Option 1 - 865 miles to Dawson Creek via Calgary and Edmonton. I haven't driven this route. It is described in detail in the East Access Route section of the Milepost.

Option 2 - 946 miles to Dawson Creek and at least 2 more days for visiting Glacier and Waterton National Parks before going North via Canada Route 3 to Calgary and Edmonton. But, then you would miss Lake Louise and several other wonderful stops! The Calgary/Edmonton route is part of the East Access Route described in the Milepost.

My Itinerary: 982 miles to Dawson Creek and at least a couple of extra days but look at what you find along the way:

Glacier National Park * * *

The first time I was at Glacier NP, the Going to the Sun road was still snowed in. The second time I was in a 26 foot RV and they had just decreased the maximum size vehicle permitted on the Sun road to 21 feet. This time I had a toad and the road was open! There are rumors that the Sun road will be closed for a couple of years while extensive shoring up is done. Slides have evidently taken at least one life and when I drove the road, there were rocks which had fallen on it which could have killed someone. Before you go, check on status.

You can do the Sun road (round trip only 100 miles) and then the 87 miles up to Waterton Lakes National Park in one day but it would be a long day.

Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada * * *

What a fantastic way to enter Canada!

The NP campground is right in town and walking/biking is a pleasure. Take the drive up to Red Rock Canyon. This is not your red rock of the desert southwest but an interesting, fragile formation. This and the drive south to Cameron Lake offer several short walks and beautiful scenery.

If you arrive in the Spring and have a dog, BE VERY CAREFUL! Deer roam the town and if they have fawns (most do) will preemptively attack a dog with flashing hoofs that can do serious damage to the dog and you!

Fort Steele * *

The Fort (Canada 3 west to 93) is a frontier version of Williamsburg. It is a delightful half day and the road north to Banff National Park is a great mountain drive on excellent roads.

Johnson Canyon * * *

At the intersection of Canada 93 and Canada 1, proceed across 1 over the railroad and south for a couple of miles on the Bow Valley Parkway. The walk up Johnson Canyon is not to be missed. The canyon is narrow. At one point the route follows a boardwalk hung on the side of a rock where the creek has cut deeply. The trail ends at a waterfall and if you are adventurous, you can cross a bridge, duck down and go through a hole cut in the rock by the creek before it changed course, and stand so close to the waterfall you should bring an umbrella. The walk is fairly easy and fascinating.

Lake Louise * * * *

This is one of the most beautiful settings in the world. It is even more beautiful if you can take the time to do some walking.

The walk along the lake shore to the end of the lake is only diminished by the hundreds of other people doing the same thing. The walk becomes more of a hike if you continue towards the head of the valley and the glaciers. There is another wonderful walk up to a small lake in the mountains. (Hikes from Lake Louise with tea houses: See the Plain of 6 Glacier and the Lake Agnes: Beehives trail descriptions down on this link. Both are wonderful! The 6 Glacier trail is less strenuous, a major consideration when you are starting at more than 5,00 feet.)

It is a short drive to two other spots which you should not miss. To the South is Moraine Lake ringed by mountains. There is a good restaurant there and watching the sun set from the dining room sipping a good cup of coffee is a perfect way to end the day. Just north of Lake Louise, Canada 1 heads heads west. About 10 miles down the mountain are the spiral tunnels which were built to make it possible for trains to safely descend the grade. There is a viewpoint where you can see one of the tunnels and read about the building of the railroad. (I saw something on the Internet which said the overlook was unsafe and closed but don’t know its current condition. It also said the pull out was open and had a view of the tunnels.) If you have time, keep going down the mountain and turn north on the Emerald Lake Road. Rent a canoe and spend an hour on two on a perfect little mountain lake, or simply sit on the lake shore and breath in the scenery.

When you can finally tear yourself away from the Lake Louise area, there is one more spectacular adventure waiting for you on your way north to Jasper. At the Columbia Ice Fields Center you can take a bus/snow buggy ride up onto the glacier. Don't miss it!. In fact, the whole drive along the Ice Fields Parkway is full of glacier sightings.

