Starting North on the Alaska Highway
July 1-2, 2008

Mile Zero




We reached Dawson Creek, which is known as mile zero of the Alaska Highway. This is because the railroad came this far, so this was chosen as the point where army construction crews and materials were assembled. It was the jumping off point for starting into the wilderness.

link to historical sign
A sign at mile zero describing the early history of the Alaska highway construction. To read the sign, click on the small photo to the left.


Camping that night in Dawson Creek we met an interesting couple from Switzerland. Last year they shipped their RV to Buenas Aires, drove as far south in Argentina as they could and then started north. Because of a highway gap, they shipped their RV from Ecuador to Panama City and continued north. After spending some time in Mexico and the western U.S. they left their RV in Fresno, CA and flew home for the winter. They came back this year, drove north to Alaska and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, which is above the arctic circle, and are now heading south to see the Canadian and American national parks in the Rockies. They will then drive to Halifax and ship their RV home this coming fall. So far they have logged about 60,000 miles. Wow! That is some trip!
curved wooden bridge


Seventeen miles up the road is the only still standing original bridge, which has the unusual property of being a curved wooden bridge. Because of the 25 ton weight limit, heavy commercial traffic could not use the bridge after the war, so another bridge was built a mile or so upstream in 1978 and the highway rerouted. As a result this bridge is now in a provincial park and has been protected.

Suicide hill





When the Army put in the highway they routed it around muskeg bogs which could swallow up vehicles. To avoid the bogs, they sometimes had to cross some horrific terrain. This is one example - "Suicide Hill" , as it was known at the time. The photo is from a sign. Now the highway goes over the bog, so we didn't have to drive up this hill.

black bear along the highway






A black bear along the highway having a meal in the grass. Whatever it was he (she?) was eating, the bear seemed to enjoy it. Our presence didn't seem to bother him.