We are on the Highway

After an evening of thunder showers we awoke to cloudy skies. After breakfast we packed up and headed north for our first experience of the Alaska Highway. On my morning walk I spoke with the wagon master for Fantasy Tours, Chuck Johnson, who was taking a group of eight motorhomes on a six week tour of Alaska and he gave me some good information for our own adventure.

Our first and most exciting stop of the day was a visit to the Kiskatinaw River Bridge, the only original bridge left from the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942. It is a wooden structure with a 9 degree bend in it and while it is no longer a part of the current Alaska Highway it is still in pretty good shape. We parked the motorhome on the main highway and took the jeep on this tour.

Bridge Sign

Kiskatinaw Bridge

Jeep on Bridge

Jack on Kiskatinaw Bridge

The section of the Alaska Highway we drove today was in great shape. We could easily maintain sixty miles an hour. There were a lot of ups and downs with some significant grades. Even a few grades of 10%. There were a lot of signs waring about moose crossings but we saw only one moose that had met his maker as the result of a confrontation with a vehicle.

The Alaska Highway Just Goes On & On

Tonight we are in Fort Nelson, a bit further than we intended driving. Unfortunately the guides do not accurately describe the campgrounds on the highway. We missed the first one because the sign was small and obscure, the second because it appeared to be defunct and finally ended up at the RV Park of the Bluebell Motel in Fort Nelson. The writer of the review of this park must have been sampling the local brew because his/her description described something other than the crowded gravel lot we are camped in.

But, we are on the highway and it is great. Tomorrow we continue our journey of discovery and know that it will be wonderful.