It connected Dawson Creek, B.C. to Delta Junction, Alaska and spanned over 2,700 kms (a distance comparable to driving from Ottawa to Miami), and all this through some pretty challenging terrain and seasonal conditions. It was legendary for being an extremely challenging drive, and it took until almost the turn of the century to get fully paved. Now, that doesn’t mean it’s an easy drive today. Especially in winter. There are very long stretches without any cell service, gas stations or towns, and after a heavy snowfall it can take a while for the snow plows to clear the roads. It’s a route that’s exposed to the northern elements, and on top of that, there’s lots of wildlife, so you need to pay attention at all times. Our Outlander handled the roads well (really well). Time and again we found ourselves noticing how safe and stable the vehicle felt in the changing conditions; fresh snow, icy patches … the S-AWC took it all on, and made our drive considerably easier than it could have been without that sort of technology. Now 1,500 km is a long time to spend in a car, so we appreciated the smaller comforts the car offered too - like the heated steering wheel to warm our hands after going outside in the cold, or the impressive sound system for our road trip playlists. (We might have gone through Colter Wall’s entire discography, and it never sounded better.) We had only been driving for a couple of hours, ap- proaching Fort Nelson, when we happened across an incredible pair of Canada Lynx that seemed to be set- tling a territorial dispute along the highway. We care- fully pulled off the road and made sure to give them plenty of space before observing and photographing one of the most unique wildlife encounters we had ever seen! The encounter left us with some amazing images and massive excitement for what the rest of the trip might bring. Up until Fort Nelson, the road is fairly flat and sur- rounded by endless forest. As you get closer, you start to see glimpses of the orthern Rockies in the dis- tance. But, once you pass the northern town, the ter- rain changes, the hills get bigger, and you find your- self consistently gaining elevation.
It’s said that only nine per cent of the worlds’ popula- tion have experienced this incredible natural phenom- enon, so you can imagine why it’s on so many bucket lists. Including ours. Sure, you hop on a flight, take a train, and even board a cruise to areas where you can see the northern lights, but if you want to have the full northern ex- perience, you need to drive. Here in Canada, the route North is the iconic Alaska Highway. A road that we’d get to know well over the next week, trying to catch it before the season's end. Our journey kicked off with a plane ride to Grand Prairie, Alberta, where we picked up our Mitsubishi Outlander before starting the drive north to Yukon Territory. We put Whitehorse into our Apple CarPlay and it coolly in- formed us that it would be a 1,531-kilometre drive, so we wasted no time and got on the road. Day 1: Grande Prairie to Muncho Lake - 832 km After packing our gear into the Outlander’s spacious trunk and loading up on snacks and necessities for the two-day drive, we headed to Northern Rockies Lodge at Muncho Lake, our home for the night. With our eyes set on the Alaska Highway, we cruised past the Alberta border into Northern British Columbia. There, in Dawson Creek, we arrived at Mile 0 of the highway. Other than a very unassuming landmark sign, there isn’t much to tip you off about the journey you’re about to embark on. So, on we went. The Alaska Highway is one of the world’s iconic drives; a mad dash effort to tame the last frontier. It was constructed in 1942 to get military supplies up to Alaska, which was previously inaccessible by road. Over 10,000 people were involved in the construc- tion of this long highway, which, at the time, was little more than a rough single track road that was prone to flooding and natural disaster. The whole project took less than nine months to complete!
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