Planning drive to Alaska

Brought some great memories of traveling on the ferry back in '87 and '88. No stateroom, slept on deck chairs in the solarium. Open to the stern, overhead heaters. A lot of fun,met great people, good to see it hasn't changed too much. At that time, it was a budget cruise. Good times!

 

It took us 7 days to get up to pudhoe from san diego. We pushed it pretty hard mileage wise. By doing that we were able to do more sightseeing coming back. We had 30 days to play with. 3 weeks is about the minimum if you're coming from that far south. You may not be able to do many off shoot excursions, but you'll see alot. Be prepared for bugs....bug net, spray...it all depends are where you are. We stopped to camp near a river, and we didn't even take our helmets off, it was that bad. Set up the tents and jump in before they could carry us away.

 

I don’t think I’d try the trip in winter. From what I know, instead of 24 hours of light you’ll get 24 hrs of dark and the weather will make the trip extremely hazardous. The bugs are bad (no one even mentioned the horse flies that are 3/4 inch long and take like literal chunks of flesh) but they’re manageable. Trick is as always just keep moving. If you have an awning look into a zip on screen room, that’d be the best way to enjoy most of the time, the fire helps keep them away somewhat as well.

I looked into that as I was planning my trip, it is really expensive and even 15 years ago plus the space was limited so you’d have to plan early. The gas actually works out to be cheaper and half the fun of the trip is the drive, that’s where you’ll see the most wildlife.

 

Won’t see any whales or other sea life in the mountains.

 

I’m from Seattle, I guess I want to see stuff I can’t see when I’m home.

 

It’s the difference between “driving in Alaska” and “driving to Alaska”.

 

Ding ding.... it an incredible boring drive. Endless endless boring. Fly to Alaska and rent a truck.











And to be fair, and honest. The road system is clogged with motorhomes and its no different then say Washington's coast. To "see" Alaska, you must fly into a town that has no roads leading in or out which is 90% of the state.

 

I wouldn’t describe most of it as boring. The Alcan up to around Fort St John is pretty bad but from there north is nice. Most of the Cassier and BC route is pretty scenic as well. I’ll admit after the first couple drives I started just putting in 18 hour days to get it over with but for most people doing it once in their life it’s still enjoyable.

 

Thats what I am doing, walking on the Ferry to check out the inside passage, flying out of Juneau to Ancorage and renting a truck camper to drive around the interior, then flying home from Anchorage or Fairbanks.

I decided I want to spend more time in Alaska than I did driving there. I would have to drive from the east coast...thats a whole lotta driving to get to a destination that at the end of the day, I would want a different rig to really enjoy what I wanna do anyway. Bonus, it actually works out about the same cost or even a little cheaper.

 

I figured as much. Seems like it would be a 2-3 trip. So either between jobs, rich, or have a sweet job you can take 3 weeks off.

Trying to speed up I feel like wills just be miserable. I like driving but not sure how enjoyable driving 10-12 hours for two weeks straight would be.

 

You could always fly, round trip would be around 500-550 per person to anchorage in the summer....Round trip your gas bill alone would probably be $1700 and thats with a $5 per gallon average at 18MPG.

 

I’ve always wanted to drive it. Just to see what’s along the route.

Gas would be a lot. I average more like 10-12mpg most days.

 

If you plan on traveling with your dog the ferry sounds like a nightmare: http://www.alaskaferryreservations.com/alaskaferry_pets.html

 

How safe is the drive? You hear every once in a while about people going missing driving through no mans land sections of Canada, including Trans Canada Highway.
Sounds like a great adventure btw. I would love to do it myself if I had enough time.

 

My friend didn’t put his dog in a crate and it ate the center console on his brand new silverado. My dog had a thing about only peeing in grass, refused to go anywhere else. He didn’t piss or shit for two days until the ferry stopped for the first time in Ketchikan and then it was a race down the gangway to the first patch of grass next to the dock.

I’d say it’s as safe as anywhere else.

 

I wouldn’t hesitate to drive north, the possibility of running into a whack job is almost non existent.
just listened to a podcast about a couple driving north and it sounded like the towns in summer are jammed with tourists, hotels booked up solid.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-overland-journal-podcast/id1492135529?i=1000586558431

 

Okay, well the thread title is, Planning drive to Alaska, but whatever floats your boat.

I think there are a few different schools of thought, and I even caught flack from my buddy who spent a lot of time in Alaska growing up for taking “the bullet train” by driving 6000 miles in less than 3 weeks (turns out he was jealous cause he didn’t have the means or the balls), but some of us do shit different. I wanted to not just see Alaska but I wanted to see Canada as well, and I saw a lot in Canada I didn’t in Alaska. Lots of caribou, elk, rock sheep, big horn sheep, black bear, wolves, moose, and I guess I was in the wrong place because the only place I saw brown bear were in the Yukon.

I did the trip because my uncle was a long haul truck driver and told me the route up the Alcan was beautiful. I’d already done the pacific coast from Cape Flattery to San Diego, wanted to complete the trip.

To each his own, but going to Alaska by plane or by boat isn’t exactly the same as what the op suggested in the thread title.

From the sounds of things, I’ll likely try to avoid the “real Alaskans” and just hang with my homies from the great white north

 

This is exactly why I want to drive it one day.

 

I was pointing out the obvious difference between taking the ferry versus doing it the right way and driving up there. I guess you just needed to get your pun out.

 

I can comment that even when I went there were a lot of people, but they were mainly concentrated in the touristy areas and cities like Banff and Whitehorse, etc. Especially once you’re off the beaten path they weren’t a problem, might have changed, but it has in the states too, parks are overrun because everyone is selling the outdoor thing now.

There was a lot of shit that baffled and pissed me off too.

One instance we were leaving Jasper and there were 2 bighorn sheep in the middle of the highway. People were getting out of their cars to take pictures and car drove by with a guy hanging out an open car door literally taunting them. It was disgusting.

Another instance there’s a black bear sitting in a ditch munching on grass shoots and people are walking up to it like the things in an enclosure in a zoo. Somebody’s kid came running up to it within like 20 feet, no shit.

I had to lock the windows because my girlfriend was trying to climb out screaming at people from the passenger seat, “They're gonna kill that bear you assholes!”

People wonder why animals attack, because people suck.