We purposefully chose the featured image for this blog. Our impression of the Yukon was that it suffered from an identity complex. In my opinion, the complex may stem from the fact that people see the Yukon as extremely remote, which is accurate; very unpopulated, which is true; and mostly famous for the late 1800’s gold rush days, which certainly can’t be ignored. As a result, we experienced considerable efforts to change Yukon’s image using a campaign of modern art and slogans. The “On Yukon Time” banner was just the first of several campaign examples, and we admitted it was not only eye-catching but appealing.
The drive to Watson Lake (population 1,133) took us into the Northern Rockies with its beautiful scenery. Here are some of the pictures I captured through Sid’s windows. Sure made for a pleasant day’s drive.
This is a good point in our 2024 blogs to credit The MILEPOST, a very important part of our planning for and driving on the Alaskan Highway. This travel planner was named after the Highway’s mileage markers. Others whom have made the Alaskan trek, strongly recommended it, and we purchased the 75th Edition (2023) months before our journey began. Initially, we had no idea how incredibly comprehensive and valuable this detailed reference would be.
Of course, The MILEPOST deserves further explanation and description. In 1943, William A. “Bill” Wallace began travelling the Alaskan Highway and quickly concluded “our north country routes hold many points of interest known only to local people, which are neither found on most current maps nor in the sparse literature dealing with the subject.” He envisioned a new but different travel guide. One with simple, easy to read maps, paired with corresponding logs for road travel. The logs would include locations of: interesting physical features, good hunting and fishing, highway accommodations, and helpful data for sportsmen, vacationers, and leisurely travelers. He published the first edition of The MILEPOST in 1949, one year after the highway officially opened to public travel. That edition was a 72-page, saddle-stitched 5 1/4 X 8 1/4-inch booklet costing $1.00. Our edition was a 656-page, 8 1/2 X 11-inch perfect bound guidebook costing about $30. Since 2009, it has also been available digitally. The first edition covered 8 highways in British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Alaska. Today’s guidebook includes 100 maps of 10 cities and 90 highways and side roads.
But The MILEPOST available today provides so much more than just great maps, helpful travel hints, and recommended attractions. It includes three distinct travel itineraries to Alaska; marine access routes on state and provincial ferries; Alaska and White Pass & Yukon Route railroad maps, fares, and schedules; and maps with log-entry descriptions for every mile (sometimes tenths of a mile) of each highway and side road. Examining a typical example, a simple Dempster Highway log entry read,
“J 15.2 (24.4 km) I 440.9 (709.5 km) Glacier Creek.”
This entry meant from where the Dempster Highway started at it’s junction with Yukon Highway 5 (hence, the J) on our route to Inuvik (the I), we were crossing Glacier Creek. More specifically, we also knew this crossing was 15.2 miles from the Junction and 440.9 miles to Inuvik, NT. Here’s one more MILEPOST example to illustrate the level of detail it provided, and then I’ll stop. Promise! This Dempster Highway log entry read,
“B 46 (74 km) J 334.9 (539 km) I 121.2 (195 km) Peel River Crossing.”
This meant, we were 46 miles passed the border (the B) between the Yukon and Northwest Territory provinces and had to cross the Peel River. (The J and I figures similar to the first example except updated.) The remaining text for this log entry included in brief: name of our ferry (CF Abraham Francis), type of ferry (drive on-drive off, double ended cable), normal hours of daily operation (9:15 A.M. to 12:45 A.M.), cost (free), location with respect to nearest town (8 miles/12.8 km south of Fort McPherson, NT), and a toll-free phone number to call for ferry operating status, road conditions, and weather. Without a doubt, The MILEPOST is a must for anyone planning a trip to Alaska and northwestern Canada. It’s too helpful to go without!
We had expectated to see an abundance of wildlife according to everything we’d read and heard about driving up the Alaskan Highway. Yet thus far, we’d seen only a few black bears and grizzlies along the roadside. The leg to Watson Lake proved to be much different. I got very excited with each short-notice siting, and did the best I could to capture them through the windows of a moving, often bouncing vehicle.
When I made our Watson Lake reservation, the RV park selection was limited to two, and I picked what looked like the best value. I had difficulty understanding the accent of the woman taking our reservation, plus she sounded as if she was juggling other customers during our call. After hanging up, I wasn’t sure whether we had a reservation or not. Upon check-in, I understood the situation better. The RV park was a dusty, potholed parking lot behind a TAGS gas station/convenience store/cafe complex on the corner of a busy intersection. We’d never heard of TAGS, so this unfamiliar word pronounced with an accent is what confused me during our call. In addition, the RV park manager was the convenience store cashier. Here I met the woman who took our reservation. She was extremely nice but still hard to understand even in person. No problems though! We got a spot with 30A power and water, and despite the poor, unmaintained condition of the parking lot, the washrooms and showers were relatively new and clean.
We visited three local attractions: the Alaska Highway Interpretive Center located in the Recreation/Visitor Centers across the street from our park, the Sign Post Forest also across the street, and the Northern Lights Center just kitty-corner from the TAGS service station. The Interpretive Center, contained the history of the building of the Alaskan Highway with many black and white construction photos, period artifacts in displays, dioramas, and a B&W Alaskan Highway documentary film. MFI spent more time talking with the women volunteers whom operated the center and answered visitor questions, than she did touring the displays. The Rec Center also advertised an artisan coffee shop (yippee), but it was temporarily closed, because they were catering an event. Drat!
The soldiers who built the Alaskan Highway regularly erected sign posts to provide key directions needed by construction vehicle drivers. Sometime during 1942, such a sign post along a material tote road was damaged by an errant bulldozer. A senior soldier with Company D of the 341st Engineering Regiment ordered Private Carl K. Lindley, who was convalescing in Watson Lake, to repair the sign post. Lindley not only fixed it but added a personalized sign, which read: Danville Illinois 2835 Miles Carl K. Lindley. Home-sick soldiers have been creating personalized sign posts like these throughout military history, but nothing since ever caught on like this one and retained such popular longevity. Other construction soldiers began adding their signs after Lindley, and road workers and travelers have been adding signs ever since. Today, the Sign Post Forest covers several acres and contains over 100,000 sign posts. They ranged from actual highway signs and license plates, to an assortment of handmade signs as simple as writing on a paper plate (no, those don’t last). Also, our impression was that there seemed to be an unwritten competition among posters to see who can create the most unique one, which added to the diversity. The novelty and shear size of the sign post forest has certainly been part of its continued tourist draw.
We enjoyed each of the visited attractions; however, the Northern Lights Center was the most interesting. The 3-story Center was built in 1996, and is the Yukon’s only visitor facility dedicated to the science and folklore of the aurora borealis and outer space. Inside, was a 100-seat auditorium beneath a 360 degree domed planetarium style ceiling. We watched an hour long 2-part documentary show presented using their new SciDome Spitz HD equipment powered by Starry Night. This system displayed in 3 million pixels from a dual-projector and delivered bright, high definition imagery with surround sound. The first documentary explored age-old mysteries of the universe. The second presentation featured aurora footage shot solely in Yellowknife, NT. We were captivated by the variety of stunning auroral motions and colors set to music, creating an extremely enjoyable experience. We had moments where we couldn’t help but exclaim “Wow,” similar to being awed by a partiularly great firework. The hope and desire for seeing the northern lights at some point during our trek had definitely been planted.
