The Alcan Highway

I recently received an email showing some wonderful pictures of a major route in Russia that still has a gravel surface that becomes impassable at times. It's a major road from Moscow to Yakutsk City, named “Lena”, nowadays, and it remains unpaved. While the equipment is newer (and some of it actually looks older than what we drove back in the mid-70's), the road is reminiscent of what we encountered on my first trip on the Alcan Highway. On our way from Massachusetts to Alaska we crossed Canada through the Canadian Rockies to Prince Rupert where we picked up the Alaska Marine Highway ferry. This route avoided the Alcan Highway which was 1,000 miles of dirt road running from Ft. St. John in Canada to Delta Junction in Alaska. When we arrived in Prince Rupert, we had to wait for three days because of all the extra traffic diverted to that route when the Alcan Highway was closed because of heavy rain and flooding. Perhaps it looked like this picture (note the trucks in the distance), but they wouldn't allow traffic on the Alcan until it was cleaned up a bit. Speaking of cleaned up, this is what our truck looked like before we left Ware. This picture gives a good view of the half doors we installed that could be lowered to provide ramps for the horses and oxen.

You also see why truckers called us the "plain white wrapper." The truck was an International Harvester 4030 cab-over sleeper with a Super 250 Cummins diesel feeding the power through a Roadmaster 10-speed transmission. What it didn't have is a Jake Brake. The Jake Brake is a device that can close the valves on the engine creating extra braking power when turned on. You may recognize the loud noise you sometimes hear from a heavily loaded dump truck as it slows down. That would have been a good feature to have when going through the mountains because it saves your brakes and minimizes the chances of a total failure. Without that important feature, we were resigned to go down the mountains in the same gear we used going up. That was frequently very slow, using 3rd, 4th or 5th gear. This approach will teach you patience but it's relatively safe.

After unloading the truck in Hoonah, we took the ferry back to Juneau and then caught one of the larger ferries to Haines. If you are driving thousands of miles in difficult conditions, riding the ferries is like being in heaven. No bouncy ride. No pressure. No worrying about sleep. You just ride up in the front passenger area as the miles steadily slide behind you, enjoying the ever changing scenery. One of the common treats is the opportunity see humpback whales cruising the area. They make the trip up from Hawaii each summer to take advantage of the wonderful excess of feed found throughout the southeast Alaska waters. At first I was frustrated in my attempts to see the whales as someone would shout, "look! There's a whale!" and point off into the distance. I would pivot around as quickly as I could and see absolutely nothing that looked like a whale to me. I soon learned that they were seeing the whale spouts in the distance and by the time I looked the spout had settled back down to the surface. This picture shows a closer look at some whales which is obvious even to a newcomer to the seas.

The trip from Juneau to Haines is a relatively simple cruise north along the Lynn Canal. This lighthouse is one of the enchanting sights along the way. As you venture father north, the mountains continue to rise higher, from breathtaking to more breathtaking. When you get tired of saying "wow," you can walk back to the cafeteria and freshen up with a cup of coffee, or eat a full meal. If you brought a change of clothes, you can slip back into the rest rooms and enjoy a steaming hot shower. After that, feel free to stretch out on the floor for a nap, or if the weather is good, you can doze on the sun deck under the electric heaters, or even spread out on one of the life preserver boxes for a bit. Naturally, we were well-rested and well-fed as we slowly pulled the tractor trailer rig off the ferry in Haines.

Haines is a friendly little fishing port, with scenic docks and the weathered look of a frontier town. Folks are friendly but we had places to go and were eager to see what it was like to drive through the wilds of Canada. With the animals safely delivered to Hoonah, Bud had flown back to Vermont, leaving Bill and I to handle the return drive to Massachusetts. There is only one way out of Haines--the Haines Highway that heads straight north toward Canada . The first part of the drive follows the Chilkat River, so the road is relatively flat as it twists its way along. In the winter, you go along a stretch where the river does not freeze over. The result is a mile and a half stretch with 3-5,000 bald eagles gathering for the excellent fishing opportunities. It's not surprising to see 20-30 of them perched in a single tree. Further north you pass the road to Klukwan, a native village. Another few miles you see the road to the left that leads to another farming community. The valley continues to grow narrower and the view of the mountains is that much more intimate, giving you a stiff neck when you peer up at the peaks.

