Alaska - 2023

[Salty_Dog]

Sorry for the long post! I did a search on this forum and others prior to asking...

My wife and I are recently retired and are planning on making the trip to Alaska next summer. We have a multitude of questions for those you have also made the trip.

Our trip is planned for about 4 months and includes Mt Rushmore , Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons on our way (not all encompassing, taking about a month to travel west and visit these areas), the Canadian Rockies (Banff and the Icefield Parkway) to the Cassiar Highway and then to the Al-Can - about 4 weeks to reach Alaska, Glennallen - 4 days, Palmer - about 3 days, Seward - 6 days, Homer - 5 days, Anchorage - 10 days, Denali - 5 days, Fairbanks - 10 days, and then begin the trip home from Alaska at the middle of September. The start of the return trip is governed by the campground closings in Fairbanks.

We have the Milepost and it has been a great source of information!

We are still in vacation mode where we try to cram a lot into a little space. Any tips on addressing this?

I am trying to keep the drive times to about 6 hours or less using RV Life Trip Wizard. Only a couple are a touch longer and a most are shorter.

Is the weather typically a washout when it rains? Cloud cover - thinking photos of the landscape, tours, etc.

We will be making reservations and plan on staying in campgrounds rather than boondocking. If our plans get altered, are boondocking opportunities available if the campgrounds cannot accommodate the change?

There is lots to see and do and this will be a trip of a lifetime for us - we don't want to waste the opportunity with over staying or under staying.

I appreciate your thoughts and taking the time!
Mike

[Gjac]

Our trip to Alaska in 2006 was fantastic. I thought the journey from Ct to Alaska was just as good as Alaska itself. You have to stop somewhere to sleep anyway so sleeping and visiting the national parks in the lower 48 was great, especially early in the season with little to no crowds. First park we hit was RMNP, took our bikes to the top of the highest road in the US, trail ridge road and there was still 6 feet of snow at the top and the road blocked off to cars but we road our bikes another 5 miles or so up the hill then coasted 17 miles all downhill back to the CG. Still snow in Yellowstone no problem getting into any CG with no reservations in early May, then up to Glacier Caught a doz trout in Pray Lake in Two Medicine Lake CG. Caught cutthroat trout outside CG and a 20 in Lake trout at Indian falls. No license required in the park. Banff, Jasper and the other Canadian parks were all beautiful caught Lake trout along the way and a 7 lb Lake trout in Kulane NP just before entering Alaska. Stayed between 1 to 3 days at the CG's on the way up. We drove on every road in Alaska saw all the sites that you have heard about already. Not mentioned yet was a trip to MCcarthy to visit an old copper mine, walked on a glacier there which was memorable. Took the top of the world hwy to Dawson City in the Yukon. The couple we went with did not fish so I fished whenever we stopped caught a lot of rainbow trout, grayling and Dolly Varden along the way. I missed all the Salmon runs along the way however I caught a large King while fishing for rainbows. The only regrets I had was not staying in Denali NP itself, however I took my bike in and saw more animals than I did with the bus tour. Stopped in Hyder on the way back and saw a lot of bears. It was a great trip had no reservations in 3 mos that we were gone. However, by the time it was over my wife was anxious to get back home so she drove a good portion of the way home. The trip cost about $10,000 and gas was about 1/2 the cost. I would love to go back but my wife is happy with just memories of the trip.

[snowedin]

I would be cautious of being rigid in your scheduling and not make reservations too far ahead. Reservations for Denali are probably necessary. Your plans sound a bit too ambitious if they are to include all that you have listed. IMHO would think that 10 days in each Anchorage and Fairbanks would be way too long. Different folks have different expectations but from my experience the Alaskan destinations of Valdez, Homer, Skagway, Haines would top my list of places we enjoyed the most. Denali has to be on your list too but if the road into the park continues to be blocked as it was this year that would greatly cut into the enjoyment of being there. As Canada has so much to see don't think it's just a place to drive through as a means of being in Alaska. There is so much to see and do.

[SideHillSoup]

Rigdon wrote:
We just back 9/20 /22 from Alaska, in Seward the diesel was $5.69 gal at one place in Canada we paid $2.28 ca per liter. The price varies on the region with the south Canada being much cheaper.
Also check to see your weight a bridge was damaged badly by a tanker fire and is limited to 30,000 lbs limit near fort nelson.

