Alaska Highway: Dawson Creek to Muncho Lake

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Dawson Creek

   In the spring of 1942, soon after Pearl Harbor, the United States Army decided it needed a land route to Alaska, and a railhead in the northern Peace River country of British Columbia became Mile 0. Dawson Creek, a small farming town of grain elevators and a few thousand people, suddenly filled with soldiers, engineers and trucks. About eleven thousand American troops, plus thousands of civilian workers, pushed a pioneer road north through bog, forest and mountains and finished it in around eight months, a feat that still seems unlikely. A post in the middle of town marks the beginning, and everyone takes the photo.

   Read the complete Dawson Creek write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dawson Creek is where the day begins. Next is Fort Nelson.

2. 2. Fort Nelson

   Fort Nelson is a northern town at the heart of the boreal forest, sitting at Mile 300 of the Alaska Highway, nearly 450 kilometres from the start of the highway at Dawson Creek. It lies on the Fort Nelson River, in a broad flat valley, with the first ranges of the Northern Rockies visible on the western horizon, and it marks the point where the road leaves the plains and begins to climb into mountains. For many riders, it is the first proper stop on the way north, and it feels like the edge of somewhere.

   Read the complete Fort Nelson write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fort Nelson comes up about 455 km into the recorded legs. Next is Muncho Lake.

3. 3. Muncho Lake

   Muncho Lake is one of those places that stops conversation. Set in a deep valley of the Northern Rockies in northern British Columbia, the lake is about twelve kilometres long and a startling jade-green, a colour that comes from copper oxide minerals washing in from the surrounding rocks. The Alaska Highway runs along its eastern shore, squeezed between water and steep rock walls, and in some places the road hangs just above the lake with the cliff right at your elbow.

   Read the complete Muncho Lake write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 695 km.