Alaska Via Canada

[Pugtracker]

Ok Planning on doing an Alaska trip via the Highway.
Looking for all advice.
Here are some topics I would like to hear about.

Boondocking?
Best Places to stay?
Routes to avoid?
Steep Climbs and decents?
Planning on being in Alaska by May 15th

Thanks

[bighornram]

That trip is on my bucket list.

[seahunter]

This is a plan of ours too. I keep running across the book "The Milepost" as a must-have reference if planning the trip. May is still a bit risky on the weather.

[timandsusan]

Check out our trip journal for details of our Alaska trip in 2007. (see the address below in signature) I would say that getting to Alaska my May 15 will involve driving thru snow on the Alaska Highway--in BC and the Yukon. Mileposts and The Alaska Campground book by Church (forgot his first name) are essential. Have a great trip. Any questions, fire an email my way.

[Art-n-Marge]

If you mean by May 15th of this year, you need to plan fast. Reading the Milepost alone will take some time, just to find what you might like to see and do.

The hardest part is deciding how much distance to travel daily - some average 300 miles per day to allow for checking in, setting up, then breaking down the next day and getting on the road. There's a lot to see and do and you should plan for stops. Don't forget to take something for the "SignPost Forest" (look this one up).

Plan for weather that will be wet and cold and possibly even still snowing that time of year. At least the daylight should be approaching reasonable rather than mostly daylight in summer and mostly dark in winter.

Alaska is a very large state (twice the size of Texas?) and you don't say which part you want to get to by May 15. Allow several days for unexpected problems and extra stops. You'll need to decide whether it's better to get there early, than get there late.

I'll be expecting a new post from you about what extra stuff to take, like extra window cleaner, insurance info for a damaged windshield, how and where to boondock when lodging isn't available, and there's a little known law that one must stop and check when you see a disabled vehicle. The travel beauty comes at a cost.

Good experiences or bad, it will probably be one of the most memorable trips you'll ever take. I still remember all of mine and I haven't done the Montana, and I haven't seen enough of Alaska, yet.

[rhidalgo]

It's on my list also. Here's a site with quite a bit of info. http://www.northtoalaska.com/

[The Oldguard]

Pugtracker, We made the trip last year, and if you go in mid may you will run into numerous road crews just starting to work on the road repairs.

Use this web site http://www.alaskatravel.com/resource...a-weather.html to check the weather in Alaska.

Because of the ongoing economy we drove past many RV Parks that had gone under and were no longer open.

Only drive on top half of your fuel then start looking for fuel because a lot of the RV Parks that went under also had the fuel.

The driving distance between towns and some campgrounds is great so if you want full hook-ups you will have some long in hours driving because of the road conditions and the low speeds needed to avoid damage to your rig’s.

Just remember if you see a little red flag along the road side slow down and look for the frost heaves; also if you look at the white line on your side of the road and it isn’t straight slow down.

In all realty the roads are not much different that some of the interstate roads in the lower forty eight just slowdown and keep a very large distance between you and the rig in front of you, and try to time it so you pass oncoming rig’s on a hard surface and not loose gravel. The good news is there are many glass places to get your windshield fixed.

There are many locations to boondock so you can spread out your drive and be refreshed and alert for you drive and enjoy the view.

Remember that you are driving through nature and be prepared to stop on a dime. You will come around a curve and there will be a bear, a mother and baby moose or elk just have your camera at ready for some really great shots.

Here is a planning web site http://www.travelalaska.com/Planning.aspx just remember that it was just minus forty six degrees in Fairbanks the other day so everything could be a push on the weather and road conditions.

Not all RV Parks have laundry rooms or great electrical you will run from 15 amps up to 50 amps, and campgrounds that run off of generators. I suggest some type of surge protector that will monitor low and high voltage.

Ninety nine % of all RV Park’s will not have a breaker to turn the power off, so the power is constantly on at the pedestal.

Get ready for sticker shock at the market, 1 gallon of milk was $6.00 and standard white bread was $4.00 in “Skagway.

[Sinterior]

Hi, you got some very good advice, and I can add that in BC and the Yukon, very few RV Parks or campgrounds will be open before Victoria Day, the weekend closest to May 24th.
Having said that, in BC and the Yukon, if there is no sign, saying no camping or over night parking out of the towns, you can camp or overnight there.
I believe the Church book mentioned is by Mike and Terri Church.
Be careful about the info in the Milepost as the info is a year old, so for example, many gas stations that say are open, may in fact be closed, and vice versa.
Enjoy your trip, we loved the 2 times we went to Alaska, it's much closer to us than most of you, and we will go again, especially the Kenai Peninsula.

[Pugtracker]

quote:Originally posted by The Oldguard

Pugtracker, We made the trip last year, and if you go in mid may you will run into numerous road crews just starting to work on the road repairs.

Use this web site http://www.alaskatravel.com/resource...a-weather.html to check the weather in Alaska.

Because of the ongoing economy we drove past many RV Parks that had gone under and were no longer open.

Only drive on top half of your fuel then start looking for fuel because a lot of the RV Parks that went under also had the fuel.

The driving distance between towns and some campgrounds is great so if you want full hook-ups you will have some long in hours driving because of the road conditions and the low speeds needed to avoid damage to your rig’s.

Just remember if you see a little red flag along the road side slow down and look for the frost heaves; also if you look at the white line on your side of the road and it isn’t straight slow down.

