Lucy is Finally Going to Alaska

[dstalzer]

SuEllen and Brian,

We have been to Alaska overland two times. On the first trip we spent 91 days and on the second trip 88 days. In 2015 we pulled our Airstream with our 2011 Ford F250. We had no problems with tires on the truck which had 30,000 miles on them and we had just installed new 16" wheels and Michelin tires on the trailer before we started the trip. I installed large mud flaps for the rear truck tires preventing most of the rocks and gravel from damaging the trailer.
We drove the Stewart Classier Highway on the way to Alaska and found it to be very scenic and interesting. We were in Fairbanks on June 21 where we stayed for 3 days before leaving due to lots of smoke from forest fires. There were lots of fires in that part of Alaska in 2015. From Fairbanks we went to Anchorage and then on to the Kenai peninsula where we camped several places including Ninilchek at a State Rec Area (State Park) right on the banks of Cook Inlet for 5 days. In Seward we stayed at the city campground right on the waters edge, a beautiful location and reasonable. In Seward, a highlight was the Sea life Aquarium, a day trip on Resurrection Bay where we observed glaciers, whales, puffins and other wildlife. Exit Glacier is right out of town and has markers showing how far it has receded over the past 50 years or so. We returned to the US via the Alaska Highway and then across Alberta, Saskatchewan and into Manitoba where we crossed the border.


In 2018 we decided to go to Alaska and to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean. Since the Dempster Highway is more rugged, we took our truck camper instead of the Airstream. The Alaska highway was in better shape than in 2015. After spending some time in Alaska, we traveled through Chicken and on the Top of the World Highway, which we had previously traveled in 2015. The road from Chicken to the Yukon border is mostly gravel with the last 15 or so miles of the road to the Yukon border is all paved and is like a new highway. From Dawson City we traveled up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik and then on to Tuktoyaktuk where we camped on the shore of the Arctic Ocean and waded in the Arctic Ocean. While in Inuvik where we stayed several days, we made friends with several of the local people and we enjoyed the Northwest Arts Festival. I decided to risk going with tires that had 32,000 miles on them and had no problems. After all the gravel, rocks and dirt of the Dempster Highway the tires were looking quite worn out. Even though we did not have any tire issues, I decided to have new Michelins installed in Whitehorse, Yukon. The price was only a bit higher than in the US considering the exchange rate. We then went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories via travel through part of British Columbia. The highway from Yellowknife to the Alberta border is all paved, but the stretch near Yellowknife is quite rough and required going slow to keep from bouncing around. As we traveled back to the US via Alberta, we encountered a great deal of smoke coming in from British Columbia and the northwestern US states.

As far as mosquitos are concerned, mosquito repellent with deet is recommended. We really only were bothered with big mosquito problems two times on our trip. The other thing to have is one of the bug zappers that look like a tennis racquet. This is really useful inside the RV. Mosquitos are really quite slow and do tend to go near the windows making them easy to zap.

With all the forest fires in mid and late summer, I would recommend traveling up the Stewart Cassirer Highway and returning via the Alaska Highway since it is further east and through less forested areas.

I hope this will help you with your trip planning.

Dennis

[cazual6]

One thing I can add when I did the research:

If you are going through Canada, be mindful of your firearms.

Handguns are a big no no. I am still looking into the whole permit thing, but looks like it is a long shot.

A shotgun or Rifle (very specific) are allowed. BUT always check, do not take my for it.

Keep us posted on your trip. I am a few years out myself. It is on our bucket list.

[Ravenquest]

We have made 4 trips and are planning a 5th in 2019 as well. Here are some answers and/or the way we traveled and it worked out well for us.

Time; For less mosquitos and more aurora borealis we did not start up until late June or July (from Colo). Mosquitos are more prevalent in the spring and you won't see the northern lights until late September, drawback is it gets cold in poorly insulated Airstreams.

Special equipment; we always carry two spare tires/wheels for truck and trailer.
Our advice is do not take a trailer up the Dalton (haul road).

What to see; We love taking the Marine Highway Ferry's to see the places you can't see unless you take a boat or fly like Wrangle, Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau, trying to travel during the daylight. We start in Prince Rupert BC. Usually see lots of wildlife from the Ferry's, and stay 4 to 7 days in each port to see everything there. Drawback, have to reserve a schedule in Jan-Feb and you are locked into a schedule until you hit Haines, then free to stay or go at each interior stop.

