Look for summer cool on the road to Alaska

In roadside flowers - credit Lindsay Godfree

If you are willing to drive through Canada and brave the border crossing, truckers can occasionally get a run to Alaska that pays; like the time we took fire equipment to the State fire fighters in Fairbanks. It was an amazing experience, even with the uncertainty of finding fuel stops in the right places and the possibility of a flat or breakdown with no one around for hundreds of miles. I would go to Alaska every summer if I could.

Still, the road to Alaska is no freeway Sunday drive even in the summer. Most is two-lane highway surfaced with asphalt but is narrow and curvy much of the way and it lacks center lines and ample shoulders. Also, watch out for sudden loose-gravel breaks where the pavement has failed or is under repair. Pay attention to the rough road signs and slow down because they are serious dips. You will feel beat up after all the shake and rattle as you roll along.

Storm coming in Yukon - Lindsay Godfree

Sometimes the gravel gaps in the road way are marked with little, red flags; sometimes they aren’t. And that asphalt paving can ripple like a roller coaster track in places where “frost heaves” are caused by seasonal freezing and thawing of the ground. Some places are dirt and gravel at the tops of the Mountain passes where it just doesn’t make sense to pave at all.

Moose from the highway - credit Lindsay Godfree

The roads are is broken and rough in spots because part of the highway is built on permafrost (soil below the freezing point of water for two or more years) that cracks and buckles and is always in repair. You need to drive slowly and take your time. Besides you will want to look out for the wildlife just as the signs along the way will tell you. Just when you think the signs are all just for show, you will see a herd of elk, a brown bear at the waters edge, a moose feeding or a pair of young grizzly bears playing along the roadside. Those thrilling sights will keep you alert for another several hundred miles.

Driving with your headlights on at all times is the LAW in Alaska and it is easier for oncoming vehicles to see you. Night driving is fun with so much daylight in the summer months, where really IS a midnight sun and you are even more likely to see wildlife. Fairbanks enjoys almost 24 hours of daylight in late June.

Sunrise on the river - Credit Lindsay Godfree

The western access route to the Alaska Highway from Seattle is from Interstate 5 to the British Columbia border, then through the Caribou country of British Columbia to Prince George, B.C. From Prince George, the 250 mile long Hart Highway leads to Dawson Creek and milepost 0 of the Alaska Highway.

DISTANCE: Between Seattle and Fairbanks is 2,313 miles. Driving distance from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks is 1,488 miles.

DRIVING TIME: Unless you are in a hurry with a load that has to arrive on time, cross country travelers should allow at least 7 to 10 days for the trip from the Seattle area to Fairbanks. (Long-haul truck driver teams can do it in three days)

WEATHER: Summertime weather in Alaska and the Yukon can range from cool to hot. Average high temperatures in Fairbanks, for example, are about 70 degrees in June and 72 in July. But there will be summer days where the temperature passes the 90 degrees. So in the hottest part of the summer with the  Alaskan midnight sun, there may not be cool days, even in Alaska.

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