When last summer rolled around and my finances were low, I posed the idea of driving to Alaska to Bryan, the boy I’d been dating all of a month.  We could take my car – a 1998 Honda Accord with 245,000 miles on it named Betsy – and we would camp; and he said yes.

I’m not “one of those people” who “plans” their trips. I didn’t realize that Oakland to Anchorage is 3000+ miles, 55 hours driving, or 8 hours a day on the Road for 6 days… one way.  All I cared about was the photography, the music, the adventure, and that it stays light until midnight.  I called my sister-in-law in Anchorage the day I left telling her we’d be there “soon.” The “plan” was to stay with friends and family as much as possible and camp.  We had no idea where (or how), but it sounded good?

After about $100 in purchased supplies, borrowed supplies, a quick tire rotation and an “ok” from my favorite mechanic; I left Oakland and took the West Coast’s famous Interstate 5 to Portland.  This Highway stretches from Mexico to Vancouver, and everyone who lives on this side of the country has their own relationship with it. The Portland days were fuelled by too many cocktails!

Dude, where’s my road guide?

My “not-quite-boyfriend” Bryan joined me in Seattle. After a few days in Seattle watching the Mariners and drinking lots of the locally famous Rachel’s ginger beer, we spent some time in Vancouver and began the unknown part of our journey when we realized we’d forgotten our Milepost road guide, which gave us all the information we needed for the trip.  Oops.

Losing that guide was the best thing that could’ve happened.  It forced us to stop at Visitor Centers and I cannot stress enough how amazing this was.  Not only were the maps free, the information up to date, the people nice than ever, the centers themselves were often museums and a window into the way Canada values its land, government employees and culture.

Camping to the soundtrack of a glacier-fed river

Our first stop was outside of Whistler, after driving through a mountain highway with sweeping views of the Pacific and neighboring islands for about three hours.  It was “wildfire season” and the smoke was extremely dense, but none of the locals seemed too concerned.

The friendly ladies at the Visitor Center in Whistler directed us to our first campsite at Nairn Falls, where the smoke was less heavy and the campsite lovely. We spent that first night cooking a gourmet meal that we later shared with our super friendly 19-year-old Park Ranger, having a great time setting up camp; while a transparent green river of glacier water raged just below our campsite.  We’d hit the jackpot of travel and it was only the first night.

Our next leg went though the awesomely-named town of 100 Mile House (not to be confused with 105 Mile House, 108 Mile Ranch, or 150 Mile House) and landed in Williams Lake – an industrial town with a great sports bar.  We had fun telling a local man about our trip who lived in the nearby awesomely-named town of Likely.

Local Celebrities

From Williams Lake we headed north through Prince George, a major city that helped us stock up on supplies, stayed in Smithers (for our Simpsons fan hearts) in a cute motel for about $60; and woke up the next day to drive to the neighboring New Hazelton with a small farmers market at the Visitor’s Center.  Complete with fresh produce and local salsa, Bryan and I were instant celebrities when the merchants heard about how far we’d travelled, where we were going and perhaps mostly what was getting us there (Betsy was flattered)!  Not to brag, but we got a free head of lettuce for our celebrity appeal.

This highway stretch was especially lovely with dark blue skies and dense puffy white clouds against a mountainous backdrop, a little rain, and a perfect double rainbow over a river. We landed at our most beautiful campsite at Kinaskan Lake, where the lake lapped at our tent all night, complete with the most epic sunset/sunrise (they are the same for about an hour from 2am-4am) of the trip.  Bryan’s lucky trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night scored the best fire in the sky photos with an unreal reflection.

Licence to Chill

We had an adventure the next day at the Visitor Center in Watson Lake, along the border of British Columbia and Yukon Territory to Liard Hot Springs.  They have an awesome art installation with license plates of all the travellers who have passed through.

Our superhelpful guide , literally named Button, “helped” us take our very leaky air mattress to a tire shop next door (spoiler: you can’t fix a leaky mattress with tire patch techniques). That didn’t bring us to the Hot Springs until pretty late, and we had to set up our tent in the rain, but since we were practised we got it all together in less than 10 minutes!

Worth it, because Liard Hot Springs is absolutely lovely, open 24 hours, and the epitome of camping luxury in the middle of a forest.  A raging river at about 90 degrees (110 in the hotter parts!) full of detoxifying minerals was just what our road tripping bodies needed.  It was crowded during the day but we had it to ourselves after 10pm.  The campsite, just across the street, books up everyday and is just as lovely as all of the other national campgrounds in Canada.

