North to Alaska - Part 1 Grande Prairie/Dawson Creek

A recent work trip saw me based in Grande Prairie, Alberta from which I then traveled out to various locations. While some consider these road trips an inconvenience, they present many new and interesting photographic subjects. I often travel early in the morning and late in the evening to accommodate business hours. This also means I travel during the golden hours of photography. Here are some shots of a day trip out to Fort St John British Columbia, up the first 100 or so miles of the famous Alaska Highway.

During WW2, in 1942, the Canadian and US Governments combined forces to build a roadway to link Alaska with the rest of the USA.

The Alaska Highway stretches from Dawson Creek, British Columbia (Mile "0") to Lower Post in the Yukon covering about 885 kilometres (595 mi.) It continues from Lower Post and crosses the Alaska border at "Mile 1221" (1965 kilometres). The original finishing point of the Alaska Highway is in Delta Junction, Alaska at "Mile 1422".



Dawson Creek is named after the watercourse of the same name, itself named after George Mercer Dawson who led a surveying team through the area in August 1879; a member of the team labelled the creek with Dawson's name. I believe this sculpture is depicting George Mercer Dawson. It is mounted in the traffic circle right at mile zero and points onward to the west.

My next post will include some early morning shots of fog on the river banks at Taylor BC and ... the original timber curved bridge on the old Alaska Highway.