North To Alaska

[MONTIE]

We are making plans for a trip tp Alaska in our 40-foot Monaco. We need information, especially places not to try and what was your best experience. We are going to try to leave in May for about 60 days. We'd like to know places you liked and why, places to skip, best roads and worst roads.

By the way, we are leaving from Tennessee and would like to go to California and then up the coast, but would that be too much travel for 60 days?

Thanks.

Montie

[tbutler]

Montie,

Sixty days is better than those who take a week or two for a cruise to Alaska! You'll never see everything there but you can get a good swipe at it. From Tennessee to California (California is several summers at least by itself) and on to the Canadian border I would suggest rapid travel. You can visit these places at another time. I'd focus your trip on the most distant places that are the hardest and most costly to get to. The must have book for going to Alaska is the Milepost. It is available at CW and on-line from a number of sources. It will detail what to see along the road through Canada and Alaska. It covers all the side routes as well as the Alaska Highway. It does an excellent job of identifying places you'll need like fuel, groceries, etc. It lists museums and other attractions so you can choose what you want to see. As the title suggests, this is done on a mile by mile basis. It also has excellent advice for border crossing and regulations in Canada that will help you plan your trip. The Milepost is updated each year so be sure to get the 2010 issue.

We spent over 3 weeks traveling through British Columbia on the way north and a week there on the return. We really enjoyed Vancouver Island but you may not want to take the ferry there. We had friends there to visit and they guided us to the best places to see. You could take your toad over on the ferry for a day or three just to see the capital, the Provincial Museum, Buchart Gardens, and more. We took the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver north to Cache Creek and Highway 97. This goes through some spectacular scenery including where the winter Olympics will be held in January 2010. Highway 97 takes you to Dawson Creek which is Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. There is a great museum there that details the building of the highway that is a must before you go. It puts the trip in real perspective.

We traveled north to Dawson City in Yukon. From there we drove the toad north on the gravel road 460 miles to Inuvik, NWT. We went there to see the midnight sun. We took the Windsor over the Top of the World "highway" to Chicken Alaska and from there on to Fairbanks. From Fairbanks the motor home made the circle down to Danali, Anchorage, on to Copper River and Tok. We spent a week in the Kenai Peninsula visiting Homer, Seward and Whittier. We only took the Windsor to Seward, the remainder were trips with the toad out of a campground nearer the center of the Kenai Peninsula. We spent two weeks in Fairbanks and two weeks in Anchorage. In each case we had friends to visit that made the visit extra special. In Fairbanks we spent a weekend at our friends hunting cabin about 45 minutes by river from the nearest road. There we had moose wandering right by the cabin each evening. I got some great moose pictures! We also flew from Fairbanks to Barrow and had a fantastic flight and tour. In Anchorage our friends took us to their island in a lake and we spent a lazy Sunday afternoon with them at their cabin on their own island. We visited the museum of art and hiked Earthquake Park, both worth the time.

We took side trips to Valdez (great waterfalls along the road), both roads into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Skagway. In Wrangell-St.Elias we drove to McCarthy and took the shuttle to Kennicott and stayed at the lodge for two nights. On our return trip we drove the Cassiar Highway to Stewart, BC and Hydar, AK where we had our best bear encounters. Watching the bears catching salmon (late August) was spectacular. We were 20 feet from bears crunching into salmon! We also visited Prince Rupert on the BC Coast on our return. We finished by returning to the US on Highway 1 along the Frasier River.

We left the US on Memorial Day and returned just before Labor Day. I'd recommend any and all of these places to go and so many things to see that I couldn't begin to name all of them. If you have to do this in 60 days, you'll see a lifetime of fantastic oohs and aahs. There are always road repairs which are dirt/gravel wet down with calcium chloride (YUK!), sometimes these will be ten or more miles in length. Travel slow and wash often. We found almost all campgrounds offered some kind of RV wash. I washed the Windsor nearly every time we moved from one place to another and I came to call the rain my spot free rinse! Once you get north of Whitehorse, you'll begin to notice dips in the road caused by the freeze/thaw cycles of the permafrost. In our motor home we found 40 to 45 to be about the right speed to travel. It allowed us to slow down as we approached a dip and come through it without a big bounce. The first campground we stopped at north of Whitehorse (Dawson City), everyone, fifth wheels and motor homes, were talking about the "closet dumpers" which is what we called the dips in the road. Every item on hangers in the closet was on the floor because it took us two or three of these to get the idea we were going to see lots of them and we'd have to drive slower.

