Heading to Anchorage

One of the most enjoyable trips we've ever taken. We went up the Cassiar and back down through the east entrance to Glacier.

Be cautious of weather those times of year, we hit Canada about June 1st and had some amazingly hard rain storms, and we left Wasilla on Aug 15th and saw snow on the peaks about 1000-1500 ft above us.

Make sure you take as many side trips as time allows. Canada and Alaska are two of the most beautiful places in the world.

I would head out tomorrow if I thought I wouldn't be driving in snow and ice. And maybe have problems finding open gas stations.

You swing west at Calgary and go up the Ice Fields highway through Jasper.

That's kinda early....

I hope your destination is not just Anchorage. It's just another city. There's a lot more to your trip. Take your time on the way up and explore. Canada and the Yukon have awesome places to check out.

Be sure to read the other posts on this forum for lots of good information.

The only things you need is the Milepost for history and maps; Mike and Terri Church's Alaskan Camping book which includes Canada and the Yukon, and the 2/1 TourSaver coupon book. One glacier cruise will pay for the book and you'll want to do at least one. We did the Stan Stephens out of Valdez and highly recommend it.

Also, don't load yourself down with reservations. There are plenty of places so stop and lovely boondocking spots, too. The only ones we made were for the July 4 weekend and 5 nights in Denali's Teklanika campground. Those were only made about 3 weeks prior when we could better judge when we'd be in the area.

Have fun planning!

bbbarker194 wrote:
Planning to leave Idaho the last week of April. Taking the East Access Route from Great Falls, MT. Plan to return to the lower 48 mid-September.

Mary & Barb
2014 Cedar Creek 5th Wheel
2006 Ford F-350 Dually

Good plan. Not early at all, especially with the strong El Nino the North has had this year. Memorial Day in Valdez was great. Didn't notice any closed gas stations except ones that had been out of business for a long time. Closed campgrounds yes, in the Yukon, but they could have just been out of business too.

Have a great time!

make sure you have an extra spring and spring hanger.

when you get back to the lower 48 get an alignment on trailer and truck

edbehnke wrote:
make sure you have an extra spring and spring hanger.

when you get back to the lower 48 get an alignment on trailer and truck

We've never needed a spring or spring hanger in tens of thousands of miles of highway and backroads in Yukon and Alaska with the fifth wheel the past 10 years. But then we just meander along to suit the road conditions rather than try to make time or keep a schedule.

GordonThree wrote:
Didn't notice any closed gas stations except ones that had been out of business for a long time. Closed campgrounds yes, in the Yukon, but they could have just been out of business too.

There are still a fair number of summer-only gas stations, but they're only needed if you're not watching your fuel gauge or have a very small tank. Most Yukon campgrounds, private and government, open May 20th - the 10 most popular government ones open May 13 this year.

Thoughts:

- Think it's obvious, but as noted above, Los Anchorage is nothing particularly special in itself; good jumping off place for other adventures, but not a destination in and of itself;
- April is not too early, although there may be snow on some of the roads at higher elevations;
- Hopefully, "mid-September" is when you're leaving AK, not arriving back in Idaho or wherever. In September (particularly mid- or later) you'll see an entirely different season in much of Alaska and the northern end of the Canada trip.