Roll Call Alaska 2015
I know its early but we have been planning for the past 3 months. I know its another 15 months at least till we leave but we are just going crazy... So here is our very rough plan overview. Leave mid...
Forum Discussion
Completely agree with Sue's comments.
In 2013, we had a 45-minute wait for a pilot car on the North Klondike Highway. Had time to fix and eat lunch and take a short walk. You can't plan for that, although you can use the "511" web sites in each state/province, including Alaska, to keep up with the construction zones. One section of the Alaska Highway west of Beaver Creek was like towing our trailer over the ice flows in the Yukon River--randomly angled, truck-sized slabs of broken asphalt with a top speed of 5 mph. If you try to stick to a 350-mile/day schedule on BC, Yukon, and Alaska highways, you are going to be one unhappy RVer!
We also saved Jasper and Banff for our return trip because we knew from previous Alberta-BC trips that it was a fitting climax to a "once-in-a-lifetime" Alaska Highway journey. So, we used the Yellowhead and Cassiar Highways on the way up to Alaska. The Yellowhead from PG to Kitwanga is a great road, with no heave problems, great scenery in the Smithers to Kitwanga stretch, and a fantastic FREE city campground in Burns Lake (no hookups, but water and a free dump two blocks away). All of the visitor's centers along there have free WiFi, as does the Safeway grocery store in Smithers. And do not miss the side trip to Stewart-Hyder--majestic mountain scenery, bear viewing, and a spectacular view of a big mountain glacier (Salmon Glacier) from above.
In 2013, we had a 45-minute wait for a pilot car on the North Klondike Highway. Had time to fix and eat lunch and take a short walk. You can't plan for that, although you can use the "511" web sites in each state/province, including Alaska, to keep up with the construction zones. One section of the Alaska Highway west of Beaver Creek was like towing our trailer over the ice flows in the Yukon River--randomly angled, truck-sized slabs of broken asphalt with a top speed of 5 mph. If you try to stick to a 350-mile/day schedule on BC, Yukon, and Alaska highways, you are going to be one unhappy RVer!
We also saved Jasper and Banff for our return trip because we knew from previous Alberta-BC trips that it was a fitting climax to a "once-in-a-lifetime" Alaska Highway journey. So, we used the Yellowhead and Cassiar Highways on the way up to Alaska. The Yellowhead from PG to Kitwanga is a great road, with no heave problems, great scenery in the Smithers to Kitwanga stretch, and a fantastic FREE city campground in Burns Lake (no hookups, but water and a free dump two blocks away). All of the visitor's centers along there have free WiFi, as does the Safeway grocery store in Smithers. And do not miss the side trip to Stewart-Hyder--majestic mountain scenery, bear viewing, and a spectacular view of a big mountain glacier (Salmon Glacier) from above.
