Going Back to Alaska Question

Last summer (and the summer before) we went up from east Glacier on to Hiway 2 in Alberta. You can also enter Canada at Sweet Grass. From there you can then take 22 or 8 to the west of Calgary over to Banff then up Ice-fields Parkway, then Jasper to Hinton, then Hinton to Grand Prairie on 40, then 43/2 into Dawson Creek. We'd definitely do this route again.

Was a fantastic trip- some truck traffic from Grand Prairie on up to around Ft Nelson then it died off. We drove a 31 ft gasser towing a dolly and toad.

Weo crossed just west of Glacier NP, went up thru Canadian Rockies,Jasper to Dawson Creek. No problem and a beautiful route to.

Some great suggestion, thanks!

Here's a good site with all the crossings. It just depends what you want to see as to what crossing to take. Also, they have definite hours so check the times, also. You might want to consider staying in the lower 48 as long as possible before crossing. Fuel will be cheaper.

http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/list-of-border-crossings/#.VwXYPSbmqUk

Not sure where you are in Wisconsin but I would avoid the Twin Cites this summer. They are completing the connection of Hwy 610 and 94 this summer. Plus doing the bridge work on the only parallel rd Cty 81 at the same time. Going northwest out of the Twin Cities this summer will be a pain.

marquette wrote:
Not sure where you are in Wisconsin but I would avoid the Twin Cites this summer. They are completing the connection of Hwy 610 and 94 this summer. Plus doing the bridge work on the only parallel rd Cty 81 at the same time. Going northwest out of the Twin Cities this summer will be a pain.

What about taking I495 around the Twin Cities versus I695?

We will be headed that way in early September

494 & 694 both end up together on 94 about 3 miles from the main construction site. That should be in about the worst of the back ups expected. 694 to Hwy 10 will be a better choice. Hwy 10 is 4 lane and you can stay on it all the way to North Dakota or cut back over to 94 at several place just west of the Twin Cities past the construction. In a car Hwy 10 is not as fast as 94 because you can do 70-75 mph on 94. Hwy 10 is 65 mph. I prefer Hwy 10 when I am towing a trailer. We are going to Alaska in June and we will go up Hwy 10.

From Sweetgass MT/ Coutts, AB crossing, it possible to avoid Calgary, (as well as Edmonton) we do it at every oportunity, by turning west off Hwy 2 before the Calgary, and then north to get onto the Hwy 1 and take it west. You can either head up the Icefield Parkway to Jasper, or cross into British Columbia still on Hwy 1, and make your way up to Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway. I going to Jasper, take Hwy16 to Prince George and north to Dawson Creek. While at Prince George you have the opportunity to continue west and take the Cassiar route north, joining the Alaska Highway a few miles west of Watson Lake, Yukon.
Perhaps return on the entire Alaska Highway road on your return for variety.

In the past we have crossed at Del Bonita, west of Sweet Grass. It is a little used rural crossing and we have never had to wait in line. In fact the last time coming home I had to declare an item we had purchased in AB and it took 15 minutes to fill out the paper work. In that time no one else passed through. From there we take highway 501 to Cardston and highway 2 up to High River. At High River we get off 2 and go over to Black Diamond where we pick up 22 and follow that up to the Trans Canadian Highway and on up to Banff and Jasper.

Mike

Chief's Mountain north of Glacier NP is a pretty drive and takes you to Waterton NP, which is beautiful. It's a very small crossing.