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hedgehopper's avatar
hedgehopper
Explorer
Mar 16, 2018

Boondocking tips on the way from Denver to Alaska

When traveling in the US we like to boondock as much as possible to keep the costs down. (I’m using “boondock” here to mean free camping, which would include Walmart parking lots.) I’m wondering about the availability of places to boondock if we drive from Denver, cross into Canada from Montana, head up to Dawson Creek and continue on the Alaska highway. Any tips on how to find free or low cost camping?

45 Replies

  • Coming north from Denver via Montana into Alberta, you'll find Walmarts in most of the major cities, between Lethbridge and Edmonton. It thins out as you head north towards Dawson Creek. That said, there's a Walmart in Dawson Creek at the start of the Alaska Hwy, and another one in Whitehorse YT, and that's about it until you hit Fairbanks. There are also a smattering of truck stops along that route - check the truck stop websites for specific locations, but assume major cities have them. IIRC, there's a Flying J in Whitecourt, AB, and that's the last full service, big 3 truck stop (TA/Petro, Pilot/FlyingJ, Loves) up there. There is a Pilot/FlyingJ listed in Dawson Creek, but it's just a cardlock fuel station. No facilities. As others have said, if you want true rustic boondocking, there are plenty of places to pull over along the Alaska Hwy/Hwy97 route. Many are just gravel pull outs, like min-rest areas with gravel parking some have pit toilets or porta-toilets. There are also small government campgrounds in northern BC and the Yukon with iron rangers for paying the C$12 to C$20 per night for a place to park. Most have toilets, but not much in the way of other facilities.If you're creative, you won't have any problems finding low cost accommodations. Just use common sense and you'll be OK.

    As an after thought, there's a campground that's about $16/night with showers, dump station, but no hookups in Tok, called the Alaskan Stove Campground. It was self serve payment late in the day. We stayed there and it was fine, but it's located right next to an airstrip called 40-Mile Air, so you might hear an occasional aircraft taking off early morning.
  • x2 on Church's book; it's very helpful and complete and about as enjoyable to read as any book of that sort might be.

    The Yukon territorial parks are all $12 per night (and all include free firewood), payable either using an iron ranger or with a prepaid voucher that can be purchased at various locations. The main advantage of the voucher, at least that I can make out, is that the iron ranger can't give change.
  • Once you're North of Edmonton there's plenty of boondock opportunities, as well as many rustic government campgrounds with beautiful views.

    Check out the Alaskan camping book from the Church's. They list a bunch of "formal" boondock sites. There's also informal ones, that may or may not be on the Internet.

    Many websites and old posts refer to camping in gravel lots. When I drove through the Yukon, I found a locked gate across every gravel lot I came across.

    Not much help for places in the states. I stayed in a parking lot in Whitefish Montana, it was next to a real estate agency downtown, sorry that's not much help.
  • Boondocking isn’t Walmart. It’s camping, not “free” overnights at Walmart. Don’t confuse sleeping in someone’s parking lot for boondocking.
  • Free

    Campendium

    When using these sites I also look at Google earth ad street view. Some of the reviews are good as far as what size rigs can fit etc but some like to just tell you how beautiful it was.