Sign Post Forest

A trip along the Alaska Highway is incomplete without a stop at the Sign Post Forest. The stop at the Sign Post Forest isn’t going to change your life unfortunately but it’s worth it to say “I’ve been there!”

It is a very unique and cool place. There are so many old license plates and signs. I found it very interesting to simply walk around and just read as many plates and signs as you could. You’ll surely find some very interesting ones – there are tens of thousands. To be more specific, there were 55,000 reported at the end of 2004, so I am sure that amount has surely since increased.

To create somewhat of a small game, I am going to offer a small gift. I’ve donated a plate of mine to the Sign Post Forest – DYL 922 (as shown in the photo). If you go to the Sign Post Forest and find my plate, I will give you a TrekStorm t-shirt. Simply go there, find the plate, take a photo of you with the plate, and send it to me! Good luck!

Here some information provided by the entrance sign:

In 1942, during construction of the Alaska Highway, the United States Army Corps of Engineers erected mileage posts at their camps that listed places, distances and directions in the Yukon, other Canadian cities, cities within the United States of America and also other parts of the world.

One of these posts was erected at the Wye, the corner of the Alaska Highway and the road to the Watson Lake Airport, where the Sign Post Forest stands today. The original post is the only mileage post of its type to survive from the Alaska Highway construction.

Carl Lindley, a homesick soldier, added his hometown sign to the army signpost and started a time-honoured tradition. People from all over the world continue to add their own hometown signs to the Sign Post Forest on a daily basis in the spring, summer and fall.

In 1992, Carl Lindley returned with his wife, Eleanor, to Watson Lake for the first time since his departure in 1943. He was overwhelmed when he saw the size of the Sign Post Forest. At a sign re-enactment ceremony, he replaced the original Danville, Illinois sign that had rotted away long before.

The Sign Post Forest has been protected and nurtured over the years by the ordinary citizens of what became Watson Lake, the Lions Club, and the Hippie Club and finally the Town of Watson Lake. The Sign Post Forest is one of the best known attractions along the 2,414-kilometer highway from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks, AK. At the end of 2004, signs in the Forest number almost 55,000.

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