Minimum Time to Visit AK from San Francisco?
I'm going to read everything in here, but thought I would just ask a quick question. What's the minimum amount of time I would need to make a trip to Alaska and back, starting in San Francisco? And ...
Forum Discussion
Ok my 2 cents worth. We drove 11,111 miles in 47 days, in May and June 14. That's an avg. of 236 miles a day. We did some long days (600+, 500+) in the lower 48. Once in Canada we tried to keep to less than 300. We broke up the drive from Whitehorse to Tok into 2 days because of the frost heaves.
Once in Alaska we spent 3 days in Talkeetna, 5 days in Anchorage, 4 days in Valdez. A couple of other days in Tok and on the Denali Highway. We would have gone down to the Kenai Pennisula but the smoke from the fire was terrible so we re-distributed our days.
We normally left the CG by 0830 and tried to be parked somewhere by 4 to 5pm. When we got home I was completely exhausted from all the driving. Next time I'll take at least 3 months and do it right. But at the time it was all the vacation I could work up. And it was all the time my daughters had as well.
Point being, there is a TON to see. If you want to spend most of your time in AK and don't mind driving really long days, you can do it in 4-5 weeks but you will be shot by the time you return. There is a lot to see in Canada along the way. It will also make you want to go back and slow WAY down.
Once in Alaska we spent 3 days in Talkeetna, 5 days in Anchorage, 4 days in Valdez. A couple of other days in Tok and on the Denali Highway. We would have gone down to the Kenai Pennisula but the smoke from the fire was terrible so we re-distributed our days.
We normally left the CG by 0830 and tried to be parked somewhere by 4 to 5pm. When we got home I was completely exhausted from all the driving. Next time I'll take at least 3 months and do it right. But at the time it was all the vacation I could work up. And it was all the time my daughters had as well.
Point being, there is a TON to see. If you want to spend most of your time in AK and don't mind driving really long days, you can do it in 4-5 weeks but you will be shot by the time you return. There is a lot to see in Canada along the way. It will also make you want to go back and slow WAY down.