Fort Nelson * * *

At 6:45 pm, in the Phoenix Theatre, Monday through Thursday, there is a free "Welcome Visitor Program"

GO! (Check the Milepost to see if the times have changed)

Local folks have been holding this welcoming program for more than 10 years and there is no telling what the topic might be on the night you are there. When I was there, a trapper talked about running a winter trap line. He passed around furs for the audience and demonstrated various types of traps and the stretching of hides for drying. This peek into another way of life was fascinating!

As a Floridian, fur products had not played a major role in my experience but even I knew about ermine, the fur that trims royal robes of state. Have you ever FELT ermine? That night I had a chance to hold an ermine pelt and it was the most luxurious thing I have ever touched. As my travels in the north country continued, I found ermine pelts for sale and I finally broke down and bought a piece of a pelt. I haven't decided what use I can possibly make of it but every time I touch it, I am still amazed.

You might not be lucky enough to be there on the night with the trapper but if the evening I spent is any indication, you will have a great time hearing about real life in the north.

Muncho Lake and Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Parks * * *

This beautiful lake is a good place to spend the night. There is an interesting boat tour of the Lake and it is only 42 miles to Liard Hot Springs. You want to get to the hot springs early to get a camp site. Spend the day napping and going to soak in the hot pools! The next day just TRY and tear yourself way and tell yourself there is only another 1000 miles to go.

Watson Lake * *

The sign post forest is a hoot.

I do not recommend the Northern Lights Center show. At least the one they had in 1998. I stayed for the entire show rather than walking out because I hoped that perhaps, maybe, they MIGHT, with all their fancy equipment, be able to simulate what the northern lights look like and even, for a moment, recreate for us the wonder one must feel under their spell.

The first 10 minutes of the program was a self congratulatory "demonstration" and explanation of the high tech projection and laser light equipment they had. Next came a laser light show and a series of legends about the source and meaning of the lights accompanied by a script and graphics which were amateurish, at best. Walking out I paid attention to my fellow theater goers to see if I was alone in my disappointment. I didn't see a hint of a smile and there was no happy chatter.

Atlin, BC * * *

Jakes Corner YT at mile 866 of the Alcan is the turn off for Atlin BC. It is a 120 mile round trip to this jewel of a tiny town set on the frigid crystal clear Atlin Lake surrounded by mountains. The trip to this point has been a lot of driving and you need a break to refresh your soul. Stay a day or two, stroll around town, and enjoy! But, if it is raining, save the trip for your return journey and hope for better weather. There is an unusual geological feature across the lake: a rock glacier. When you get back to the Alcan, it is only about 50 miles to Whitehorse.

Whitehorse, YT *

Stock up on groceries and gas. These are the best prices you will see for more than a week.

OPTION: You can save time and miles by heading directly to Tok from Whitehorse. I haven’t calculated the miles you would save nor the time because I consider such a “short cut” herasy! Not only are you going to have to traverse the same drive on your way back, look at all you will miss! A little more seriously, when you head for Dawson, I assume you will take the Top of the World highway (it is mostly gravel) to Tok rather than retracing your route to Whitehorse and then heading for Tok. Before you discount traveling more than 100 miles on a gravel road, read the Top of the World highway section. You are going on a great adventure - to Alaska! Don’t miss this part of the adventure.

Minto, YK * *

At the Minto Resorts RV Park, you can take long walks on the bluffs overlooking the Yukon River. I spent the night at Minto and had reservations for the boat trip to Fort Selkirk the next day. Unfortunately, the other people who had reservations never showed up and trip was cancelled. Check the Milepost to see that the tours are still available. If they are, there will be a phone number for reservations in the Milepost.

Dawson City, YK * * * *

I thought I would spend a day or two here. After 4 days I reluctantly left. You might have an excuse to stay longer if it is raining. The Top of the World and Taylor Highways should not be driven when it is wet.

My first introduction to gold was in Dawson City. Parks Canada has WONDERFUL interpretative sites. Go to the visitor's center and get a list of things to see and do and if possible, start your exploration at the gold camp a couple of miles south of town. When I was there, Sue was the Parks Canada guide to this fascinating place. She made it come alive and at the same time gave us an appreciation of the industrial side of gold finding/processing. It doesn't sound all that interesting when I say it that way but Sue's history is filled with the larger than life personalities of the turn of the century men who created a sophisticated mining industry in the middle of a frozen wilderness with steam, damned rivers, and dredges.

