Trip planning - Alaska

I see you hail from South Carolina. As a suggestion? Do your planning with wriggle room. If the Parkway happens to be socked in with weather when you get to Calgary, look at heading to BC and then north via 93 from just west of Banff then head north on the 95, picking up the #1 again just north of Valemont and think of hitting the Parkway on your way home.

A trip of this magnitude..the trick..the secret, is to not be wedded to your hoped for travel routing. Be flexible. 100% bendy bendy, so that when the need arises no one gets bent out of joint. Look for the other way and carry on. Chances are, that will happen more often than you thought was gonna. You'll get to Alaska and have a great time doing it.


Gary Haupt

Like trigley say, don't push it to hard. Your early for the mountains and campgrounds, not just in up the icefeild parkway but just about everywhere north of there.
Third weekend in May is the unofficial opening date of the Canadian camping season. Come May 1st a lot of campgrounds will open, however not all of them will be.
Watch the weather reports, and check road reports, there are a lot of web cams in BC and Alberta, there are not to many in the Yukon.
BC web cams and road reports
If you see bad weather coming on your route early in the season or any time, just hold up a day or two and wait it out. Look on the link I gave you ... half way down left side ( DRIVEBC) for road reports.
Also on the web cams for ( southern interior) will show Banff and Lake Louise) yes, they are in Alberta, however BC just wanted to help Alberta advertise the Canadian Rockies. And that's because BC has more of the Canadian Rockies than Alberta does ( grin)
My oldest daughter lived west of Calgary for many years, not to many years ago there was a snow storm in the Banff area on August 1. Next day, you wouldn't know it hit on the road, but all the mountain peaks were still nice and white.
Have a blast and see you up there next summer.
Soup.

No commercial vehicles are allowed on the Icefield Parkway. My guess is the system is equating your outfit to a commercial one and trying to divert you at Calgary. There are no problems with going that route.
You should be OK May 1, just don't push it. By that I mean if there is a storm or threat of a storm sit it out for 2-3 days. Rain at Calgary or Banff would probably be snow further up. You want to do the drive on a nice day not only for the safety aspect, but it will be one of the most scenic segments of your journey.
There may well be snow encroaching on the shoulders particularly at higher elevations. If so be cautious of black ice from the thaw freeze, particularly in the mornings.
There will be a limited number of campgrounds open and no water to sites. This will be the same both in and out of the mountains.
The mountains IMO are much prettier in May than in summer due to the amount of snow cover. There is also a greater chance of seeing wildlife.
Going June or Aug would probably give you better weather but it is still just a chance. I have been at Lake Louise July 4 when it snowed all day.

Ah, yes....Alberta.......where you can be suntanning in shorts and a t shirt in January and shoveling snow in June.

Ya just never can tell.

What's the weather like?

Wait a minute........

Passin Thru wrote:
There's a whole AK Forum.

Thanks.
I never scrolled down that far.
Plenty of time for reading.

There's a whole AK Forum.

Sounds early for the Icefields Parkway.
Maybe do it on way back?