Planning drive to Alaska

Might have to prepare for this:

 

I second this.

 

Thirded. Sitting under the spout between the hot and cold sides was my favorite spot.

 

I just figured everyone else has a gun… just seems like it would only be fair. All the hot springs make me really want to do this. I calculated the cost of gas the other day and it wasn’t pretty.

 

Denali National Park Mid September. If you make a reservation at one of the first two campgrounds inside the park you can drive to it. All the rest are by Shuttle bus only.

 

Tombstone Territorial Park near the southern end of the Dempster Highway and Dawson City. I would highly recommend both.

 

Get a copy of the Milepost. They put out a new copy every year. It will show you all the highlights you’d want to see so you can plan your route accordingly. Also, stop in Jasper National Park in Canada along the way.

 

I just did the drive two weeks ago, started in Miramar, Fl and ended in Valdez, AK.

where’s your starting point?

I have an excell sheet with all the stops I did and places I spent the night.

let me know if I can help with anything.

 

Take me back!!! Uggghhhh.

 

Hey sir my starting pointing is gonna be Fort Collins Co

 

What a place. My daughter and I spent a day there. Swam the steaming rivers into the woods. Had the place to ourselves, despite it being August.

 

I would love to chat with you about the places you went and the things you did. Please PM me

 

I did the trip about 17 years ago in my 99 Tacoma, left out of Seattle. 6000 miles in 3 weeks, which was a lot of driving. That was trying to hit as many main roads as I could.

Time of year matters obviously, go in the summer for weather and eternal sunshine. You don’t want to drive at night.

All of BC is gorgeous as is the Yukon. Even the drive to Banff (Lake Louise is beautiful) and Jasper through Revelstoke are amazing.

Someone mentioned Liard hot springs, that’s a good one but seriously, the mosquitoes drink straight Deet it’s so buggy.

I went all the way to Calgary, took the long way around through Saskatchewan which was pretty boring, just central plains east of the Rockies.

Dawson City is a blast, casinos open all night in the land of the midnight Sun.

The Cassiar Highway (the western route) is amazing.

Recommend you wash your truck when you get to Alaska at Fairbanks or Tok. They treat the roads to keep the dust down. I also did an oil change as it was my approximate halfway point.

 

Agreed. You don’t need a gun, and if you did you don’t have one big enough unless you wanna carry a sawed off shotgun (bear swatter) to scare them or carry a high powered rifle and are a good shot.

The moose are no joke. I advised don’t drive at night, and I only did it one time and regretted it. My shitty stock headlights were terrible and the only oncoming traffic were 18 wheelers lit up light close encounters of the third kind driving so fast they almost blew me off the road.

Story gets more interesting as I’m exhausted after driving for like 10 hours and tell my girlfriend in the passenger seat she has to drive, manual transmission be damned.

“What do I do if I see an animal (which we randomly saw like 5 sets of eyes go up and over the road in front of us)?”

“If it’s smaller than a deer hit it, if it’s bigger try to swerve to miss it (we were crawling along at like 45mph) or slam on the breaks but make sure to push in the clutch.”

Just then I see what looks to my very tired eyes like a ghost in the oncoming lane and like a frightened child ask, “What the hell is that?!”

As we get close this huge moose swings it’s head around (we were looking at its ass) and I scream like a little girl and slam on the horn and drive by it as my life flashes before my eyes.

My girlfriend asks, “So that’s what you want me to do?”

A long road trip will test any relationship, let’s just say it got testy after that.

 

Hey y’all I am wondering what y’all use for cell service boosters or emergency services when you don’t have service, looking at getting something for when I go to Alaska

 

AT&T had a deal with rogers when I was there, so my phone worked in Alberta and bc. However, rogers had no towers in the yukon, so I did Skype calls from wifi hotspots if needed. Another option would be to get a local sim card, but I just didn’t need phone service that badly. All my maps were offline on a garmin, and wifi was available in enough places.


For emergency communications and keeping loved ones up to date on my location I carried an inreach. Worked great.


Since I was in a motorcycle, I also got a a Medjet policy. Wanted to make sure I could get home without relying on family to foot the bill for my shenanigans.


The only insurance I ended up using was progressives roadside assistance, saved me ~$2500 on a tow.

 

This is terrible advise. And you got lucky. Every Alaskan that is not inside a structure is armed. A .454 is your ticket. I shot an attacking black bear threw my tent at age 16. But hey, if you want to be a bear snack, be my guest.

Please follow the advise from the guy who grew up camping and hiking Alaska.

 

I cross the border quite often for work and personal trips and I have seen many US visitors stopped inside the Canadian Customs for firearms. I’m not sure whether they were allowed to continue on or were turned around. I think many of the US travelers forget that although they’re headed for US soil they’re still traveling over Canadian land to get there, and so our laws apply. Be sure to brush up on our gun laws before making the trip if you plan to bring your firearms. The current Canadian government isn’t gun friendly at all and they are trying to disarm us.

 

What he probably meant is most Yankees carry guns in their vehicles which is allowed in the U.S.A but illegal in Canada. So if you are one that does carry a gun in your truck don't forget to leave it at home or the Border guards will arrest, confiscate your gun, fine, cease your truck. just sayin.

 

I have a 2024 summer Alaska trip in the planning stage but I am probably not going to take the Tacoma.

I am leaning towards, Flying to Seattle, taking the ferry out of Bellingham on the inside passage to Juneau or Ketchican, flying to Barrow(Utkiagvik) returning to Anchorage, picking up a truck camper for a 2 week or so driving camping tour (Denali, Seward, Homer, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell etc), return flight out of Anchorage or Fairbanks. Allocating a month or more to the trip.

I figure this way, I can spend the maximum amount of time in Alaska and still have freedom to roam on my own schedule. This arrangement will also allow me to bring a handgun.

If the need was only for wildlife protection I would be ok transiting thru Canada with a rifle or shotgun, but Alaska has the second-highest crime rate of 837.8 per 100,000 residents. Alaska has the highest violent crime rate and the thirteenth-highest property crime rate in the US. Alaska’s violent crime rate is more than double that of the Pacific region and is the highest of all 50 states.....so keeping something concealed and handy in town might be the better play.