Driving to Dawson City, I noticed that suddenly, the trees were not very tall. I assumed that the decrease in size had been gradual as we headed further north but that I just hadn't noticed it earlier. But then, a new piece of information: All of the machinery needed to mine and process the gold was run by steam. Sue said that for 50 miles around Dawson city, every tree had been cut down for building material or fire wood.

Sue and her husband had mined gold around Dawson City for about 35 years and she KNOWS what she is talking about and made it come alive. I hope you are lucky enough to meet Sue when you visit. By the way, there are still about 250 active mines in the Dawson gold fields.

The Gold Dredge. Again I was very lucky. The day I took that tour, Sue was the guide. She loves that wonderful old piece of machinery and by the time she was finished, I could hear the clanging of the bath tub sized buckets scraping the pay dirt from the old stream bottom. As Sue pointed out, none of the medal could be oiled on the barge because oil mixed with gold dust floats the gold and allows it to be washed away rather than accumulating in the riffles of the sluice boxes. She said you could hear a barge working for miles away and it ran 24 hours a day.

There are so many other things to do in Dawson City: A walking trip around town, panning for gold, a walking trip out to the steamboat grave yard. There is a show at Diamond Tooth Gerties which also offers a table of poker and lots of slots. There are boat trips on the Yukon. The list goes on.

I stayed at the Gold Rush Campground right in town and enjoyed being able to walk to restaurants and around the town. RVs are packed in on a gravel lot with not a hint of landscaping. But it is convenient! Much cheaper is the Yukon Provincial park across the Yukon River. There is a free ferry across the river. No services at the park but the sites are wooded and nice.

Option From Dawson City the Dempster Highway is a 914 round trip to Inuvik via a gravel road. When I was in Dawson City in late June, an incoming storm closed the road and everyone on the road below the Arctic Circle was headed back to Dawson City. I didn't even consider this trip but check out it's description in the Milepost to see if it is for you.

Top of the World and Taylor Highway * * * From Dawson City to Tok. This route is part of what the Milepost calls the Klondike Loop.

The relatively short portion of the road in Canada is paved and when I drove it in June 98, it was wonderful. As soon as I hit the US border, the road was gravel. You could do 25 MPH in the good spots. But, as a way to enter Alaska, you couldn't ask for more. Beautiful scenery and no choice but to slow down and enjoy it. Besides, you can NOT miss Dawson City and to retrace your path back to the AlCan is a waste of perfectly good driving. You are of course going to stop at Chicken when on the highway but as long as you are on a dirt road anyway, why not also take the side trip to Eagle?

OPTION: Eagle, AK * *

The 130 mile round trip to Eagle is over a true mountain gravel road and about 20 MPH is a reasonable speed for most of it. You can drive from Dawson City to Eagle in one day. The next day, take the Eagle walking tour. The US Army established a fort in Eagle during the gold rush to keep order on the Yukon. The story of building a telegraph line up to Eagle is fascinating. The guides are local volunteers who love their town and its surroundings. There is one general store and one restaurant with about 4 or 5 RV sites next door. This shopping district/campground is on the banks of the Yukon. There are a couple of benches when you can sit and just watch the river flow by and drink in the scenery. The next morning, it is a relatively easy drive to Chicken.

Chicken * *

Gold panning and RV parking at the Goldpanner at Chicken is free. At least it was the summer of '98. The couple who run the Goldpanner store and gas station have sold their business and were leaving at the end of the summer. They had been there for years.

You were welcome to step over to the creek, and pan for gold to your heart's content. I didn't get much gold but had fun. There are no hook ups, just a large open lot with RVers trudging to and from the "gold fields". Great fun. If you venture back beyond the "parking lot", you will find tailings everywhere. Every inch of the valley is claimed and has been worked at least once. They are still finding nuggets and dust. In the "town" of Chicken there is a daily walking tour which is interesting.

On to the next section of descriptions.......