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new window pinterest share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin like loading what it s really like to drive the alaska highway on august 25 2019 by lmtourtellot in roadtrips travel leave a comment the alaska highway has mystique in spades when we tell people we ve driven it we are always peppered with questions and rightly so the highway cuts through some of the most amazing and remote countryside muncho lake from the alcan i ve lived in juneau the capital of the great state of alaska my entire life it s a landlocked city so our only choice for getting out is a plane or a ferry if you choose ferry unless you head all the way to bellingham washington you re going to end up on the alaska highway either by taking the boat north to haines or skagway or south to prince rupert in british columbia suffice to say that i ve driven the highway many times heading north for moose hunting or visits with friends and family or south for a vacation when i was a kid we called it the al can short for alaska canada highway makes sense since a good portion runs through canada at some point folks dropped the canada part and just call it the alaska highway well folks except me because i can t train my brain to think of it that way it was built during world war ii to connect the lower 48 states to alaska and keep supply lines open for the alaska airfields you can read a bit about the history here the highway starts at mile 0 in dawson creek british columbia most people assume it runs to anchorage alaska s biggest city but it actually ends at delta junction alaska south of fairbanks since delta junction is a small town with few services most people are either jumping off at tok junction to head towards valdez anchorage or the kenai peninsula or they head north to fairbanks and then loop back down to anchorage etc mile 0 post however when people talk about driving it they usually include the offshoots getting on or off the highway if you are coming from juneau you might take the klondike highway from skagway to the alcan outside of whitehorse yukon territory or you might drive the haines highway from you guessed it haines to the alcan at haines junction when heading south if you want to end up in vancouver or seattle you might take a shortcut turning off the alcan before you hit mile 0 towards prince george and down through the fraser river canyon if you take the ferry to prince rupert you ll be on highway 16 also known as highway of tears but that s another story and could miss the actual alcan entirely the road s condition is legendary people would have you believe that it s a narrow windy gravel road filled with potholes and wildlife traveling through miles and miles of such remote wilderness that you ll never see a soul and back in the day it fit the description there was a time when we didn t drive it without extra supplies a couple spare tires fan belts headlights full gas cans and tools today it seems luxurious compared to those trips though you ll still find sections that fit the description there are always sections of gravel and mud where they are doing construction usually in 20 mile swaths hit one of these when it s dry and the dust is blinding drive thru during a rain and the mud is slippery and will cake your car until you can t tell what color it is there are potholes and frost heaves and just to keep it interesting some are marked some aren t and some are marked but have been fixed bottom line if you see a sign that says bump or dip or spot an orange flag alongside of the road pay attention and slow down another thing to pay attention to is the shoulders there usually isn t much of one and what s there is soft gravel stray off the pavement and you could be sucked in especially if you re towing a trailer there are sections of the highway where you drive thru a town pretty frequently but the farther north you go the fewer and farther between those outposts of civilization become you ll see the occasional roadhouse pull off or cabin but that s about it if you travel in the summer you ll see lots of traffic including cars rvs and big trucks outside of summer the traffic thins and by the time you get to winter those remote stretches are practically vacant the big semis and the oil trucks those are always there and you need to be on your toes if you are rolling slower than they are they will pass you at top speed i recommend pulling over if you can because there are stretches that are narrow and big trucks throw rocks and if they are coming towards you they tend to ride the center lane or use your lane on a corner these guys also throw rocks at you ask us we know and then there s the weather summer can be anything from sunny and hot to rainy downpours accompanied by mosquitoes flies and other biting insects winter might have wet snow compacting to ice dry snow compacting to ice wind driven snow creating drifts across the lanes blinding blizzards or bare dry pavement it can be so cold you have to keep your car running or plugged in when you stop the upside of winter is the snow tends to fill in the dips bumps and potholes personally i m a fan of fall when the colors are changing there was a recent time when we had driven the highway so much that we said we were done we left our truck in seattle and flew down fast forward two years and we were happy to be back on the highway besides the peace and quiet the beautiful scenery and the way nature makes you feel small there s the wildlife moose caribou bison wolves coyotes sheep bears gophers and birds of all kinds you ll want to be careful out there especially in the early morning and evening hours when animals move more bison stand in the road moose love to dart out in front of you and bears amble across your path look for some future posts with some highlights and lowlights of our various alcan trips in the meantime you can check out an older post like this one with some pictures of our first post retirement drive south or this one about an adventure on the klondike highway right off the alcan on the way to skagway share this email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin like loading why do we keep returning to la push on july 28 2019 july 29 2019 by lmtourtellot in roadtrips travel uncategorized washington leave a comment some years ago back when i had an actual career an employee shared his vacation plans telling me about this wonderful place on the washington coast where he would rent a cabin on the beach and spend the week relaxing off grid i tucked that nugget of information away for a later day a week off sounded like a luxury at that point in my career and being off grid was a no go fast forward several years to post retirement days a conversation with my father in law found him telling us about a place he thought we d love where we could rent a cabin on the beach turns out they were the same exact place the quileute oceanside resort in la push washington anyone who knows us knows we love a beach and if it has a cabin for rent so much the better this seemed like fate so off we went la push is on the northern coast of washington state outside of the little town of forks of the twilight novel fame we were up on whidbey island so we took the keystone ferry from coupeville over to port townsend enjoying our