After a day’s rest we were back on the road, and while our fun hippie campground in the touristy town of White Horse was out of the ordinary, the major highlight before crossing over to Alaska was Destruction Bay.  It’s impossible to describe the teal color of the picturesque body of water matched with the drastic mountains up against it.  We were breathless trying to get photos to adequately capture it.

Crossing over to Alaska

That day we crossed into Alaska and cracked the last beer we’d been rationing since we left the States to celebrate. We saw the border divided for miles by shrubs and couldn’t help but feel real pride for Betsy making it this far (about 2500 miles!).  We camped in the nearby Tok at an American campground but it wasn’t very pretty or particularly easy to navigate.

The next day we made our way to Anchorage, where the landscape was just as dramatic as Canada and an unintended detour led us alongside the famed Mt Denali that was hidden behind lots of rain clouds.  We arrived at my sister-in-law’s around 5pm, and I was officially the first family member ever to “drop by.”

Spending time in Alaska was lovely even though there was culture shock from the mostly desolate Canada.  Anchorage in particular is just like any other American city with bars and restaurants and a diverse population; but as my brother-in-law pointed out, is unique because no one really has roots there.  It’s only been around since the 1950s, so everyone is extremely welcoming.

Shortcut with a view 

After about a week in Alaska we made our way back, and hopped on a BC Ferry.  For about $600 we could take our car and ourselves to cut about two days of driving out. We got on at the port city of Prince Rupert, and after about 15 hours of lounging and whale watching the Orcas off the side of the ship, got off on the beautiful Vancouver Island.

It was one of our only indulgences, and well worth it!  From there, it was about a day’s coastal drive to the lovely city of Victoria; and after a fun night on the town, we hopped on another ferry with Betsy and were stateside again.

Some people thought we were crazy but we truly enjoyed every minute!  We spent about 15 days driving 6-8 hours (50ish mph) a day on the western Cassiar Highway, which is said to be “less traveled” versus the eastern Alaska Highway. With no traffic and dramatically changing landscape the drive was easy, with plenty of places to eat or get gas; and while there were a few rough road patches, they never lasted more than a mile or two.

The absolutely best part was the “midnight sun”.  We could sleep until 10am, be on the road by 1pm, drive all day, and be at a new campsite with dinner going by 8 with lots of light left in the evening to enjoy.  The weather varied from about 65-80 degrees F during the day, and dipped to about 55-65 F at night.

While we were on a mission to get to our destination with a fixed amount of time to travel (about a month); there were lots of places to hike, kayak, bird watch, and indulge in outdoors activities if you can take your time.  Overall it wasn’t nearly as crazy an idea as we (and everyone around us) thought.  If you have a car and good company, you can do this trip!

Here are the biggest Dos and Don’ts for this road trip:

Do:

• Go to almost every Visitor Center!
• Stay up for the “sunset” in the middle of the night a few times
• Get a joint credit card with rewards attached for the whole trip, split the cost and enjoy the rewards!!
• Stock up on downloaded albums you love to share and talk about. Some of our favorites:
  • Amy Winehouse — Frank
  • TV on the Radio – Dear Science
  • Prince – Purple Rain
  • Big Boi — Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
  • Hiatus Kaiyote – Tawk Tomahawk
  • Bells Atlas – Bells Atlas
• Get to know podcasts! We listened and laughed for hours, check these out:
  • WTF with Marc Maron
  • Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period
  • Fresh Air
  • Sex with Emily
  • 2 Dope Queens
  • Serial
  • Kamau Right Now
  • Girlboss Radio
• Get these essential items:
  • A high quality camera! Camera phones are not going to cut it.
  • An easy set up take down tent that isn’t too big
  • An OUTDOOR air mattress
  • Incense
  • Portable Speaker for campsites and everywhere else
  • Plastic tubs for organization/separation of gear in the car
  • For women: Yoga Tank top(s) with built in bra

Don’t:

• Stock up on too much food
• Forget to download your media when you get WiFi!
• Buy beer in Canada, it’s 3x the price as in the US!
• Overplan your route! Take time, go slow, enjoy the unexpected!

To buy Morgan Shidler’s fantastic photos, log on to her website.

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