Best wildlife: Along the roads, everywhere. We go looking, but we have seen bears, eagles, whales, seals, moose, at about every location, wolfs, caribou and bighorn in Denali (from safety of our truck). Just take your time, ask locals, other travelers and have your cameras ready! Get reservations at Teklanika River Campground to see Denali. We saw 18 bears in 1 day mid September. Put in for a Denali road pass (last 4 days of the season).

Have a safe trip maybe we will see you there.

[gasak1@alask]

I live in North Pole Ak and have traveled around the state a fair amount. give me a call and have a recorder handy. 9074882225 ask for Rex.

[TouringDan]

I enjoyed traveling with you on your last trip and am signing up for this one. Our time will come.

Dan

[broupman]

Originally Posted by HHPJ

Check out YouTube for Long Long Honeymoon channel, they have a great video series on their trip to Alaska and what they learned from their trip. Good mud flaps to protect the AS front skin, Tires and gas were other topics as well, also some points on where to visit....

Agreed, they are who I used extensively on actually getting an idea on making the trip. Aside from their channel, the Milepost is best road traveling guide.

I made it there and back with a 9 month old baby, Silver Lab, and a very accommodating wife.

[wkk5dl]

Denali is a highlight. I recommend camping near Talkeetna if possible, and then if you have the money, fly in an excursion plane and land on a glacier. You'll remember it for a lifetime. We used Talkeetna Air Taxi and recommend them. Also, if you can, schedule a ride on the Alaska Railroad on all or part of it's route. We rode from Fairbanks to Talkeetna and back. Unbelievably beautiful scenery visible from their glass domed cars, and good meals enroute. There are also some day trips you can schedule to the Arctic Circle from Fairbanks via the Dalton Highway, which I don't recommend you try to navigate yourself in your own vehicle. It's nothing spectacular, but worth the trip, just to say you've been there. We learned that only 30% of the people who go to see Denali get to see it without clouds, and that only one percent of people who visit Fairbanks go farther north. I wish you luck in being in both the 30 percent and in the one percent groups.

[dmand001]

Galt's Gulch is planning on going to Alaska in 2019 as well, 2013 Flying Cloud, TV's big red, a 2014 Toyota Tundra, a dog & the couple, namely, me, the driver & my nagavator, ooops navigator, my wife. Being the driver, I just follow the navigator's route & schedule. May convoy, I think, though not sure but I surely will keep the equipment well oiled. Do have a couple of yamaha gens. G'luck, who knows, may run into ea other...

[azflycaster]

The WB Caravan started mid July and ended mid September. We had no mosquito issues. By the end of our trip, many of the facilities were closing for the winter.

[seanslatt]

We spent this most of this summer June-September in Alaska and of course Canada along the way. We had a two Airstream convoy and met up with several others are various times. We did not shy away from any roads and ultimately were quite happy with our preparations.

I recommend at least being able to change your trailer tire and have a portable air compressor. You can then drive to civilization for further assistance. We had two punctures (one was a nail and the other a very sharp rock) in the same trailer tire. The nail puncture I had plugged with a kit (lookup Boulder Tools 56 piece plug kit on Amazon) and also used a Trailer-Aid Tire Ramp (also on Amazon). The second puncture was inches from the other and wasn't field repairable. As others have said, you can be miles away from cell service so calling for help isn't always possible. On our way out, we and 3rd traveler stopped to assist two women broken down on the side of the road. They had a flat but didn't have enough tools to change the tire safely and inflate the spare. They had been sitting there for hours waiting/hoping for someone to stop and help. Vair compressors are the nicest and also the most expensive. You can certainly get by with a cheaper compressor but these smaller motors will overheat faster so it will take you longer to inflate a tire from zero. As we still use 15" wheels, we ended up purchasing an unmounted local brand, trailer tire, Rubber Maid (my joke as the brand is actually Rubber Master) which is now on top of the truck.

