] all right well we can't put off the end of this drive for too much longer so we're heading across the street to officially finish the Alaska Highway right at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 4 is the visitor center which has the end of the Alaska highway sign we have made it to the end of the Alaska Highway Junction 1400 miles that was a good one what's crazy to me about this one in particular is that two years ago we were in that exact spot and I said this in my previous clip the end of the Alaskan Highway we didn't drive this but that'd be a cool road trip in the future 1422 miles I didn't even know what the Alaska Highway was but it's so cool that we're back here two years later and actually got a chance to drive it these are the things I never thought I was going to be able to do and I am so thankful for them you'll definitely have to wait for your turn to take photos here as there's always a lot of people doing it The Visitor Center also has some information on the Alaska highway but it's pretty small and it's mostly just a shop to sell Goods [Music] luckily we were able to avoid any bison breaking our car on the Alaska Highway Northern Terminus of the Alcan Highway and just like that another road trip is done the Alaska Highway was amazing that's not the end of our time in Alaska we're going to spend an entire month here you can see all the other videos right here before we left though we did have to sacrifice Pops to the mosquito Unfortunately they required a sacrifice to continue on but we will see you on the next video that was so dumb but come on give us a like for that right hey I mean pops had to get on the ground for that one well done Alaska Highway all right we'll see you guys later foreign [Music]

Channel: Through My Lens

Views: 889,730

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Id: 1wn5GF0HTPM

Length: 71min 33sec (4293 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 07 2023