To The Land of the Midnight Sun
Canada's north has always been a place of mystery and wonder to me. As a boy, I watched Farley Mowat’s, Never Cry Wolf so many times, I thought the VCR would break! So, when the chance came for me to possibly spend a summer working up north, I jumped at it and was fortunate enough to be selected to go.
I would be going to an area about 100 km west of Dawson City, along the Top of the World highway. According to Google Maps, the journey I was about to embark on was about 36 hours and 3300 km from home. It wasn’t the quickest route, but if I was going to drive all the way up there, I wanted to do it right by taking the Alcan Highway from where it starts at Mile 0, in Dawson Creek, BC.
May was a hectic month, so I only had a few days to condense 3 to 4 months' worth of what I thought I might need into a small enough space that Layka would still fit somewhat comfortably in the Jeep. Some of my co-workers had been up there before, so their advice during that time was indispensable in figuring out not only what I should take, but more importantly what I didn’t need! After some Olympic-level Tetris skills, it all fit in a way that wouldn’t make it a nightmare while we were camping our way up.
I must be up in the Yukon by the 31st of May, so Layka and I headed out about six days before on a beautiful clear sunny day. Once I refuelled both the fuel tank and my stomach in Kamloops, we headed north on Hwy #5 toward Valemount, BC. Our first campsite of the trip was a beautiful little dispersed campsite located in the shadow of Mt. Robson. It had been at least 35 years since I had last visited this amazing area, and the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies was as stoic as I remember.
After a peaceful night's sleep, we woke to another beautiful day. After a quick breakfast, we headed first to Jasper for gas and more coffee before continuing our trek north towards Dawson Creek and the start of the Alaska Canadian Highway. We reached Dawson Creek and Mile 0 of the Alcan close to 4 pm, so after taking the typical pictures in front of the historic sign, and a quick trip to the visitor centre, we headed off to find camp. The first campsite we looked at seemed to be closed, so thanks to iOverlander, we found a beautiful spot on the top of a hill just outside Fort St. John, overlooking the Peace River.
The trend of nice sunny travel days continued the next morning as we continued past Fort Nelson and into the Northern Rockies. This place is truly epic, with the highway meandering between tall rocky mountain peaks devoid of vegetation and alongside stunning mountain lakes, the most breathtaking of all being Muncho Lake. “Muncho” which translates from the local First Nation’s language into “Big Water” aptly named for this twelve-kilometre lake, the waters of which are a beautiful jade green. As we proceeded along, we came to the Northern Rockies Lodge, a huge, beautifully designed log building. I first saw this lodge on an episode of The Epic Family Road Trip and knew I would have to stop in along the way. Before fuelling up, I noticed a definite sign that we were in the north, a couple Caribou were in the field across from the lodge as if to welcome us.
Once refuelled, we carried on toward today's final stop, the famous Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park. Once we crossed the suspension bridge over the Liard River, we were greeted by a short lineup at the Provincial Park, and I was concerned that it was full, but we managed to find a nice little spot to set up for the night.
After dinner and before climbing into the tent for the night I travelled up the peaceful boardwalk to the warm relaxing waters of the hot spring. It was quite different from the many hot springs I’ve been to in Japan, the main one being that everyone wasn’t naked! The other main difference I noticed is that here, they have worked very hard to keep it all as natural as possible. You went down a few wooden steps into the naturally warm river. After soaking for about forty minutes, I felt significantly relaxed and made it back and into the tent with my body still nice and warm to snuggle into bed.
The next morning the weather seemed to be turning, but despite the grey skies, the journey was like travelling through a safari park. I had heard mention about a herd of Wood Bison and was worried that I had missed seeing them but shortly after starting out, I saw a few on the shoulder of the road. After taking a few pictures and being glad to have seen at least a couple we carried on. After a few bends in the road, I was happy to have found the herd! Dozens of huge Bison were just grazing on the edges of the road. Within the herd were several calves that were precociously scampering around chasing each other. I pulled over to take a few pictures and afterward slowly carried passing by the herd Layka had her nose out the window trying to figure out what these huge beasts were.
Our safari didn’t end there, as we carried on, we saw more Bison, a Grizzly Bear and a few Black bears, including one that was right on the side of the road and gave Layka and I a hungry glare! A cute fox strutted on past us with not a care in the world except for taking its catch safely home. The day’s safari ended as we pulled into Watson Lake, another bucket list location as it is home to the Sign Post Forest, another one of the famous landmarks on the Alcan.
