Alaskan Adventure: Days 27-30. From Hinton (Alberta) to Dawson Creek (British Columbia), and from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson, BC. A few photos but mostly driving, driving, driving. 288 miles from Hinton to Dawson Creek and 283 miles from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson.

We fueled up in Hinton and headed up the “Scenic Route” to Dawson Creek. The major highway route is from Edmonton to Dawson Creek but that would add hundreds of miles. The scenic route was a very scenic 286 miles through mostly forested hills and mountains. Lots of ups and downs and curves. There were two towns on that 286 miles; Grande Cache, and Grand Prairie.

The Scenic Route. The forest goes on f o r e v e r but the edges have been cleared back a long way so there is a chance you will see large animals before hitting them…

Lots of wildlife warning signs. There are no fences along the roads, its all wide open. We had not even made it to Mile 0 of the Alaskan Highway before getting our second rock hit on the RV windshield (we also got a small chip on the tow car windshield).

The required Mile 0 shot.

Dawson Creek is “Mile 0” of the 1,387 mile long Alaskan Highway. The end is at Delta Junction, Alaska (near Fairbanks). The history of the Alaskan Highway is crazy. Here are some interesting points but a google search will get you more if you want to know.

World War II and the bombing of Pearl Harbor Dec 7, 1941 created need for the ALCAN Road (Alaska, Canadian).
US and Canada feared a Japanese invasion of Alaska (they had invaded the Aleutian Islands already).
US agreed to pay for the road in return for easements through Canada.
10,000 US Corps of Engineers troops and 16,000 civilians (both US and Canadian) built “The Road” in 8 months!!!
Construction began March of 1942 and was “completed” October 28, 1942. None of it was “paved” at that point.

Old grain elevator building that was saved from demolition and moved into town to become an Art Gallery. There is a ramp that winds up the tall building (sort of reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum).

Lots of nice artwork and hand crafted gifts in the Art Gallery. Worth a look.

There are several “Mile 0” monuments in town. This one is in the center of an intersection.

In 1978 there was a whole row of big grain elevator buildings. They were all demolished except the one that was moved into town and is now the Art Center.

We retired the Dekalb front license plate for an Alaskan Highway plate.

The Art Gallery also has a nice history of the Alaskan Highway.

Just south of Dawson Creek is a little town called Pouce Coupe. This has nothing to do with the Alaskan Highway but it’s a cool wooden trestle built in 1930 by the Northern Alberta Railway. It is no longer in use. I braved swarms of mosquitos to get this picture while Becky waited in the car.

At the end of the day in Dawson Creek we had a really great buffet meal at Fixx Urban Grille compliments of our AdventureTrek group. This type of arranged group meal is often questionable but this was exceptional.

No pics but next day we traveled to Fort Nelson which is in British Columbia. Fort Nelson had a nice woodsy campground but it was also rainy and had lots of mosquitoes. We spent the night inside the RV.