Trip to Alaska

Orion wrote:
Snag! That's a famous place.

Yes, it is

Snag! That's a famous place.

Chiefelectusn wrote:
Joe b. You could be a national treasure, landmark or something!
Sue T. Is a national treasure with her pictures.
I thank you both, you made last years Alaskan trip wonderful with great information and helpful hints.

You're welcome...

I enjoy sharing pictures of Yukon. It's in my genes...my father photographed Yukon in the early 1950s when he moved here. I have many boxes of his historical images.

Here's one from his collection...that's Dad holding his baby Suzy :D at Snag YT, one of the airfields on the Northwest Staging Route

Holy Cow Joe! You are bit older than i am, a bit younger than my wife. Yep, you got a lot more Alaska years and miles than we do, but we are working on it. I asked her the other day how much longer we would go and she thought about 10 more years would be about right.

Stop by this summer if you are down on the Kenai.

Thanks for the kind words. I do love Alaska and northern Canada, having spent much of my adult life living, working and traveling in the north country. Plus I seem to have a propensity toward talking about Alaska. I basically consider the Interior of the state to be home, so why do I live in the swamp country of south Florida? Who knows. We moved to western Colorado to give our young daughters an opportunity to grow up in a setting more like my wife and I had as kids. Then we came to Florida to take care of my wife's parents and never got around to leaving. Now we have grand kids here, so we obviously won't be leaving. LOL

Probably why I try to tell people to go north, when they can, especially before they get too old, lose their mobility, their health, their stamina, etc. for me to go now as a 74 y/o person, I can't do many of the activities I did many times when younger. But even going at my age, is still so worth it to most folks that want to visit. We are wanting to go back this summer, if possible. Never thought I would ever have to plan our RV trips to fit in to my scheduled doctors appointments and procedures. LOL

Chiefelectusn wrote:
Joe b. You could be a national treasure, landmark or something!
Sue T. Is a national treasure with her pictures.
I thank you both, you made last years Alaskan trip wonderful with great information and helpful hints.

And both of you continue to be treasures with you obvious love for Alaska and the Yukon and willingness to answer the same questions over and over again. lizzie

Joe b. You could be a national treasure, landmark or something!
Sue T. Is a national treasure with her pictures.
I thank you both, you made last years Alaskan trip wonderful with great information and helpful hints.

Back to the OP's original post, I like to carry a few extra maintenance parts. Tools I am comfortable using, an extra oil filter, a couple of fuel filters, a fan/serpentine belt(s), air filter, etc. If your vehicle has any known problem areas, carry those needed replacement parts. i.e. my last tow vehicle was a Dodge diesel pickup and those early 2000 models had a problem with the low pressure fuel pumps, located on the engine block. They were not hard to change but not always easy to find one available. Lots of good mechanics on the trip north, but even breaking a fan belt could result in sitting around for a few days till a new belt can be sent to your mechanics work place. Have one with you and it is just a short unplanned stop.

Make sure your vehicle is in good shape before you go and it should make the trip in good shape. As mentioned many times above, slow down and drive at a speed appropriate to the road conditions. Remember, the road is not moving, just your vehicle, so how hard you hit a hole or bump/heave is based upon your speed at the time of impact.

A few years back, Sue t. and I gave some serious consideration to forming a partnership business and run caravan tours to/from Alaska. Main problem we came up with was, my thoughts that she should do most of the work and I would handle the money. Not sure what her problem was. Her husband, was going to be the tailgunner (her husband, Steve, can fix anything, almost) Sue could be the Wagon Master, my wife Patti would handle all the details, reservations, etc.

Our plan was to make an option in the trips to be either one way or a round trip with the group. We thought that on the way up to Alaska, people would find places where they wished to spend more time and they could do it on a one way trip with the group. Caravan group on the north bound leg and then those that wished could come back with the tour employees or they could go on their on in Alaska and return solo or in informal small groups if they put them together themselves. But at the time, it turned out, neither couple had the time, right them to do this all summer. Still think it would be a workable idea for someone younger than me.

Next Tuesday is Sue's birthday. Easy for me to remember as we were born on the same day and close to the same year. Well not real close but kinda, sorta. Actually I was 20 years old the first time I probably saw Sue, about 4 at the time, playing in the mud puddles outside her family's gas station/garage in Beaver Creek YT.

And yes, I do buy pixels by the barrel when they are on sale. LOL

fanrgs wrote:

Gjac wrote:
The trip to Alaska was just as enjoyable as Alaska itself. . . I would skip the bus tour to Denali, after the trip everyone wanted to take a nap, I went back on my bike and saw a lot more animals close up.

I agree with you about seeing as many national and provincial parks in Canada as possible on the trip because they are often spectacular. And the Stewart-Hyder area glacier and wildlife alone are well-worth a trip over the Cassiar Highway in one direction.

I'm sorry but I couldn't ride my bike past the Teklanika campground when I was younger, much less up Polychrome Pass to the Eielson Visitors Center or Wonder Lake over 150 RT miles of gravel road. So, if you are not a bike aficionado, take the Denali NP bus tour. I have taken it 3 times--1992, 2000, and 2013--and have never been bored, even if the bus itself can be tiring. And keep in mind that, because summer days in the park are long, even a bus trip that seemingly starts late in the day will generally get you "home" before dark.

On one Denali bus trip, the driver was a Ph.D. wildlife biologist from a university in the Lower 48 who spent his days off studying the park's Dall sheep. He spent our entire trip essentially teaching a class on the park wildlife for all of us. Having never had college biology, I learned more than I ever could have from a guidebook. It was, without doubt, the best "guided tour" I have ever been a part of. IMHO, the bus is worth every dollar of the cost, regardless of how many people are in your family/group.

I never said I rode my bike past Teklanika, I just biked a little past Reilly CG. I may have gone farther if I had all day. I was mid 50's at the time not an Olympic athlete.

OK, guys, hows about a campfire or two when we all get up there. You set the date and time and we'll all show and pay you big bucks for your lies, er, true stories. :)