We’ve never seen so many wild critters in their natural habitat! No fences, no national park crowds, just furry and feathered non-human animals on the Alaska Highway doing their thing in the warm summer air. These wood bison are just one example.

Stats for All the Animals on the Alaska Highway

When we did our Alaska Highway trip research there was one thing Alcan Highway veterans kept telling us: “We saw more animals in British Columbia and the Yukon than in Alaska itself!” So far this has held up in our experience.

Between the British Columbia border and Beaver Creek in the Yukon, here’s the count of what we’ve seen:

17 Brown or Black Bears
3 Grizzly Bears

1 Wolf
4 Swans
1 Caribou
6 Bald Eagles

1 Moose
24+ Bison
14 Dall or Little Horn Sheep

1 Pine Marten
11 Beavers
and counting!

Whether we’re on the road or just hanging out at camp, I’ve jotted down the mammals we’ve seen. The only ones I’m not tracking are ordinary rodents and rabbits. But the others, well they’ve taken our breath away. There’s nothing like watching these big and little critters doing their thing without a care in the world.

My friend TC tells me that seeing a wild wolf is pretty rare. They’re shy because humans did such a bang-up job killing them off. “It’s Northern Magic!” when you see one, she says. I hope that’s a sign of good things to come. 

As a bonus, tourists have been pretty civilized around the animals. They’ll stop their car on the side of the road and admire from a distance, but that’s about it. So far we haven’t seen any idiot tourists taking selfies with bison or bears. We’re hoping it stays that way. Any bets?