Alaska Campgrounds Needed
Hey guy/gals my dad and I are making a trip this year to Alaska and I am looking for some campground ideas. We are renting a RV in Anchorage then heading to Fairbanks. We will be hitting Fairbanks, De...
Forum Discussion
2 gypsies, I have been driving to Alaska for the last 54 years so I do have a bit of first hand experience. First trip in 1962 when I was 20 years old. Have since made 13 round trips by RV, half dozen or more by car or truck (didn't keep track of them) and another half dozen flying small aircraft from the lower 48 to Alaska, following the Alaska Hwy or the Cassiar Hwy or flying the trench which is just east of the Caaaiar, following a series of lakes and the old railroad bed that was abandoned prior to completion.
As I remember you made your first trip of two, to Alaska at a somewhat advanced age of you and your spouse. The second trip you made was the only driving trip you have done. Two trips was all your age and health would allow, it would appear, as you gave up RVing not too long after your driving trip to Alaska. Most travelers to Alaska do it when they are much younger than you and your spouse were and many on the forum that had originally planned to make the one trip, have gone back time and time again. A few are up to 4, 5, 6 or more trips and are planning to do more.
The OP stated this is a second trip for them to Alaska
No, I don't have family in Fairbanks, but at one time did have some living in Anchorage, poor souls. They traveled so little that they really believed all of Alaska looked like the Anchorage bowl or Kenai area. But a lot of Anchorage residents don't seem to get around the state much.
Fairbanks was our "bright lights" so to speak for many years even though I never lived there. It was where we shopped, had major work done on our airplanes, my wife and I both had our own aircraft, as we are both pilots, mini vacations over a long weekend, where we stored our RVs while we were living in the bush, we lived 13 years in Nenana, SW of Fairbanks an hour and a half. And close to another 13 years in other parts of the state. So besides accumulating over 3,000 hours of bush flying experience and have personally run a river boat from Fairbanks down to the mouth of the Yukon River at the Aphoone Mouth when it enters the ocean, a trip of about 1,500 + miles.
One winter I taught a couple of graduate classes for the U of A in Fairbanks, high vocabulary/ low interest types. LOL Alaska Government economics and School Law.
I have read that if a person drives all the paved roads in Alaska they will have seen about 5 % of the state, add in all the gravel roads and the total will go up to about 10% of the state seen. To see more than that you have to use boats and air travel. If a person just goes to Anchorage and down to the Kenai they will have seen maybe 2% of the state. Alaska is so huge it can be divided into about 5 or 6 different regions but most folks only see one or two of these regions. The cruise ships, bus tour, gets their guests to at least 3 of the regions in the time frame the OP is talking about and a rental RV can do the same but not if all they see is Anchorage, a small version of Seattle, and the Kenai.
Many of the fly and rent RVs group will make the tourist circle and get a taste of what Alaska has to offer and plan to come back later to see more of the state.
The Alaska Canada section of the forum is one place when people read the opinions of others, they need to ask themselves if the responder is qualified to have that opinion.
Another thing to do in Fairbanks to to take a mail plane trip out to some of the villages. Larry's Flying service was doing this on their daily mail run from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon and some of the villages outlying from there. There was a local tour being run by Richard Carrol in Fort Yukon, that a couple of the forum members have done and really enjoyed according to them.
As I remember you made your first trip of two, to Alaska at a somewhat advanced age of you and your spouse. The second trip you made was the only driving trip you have done. Two trips was all your age and health would allow, it would appear, as you gave up RVing not too long after your driving trip to Alaska. Most travelers to Alaska do it when they are much younger than you and your spouse were and many on the forum that had originally planned to make the one trip, have gone back time and time again. A few are up to 4, 5, 6 or more trips and are planning to do more.
The OP stated this is a second trip for them to Alaska
No, I don't have family in Fairbanks, but at one time did have some living in Anchorage, poor souls. They traveled so little that they really believed all of Alaska looked like the Anchorage bowl or Kenai area. But a lot of Anchorage residents don't seem to get around the state much.
Fairbanks was our "bright lights" so to speak for many years even though I never lived there. It was where we shopped, had major work done on our airplanes, my wife and I both had our own aircraft, as we are both pilots, mini vacations over a long weekend, where we stored our RVs while we were living in the bush, we lived 13 years in Nenana, SW of Fairbanks an hour and a half. And close to another 13 years in other parts of the state. So besides accumulating over 3,000 hours of bush flying experience and have personally run a river boat from Fairbanks down to the mouth of the Yukon River at the Aphoone Mouth when it enters the ocean, a trip of about 1,500 + miles.
One winter I taught a couple of graduate classes for the U of A in Fairbanks, high vocabulary/ low interest types. LOL Alaska Government economics and School Law.
I have read that if a person drives all the paved roads in Alaska they will have seen about 5 % of the state, add in all the gravel roads and the total will go up to about 10% of the state seen. To see more than that you have to use boats and air travel. If a person just goes to Anchorage and down to the Kenai they will have seen maybe 2% of the state. Alaska is so huge it can be divided into about 5 or 6 different regions but most folks only see one or two of these regions. The cruise ships, bus tour, gets their guests to at least 3 of the regions in the time frame the OP is talking about and a rental RV can do the same but not if all they see is Anchorage, a small version of Seattle, and the Kenai.
Many of the fly and rent RVs group will make the tourist circle and get a taste of what Alaska has to offer and plan to come back later to see more of the state.
The Alaska Canada section of the forum is one place when people read the opinions of others, they need to ask themselves if the responder is qualified to have that opinion.
Another thing to do in Fairbanks to to take a mail plane trip out to some of the villages. Larry's Flying service was doing this on their daily mail run from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon and some of the villages outlying from there. There was a local tour being run by Richard Carrol in Fort Yukon, that a couple of the forum members have done and really enjoyed according to them.
