Budgeting for an Alaska Trip

We have traveled in Alaska, but never all the way to Alaska. One of the things you should decide early is if you are going the AlCan or the Marine Highway.
The AlCan is serious travel, fuel is expensive and can be rare. Bring tools and spares.
The Marine Highway is a deal where they shove you on a barge (and charge by the foot of LOA). The good part is that most of the southern Alaskan cities cannot be driven to as they are on islands or are glacier bound. With the right ticket on the AMH, you can spend a day or two in any one.

Don't bother with a camera, Alaska is too big to fit in a camera.

Matt

It has been a long time since I pulled a 5th wheel over the Alaska Hwy. the last 4 round trips have been in our truck camper. Last trip in 2011. We normally will average between 12,000 and 15,000 miles, depending on our route. So I will use about 1,100 gallons of diesel on the trip. We will normally spend about half our time boon docking (free) and the other half in private or government type campgrounds.

To budget my costs, I add up the major items, fuel, camping, entertainment , etc and I can have a great trip of about 100 nights for about $10,000. We eat out very seldom, don't often go to the paid tourist type entertainment events, etc. there are some costs I can control to some degree, such as camping costs and others are somewhat fixed, such as fuel.
It is much easier to find good boon docking spots in northern Canada and Alaska than in the lower 48. So we don't tend to stop a great deal, prior to the Canadian border. I go to Alaska to spend my time there, not setting in campgrounds along the way. How many days of travel to get there is a very personal matter. Some of our forum members, due to age, health or lack of, enjoyment of driving, etc, take take 3 or 4 times as long to get to Alaska than I tend to do. But after 13 round trips by RV, to/from Alaska, we know where we want to spend our time.

I think you are close, but might need a little more.
We did a four month trip from NC to Alaska and back about seven years ago.
We did fifteen thousand miles and believe it or not, we spent fifteen thousand dollars.
It was the trip of a life time and worth every cent

jack L

Those figures sound about right. We did the trip in 2010, just remember the biggest cost is fuel in Canada. Also carry a fair amont of food because that's also expensive in Canada. At one stop we paid over $8 for a gallon of milk.
By the way we spend part of the winter in Panama City Beach.
You will enjoy the trip, the scenery and wildlife is incredible.

Hello,
We left from Dallas after Mother's Day this year. We were gone 10 weeks and 1 day. We spent $4,730 for gas, $1,448 on camping fees, and $1,029 on the marine highway. We did not track food, because you got to eat anyway.
We have an older Class B, average 11.25 MPG.
There is a section called "RVing in Canada and Alaska." There is more than a ton of information and questions already answered. Check it out.

Put another $5K in reserve and you will be in the ball park. We left Pinellas County 4/6 and arrived mid May. Then left after Labor Day arriving in Clearwater late Oct and spent over $20K.