traditional cup of ivars clam chowder on board we ve been to port townsend many times and it is worth a visit in itself but this time we breezed right through we drove around through sequim and port angeles and along lake crescent do not let the mileage fool you as alaskans we tend to underestimate how long it will take us to get somewhere by simply looking at the mileage most highways in interior alaska and western canada are wide open with just wildlife potholes construction and the occasional snowstorm to slow things up down south as alaskans refer to anything south of ketchikan i ve learned to check google maps or waze to find the actual estimate and that s a good idea here there is much of the road that is two narrow lanes with no passing particularly along lake crescent and you re sharing it with logging trucks and the occasional rv we made a stop in forks to pick up take out for dinner having been warned by dad that there s just one restaurant but knowing the cabin had a kitchen then we were off if you ve ventured into forks before heading to the coast you actually retrace your route back towards port angeles and turn off on the la push road some ways down the road we passed a sign that marks the treaty line and states no vampires are allowed past that point a reference to the twilight novels but apparently the vampire threat was low when we were there whew the signs are right by three rivers resort and we made a note to come back for the quil burger we d been told was not to be missed further down the road we are first driving thru the olympic national park and then on the quileute reservation passing a residential area and parking areas to access various beaches at the end of the road is the oceanside the little town of la push with a marina and a coast guard rescue station this is the only restaurant it was the original coast guard station before they moved up the road they have a limited but reasonable menu of the things you d expect eggs and such for breakfast sandwiches and burgers for lunch and steaks for dinner the oceanside is run by the quileute tribe and sits right on first beach there are luxury cabins rustic cabins a frame camping cabins a two story motel and an rv camping area all stretched along the beach we selected a rustic cabin two bedrooms and a bath downstairs and a open kitchen living dining area upstairs with wood stove and a deck complete with log chairs for watching the beach and sunsets we settled in and went directly out on the beach when i say the resort sits on the beach i m not kidding you walk thru some grass and huge driftwood logs and you re on the beach most of the beach is gravel with some mud and sand when the tide is out it s open to the ocean so the waves roll in and crash on the beach and against the rocks to the south there s plenty of room to walk along and apparently if you know what you re looking for you can find some agates or so i m told returning to our cabin we settled in to watch the sunset over the ocean and have a glass of wine we d picked up at olympic cellars outside of sequim trust me that this is a must stop if you are a wine lover the best treat was watching the coast guard boat make repeated training runs in and out of the mouth of the river a feat i don t wish to ever take on a special treat for my ex coast guard hubby sorry about the pic quality it was a bit dark by that time after sunset and dinner we lit a fire and spent the rest of the evening reading there is no wifi except in the main lobby building no tv and no phone just a lovely off grid peace however it wasn t long before we were heading to bed where we fell asleep to the sound of the crashing waves the next day we decided to head to rialto beach you can see rialto from la push but to drive there you must head back towards forks turning on mora road at three rivers resort and driving through woods part of the olympic national park and past the mora campground before finally arriving at a large parking lot to the right is the park s paved lot with a restroom at the end to the left is a gravel parking area that is on quileute property both are separated from the water by huge amounts of driftwood logs there was a picnic area but it s been inundated with gravel from the big storms in recent years there were tables literally up to their tops in gravel and sand though in the last year or so some of that has gotten cleared out most of the trees along the beach are dead beaten into submission by the waves and those are waves you must watch they might seem like they are a long ways out but they can run up the beach before you can turn tail and i ve gotten the wet feet to prove it the beach is made up of incredibly smooth flat rocks that just beg to be rubbed between finger and thumb and stacked in formation i d love to have a truckload of them to surround my backyard fire pit after a long walk in the woods and on the beach we head back stopping for that quil burger big enough for the two of us to share with fries and a milkshake to tide us over on the next part of our drive and yes it was worth the hype be sure you stop here but wait there s more since we just had one overnight on that trip we decided we needed to return there are more beaches after all on our next trip we planned for two nights we made our stop in forks this time at home slice pizza for a take and bake pizza these guys are great they don t do a thin crust which is what we prefer but offered to roll a medium out to a large which was on special that day for 12 to make us a thin crust fifteen minutes later we were rolling out of there with a pizza balanced on the ice chest in the back when we got to the oceanside they were pretty booked and told us for the same price we could get the luxury cabin rather than the rustic don t have to twist my arm it was rainy and the parking area was very muddy but we managed to get our stuff out of the truck without getting too dirty the cabin was awesome a nice living room and dining area with big windows facing the beach a full kitchen large bedroom open to the rest of the unit and the best part a soaking tub in a windowed alcove with a gas fireplace at the end shared with the living and sleeping areas i immediately planned for a long hot bath but to make sure it was worth it i decided that even though it was rainy and stormy i would walk first beach hubby braved it with me and it was a short walk but the foam from the waves was incredible and by the time we got back the spray from the now high tide waves was hitting the windows of our cabin after a 12 pizza served with a 40 bottle of red wine because we are classy like that i soaked in the tub until my birthday suit needed a good pressing then we fell asleep to the sound of the rain the waves and above it all the whistle buoy just off shore since it was so wet the next day we decided not to walk through the rainforest to second or third beach but rather headed out to rialto again to play chicken with the waves we ve been back one more time since then this time staying in a motel room as that was all that was available they are well appointed rooms with kitchens and a sitting area and each one has a small balcony i would stay in one again but the cabins do offer more privacy but they do share the same sunset this time we had a little company during our rialto walk and ...