The Sign Post Forest was started in 1942 when a soldier was on light duty recovering from a wound. He was to repair and erect directional signposts during his recovery and decided to add one in the direction of his hometown in Illinois. The idea caught on with more and more people adding signposts as they travelled through, and the forest is at over 77,000 signs and continually growing. Along with the signposts I found both the Epic Family and X Overland stickers in the forest as well. A very cool spot that I definitely recommend if you are passing through the area.
After the forest, we fueled up with gas and supplies and carried on to tonight’s campsite, a small pullout along the Alcan at Squan Lake, about 20 minutes past Johnsons Crossing. A nice little dispersed lakeside campsite with a beautiful view and only one other traveller so it was nice and quiet apart from the mosquitos humming. Rain started to fall while cooking, so Layka and I did a hasty retreat to the dryness of our tent where after journaling and a bit of reading we headed off to bed.
By morning the rain had stopped, and we were back to clear skies again for the short push to Whitehorse. We arrive in town fairly early so I went straight to the Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters, a place I remember for having delicious coffee and muffins from a trip I had done before. After scarfing down “second breakfast” I got down to shopping for the remaining supplies I thought I would need for the summer. Whitehorse was the last major town I would be in until I arrived at my work location, so it was now, or much later, on a trip to Alaska. I definitely got a hint of what summer up here may be like when I went into Canadian Tire and saw the largest display and selection of bug spray you could imagine!
With purchases made, I parked by the mighty Yukon River and the SS Klondike, a National Historic site of the paddle-wheeler that, during the Gold Rush, travelled up and down the Yukon River. I used the open space in the parking lot to do a re-org of all my purchases. We still had 2 more nights of camping ahead of us so I wanted to pack and organize as much as I could to make the rest of the trip as smooth as possible. OCD yeah, you know me! The rest of the summer work crew were also all arriving in Whitehorse at the same time, so we agreed to have a meet and greet over supper at the Dirty Northern restaurant.
After supper was done Layka and I made our way to a beautiful campsite along the Yukon River. The rough dirt road opened up into a large grassy area just steps away from the river. After camp was set up Layka and I relaxed while the gentle flow of the Yukon passed us by.
The next morning, we woke to a beautiful sun rising from behind the mountains to the east. I tossed up the drone to get some footage of this beautiful area before we headed on toward Dawson City and our final campsite. As we closed in on Dawson City, I made a little stop at the turn-off for the Dempster Highway one of the most remote highways in Canada. Later this summer I knew I would be tackling this road all the way up to Tuktoyaktuk and wanted to give it a bit of a stare-down to let it know we would be back.
We then made our way to Dawson City, a quaint little town still trapped in the days of the Gold Rush. Only the main road through town is paved with the rest of the side roads being hard-packed dirt and boardwalks along each side as makeshift sidewalks. As I approached the Visitor Centre, I saw a lady dressed in an outfit of yesteryear, no doubt a local guide for the tours around this historic town. Apart from Alaska, Dawson City would be the main location to grab food and supplies during our time up here.
After driving around town for a bit to get my bearings I grabbed a coffee and sandwich at the Riverwest Bistro before we made our way to the ferry and crossed the mighty Yukon River. The ferry is free and runs 24/7. The 5-minute run across the river was over in a flash and we were heading up the Top of the World Highway, a 281 km stretch of road that connects Dawson City to the Alaskan Highway. Due to the amount of snow this road gets it's only open from June until Sept every year.
About 20 km up the highway we found our last camping spot of the trip. An open area with a gravel pile had a nice little spot a the very back which, when the clouds cleared, we could see the majestic Tombstone mountains off in the distance. After a nice sleep, we woke to rain mixed with snow so packing up was done quickly and we were off to our final stop. The summer up here is going to be amazing with a variety of trips planned including trips to the furthest north and west that you can drive in North America at Prudhoe Bay, and to Anchor Point in the Kenai Peninsula. I am also planning a trip to Tuktoyaktuk and other amazing places up here as well. I would love to have you follow along with by using the links above to follow our social media channels and stay tuned here as well for post-trip blog posts.