Alaska 2020 Epic Trip (We hope)

[stephes1]

WeI would like to take this trip as well. We live in Tennessee,
Has anyone taken their AS on the ferry?
We have an F350 diesel dually and a 30 foot flying cloud.
Thanks

[Tincampers]

I was looking that today. Cost for two people with cabin from Bellingham to Whittier with a 24’ RV was nearly $7000 one way.

[judyjudy]

Following. Doing the WBCCI Alaska Caravan in 2020.

[Gene]

I'm sure someone has taken the state ferry, but we have only done so without a trailer. Alaska state ferries are different from other car ferries. Instead of doors at the front and back so everyone can drive on and off without backing, the narrow waterways in Alaska mean the ferries have doors on the side so the ship doesn't block the waterway. The doors on each side are at the front. That means you will have to either back on or off, sometimes on the ramp and sometimes inside the ship. The parking area has narrow lanes and can be difficult to back down, especially with ferry employees telling you to hurry up and sometimes two different ones giving you different instructions. Unless you are a very good backer, the ferry can be quite crazy.

You can't stay in your trailer, so your sleeping options are a cabin, sleeping in one of of public areas in a chair or at a table and bench so you can lay down, or pitch a tent on the deck. We did rent a cabin for a trip from Ketchikan to Pr. Rupert—an overnight trip. The cabin had two bunk beds, bathroom and was pretty small, but ok. It can be difficult to schedule, but you could go in steps—travel during the day to see the sights, get off at night and see the town and stay, in a day or two, get back on the ferry and go to the next town, etc. More backing, but you'll probably save some money on sleeping, especially if you can boondock or just park it overnight. The ferry schedule can be daunting to understand and we found the one at the back of the Milepost to be better than other ones. If you are taking a vehicle, plan to reserve well in advance. Walk ups without a vehicle are almost always available, but not so with vehicles, especially long ones. Passengers pay by far the least, long vehicles the most (you pay by the foot). Cabins are expensive and my impression as that many never are rented.

The ferries are quite nice and the food isn't all that bad. Things can go wrong. The ferry Columbia was a problem ship years ago. We were stuck in Petersburg for an extra two days because the Columbia had a fire and we had to wait for another ferry. Nice town, but it poured rain every day and visibility was poor. We got a lot of reading done and were visiting the stores and tourist traps too often. But generally the state ferry system is well run. If they had doors at the front and back, it would be a lot easier and faster to load and unload the car and truck deck.

The ferry system is being cut back. The Columbia may not sail again after Sept. 4 and two other ferries have been sold. Alaska's oil fund is shrinking fast and budgets are being cut. I don't know how this will sort out, but the Columbia, the flagship, is more expensive to operate. The ferries being scraped were the "fast ferries", so service to some places will be slower. Alaska's oil production has been dropping for many years and Alaska saved and spent a lot of money. There is an aversion to taxes there—every Alaskan gets a payment every year from the fund, but the payments are dropping, but not fast enough to have a fund for decades forward.

[Titus]

We took the ferry (2 persons and interstate) from haines to Juneau for$312 then from Juneau to Prince Rupert (2 persons, interstate, cabin) for $1409. Worked out great - highly recommended.

One rock chip near Edmonton, no chips on Alcan. Tok cutoff was lousy with frost heaves. Not bumpy-rough but lots of roller coasters that probably would have been terrible with a trailer. Road near the US-Ca border was terrible dusty on the way up and a muddy mess on the way back. Only had reservations at Denali and for the ferry. Winged it everywhere else and had fe problems. mid July to early Sept.

[NEHAB]

We made the trip and never drove more than 325 miles in a day. Usually 200-250 miles. There’s way too much to stop, see and photograph. Look around, the wildlife and beauty is with you all the way. If you rush the trip, I’m afraid you’ll diminish the adventure. For us, it was a once in a lifetime vacation. We were on the trip for 65 days and have never regretted the adventure. Half the fun is getting there. Enjoy and take lots of pictures.

[Gene]

We drove as many as 500 or more miles in a day depending on the road, circumstances and what we wanted to do. Some days, less. Some people don’t want to drive very far each day, others do it differently. There are stretches of the Alaska Hwy (and the alternative route, the Cassiar) that go on and on and on and while there’s plenty to see there are limits to time, so some long days may be necessary,

We took two 6 week trips and one 8 week one. If you don’t want to drive more than 200-300 miles per day, you will need to take a somewhat longer time for your trip. We didn’t want to be away from home longer, and we are willing to accept some really long days. From Colorado to Fairbanks is around 3,500 miles. Many people won’t drive it without a day or two off, so at 350 miles a day that could be 12 days. At 500 miles a day, 9 days. Then what about the days to see more things—Fairbanks is a convenient place to start thinking about how long it takes to get to the middle of Alaska. In our 20 weeks of Alaska trips, we saw just about everything, but not everything, and I would gladly go back and see some of the same things again too. This is a challenging trip and planning helps. You should know how you travel normally and look at that and figure out what you can do after reading travel books about Alaska, what you want to see. We left early or late so we avoided the middle of the season, so that was good. One time we started in mid August so we could be in northern Canada for the aurora borealis in September. We were going south by the end of September. We would start north in May on our other two trips. With or without a trailer we average about 45 miles per hour including fuel and food stops (eating and shopping), so we know how to figure out the entire trip in advance. On interstates or empty northern roads we average higher, but slower when we find frost heaves, construction or things to see. Once we decide what we want to see, I can figure out what we can do in a specific amount of time. it is no different than planing a shorter trip, just longer. Our first trip I think we reached Fairbanks in about 8 days including a side trip to Denver to pick up a tonneau cover for the truck. We were younger then.

You are doing this right by asking questions now, a year ahead. As I said, this is a challenging trip and an expensive one, so you want to get it right.
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[dpanek]

Beware of frost heaves everywhere, BC, Yukon ,and Alaska. You will not be able to drive speed limit anywhere when towing. Because of road conditions and road construction, allow plenty of travel time. If you hit a frost heave going speed limit (56mph) you'll be flying not driving. We spent a month in Alaska and survived the Tok cutoff and Denali Highway, leaving only a few small parts in Alaska !Your eggs will scramble in the shells! An Alaska resident recommended we leave our AS, rent an RV and drive the heck out if it. Met people with many repair issues, so felt lucky we had only 1 minor issue. We loved every minute in Alaska..Next time we will boondock more there. The Lulu belle glacier boat tour in Valdez is spectacular and Denali 8 hour bus tour wonderful. Take all supplies and food with you ...prices are high in Ca and Alaska both. We had extra gas but never needed it..keep tank full.

[Gene]

Sounds like the roads and everything else has deteriorated completely since our trips. Most of the highway was fine, but there were annoying frost heaves and some other road problems at times. Having to slow down and speed up over and over for scores of miles is difficult and tedious, but we survived. Construction is inevitable in a 10,000 mile trip in summer. Permafrost is melting in lots of places because of climate change and that has made some roads worse, but overall it was good for us. Areas south of Tok are being repaired this year. We did not have many repair issues—all minor such as typical Airstream leaks, loose screws and bolts, mud to be washed off. Sorry to hear dpanek had so many problems, but our trips were much better.