For our adventure, we consulted the guide 'The World-Famous Alaska Highway: a guide to the Alcan & other wilderness roads of the north'. The book was formatted to start your trip in BC and drive north to Alaska. To stay on the right path, we read the book backwards. Sometimes it was confusing; other times we read about points of interest after they had passed. One thing is certain, starting our trip in the northern Yukon placed us in a lonely wilderness that was all but devoid of human activity. It was easy to feel that hardly a soul had ever dwelt there. However, if visiting Whitehorse returned us to civilization, then visiting Watson Lake reminded us that a steady stream of adventurers had traveled into the great north prior to our arrival.
During WWII, the US and Canada launched a joint venture to construct a highway that connected the lower 48 to Alaska. This is known as the Alaska Canada Military Highway, or Alcan. In 1942, a homesick soldier from Illinois, who was conscripted to help build the Alcan, nailed a sign from his hometown on a pole in Watson Lake. Almost 70 years later, approximately 70,000 signs from around the world are posted in the Watson Lake Sign Garden. It servers as an impressive reminder that you are not the first, nor by any means the last, person to trek through this part of the world.
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