Trip to Alaska

Wife and I are fairly new to RVing and wish to go Denali Nat'l Park this May. We will be departing from AZ in a 2009 Class C ( 31ft )Coachmen. Any suggestions as to which way to go, extra supplies, etc. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Glenn

Start with the book "The Milepost". It has lots of great info on what to see and do and how to get there.

Be careful on groceries crossing the border. Canada does not like meat, both beef and chicken products including eggs.
You could come almost straight north and cross using US 89.
I would suggest going west from Calgary and go up through Ice Fields and Jasper.
Pick up Can 5 to Prince George and Can 97 to Dawson Creek. The North to Alaska!
Get the Mile post as soon as possible. Each of you go through the routes you want to take highlighting what you want to see.
Run on the upper end of the fuel tank. Get fuel at larger communities.
My bank has partner in Canada. Exchanging money is getting harder. I crossed the border, hit the cash machine at affiliate for spending money. On returning south I counted up what we had left and put it in the fuel tank leaving no Canadian money. Used credit and debit card for fuel. Check with your bank to see if they have affiliate in Canada.
We returned south via the Cassiar Highway.
Did trip May-June of last year,2015.
Get trip! Take your time!

Go north young man, go north.

Bill

I'd recommend that you start monitoring the 2016 Alaska post of travelers which has been going on for about a year.

Purchase online three things before you go: the Milepost which is excellent for maps and history; Mike and Terri Church's Alaskan Camping which is all you need to find RV parks, public parks and great boondocking spots. Finally, purchase the TourSaver 2/1 coupon book. One glacier day trip will pay for the book and you'll want to do at least one.

Keep in mind that since you stated your destination of Denali, that is not the only place you should be striving to see. There's a lot more. :) Stay in Denali itself for the best experience. We spent 5 nights in Riley Creek campground and 5 nights in the farthest one you can drive - Teklanika campground. Our days were full and we saw 'the mountain' 7 of 10 days.

It's not necessary to make a lot of reservations for your trip. The only ones we made were for the July 4 weekend and for Denali's Teklanika campground. Those were only made about 3 weeks prior when we could better judge where we'd be. We even got into Denali's Riley Creek campground with our 40' motorhome as a unplanned thing. We were a little too early for our Teklanika reservations so on a whim we boondocked outside the park at a lovely spot the prior night and drove into Denali early the next morning when folks were leaving and we easily secured a site for 5 nights.

Keep in mind that fuel in Canada will cost a lot more so stay in the U.S. as long as you can before crossing the border. From Arizona we headed up to Washington and crossed at Sumas which was easy. We crossed the 3rd week of May and returned to Montana near Glacier Nat'l Park the first part of September.

How long are you planning for the entire trip, Glenn?

Are you leaving the first of May or the end of May. And how many days are you planning for your trip.

Are you going to blog your trip? We want to do that someday and want to learn routes, camping spots (boon-docking) what to see. We want very remote and very scenic, not necessarily tour traps.

Am I very interested in your thoughts. Please think blog, let me know where you are going to post your trip.

Edit, I just found your blog. I will book mark it. Enjoy!

OP and Others:
I would schedule Denali after the June opening. Shuttles do not go to Eielsen Visitors center.
Denali season

Take a generator if you can and don't be afraid of dry camping. The commercial campgrounds in Alaska are nothing special but the public ones are great and the ones we stayed at had large sites. But it was dry camping. Denali has the best dump station I have ever seen (and fresh water fill). We stayed at an RV park in Cantwell and checked in to Denali the day before our stay. We were given all out paperwork for our arrival the next day. We arrived early, dumped our tanks and were lucky enough to get a double wide spot in Riley Campground. The Church's campground book is essential because many campgrounds do not have traditional addresses and you have to enter Lat/long into your GPS. We loved every minute of our trip in 2014 and plan to return in 2017.

We have made 3 trips. You can read our trip logs in the website posted in my signature.

PM's for additional info will be responded to.