Our 1968 ALCAN Adventure

Ride along on Our 1968 ALCAN Adventure and experience the tough, demanding Alaska Highway.

Alaska Highway, circa 1961

by Jack and Donna Wernet

We first traveled the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway) in 1968.

And it was quite an adventure.

Both of us were 23, and I had just mustered out of the military. We just decided one day to go to Alaska.

We had no jobs lined up, and needless to say, our parents were not pleased. My dad helped me revive an old utility trailer, and we filled it with the few belongings we had.

Our drive took us north out of Denver to Casper, Wyoming; Billings and then Great Falls Montana, Calgary and then on to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

After all that, we finally made it to Dawson Creek, where the ALCAN officially began.

Our recollection is that there was a section of about 1300 miles of dirt and gravel, but we wouldn't swear to the mileage.

Somewhere southeast of Fort Nelson, a wheel bearing started going out on the trailer. We made it to Fort Nelson and found an old gas station that was still selling gas. An old guy at the station said we could look around at some of his used wheel bearings and take what we wanted.

I found one, packed it in grease, and headed out on the road again.

Then somewhere between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse, the bearing started making a lot of noise again. I pulled over onto the side of the road, jacked up the vehicle, and proceeded to repack it again.

My wife was outside the car when she suddenly took in a sharp breath and hollered, “Jack, there is a bear coming out of the woods!” I told her to keep an eye on it while I finished up. The bear never came any closer.

By the time we got to Whitehorse, the bearing was shot, and no one had a replacement. So we made a deal with a guy who said he would store our trailer, and later on we could make arrangements to have it hauled into Anchorage.

Before leaving Denver, I had put plastic headlight lens protectors on our headlights. By the time we reached Whitehorse, both protectors were broken, and our windshield had several cracks.

In some places I swore we were driving on an old creek bed. The road was really bad. We still had about 700 miles to go.

It was probably one of the most beautiful drives we have ever taken. Amazing scenery.

We finally reached the Alaskan border, where the road was paved. My wife took a picture of me getting down and kissing the pavement. We still have that picture somewhere.

The trip over the ALCAN was a rough one. The dashboard of the car had come loose. At times, I thought it might fall into our laps.

We soldiered on toward Tok Junction and started heading south to Gulcana and the Eureka Roadhouse, which a friend of mine ended up buying quite a few years later.

Finally, we arrived at our destination in Anchorage. As we drove into the city, we both looked at each other and said, “What did we get ourselves into?”

Anchorage was quite a change from Denver.

In 1968, there were still plenty of dirt roads, and they had just finished the Sears Mall on Northern Lights.

We stayed in a hotel on the Seward Highway and had just enough money to pay for 2 more nights when I got a job at a bowling alley. That job barely paid enough to cover our rent.

A friend of my wife’s who had lived in Anchorage was a good friend of the owner of Lynden Transport. So we made a deal to have him pick up our trailer when he had room on one of his trailers. I think it took about a month, but he didn’t charge us.

So many great memories.

As we recall, in 1968, the population of Anchorage, including Eagle River, was around 50,000.

My wife and I lived in Anchorage for 35 years.

When we left in 2003, the population was around 275,000. 

The magic of the old frontier was gone, but we won’t ever forget the time we spent there.

BONUS

Join for FREE and get Alaska Stories from two Alaskans