Soon we drove slowly past the U.S. Customs checkpoint and eased on up to the Canadian Customs. This time the the visit was much simpler as we no longer had any animals, and in fact, the truck was empty. After a short visit the agents waved us on through and we quickly headed up the side of the mountain toward the Haines Pass. We were thankful it wasn't winter, as the road would certainly be a challenge with a large truck on snow and ice on top of the twisting roads up in the clouds. As usual, the scenery was stunning. Once we made it into the Haines Pass we were driving on gravel roads as we would be until we reached the final stretch of the Alcan in the Ft. St. John area. The gravel roads aren't bad except for when it's dry and dusty and when it's wet and muddy. We were soon to understand the wet and muddy condition. At Haines Junction we turned right onto the Alcan and headed east. The only larger town on this stretch is Whitehorse Junction, which is famous as a key spot in the Alaskan Gold Rush. Once we passed this oasis of civilization, we were headed into the enormous unpopulated expanse of the Yukon Territory. The mountains are impressive, the roads unforgiving, with drop-offs on the side with comforting names such as "Deadman's Gulch." The next morning I was driving through a deserted stretch that had just been repaired from the earlier flooding. It was foggy and raining and looked to be totally deserted. The road split and I instinctively took the fork to the right. Immediately I sensed that might not have been the right decision as the trailer and tractor settled down in the wet gravel and mud. In the process, the petcock on the bottom of the main air tank was snapped off, eliminating our air brakes. As a safety measure, whenever the air pressure drops below 60 lbs., the maxi brakes would lock up on the drive wheels. So there we were, in the middle of nowhere, no air pressure, brakes locked up firmly and and the truck sitting on its belly in the mud. What could we do? My first step was to put on my rain gear and dig my way under the truck to the air tank where I confirmed that the petcock was missing. Digging through our tool box I found a 1/2" bolt that I was able to thread into the tank, sealing off most of the leak. As a result we would gently hiss the rest of the trip, but at least the brakes were pretty normal. Next, I walked down the road a short ways and found a road worker with a bulldozer that had been used in the recent road repairs. After a short talk, he followed me back to the truck and with his help, pulled us out. While I don't have a picture, this one from Russia is reminiscent of how we got rescued. In addition to the subtle hiss from the air tank, we also picked up a vibration in the front end. They were gentle reminders that God had bailed us out in a time of dire need.

We continued on our way along the Alcan, enjoying the sections where the weather was neither wet nor very dry. Make time on the level stretches, creep up the mountains, creep down the mountains. Notice all of the vehicles passing by in the other direction with shattered windshields and other damage. Apparently we weren't doing too bad. On some of the tighter turns I found that the trailer would slide neatly through the corner at about 45 miles per hour, which was pretty exciting. As we kept motoring along, famous names continued to glide past the window: Swift River, Watson Lake, then into British Columbia's Coal River, Summit Lake Pass, Ft. Nelson. The expanse of unoccupied land is mind boggling. Not only are the "towns" few and far between, the ones you find are not that big either. Most consist of a restaurant of some sort, a gas station, and perhaps a motel or lodge. Nothing was close to our modern standards of style, and everything was very expensive. This long stretch of road is no place to have a mechanical problem, and towing a truck 50-100 miles to the nearest service area would be frightfully expensive. Nowadays, the entire Alcan Highway is paved, but it's still an expensive area to travel through. More miles and more names pass by -- Pink Mountain, then Wonowon (mile 101 from the end). While we still have a long way to go to reach home, we were feeling pretty good to be that close to civilization. It got better as we reached pavement at about mile 60. We had successfully challenged one of the great roads in North America and survived. While Bill and I were fine, the truck had picked up some visible clues that we had been challenged. Our first stop in Ft. St. John was for fuel, and the second was a truck wash to clean it up a bit.

Two first-timers managed to safely cross through a vast wilderness with a trailer truck and lived to tell about it. Maybe next time we should make it more challenging. Perhaps I could teach two other men to drive a trailer truck, get their licenses, and then retake this challenge in the winter with snow storms and temperatures dropping to 40 below zero. We'd have to do a little more work to get there, but it would be an interesting challenge!