The Alaska Highway is roughly 1,400 miles of pure joy. It runs from Dawson Creek, Alberta through British Columbia and the Yukon, ending in Tok, Alaska. It was built in World War II to connect Alaska to the contiguous US.
The stoke continued on the other side of town when I actually got to Mile 0.
I had expected scores of motorcyclists and lots of high fives and revving of engines, but I was alone except for a nice Asian couple who took my photo. (They were not on motorcycles.)
As I started down the highway, I thought that claims of it being remote or challenging might be overblown. I encountered town after town with restaurants and motels. Among the charming towns I passed was Beaverlodge, which has an impressive town mascot:
But after the first 80km or so, the highway did become pretty remote, with far fewer humans or businesses. An average stretch looked like this on Day 1.
It's a single lane in each direction, with a relatively narrow shoulder and a nice collar of maybe 40 paces before you get to the treeline. The speed limit is usually 100km/hr, though most drivers go about 10km faster than that.
In July, I'm told the road is teeming with motorcycles and RVs (and bugs). At this time of the year, the traffic has been pretty sparse, with a mix of semis, RVs, SUVs, and pickup trucks. I've gone stretches of 20 minutes at high speeds without seeing another vehicle in either direction. I've seen less than 10 motorcycles in 1,000 km of driving.
The stoke continued on the other side of town when I actually got to Mile 0.
I had expected scores of motorcyclists and lots of high fives and revving of engines, but I was alone except for a nice Asian couple who took my photo. (They were not on motorcycles.)
As I started down the highway, I thought that claims of it being remote or challenging might be overblown. I encountered town after town with restaurants and motels. Among the charming towns I passed was Beaverlodge, which has an impressive town mascot:
But after the first 80km or so, the highway did become pretty remote, with far fewer humans or businesses. An average stretch looked like this on Day 1.
It's a single lane in each direction, with a relatively narrow shoulder and a nice collar of maybe 40 paces before you get to the treeline. The speed limit is usually 100km/hr, though most drivers go about 10km faster than that.
In July, I'm told the road is teeming with motorcycles and RVs (and bugs). At this time of the year, the traffic has been pretty sparse, with a mix of semis, RVs, SUVs, and pickup trucks. I've gone stretches of 20 minutes at high speeds without seeing another vehicle in either direction. I've seen less than 10 motorcycles in 1,000 km of driving.
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