If you use off-road tires and have high ground clearance, you are going to kick up a lot more gravel than if you have highway tires and a lower tow vehicle. As we spent most of our time on gravel roads, and a Titan XD Pro-4X with BFG KO2 tires, we have a healthy amount of peppering on the front of the trailer. In hindsight, it might have been good to also protect the front body with thin yoga mats attached using command strip velcro. We did also protect the exposed propane lines under the rig using insulation tubes. We have no regrets with all of these efforts.

Between us and our convoy buddies, we jokingly had enough spare parts to build a working Airstream. If you follow Less Junk More Journey, helping with their leaking freshwater tank was a good learning experience! We did have a furnace failure along the way that caused us to reroute. We were fortunate for it to have only required some minor tuning to get us back on the road. The Atwood dealer in Anchorage was able to take us on short notice but generally getting RV repairs in Alaska in summer is like trying to get a spot in southern Florida in winter - challenging.

Overall, we strived to be as self-sufficient as possible and preferred dry camping and boondocking. Good solar, battery capacity, water, and waste management will allow you more options than if always require hookups.

One last note on driving and road conditions. Don't expect to be able to drive 75mph on cruise control. You will break something! Drive attentively and be prepared if not expect to have to slow down.

Despite the time we spent there, we didn't see everything and will be returning!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, you know that our trips are random, ["Bob, Lee, and Dusty's random trips"] and without any reservations. We got maps from AAA and bought the Mile Post book. They stayed in a door pocket and were never used. I'm not suggesting to not buy these, but just saying we never used ours.

[moosetags]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, you know that our trips are random, ["Bob, Lee, and Dusty's random trips"] and without any reservations. We got maps from AAA and bought the Mile Post book. They stayed in a door pocket and were never used. I'm not suggesting to not buy these, but just saying we never used ours.

As you know, Bob, our trips are kind of random also. We rarely have a detailed travel plan and knd of go where the wind takes us. We are taking more precautions on this Alaska trip as we know that services are not readily available in portions of the great expanse on the way to and in Alaska.

We have the 2019 Mile Post on order. We have also ordered the Alaskan Camping Guide. We are AAA member and plan to get their TripTic and maps. We plan to wait a couple of months to order this as we are hoping AAA will have better current information on road conditions and construction.

Brian

[dstalzer]

On both of our trips to Alaska, we were in need for some parts and repair. We located Fireweed RV Services in Whitehorse, Yukon. For the Airstream we needed a replacement fresh water petcock which was sheared off by a rock on The Top of the World Highway. On our truck camper we needed a propane hose to be installed from the bulkhead to the regulator. In both cases they were very reasonable, had the parts and were quick to do the installation. I highly recommend Fireweed RV Services.

Dennis

[David V.]

Howdy SuEllyn and Brian,


I've made four trips to AK from WY and back with my 1974 Argosy since 2006. Here are my thoughts about your questions:


• The earliest I have departed was April 30th, and I did run into some snow. I've left late May and been stuck in Watson Lake for three days because the spring runoff washed out the road too. My time frame for the trip has typically been 90 days, and my favorite time of the year is during the summer solstice when it's daylight 24/7. I'm also a fly fisherman and like to get there before the salmons begin.


• There are parts of the Alcan that have limited services, and close down at 5:00pm and on weekends. Make sure you have good spare tires and at least 10 gallons of extra gas.



• Looks like you are planning to go through Banff so continue to Lake Louise and Jasper, which are both gorgeous. You can then continue north on Hwy. 16 to Hwy. 40 and then left to Grand Prairie. There you can pick up the Alcan again.


• Be sure and stop at Laird Hot Springs for a night or two.


• The best wildlife viewing with be on the Alcan. Lots of Black bear, Moose, and Caribou.


• Mosquitos are not as bad as you may have heard. Unless you are in the back-country you may only have to use spray once or twice throughout the summer. I do go into the back-country while fishing and use Deep Woods Off. I've found that using it two or three times my skin becomes permeated and I'm good for the rest of the summer.


• My four all-time favorite places in AK are Homer, Girdwood, Hope and Talkeetna. You will definitely want to make time for them, as they truly represent Alaska.


Good luck, David

[pjshier]

On the subject of hot springs: Laird is great! So is Chena, north of Fairbanks- and there is a state of the art greenhouse and ice palace. Circle Hot Springs was a great destination, too, and close to the Yukon River. But I do t think the facilities are still open...

