Sharing the road with bison in northern British Columbia, Canada
This is a newsletter from Family on Bikes. The family of four is currently cycling the Pan American Highway from Alaska to Argentina as the 11-year-old twin boys attempt to break the world record as the youngest cyclists to bike the entire Pan Am. See a slide show of cycling the Alaska Highway here.
August 3, 2008
Oh gosh – what a trip! I mean, WHAT A TRIP! This last segment of our journey from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson has been, bar none, the most incredible bike tour imaginable. 330 miles of nothing but forest, mountains, bears, bison, sheep, and caribou… Wow! Cycling the Alaska Highway has been a wonderful experience for us. We’ve seen more wildlife then we ever dreamed and have thoroughly enjoyed the area.
The Alaska Highway was built back in 1942 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At that time we had no land connection to Alaska; it was almost completely indefensible from Japanese attack. In eight frantic months, a 1,422-mile crude supply road was built connecting Dawson Creek, British Columbia with Fairbanks, Alaska. For years, the highway was little more than a dirt track cut into the mountains, but it’s been upgraded considerably since then. We’ve enjoyed a relatively smooth, paved surface the whole way, and yet we’ve still found plenty of adventure in these hills!
Along the Alaska Highway we’ve found small towns spaced every 250 miles or so. Back when they were building the highway, the Army established camps to house the workers – and those camps have now become permanent settlements. For us, those settlements represent food sources, and they are the only places we find grocery stores. As we pull out of each town, my trailer is laden with food, and I’m riding slow and heavy. By the time we arrive in the next town, however, my trailer is next to empty and I’m flying over the road!
Although I can whole-heartedly recommend you travel the entire Alaska Highway, if you can only do a small portion, the segment passing through the northern Rockies from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson is the THE segment to choose. It seemed like we encountered yet another beast or incredible view with each twist in the road for the entire 330 miles. By the time we arrived in Fort Nelson, my mind was most definitely on stimulation overload!
We saw a couple herds of wild buffalo lounging beside the highway, Stone sheep in the middle of the road, caribou grazing, deer heading for the forest, beavers swimming in lakes, and more than enough bears to last us quite a while. I have to say it’s an interesting experience being out there in the wild as just another animal in the mix.
All four of us are holding up well, although we would really like to slow down a bit. We’ve been putting in longer-than-usual days in our push to get south by winter. We’ve also been driven by the long distances on the Alaska Highway, but that issue will be resolved after one more stretch. After another 250 miles, we will be able to say we’ve cycled the entire Alaska Highway – but more importantly is the fact that towns will finally be closer together.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support! It really does help knowing we have a big community of people out there!
John, Nancy, Davy, and Daryl
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Read our other newsletters here:
Read y for takeoff: June 6, 2008
Dalton Highway in Alaska: June 28, 2008
Alaska Highway: August 3, 2008
Crossi ng into mainland USA: September 10, 2008
In Montana, Wyoming, and Utah: October 17, 2008
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico: November 19, 2008
No rthern Mexico: January 25, 2009
Yucatan Peninsula: March 14, 2009
Belize, Guatemala, & Honduras: April 15, 2009
Ni caragua & Costa Rica: June 25, 2009
Costa Rica & Panama: July 21, 2009
Made it to South America: August 16, 2009
In the Colombian Andes: September 18, 2009
At the Equator: December 20, 2009
Southern Ecuador: February 7, 2010
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