The MilePost: Our Guide North

If you have never driven to Alaska, there is one book every veteran of the road will tell you to get: The MilePost.

First published in 1949, just a year after the Alaska Highway opened to tourists, it began as a slim 72-page guide to a rough new road where gas stations and campgrounds were few and far between. It has been guiding travelers north longer than Alaska has been a state, and it is still going, now in its eighth decade and updated every single year. The current edition runs more than 660 pages and covers over 15,000 miles of road across Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Alberta.

What makes it special is the mile-by-mile log. As you drive, the book tells you what is coming at each marker: the next fuel stop, a good place to camp, a viewpoint worth pulling over for, a rough patch to slow down for, a bit of history about the country you are passing through. Field editors actually drive the routes each year to update the logs, which matters in a part of the world where services come and go.

The MilePost rode in our glove compartment for the whole trip. Janice did most of the driving, which left John as navigator, reading ahead to know what was coming: the next fuel stop, the next campgr