The Spectacular Haines Highway

Recalling a zen-like drive through a mystical and beautiful landscape

- Joanne Lefferson

In July 2015, I embarked on a solo drive up the Alaska Highway from Fort St. John, B.C., to Haines Junction, Yukon, to attend a family memorial. It had been many years since I had driven the Alaska Highway, which stretches some 2,200 kilometres northwest from Dawson Creek B.C., to Delta Junction, Alaska. I remembered it as a ribbon of asphalt lined by spruce and poplar forest.

In 2014, some of the worst forest fires on record had reduced much of the dense forest to blackened stumps and spires. From the burnt earth along the side of the highway, brilliant scarlet fireweed had sprung up in a jubilant celebration of renewal and the resilience of the natural world.

While staying with family in Haines Junction, I decided to take an impromptu drive south down the Haines Highway, which links Haines Junction and Haines, Alaska. This drive turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of my trip.

The most surprising thing about most of this drive through the mountainous north was the absence of mountains. This approximately 250kilometre single-lane highway is a strangely isolated drive. There are no towns or settlements, no gas stations and very little traffic. A short distance out of Haines Junction, the mountains suddenly retreat into the distance and I found myself wondering, “Are we still in Canada, Toto?”