The Top of the World Highway from Dawson City, YT to Chicken, AK was mostly gravel in Canada and all gravel in the US. It was also narrow but I managed to get by a tour bus going the opposite way (and the woman driving wasn't giving me any break - she was on the edge of the hill). Also the Cassiar highway had several 20 mile stretches of gravel. Those were the only real gravel roads we took the motor home on other than the road repair sections. We did all this the summer of 2006 so conditions will have changed by now and you may or may not see less gravel.

We are planning to put the Windsor on the ferry for the inside passage so we can visit some of the places that are accessible only by water and then returning on land but that is another trip sometime in our future.

[s.j.ritter@iamnow.net]

Hi Monte

We too aregoing to Alaska this coming spring. We will be leaving from Quartzite AZ after the FMCA rally there. We plan to be on the ferry going up the Inside Passage in late April and get to Skagway by the end of May. Then we will travel inland until about the end of Aug and start south again to get back down to the southwest again sometime mid October.

Your questions and Tom's reply really helped us also. We are working with the Milepost 2009. Just a note that the 2010 issue doesn't come out until March. I wrote to them and they advised the 2009 would be fine for planning.

Hope you enjoy your trip and maybe will will cross paths.

Cheers

Sandi and Ken (NHNomads)

[rossboyer]

We are thinking about a trip to Alaska, but was considering leaving from Redmond, OR following the FMCA Summer Convention. What is a reasonable last date that we should leave Tok to return to the USA?

[MONTIE]

Now to pick up where we left off, sorry I have been to many Grandchildren Christmas plays and such. Another question, are the raods better if we leave off California and go throufgh Calgary or Edmonson. I am really concerned about the roads on the west side of BC, I have heard so many scary stories and broken windshields and tire problems. Also are the roads after you enter Alaska good, do I need to bring spare tires for the coach. We have even thought about leaving the coach in Seattle and flying to Anchorage, reat a car and stay but we hate to not have our pride and joy

[jecrans]

Hi Monte

Tom has given you the straight scoop. Advice from friends who have made the trip 27 times "go slow". Enjoy the trip, the roads that aren't being worked on are good except the Alaska roads are prone to frost heaves in areas that really require caution. I drove from Boise,ID to Anchorage in 5 days to get there for Memorial Day.( My son was in the Airforce and thats when he had off. ) It was a forced march and I would not do it again.

One thing you need to remember is that the days get longer as you drive north and you will be driving in daylight 22to23hrs a day. So it is possible to drive for 4-5hrs, take a nap, visit a hot springs,shop, eat and drive on till your ready to stop at your next destination. I don't want to encourage you to do high miles, but to give you an idea of how you might have a relaxing trip. I did two 400 mile days and I did not want to get behind the wheel for the next one.

I would go to Alaska first through Alberta and look at California on the return trip. I don't know your interests but our trip diary filled a book. Speaking of books, have your copilot read the Mile Post to you as go and look ahead for sights to see so you can focus on avoiding the moose,bears,deer,sheep,eagles that inhabit that country.

Be Well, Jack

[tbutler]

We are thinking about a trip to Alaska, but was considering leaving from Redmond, OR following the FMCA Summer Convention. What is a reasonable last date that we should leave Tok to return to the USA?

Hard to say what is a reasonable date. We left Tok the third week in August as the snow was falling. The flakes were big and melting but I didn't want to get caught in a cold icy situation. If you don't mind cold weather and want to take more of a chance you could stay longer. You are awfully far north and all it takes is one good storm to ice up a bunch of miles of road. Keep in mind the storm doesn't have to be where you are. There are huge distances in northern Canada to be traversed when you leave Alaska. Leaving when we did allowed us to spend some time in Whitehorse and Skagway which we bypassed on our way north. We took the Cassiar Highway to Stewart, BC and Hydar, AK and then drove on to Prince Rupert, BC. If you stay late, your return trip may become a rush to escape bad weather. Watch the weather forecasts and make a decision you are comfortable with.

[tbutler]

Monte,

Which route you take is really just a matter of where you are coming from. We've been to Calgary, Edmonton and Jasper but haven't been over the mountains to the Alaska Highway. The roads there are fine, no better or worse than coming through western BC in my estimation. We did take the Sea to Sky Highway on our way north and it is a more difficult drive. There isn't much traffic and if you take your time, it isn't that bad. The scenery is spectacular and that is what I wanted to see. The whole trip to and from Alaska is done for scenery, wildlife and culture so I'll take whatever road gets me to see those things. We tried to travel as many different roads going north and coming back south as we could. No point in seeing the same thing twice if there is an alternate route to take!

