Lens-Artists #100: Long and Winding Road

Posted in Alaska, British Columbia, Photography, YukonTagged , , ,

This week Tina has chosen “The Long and Winding Road” as our challenge. During our travels we have driven on so many long and winding roads I wasn’t sure which ones to include.

As I thought about how to approach this challenge, my mind kept going back to our 2013 RV trip to Alaska.  There were many long and winding roads during our journey but I decided to focus on just one.

Exactly seven years ago today we were in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada at the start of the Alaska Highway (also called the AlCan). Before returning home we would travel on every mile of this long and winding road.

The United States military began construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942 to provide an overland route to Alaska. The approximately 1400 mile road from Dawson Creek, BC to Delta Junction, Alaska was completed in 8 months and 12 days.

Mile Zero
Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway! in Dawson Creek, BC

As you can see from the photo above, like many other travelers, we posed for a picture at the famous sign marking the beginning of the Alaska Highway. (The actual location of mile marker 0 is in downtown Dawson Creek, BC). There’s more about our stay in Dawson Creek at Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway.

Part of the road was paved, part was gravel, and part was under construction. There were frost heaves and pot holes, some marked with signs and some not. Sometimes we would go for miles without seeing another vehicle. We stopped at pull outs for breaks and never had a problem finding campgrounds or diesel fuel.

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Gravel section of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon
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The Alaska HIghway in the Yukon

We drove slowly and enjoyed the wildlife and magnificent views.

Moose on the Alaska Highway
Moose on the Alaska Highway
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Alaska Highway
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Alaska Highway

As I worked on this post I thought of how empty this road must be this summer with the U.S./Canadian border still closed. I remember the campgrounds, restaurants, and stores we stopped at along the way in Canada and Alaska. These businesses have a short season and depend on summer travelers to make it through the rest of the year. I hope that they will be able to make it until next year when hopefully people will be traveling again.

I am so grateful we made this trip when we did. I still dream of returning to Alaska. Next time we will not be towing our fifth wheel along the Alaska Highway. Instead, I see airplanes and ships in our future.

Thank you to Tina for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Long and Winding Road

40 thoughts on “Lens-Artists #100: Long and Winding Road”

  2. It must have been a great adventure. I hope to visit Alaska sometime in the future; however, I am thinking it might be via cruise ship. Thanks for your post, and enjoy the day.

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  4. LOL for the best laid plans Beth. We planned a flight seeing trip over McKinley but the Alaska weather wreaked havoc with that! School bus for hours was our only option! I too loved that highway. Thanks for the fond memory

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    1. Tina, thank you! We went on that school bus twice, the second time all the way to the end! We spent several days in Denali and never saw Mt. McKinley until we left the park. So sorry you couldn’t do the flight seeing trip. We were lucky that the day we wanted to do that it was a beautiful, clear day.

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      1. Exactly! Saw Denali upon arrival. Spent an hour shooting until about 11pm then went to bed assuming many more opportunities. Never saw it again in an entire week ☹️. Probably the only time in all our travels we’ve ever been skunked! The rest of Alaska more than made up for it tho 🙂

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  5. I want to return to Alaska for a trip too! Ready now – sigh. Richard drove the AlCan when he drove from Alaska to college in Florida in 1979. He and his family were stuck in their cars for over a day because a landslide covered the gravel road at one point! They had to wait for a bulldozer to clear the dirt away. Your pictures are beautiful!

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  14. Hi, Beth. You chose a great place to highlight this week. I’ve never been on that road, but it certainly looks like a great adventure. Our son lives in B.C. Maybe a road trip?? I love the shot at the first mile marker.

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    1. Patti, thank you! A road trip from B.C. to Alaska would be a beautiful trip! On our way to Alaska we spent time in Banff and Jasper before going through B.C. on the way to Alaska came back through parts of western B.C. on the Cassiar highway. There was beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife!

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  16. I have some very sweet memories of traveling that long and winding road–including one trip in the middle of winter. We hope to drive to Alaska again one final time before we’re too old and savoring every bit. Thanks for sharing this.

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    1. Brenda, thank you! It would be a beautiful drive from Maine to Alaska! We’ve already reached the age where we are too old to make the drive again LOL. I’m so glad we did it when we did. We will return one day (hopefully next year) but it will be on a cruise and we won’t be on the Alaska highway.

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  18. A Moose! I see a Moose! How lucky you were to see one. We have been in places where we should see one but have never.

    Your adventures are fabulous and you have seen some great winding roads and trails. Great captures!

    Sorry I missed this post. Happy Tuesday to you!

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