Thinking of going to Alaska

[THARTMAN]

We are thinking of RVing to Alaska next summer.

Go it alone or a caravan tour??

Places to see?

Special necessary planning or equipment??

 

[wildebill308]

3 hours ago, THARTMAN said:

We are thinking of RVing to Alaska next summer.

Go it alone or a caravan tour??

Places to see?

Special necessary planning or equipment??

 

Welcome to the forum. Well this ought to get plenty of responses. Personally I don't like caravaning. 

"Places to see?" That depends on what your interest are and how long you are going to be there.

Bill

[rsbilledwards]

We too and it will not happen soon enough. We plan a minimum of 3 months. Look at the Fantasy Tours for places to go. We are going to do it with no more than 3 total. 

[desertdeals69]

Did it in 2001.  Went with one other coach.  No particular route or plans.  Just drove around.   Was in Valdez when the first double hull tanker was on its maiden voyage.  Got to go aboard and tour the ship. Covered a lot of miles in 2 months.  Began in Vancouver with a cruise up the inland passage.  Hit a lot of the attractions.

[wolfe10]

Have driven the Alcan 3 times and cruised the inside passage 9 times (returned Monday from our last cruise).

Both are great, but scenery on the cruise is truly spectacular, not just "nice".

[kaypsmith]

I cruised the inside passage 2007, truly beautiful, I like waterfalls, and there are plenty to see. Maybe someday I can retire and make that journey in the MH. The train ride at Skagway alone was worth the trip for me.

[wolfe10]

15 minutes ago, kaypsmith said:

I cruised the inside passage 2007, truly beautiful, I like waterfalls, and there are plenty to see. Maybe someday I can retire and make that journey in the MH. The train ride at Skagway alone was worth the trip for me.

I agree on the Skagway train ride.  BUT (large but) there was a rock slide last week, so the RR was down until they get it dug out.  We did it on a previous trip.

Amazing that there were those on the ship expressing dissatisfaction with the ship excursion desk when their RR excursion was cancelled due to the slide.  Must not THINK MUCH-- like the ship personnel (or even RR personnel) have control over rock slides in that very steep, narrow valley.

Dianne is going through editing her pictures from the trip right now. Lots of whale (Humpback and Orca), bald eagles, sea otters, sea lions, etc.  We never get tired of visiting, particularly in the Texas summer heat.

Guess we will start a new slogan-- "To see better wildlife in Alaska look outside, not on the dance floor".

[alflorida]

On 6/6/2018 at 3:11 PM, THARTMAN said:

We are thinking of RVing to Alaska next summer.

Go it alone or a caravan tour??

Places to see?

Special necessary planning or equipment??

 

Caravan tour??  If you want everything pre-planned and are willing to move exactly when the schedule says to.  No extra time to stay longer if bad weather keeps you from seeing what was planned for that location.  Also if it is rainy and you really don't want to drive that day.  To bad, you gotta go.  But you don't have to do the planning or figure out what to see and do.  Much to rushed and regimented for us. 

By yourself???  That is the way we travel.  At our own pace, no reservations unless absolutely necessary.  We dry camp and boondock a lot so seldom stay in RV Parks.  Our Alaska trip was 4 1/2 months from Oregon to AK and back, plus another 4.5 months away from home that year, 2016. 

Places to see?  Everything which interests you.  Get a copy of Milepost and start reading. 

Here are some blogs of AK trips:

Our 2016 trip:  http://downtheroadaroundthebend.blogspot.com/2017/01/alaska-trip-index-april-26september-6.html

This couple mostly boondocked:  http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-602970-canada-mail-anniversary-border-eat-items-price-sumas

CoolRVers On the Road: Border Crossing to Cache Creek

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-679979

 

[manholt]

Been there twice.  1987 Barth 34' & 2002 Allegro 30'.  Milepost, a must have!  Like Brett, a lot of cruises from San Francisco,  Seattle and Vancouver, BC over the years...I prefer the cruising!  Linda, has also been up twice by MH, before I met her!  Never by cruise ship...that will change next year.  

By coach, from lower 48, I would plan on 4 months.

