Sign Post Forest

Carl Lindley, a soldier from Danville, Illinois working on the Alaska Highway in 1942, was told to repaint a directional signpost while recovering from an injury and added a board pointing to his home town with the mileage. Others copied him and the habit never stopped: there are now well over one hundred thousand signs on posts covering a large lot, brought or made by travellers from everywhere, including street signs, licence plates and hand-painted boards. The site adds posts each year as the existing ones fill. Watson Lake supplies blanks and paint for anyone who arrives without a sign, so almost nobody leaves without adding one.

What you actually see

• The sign forest - over one hundred thousand signs on ranked posts.
• The 1942 original - the Danville, Illinois board that started it.
• The variety - street signs, plates and hand-painted boards from worldwide.
• The blanks and paint - materials supplied so visitors can add their own.

When to go

May to September, the Alaska Highway travel season; the site is outdoors and accessible year-round but winter at Watson Lake is severe. It takes about half an hour.

Honest expectations

It is a roadside stop and the appeal is the accumulation rather than any individual sign. Finding a specific home town among a hundred thousand is essentially impossible. Facilities are limited.

Nearby

The Alaska Highway runs through; Whitehorse lies northwest.