We spent several days in Banff, Calgary, and Jasper and then headed to Hinton, Alberta.
We drove from Hinton to Dawson Creek to start the ALCAN at mile 0.

The first day on the ALCAN was a bit uneventful overall.
Dawson Creek was pretty cool.  Lots of history about the ALCAN. For example, 10,000 workers built the Alaska Highway in 1942 in merely 8 months! We are really grateful that they did. It’s a beautiful continent we live inhabit.

There was literally nothing on the ALCAN other than a giant beaver in Beaver Lodge, BC and lots of trees for most of day. Gas stations are sparse until you get to Fort Nelson, British Columbia.
Fill up your gas tank in Dawson Creek before you head out for Fort Nelson.

Fort Nelson is pretty small with a couple hotels, campgrounds, a grocery store, and a few food stops like A&W, but they have a movie theater, which shows one movie each day at 7 p.m. We missed it, but that is ok because we found the Canadian version of America’s Funniest Videos and it was hilarious! It didn’t get dark until after 11 p.m. and even then, it was super bright outside again by 3 a.m., so we didn’t get to see the northern lights.
Most places close down early, so make sure you have food for your evening meal if you will arrive late.

Gas up in Fort Nelson before you head out to Whitehorse as it is a long way to Watson Lake.
There are a couple gas places on the way to Watson Lake.
More on all of that when we make our ALCAN post about Day 2.