Milepost 2040   Cache Creek to Dawson Creek, British Columbia

Today we made it to the official start of the Alaska Highway, Mile Zero, at Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada.  That is after driving 2,000 miles northward from where we spent the winter and spring near Los Angeles, California.  We’ve been on the road for eleven days, covering 1,300 miles up the west coast and another 700 after crossing the border into Canada.

We celebrated our arrival at the beginning by treating ourselves to a pizza in downtown Dawson Creek.  Then we hit the Safeway market to stock the fridge and cupboards for the big stretch across the mountains and tundra to Alaska.  It will take another week or more, and the outposts and fuel stops are few and far between.

The scenery has been beautiful, an ever-changing panorama from narrow rocky river canyons to hilly forested highlands to snow-capped mountain ranges.  We have churned our way up steep climbs, over passes, and then descended carefully down the other side.  We have passed through tunnels and crossed countless high bridges, marveling at the engineering feats pulled off by the early trail blazers.

Tomorrow we are hoping to put a bit more west in our northwest; it’s been heavy on the north so far.  In fact, the compass on the dash seemed confused today as we managed a twisting stretch around a mountain range and drove east instead of west; it was dizzying.

Tomorrows’ route is more straightforward, so we’re hoping to cover a lot of ground.  Denali is waiting for us.