In all realty the roads are not much different that some of the interstate roads in the lower forty eight just slowdown and keep a very large distance between you and the rig in front of you, and try to time it so you pass oncoming rig’s on a hard surface and not loose gravel. The good news is there are many glass places to get your windshield fixed.

There are many locations to boondock so you can spread out your drive and be refreshed and alert for you drive and enjoy the view.

Remember that you are driving through nature and be prepared to stop on a dime. You will come around a curve and there will be a bear, a mother and baby moose or elk just have your camera at ready for some really great shots.

Here is a planning web site http://www.travelalaska.com/Planning.aspx just remember that it was just minus forty six degrees in Fairbanks the other day so everything could be a push on the weather and road conditions.

Not all RV Parks have laundry rooms or great electrical you will run from 15 amps up to 50 amps, and campgrounds that run off of generators. I suggest some type of surge protector that will monitor low and high voltage.

Ninety nine % of all RV Park’s will not have a breaker to turn the power off, so the power is constantly on at the pedestal.

Get ready for sticker shock at the market, 1 gallon of milk was $6.00 and standard white bread was $4.00 in “Skagway.

Great Info so far May 15th is just a target date we are open to wait if weather is not good. Gas, seems i have heard it both ways plenty of gas and better fill up all the time. I guess i will buy extra cans better to be safe than sorry.

[Pugtracker]

Not planning on making reservations, any thoughts on this?

[capn chris]

If you don't make reservations, leave early morning and arrive early afternoon. The caravans come in later and fill the RV parks. You may want to call ahead to check availability?! BTW, we did make reservations way early (months). Others have not and had little problem. Also, if you go up (or down) Hwy 37, aka Cassier Hwy, there are some steep grades, AND a left turn or bridge at the bottom!

[gregdan24]

Did the trip in 2011. We kept a blog here: http://wheresdanneffel.blogspot.com/

Best bet for boondocking along the way is Walmart. You can park just about anywhere it says don't in the Yukon and Alaska. Being alone, we were a bit nervous about just parking anywhere for an overnight, although we did go that route a couple times. Not a real big deal when it's daylight all night! We ended up in a lot of national, state, and local parks and averaged about 25 per night overall for camping. They were really the best places to stay anyway when compared to most of the commercial "parking lot" type campgrounds. A generator is pretty much a must have for the trip.

The Alaska Hwy from Haines Junction to the Alaska border was the worst road we were on - and I mean it was 150 miles of TERRIBLE! Potholes and frost heaves kept us at about 25 mph. About the time we thought it was ok to go 40 or 45, bam, we'd hit another bad spot. Just gotta slow down and take your time, enjoy the scenery.

Construction is really a pain too. Many miles of either dust or mud at a time. You will probably get both, so be prepared to clean the outside and inside. The dust will get in everything, drawers, dishes, etc. unless you can figure out some way to create a positive pressure inside the 5er. It took us 2 weeks to get the 5er cleaned up when we got back. The tar mixed with mud on one construction stretch didn't help make it easy. Ever wash a whole 5th wheel with WD40?

The only reservations we made were for Denali and we stayed there a week. One day out of that week the mountain came out and we timed the bus trip out on the park road perfect.

As for steep climbs and decents, we never had anything we couldn't handle with the chip and exhaust brake. I think there are worse grades in the lower 48 than there are in AK.

One thing we did a lot of was pick a "base camp" and then drive to see things. We didn't take the 5er to Skagway for example. Camped in Whitehorse and did a day trip there. Camped in Fairbanks and drove up the Dawson Hwy. If I did that again, I would reserve a room at the motel in Prudhoe and make it a 2 day trip. We didn't make it all the way, but still did 750 miles in one day, which was long. It was worth it to cross the Brooks Range and see the Artic tundra though for sure. A lot of people swear by the Dempster drive out of Dawson City too, but we didn't make that one.

Through it all we had a blast. Enjoy your trip!

[Pugtracker]

Thanks Greg Great info, Guess im gonna have to slow down. Ys we have a Honda gen and putting in a 2000 watt inverter. New batteries yesterday

[larrymul]

We just retired and moved from Anchorage to Texas recently, after over 40 years in Alaska, I drove the ALCAN, Anchorage to Texas twice in one month, about 9,000 miles, July, once with a moving van towing a car, the next with the motor home, with two Goldens.

As mentioned above, the frost heaves coming into Yukon Territory for over 150 miles were horrible, so bad in fact it popped the drivers windshield out of my motor home. Four rolls of duct tape at $12.00 a roll, I was lucky to find, got us to Seattle, where I waited 4 days for windshields out of Oregon, for both sides. We went on to Prescott, AZ, after making a Las Vegas "deposit", where the AC's quit and the generator went on the blink at 115 degrees, and bought a new 40' 2010 Winnebago. We just sold it to folks in Florida and will take delivery on our new 3750FL on February 14th...if if it makes it through Colorado this week! You will love Alaska, take lots of mosquito spray, you'll need it. Along with others who've been there, if you have any questions or concerns, definitely drop a line. By all means, register any legal firearms before you hit the border if you carry, once there, if things aren't in order, there's no turning around to get more documents...you lose them and may be denied entry into Canada. Also, pets need to have their health records/vaccination certificates and a vets certification no older than 90 days.

[Pugtracker]

Dogs & cats enter Canada must have a valid rabies vaccination certificate, signed and dated by a veterinarian issued within the preceding 36 months. The certificate must provide a sufficient description and detail in order to identify the pet.

http://www.canadawelcomesyou.net/faq.html

[Pugtracker]

Thanks for all the info for some reason i was subscribe to topic and it unsubscribed