June 29th – Day 8 Alaska Trip

When we started out from Grande Cache this morning, it was a cool 38 degrees. Our goal was to make “Mile Zero” in Dawson Creek of the Alaska Highway by noonish, then see how far we could get. But First: a History Lesson; The construction of the Alcan began in 1942, with the urging of President Roosevelt soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a military necessity in order for the U.S. to be able to quickly move troops and equipment to Alaska in case of attack. The U.S. and Canada shared resources -- with the funding and manpower coming from the Americans and the raw materials and right of way from the Canadians. Once the war was over, the Highway was handed over to Canada. It extends from Dawson Creek in Alberta roughly 1600 miles to Fairbanks, Alaska – most of the Alaska Highway is actually in Canada. From its humble beginnings as a rutted dirt road, it is now totally paved – although always under construction due to the harsh environment, continual freezing and thawing, mudslides, avalanche, etc… OK, where was I…??? We made Dawson Creek and the temperature had climbed to the high temp of the day at 57 degrees and windy as hell. We took some snaps of the historic Mile Zero Statue located downtown and also of the new Mile Zero statue beside the roundabout that now bypasses the town center. We then got started from Mile Zero, leaving civilization behind. Except for the asphalt gash ripping through the wilderness, the land seems as if it has changed little since the beginning of time. The road stretches on through thick stands of pine, oak, and aspen that seemingly go on forever. One can tell there has been logging in the some areas, but the Canadians have done a fantastic job reforesting these lands which now contain healthy new trees already standing 30-40 feet tall. We had a target of making 500 miles today, and with all the slowing down for construction, it was going to be a long, tough day. It was gonna get tougher real quick… The clouds closed in, the temperature dropped to the mid-40’s and about 100 miles from Fort Nelson, it started raining. We pulled into Fort Nelson completing our goal of 500 miles, got some Chinese Take Out, and settled in for the night.