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.