[Falcon@112]

We are also in the planning stage to go to Alaska next year, leaving late May. Please contact us, my wife & I would love to have others travel along with your own rig. And, yes the "Milepost" is one of the first thing to get ASAP. Sometimes not the easiest to follow, but a must have. Make reversations at campgrounds soon. Some will not take a reversation until Jan 1,19, but be ready to call. We also have about 10 weeks set aside. Leaving from Southern Illinois. 

[rayin]

The best pricing for caravaning is with S.M.A.R.T. The requirement for joining is one must be active or former military. Their limit for number of units are between 13 and 20, and travel in groups of four;  most of the time they fill up rather quickly.

[Falcon@112]

We are also planning an Alaska trip. I have posted  our route in another blog. We are leaving the end of May 2019. Would love to have other drive along. Contact if interested. 

Mel

[manholt]

Mel.

Starting in Feb, check on the road system...7.0 quack did a number on roads.  

We will be going back to Alaska in 2020.  I was there by RV 2 times in the 80's and Linda drove up in 98 and 2006.  Unless it's a Tour, we travel alone...stay and see, do and take our time as we see fit.  We also have friends that live in BC, Canada and Alaska, they all have RV's and extra H/U's.  We will be taking the Ferry system back to Washington!

I do wish you well on your journey!

[DrDaveMA]

There is a lot to be said for caravans. We puzzled over that question for our 2014 trip. We finally decided on a Fantasy Tours FMCA Trip. It was more expensive than we thought we could do it for by ourselves, but Fantasy took us on side trips we would never have done ourselves. Those side trips made our overall adventure worth every penny. They always got us into the best places. Their caravan is what I would call “loose”, yes they schedule the trip, but on days you are to travel you depart the CG when you want, there is a Wagon Master that leaves about 9:00 AM, the Tail Gunner usually about 2 hours later, if you want to leave any other time or take any other route just let them know. The driving legs are normally 2 - 5 hours, depending upon the destination. You get a day by day itinerary, including suggestions for side trips that is a result of their trip the prior year and updated by any earlier trips that year. They know where to get the best price on fuel (we even got some discounts because we were in a caravan). There is no formal line of coaches, just a group of folks headed in one direction over several hours.

One thing we found about the Milepost, it was written and check the prior year, my estimate is that about 15% of the time a fuel stop or restaurant would not be open this year so watch your fuel, we normally drove on the top half of the tank and fueled just before we stopped for the night. The Fantasy folks drove the trip the prior year so they were familiar with the itinerary, they also run multiple caravans each year and the Wagon Masters talk amongst each other during the trip with updates like fuel stops or restaurants not open this year, etc.

One thing you will discover quickly is frost heaves, they are inevitable. If you see an orange cone or flag on the side of the road SLOW down. The highway department does a great job of marking them, you just need to slow down. If you don’t the first time, you will the second! Have you ever seen a 33K coach go airborne, I have.

it is a beautiful trip, the wildlife is amazing. At the campfire each night we would discuss what everyone had seen that day. Most days over half the group saw a bear, but the moose and wolves is what everyone was really looking for. I took a picture of a black bear with all 4 paws in the air pouncing on a salmon at Stewart/Hyder. We never would have stopped there, Fantasy knew where we should be and when we should be there.

Make the trip, enjoy the trip, plan ahead, carry a few spare parts (all your belts, including serpentine, anything that is unique to your coach/toad, if you use DEF be sure to carry some, one of our group ran out and the fuel stop they were at did not have any, so they had to drive their toad 100 miles to get some) and you will have the trip of your life. Through the Fantasy caravan we made several life long friends that we travel with long after the caravan ended.

[manholt]

Thank you!  We are on the Fantasy Tour, 61 day, Maritime Providence, this 2019 summer.  Agree, on the cost part, from Burnet County, TX and back, we figured it will cost the better part of a new Jeep Wrangler!  However, since we have a 45 foot coach, by doing Fantasy, we will know where to camp, in the event we wish to go back on our own!

For any one who want's to travel Canada or to Alaska.  If your going to Alaska and you feel naked, without a gun, like me and Linda, send the gun in a hard case with no bullets, via Fed EX.  If your travel is Canada...Leave the gun at home and make sure there are no loose ammo in your coach, bays or toad!  ZERO Tolerance!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy, Safe New Year! 🎄