The Underappreciated Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory

On Saturday, June 4, 2016, we drove from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Beaver Creek, also in Yukon Territory.  Beaver Creek is most well known for being that last community before the Yukon-Alaska border.  It has few services, and, hence, is considered nowheresville.  We assumed this was the case, but chose to stay in Beaver Creek because it was halfway between Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Alaska.  As a stop of convenience, it didn't need to be much other than a place with a decent campground.

We actually enjoyed our stop, as well as the drive from Whitehorse.  Here are a few highlights and explanations.

One of the interesting highlights of the drive to Beaver Creek was the Historic Canyon Creek Bridge, located between Whitehorse and Haines Junction, and our first rest stop in the late morning:

This was the original bridge built by Sam McGee (remember him from the MacBride Museum in Whitehorse and Robert Service's poem?) and his partner in 1903 as part of a wagon road to supply gold fields west of Whitehorse.

One would think that things have progressed mightily since the gold rush days, and that the roads and bridges are much more modern.  Well, that may be true for the most part.  However, there were a number of stretches of the Alaskan Highway from Whitehorse to Beaver Creek that were little better than a wgon road.   Luckily, we had pilot cars to help us navigate the potholes, frost heaves and construction constrictions:

All was not driving drudgery, however, because we spotted some amazing wildlife on this remote stretch of the highway.  Here is a moose we caught munching tubers in a pond by the roadside --

-- and a mama grizzly and her cub dining on delectable dandelion roots further on down the road:

After seven long hours of driving (at 286 miles, that's about an average of 41 miles an hour), we were happy to see the sign for Beaver Creek:

Beaver Creek truly is the westernmost community in Canada, and its residents savor that status.  The few service providers advertise their establishments along the road into town:

We enjoyed breakfast at Buckshot Betty's, which was right next door to our campground - Beaver Creek RV Park.  Despite the reputation of many Alaskan Highway campgrounds for being merely functional gravel parking lots, we found Beaver Creek RV Park to be attractive, with trees and greenery between the sites.

We were within walking distance of everything in the community.  While not well known, Beaver Creek is also home to the White River First Nation, which advertises its community (off the highway) by an attractive sign on the highway:

Beaver Creek also boasts a quirky Catholic church, Our Lady of Grace Mission, built around a quonset hut left over from the days of Alaskan Highway construction:

The community has a claim to history as the site of the Beaver Creek Camp.  Alaska Highway construction crews working from opposite directions connected the highway at Beaver Creek in October 1942, thus making it possible for the first time for vehicles to travel the entire length of the highway.

We planned a day off in Beaver Creek between our epic, 7-hour drives from Whitehorse to this rest stop and then from here to Fairbanks.  After our wonderful breakfast at Buckshot Betty's, we took a several mile hike east to Beaver Creek itself, where we discovered the remains of the Alaskan Highway construction camp:

Beaver Creek itself is picturesqure, winding through spruce and aspen forests and hedged by gravelly sandbars, with the fabled Kluane Mountain Range in the background:

We enjoyed this low-key stay, and it gave us a chance to recharge our batteries before tackling the tourist-intense environment of Fairbanks.  Stay tuned for some of those adventures!