WorldView Tales of Travel – The Alaska Highway

This week, our WorldView Tale of Travel comes to us from Carol and Kal. They decided to enjoy life on the open road for a few months and took their RV all the way to Alaska…

The Alaska Highway!  The name alone excites the traveler planning a trip to Alaska.  Many people believe the Alaska Highway is only in Alaska, but it starts at mile 0 in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, winds through the Yukon and ends 1422 miles later in Delta Jct., Alaska.  Built in 1942 as a supply road to defend North America against the Japanese, it was the combined effort of American troops and Canadian civilian workers.  It was an amazing feat and completed in only eight months. 

Today, the Alaska Highway is considered the Last Great Road trip for many travelers and last summer my husband and I made this incredible journey.  We traveled from Peoria, Arizona and back – three months and 8795 miles in our motorhome. The beautiful forests, lakes, hot springs and wildlife (we spotted our first black bear on the side of the road in the Yukon) made everyday an adventure. 

Although there were many unique small towns, we especially enjoyed the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, Yukon.  In 1942 a homesick GI working on building the highway, put up a sign pointing the way home and listing the mileage to his hometown.  Travelers started leaving signs on their way through the Yukon and today there are more than 60,000 signs hammered into tall posts.  Walking through this amazing “forest” one sees names and hometowns from all over the world.  Some use wood, tin pie plates, license plates, traffic signs – anything goes. It was such a unique experience, we decided we had to leave our message in the forest.  While in Alaska, we made our sign and put it up on the way back home.  It is quite a feeling to be part of such a large, shared experience!

Alaska is everything we could have imagined and more.  Its unspoiled, untamed beauty,wildlife, and warm friendly people made it hard not to fall in love with the state.  We visited many places in the two months we were there.  From Fairbanks and the North Pole, to Denali to Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez to name a few.

Since we are from Arizona, we found an exhibit at the Pioneer Park in Fairbanks an interesting story.  We were there for the July 4th celebration (no fireworks because the sun is still shining late at night!) and went into the exhibit called “40 below”.  We were given warm coats and entered a room that maintains the temperature at 40 below 0 to give us an idea of what winter is like in Alaska (FYI – it feels frigid).  The young man who created the exhibit told us he had gone to Arizona State University and was asked so many times what it felt like at such frigid temperatures, that he got the idea to create this room so people can actually experience it.  We suggest he bring this to Arizona also, since we know many people who would like to be freezing for a few minutes when its 115 degrees in the summer.  His partner had also thought of that idea, so maybe someday we will to see him again. 

The Kenai Peninsula is known as Alaska’s Playground where even the state residents come to vacation.  90% wilderness, home to one black bear per square mile, the views are stunning – glaciers, volcano’s, marine wildlife and then there is the fishing.  My husband could hardly wait to try the salmon and halibut fishing and he was not disappointed.  But we were observers only for one of our favorite memories.   We camped in Kenai on a bluff overlooking the mouth of the Kenai river and Cook Inlet.  When we first looked down on the beach, we saw men and women standing in the water, shoulder to shoulder fishing with nets. 

We learned that these were residents “dipnetting”.  For several weeks in the summer, residents of Alaska only are allowed to fish for salmon with these dipnets and their limit is based on how many people live in the household.  These hardy souls fish all day and into the night, rain or shine, to take home their catch to be enjoyed by their families throughout the dark, cold winter.  Families camp in the campground or in tents right on the beach.  Mingling with these families and hearing stories about their lives in Alaska was a wonderful experience for us. 

These are but a few of the wonderful memories we have from our trip.  We hope to visit our sign in the Signpost Forest one day in the future, as we travel the Alaska Highway once again.

**Carol and Kal 

 
Thank you guys, that sounds like it was an amazing trip.  We appreciate you sharing it with us! If you have questions or comments for Carol and Kal, please leave the here. For a chance at seeing your own Tale of Travel here on 1st World view, email it to us at FirstWorldView@gmail.com.