The Stunning Alaska Highway! Dawson Creek to Liard Hot Springs!

This week we start our journey on the Alaska Highway through British Columbia as we travel from Dawson Creek to Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park.

First Stop, Dawson Creek and the N.R.A. Station Museum at the Visitor Center, where we learned a lot about the AlCan highway.

The Alaska highway, also known as the AlCan Highway, was built in response to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941. In 1942, the US entered into World War II and a supply and defense route to Alaska was critical. Canada agreed to building the Alaska-Canada highway on the condition that the United States foot the bill, and that the highway be turned over to Canada after the war.

The construction of the highway was a massive undertaking. It was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers with over 10,600 soldiers and 16,000 Canadian and American civilian contractors to complete the road. The highway stretches over 1,500 miles from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska. The crews worked in extreme weather conditions, rugged terrain, swamps and lots of mosquitoes. Despite the challenges, the AlCan highway was completed in just eight months.

After the war, the road was opened to the public, and it has since become a popular tourist destination, offering stunning views of the Canadian and Alaskan remote wilderness.

We left Dawson Creek a day early due to wildfires along with unbearable smoke. We found a nice boondocking spot just outside of Fort Nelson for our 1st night on the highway. We were astonished by the state of the road as we drove down the highway the following morning. It was hard to understand all of the stories we had heard and our worries about the rough remote highway! So far, this highway has been in great shape!

We have had good roads, great views, no cell service past Fort Nelson and lots of wildlife!

Next stop, Summit Lake Campground in Stone Mountain Provincial Park with a campsite right on the lake. Stone Mountain Provincial Park encompasses much of the Northern Rocky Mountains. The park is home to alpine valleys, mountain peaks, rivers, remote lakes and many species of wildlife.

We then headed down the road to our next location, Muncho Lake Provincial Park. This stretch of the highway is breathtaking and Muncho Lake is a major highlight of the Alaska Highway. We stayed at Northern Rockies Lodge RV sites, a full service stop for Alaska Highway travelers.

Last stop, Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park, located on the Alaska Highway north of Muncho Lake.

This section of the highway had a lot of wildlife! (Caribou, Stone Sheep, Moose, Bear and Wood Bison) When we reached Liard River Hot Springs we saw the electric fence we had read about. BC Parks constructed the 8-foot electric fence around the entire campground to prevent bears and other wildlife from becoming accustomed to humans and to keep them moving through the wildlife corridor.

The park has a warm water swamp home to a wide variety of plants, mammals and birds. There were even small fish, Lake Chub, that have adapted to warm water. They have been isolated from other populations for thousands of years. Moose and bear both eat in the warm water swamps so we had to be on the look-out at all times. A rare predatory black bear attack occurred at the park in 1997, claiming two lives.

Liard River Hot Springs is the second largest natural hot spring in Canada. It is a natural river of hot water rather than a spring fed man made pool.

It is a must when driving the Alaska highway!

Next week we continue our Journey to Alaska through the Yukon Territory!

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