Ultimate North American Road Trip to Alaska in 2016

[backpacker1]

This morning, I received an email from FMCA entitled, "Ultimate North American Road Trip." The email from FMCA forwarded an email from the Office of the Governor of the State of Alaska and Ministers of the Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory. The email reads, "On behalf of the governments of Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon, we invite you to experience the Ultimate North American Road Trip, an epic adventure that takes you through Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon on the way to Alaska. The email goes on to offer planning information.

Is someone leading a caravan trip to Alaska during spring or summer 2016? If not, is there any interest in a trip to Alaska?

Gerard

[zorro2kita]

We used Fantasy RV Tours 2 years ago - to visit Western CN and AK - 60 days, 5700 miles and the best decision we ever made - trip of a lifetime !!

People do it by themselves but this all inclusive Caravan tour was time and money well spent - PM me for more details if you want --

[tbutler]

Gerard,

If you are a backpacker, you should be able to handle a solo trip to AK! It's really a great adventure and while some like everything arranged for them, there is no problem going it on your own. We spent the summer of 2006 (June, July and August) wandering around BC, YT, NT, AK and managed to survive the trip with only a few minor incidents (dropped a bike and got it repaired in Anchorage within a week, mounting for the leveling system pump gave out and self repaired with hardware items in Fairbanks). No flat tires, no broken windshields though we saw others with those problems. For my money, I'd go back again, solo, free to be me (or we).

We had to skip Anchorage on our first stop. We stayed for two nights then moved on. We made reservations for several weeks later and went on to explore the Kenai Peninsula, Seward, Wittier, Homer, Nikolaevsk,and then stayed two weeks Anchorage on the way back. We spent two weeks in Fairbanks, 4th of July in the city park, playing golf at midnight. Then flew from Fairbanks to Barrow, a day trip. We spent a week in Denali, saw, Valdez, bears in Hyder, We enjoyed Wrangell-St. Elias NP including Kenicott. We walked on the Matanuska Glacier and hiked miles and miles. All on our own schedule and at our own pace for a lot less than the cost of a tour.

We spent almost a month getting through Canada because there were so many great things to see there so the trip isn't just Alaska. Each town along the way offers its own insight into the frontier. We enjoyed some time in Dawson City and drove the toad to Inuvik inside the Arctic Circle! It is all there to enjoy and we'd love to do it again but not next year! Our next trip to AK will be on the ferry so we can spend time at the ports of call that aren't on the land based tour, Ketchikan, Juneau, Kodiak, etc. We plan to put the motor home on the ferry and see everything we can on the way north then return via the land route for an encore there.

The FMCA communication mentions the Milepost which is still in publication and is the definitive guide to traveling along this route. It is updated annually and had just about everything that you might be interested in seeing with good descriptions and route information, tips for driving, etc.

Any way you go, it is a wonderful adventure and one that I'd recommend to anyone!

[backpacker1]

Hello Nick and Tom,

Thank you for your responses. My wife and I have backpacked for many years. We found with age, backpacking wasn't working as well for us as it once did. As backpackers, we traveled solo, with loosely organized groups, and once with a commercial mountain climbing school. My preference is the loosely organized groups for the camaraderie and strength that comes with numbers. I would have thought with an organization like FMCA, there might be such a group heading north this summer.

Best regards,

Gerard

[f448850]

There is a "FMCA 48 Day The Heart of Alaska" Caravan this Summer--unfortunately it appears that they are "Standby Only". If you look under "FMCA Benefits" you can see "Tour Connections". Fantasy RV Tour Company conducts this 48 Day Tour for FMCA Members.

We chose the longer "60 Day" Alaska Tour that Fantasy RV has. We decided we wanted the "longer" trip. We will leave home in a little over a month to head to the "rendezvous point" and are pretty excited to say the least!

Since I do all of the navigation and planning, I am ecstatic that someone else will be doing the "navigation and planning".

[zorro2kita]

We did the AK 60 day tour with Fantasy in the summer of 2013 - best decision we ever made -- Time and $$ well spent - We had a great wagon master and tail gunner - hope yours is enjoyable as ours was --

Enjoy the sights !!

[lmsooter]

This morning, I received an email from FMCA entitled, "Ultimate North American Road Trip." The email from FMCA forwarded an email from the Office of the Governor of the State of Alaska and Ministers of the Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon Territory. The email reads, "On behalf of the governments of Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon, we invite you to experience the Ultimate North American Road Trip, an epic adventure that takes you through Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon on the way to Alaska. The email goes on to offer planning information.

Is someone leading a caravan trip to Alaska during spring or summer 2016? If not, is there any interest in a trip to Alaska?

Gerard

We made the trip to Alaska and Canada in 2012 with Adventure Caravans and really enjoyed our trip. If you are former military, you might look at SMART http://www.smartrving.net/ We have friends who have traveled to Alaska with them but at a lower price because they are non profit.

[manholt]

F448850,

What make of coach do you have and do you tow a toad?

Carl

[tbutler]

We spent the summer of 2006 in Alaska. We left Seattle and the US on Memorial Day and returned on Labor Day. It's an absolutely fantastic adventure. We went on our own. We don't stress over the planning, we take it a day at a time. We took our time going north through British Columbia, Yukon and Northern Territories. There is much to see along the route. We had one time when we couldn't find a campground, in Anchorage. They didn't have an opening (too many caravans) for a week so we spent the week on the Kenai Peninsula then returned to spend two weeks in Anchorage.

We drove from Dawson Creek to Inuvik, Northern Territory, inside the Arctic Circle (toad only, not the motor home). We took a small charter plane from Fairbanks to Barrow, AK. I rented a Cessna in Anchorage and flew up to Denali one day and out the Matanuska Valley and over the Kenai Peninsula another day. We spent a night parked at the foot of the Matanuska Glacier and walked out onto the glacier the next morning. In Seward our campsite was right on the waterfront on Resurrection Bay. I watched a sea otter feeding on clams right from my recliner! We walked from our campground in Seward to the aquarium and spent a day exploring that. Another afternoon was spent at the Earthquake Museum in Valdez. In Hyder, AK we saw bears, up close! We rode bicycle trails and saw moose along the trail. We celebrated July 4 in Fairbanks at the city park with several thousand other Alaskans. Friends from our Texas campground took us by boat to their cabin in the wilderness and we spent several nights there. Moose traveled by the cabin each night and we almost ran over a moose calf on the boat trip back out of the wilderness. We hiked numerous trails, visited a Russian village, toured Denali National Park and stayed overnight at Kennecott Copper Mine and Mill in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.

We have friends that have done the caravan trip and enjoyed it very much. We are just more comfortable traveling on our own at our own rate. However you go, enjoy your trip!

[dlfishing]

I would like to go this summer

[lmsooter]

10 hours ago, dlfishing said:

I would like to go this summer

Enjoy your trip.  It is an opportunity not to be missed.