When we made the trip in 2006, I had just put brand new tires on the toad (Goodyear with a Kevlar belt) and the coach tires were just two years old so I didn't worry about a spare tire. We didn't take the motor home on any of the far north long gravel runs to Innuvik, NWT or Prudhoe Bay but did take the toad to Innuvik. I watched the tires like a hawk (this was before I got the Pressure Pro tire monitors) and never had a problem. We got back to Missouri, just 200 miles from my mother's home and we blew the left front tire on the coach! Apparently we had picked up some road debris and the tire lost pressure and boom it was gone! That is when I went shopping for tire monitors!

We had no windshield problems on the Alaska trip. The next spring, again in Missouri on I-44 a construction truck pulled onto the highway some distance ahead of us and after I pulled back in behind him as he sped on ahead, he pulled to the shoulder, why - I don't know, but he kicked up a rock that cracked an area the size of my fist on the right side of the windshield. The only other windshield damage I have had occurred as we left Edmonton, AB in 2008 headed for Jasper. There was a gravel truck about a 1/4 mile ahead (in Canada it is about 1/2 km). Some of the intervening traffic must have picked up one of his rocks and it starred the drivers windshield near the center of the coach. I've come to the conclusion that rocks are where you find them - or they find you.

[tbutler]

Monte,

I missed your last question. Regarding flying to Alaska or taking the motor home, to me there is no question. I have a hard time trying to imagine seeing Alaska without the motor home. Being free to spend as much time in a given area as you like and then moving on to another area as your interests and the weather direct is really the best way to go. If you fly in, you are living out of a rental car, moving from one reservation to the next having planned the trip from far away. In the motor home we arrived in an area, began exploring and then made decisions how long to stay to see everything we felt we wanted to.

The hotel/motel accommodations are pretty thin in Alaska. You'll find good rooms in the large cities but when you go out to the remote areas they don't look too inviting. We stayed at a campground near Kennicott in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park that was the only place in town to stay. The 50 mile drive to Kennicott then was done with the car and we stayed several nights in the lodge at Kennicott so we could explore that area. Further north the other road in Wrangell-St. Elias has only one campground as well. We stayed several nights there and explored that area. Neither of these areas are anywhere close to a town with hotel/motels. We also stayed at a campground at the toe of the Matanuska glacier. The campground didn't have sites where we could pull through so they gave us permission to park in the overflow parking lot at the toe of the glacier. We could look out our windows at the glacier itself. This was about a three hour drive from Anchorage. Our experience staying there gave us a much better chance to explore the area than driving in by car and then seeing what we could in a day before returning to Anchorage.

We didn't rent a car but I know that in many places, I would assume Alaska would be this kind of place, the companies restrict travel to only certain main roads or may exclude travel on specific roads. The roads in Wrangell-St. Elias would be on that list I am certain. The road into Kennicott is built on the old railroad grade and they say that occasionally an old railroad spike will emerge! We had no problems with that trip but had friends who drove the road, had two flat tires and returned without ever making it to Kennicott. We took 3 hours to drive the 50 miles, stopping frequently to take pictures and took one spectacular hike. On the way out we stopped at a little ice cream shop set up by a couple adjacent to their home. We met their dogs and sat and visited with them while eating ice cream. Having the time to do things like this come from being based close enough to our travel destination that we aren't driving hours and hours just to get someplace. The distances in Alaska are huge and often travel will be slow, the roads aren't interstate highways. You have to plan time to pull off and take in the view.

[MONTIE]

I think I am going to wait until I have the extra time to make Alaska, but I think we will gone from Tennessee to British Columbia and then down to California through Washington and Oregon. Has anyone driven the Shoreline Hwy through Northern California,

[tbutler]

Highway 1 has many stretches that are simply too narrow and curvy for large vehicles. I would check carefully with locals before I drove that in the motor home. You may be able to drive parts with the motor home but I would plan on seeing the coast more in the toad than the motor home. Old highway 101, AKA the Redwood Highway, is a beautiful highway and is very drivable in the motor home. I'd recommend it. We stayed in a park at Red Crest and were parked under a nice sized redwood tree! Lots of good parks and hiking in the area.