[Gene]

A few more thoughts—

The CG at Chena hot springs was somewhat primitive and I can't remember what hookups, if any, there were. The restaurant, where we only had appetizers one evening, was pretty good. The hot springs are quite nice, but if I recall the entrance had some sort of metal grate and flip flops would have helped me walk on it, otherwise it was pretty hard to walk on.

We on every trip had Michelin LTX tires, LR E. Some were new, some not. We went on lots of dirt/gravel roads. Wear was no different than anywhere else. You will see warnings about the Dalton and Dempster and other highways—we did not find them to be that bad unless you never have driven outside a city with well paved highways. In more than 30,000 miles on three trips, we got one flat and two windshield dings. When someone is coming the other way, slow down, that helps with windshields. One ding on the Dalton was on paved part (the other was on the Dempster).

Liard Hot Springs are free, fairly good and a welcome stop on a very long trip. Everybody else thinks the same thing, so they can be crowded. We stopped there once and it was ok.

I never use insecticides on my skin, Barb does, but not much. I don't trust insecticides and figure I can run fast enough most times. Though we had a few serious mosquito events, in about 20 weeks total on the road, mostly it was just like anywhere else. Along the Alaska Hwy, you will see cinnamon buns advertised at various places—they are all big and they all claim to be the best. We split one once to say we did. It was ok, had better. It is nevertheless a big deal on the Highway.

While services can be far apart, planning ahead for fuel is not that hard with the Milepost and other info. I check books and maps and believe that gives us more opportunities because we know stuff we would not otherwise know. We also brought 10 gallons of gas when we took the Airstream and never used any of it. On our third trip south, in BC on the lower reaches of the Alaska Hwy., they had very recently chip sealed it and then it rained and the oil didn't dry until it was firmly attached to both vehicles as a million little black spots. It took a couple of long days to get it off both vehicles when we returned home—that was the worst thing that happened.

Each time we went north on I-15. Always buy gas as close to the Canadian border as possible because it is a lot less expensive than in Canada. Our first trip, the Canadian dollar was about 65¢ US; It felt like things were almost free. Now it is 75¢, still a good deal. It can be hard to get Canadian cash—pulling a trailer around and trying to park at a bank in a town you don't know is a challenge. There are fewer banks to find too. And they are closed on weekends it seems. Merchants will charge a lot for exchange rates, so plan on getting money early on. We found a credit card that did not have an extra charge for foreign money—Capital One. Most do charge an extra fee (1% or more), so check that out.

We had Verizon and it worked pretty well, better on each trip. We found wifi in Canadian CG's to be better than most US ones, even when in very remote areas. Things have changed since we were last there I am sure.

With your travel experience, this will be more of the same, but longer and both remote and fascinating.

[gandttimes]

Following with intense interest as your trip has inspired us to plan it for 2020.

[Airwave503]

Hi Alan,

Can you point me to the user who taped Reflectix on the front of their trailer for the trip to Alaska? I'd like to know what tape they used, how it held up and how messy it was to take off. I am snow camping every weekend and looking for a way to fight the condensation problem. Someone suggest reflectix on the outside was way better than on the inside. I could use the road protection too!

Thanks,
--Jason

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f42/...m_medium=email

[Gene]

Jason,

I'm not Alan, but if you use duct tape, the glue can be removed with WD40 and some elbow grease. Might work for other types of glue. There are products specifically for removing glue on the market and provably are in the household section of supermarkets and in hardware stores. Alcohol (not the drinking kind because that would be a horrible waste) may work and if you really want to go nasty, Acetone. Acetone can remove paint and clear coat if you work it too hard and leave it on too long, but on the rock guards that's not a problem, or be fast.

[pjshier]

I've trolled a few threads lately regarding condensation - try a search on the term or winter camping to see what you get. As a native Alaskan, the fundamental issue is either taking the moist air out of the enclosure or taking the moisture out of the air in the enclosure. Even the RVs with "mouse fur" on the inside walls still have to deal with moisture, even if it is simply not as obvious.

For the record - winter camping is great! Mostly we have used hike-or-ski-in cabins for same, not the AS, yet.