Driving to Alaska

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Day 4

If you've ever thought about driving across Canada to Alaska I say go for it. But a word of caution, check with the visitors center of the town prior to taking a cutoff, especially if you have a deadline.

We had the idea that we wanted to go by Whistler to see where the Olympic ski events had taken place. This was really great as we love the winter Olympics. Unfortunately we did not check before heading out and, the road past Whistler is, as reported in the Milepost, the steepest grade in Canada. It also is very narrow and winding making for a very slow drive.

We stopped at the 100 mile house and inquired about the next cutoff as we were interested in taking the Cassiar Hwy north saving 100 miles rather than heading east to the Alcan. We were advised that the Cassiar still had 2 sections of gravel and was winding so we decided to go with the Alcan. Except for a few stretches the Alaska Hwy is a very good road.

Unfortunately not every bit of advice can be heeded however. In Chetwynd we were advised to travel over the cutoff we were interested in taking as the fuel would be cheaper in Hudson's Hope and there would be less traffic. We got to Hudson's Hope to find the most expensive fuel ever so went on to Alaska Hwy where fuel was even higher. We drove south to Fort Nelson, found our fuel and continued on our way. Well one out of two isn't bad.

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