As of this morning that bridge on the Alaska Hwy south of Fort Nelson and just north of Pink Mountain is now rated for approximately 140,000 lbs ( 63,500 kg) and repair work continues.
BC Hwy 97 Bridge weight ( Alaska Hwy)

[Rigdon]

We just back 9/20 /22 from Alaska, in Seward the diesel was $5.69 gal at one place in Canada we paid $2.28 ca per liter. The price varies on the region with the south Canada being much cheaper.
Also check to see your weight a bridge was damaged badly by a tanker fire and is limited to 30,000 lbs limit near fort nelson.

[c_traveler2]

My Julie and I made the Alaskan journey twice, once in 2015 & 2018. Keep your itinerary flexible and as one of the poster said do Canada and Alaska first. In getting reservations for Denali good luck you'll most likely have to boondock which we did a lot of and there's lots of boondocking in Alaska and Canada.

I would suggest adding Tuktoyaktuk to your to see list unbelievable sights, in Canada. In Alaska add the Dalton (aka Haul road) to your list.

The days are long so you may find yourself driving longer than intended, Fairbank day was over 21 hours long when we arrived.
If you don't have them get black out covers for your windows.
Now for the Alaskan stat pest the mosquito bring mosquito netting it was the only that kept them off me.

You can't over stay unless you have trouble with cold weather.
Before I forget download iOverlander app. a good source of wild camping and just for the night places.

[happycamper1942]

enblethen wrote:
Gas Buddy can be of help for fuel costs.
You need to calculate liters to US gallons and then converter Canadian dollars to US dollars.

Current price on Vancouver Island is C$2.07 per liter.
There are 3.8 liters in a US gallon. therefor price is 2.07 x 3.8 = C$7.86 per US gallon.
Current exchange rate is approx. C$1.29 for 1 US$
Therefor cost per US gallon is Approx. US$6.09
Hope this helps.

[valhalla360]

Thanks for the feedback. With flexibility and no minding moderately cold weather, sounds doable.

[SideHillSoup]

In most areas of BC and Alberta the campgrounds don’t even open until May long weekend ( Victoria Day weekend which is the third Monday in May. The reason for that is the fear of water freezing at night in the campground infrastructure, and lack of tourists in cool / cold weather. During the weekend a earlier opening campground might be nearly full, but come the weekdays they clear out and only leave a few of us retired people to keep the outhouse toilet seats warm. Pretty hard to justify keeping people on the payroll when they are only providing service to a few campers during the week days.
This is not to say there aren’t campgrounds , Provincial, national, community or private open early, however if your planing on staying in Campgrounds the farther north you go the colder it will be.
The spring of 2017, 18, 19, 20 and 21 were very warm up here, my wife keeps a travel camping log book and those years we started camping in the bush early.
In 2020 one FSRS ( Forrest Service Rec Site, which are off road campsites with no amenities) we got into at the beginning of May which is unheard of, usually we are in some snow and have in the past got some snow over night.
Last spring we started camping at the beginning of May and we froze our butts, wind, cold rain and yes…snow, and kept freezing our butts until the end of June. Our last day camping before the July 1st long weekend ( Canada day) when we woke up there was fresh snow on the mountains above us.
You can travel anywhere you want at any time of the year if your prepared. Myself I wouldn’t heading north until at least the 2nd to 3rd week of May. Heck last spring I was snowmobiling the 1st week of April and we only live 3 hrs north of Spokane Washington in British Columbia.

Good luck on your adventure
Soup.

This was May 21, 2022, about 2.5 hrs north northwest of the Washington BC boarder above Spokane.

[PA12DRVR]

Last full trip (going North) I took was in 2018...how time flies....we left Ewe-stun TX circa April 10...arrived in Los Anchorage circa May 26 or so, late May in any case. We entered Canada from Montana and I seem to recall crossing the border circa May 17 -19 or so. Did not encounter snow on any of the main roads, had one snow flurry (turned into rain as soon as it hit something, no accumulation) around Whitehorse, no temps that were below freezing enough to notice (i.e. it may have toyed with 32 for a bit, never stayed that low).

Lakes in Northern BC, YT, and Alaska north of Los Anchorage were still frozen / snow covered.

...all as best as I can recall..

[valhalla360]

Thread drift (sort of)...

Starting around Great Falls, Montana, how early in the season is OK to start north.
- We travel slowly...typically 300-500miles per week, so it will take us a while to get to the northern section.
- We don't mind cold down into the teens at night.
- If it's snowy/icy, we have no issues holding up for a few days until the roads are clear.

Thinking of heading out first or second week of May. Getting to Alaska mid June.

[PA12DRVR]

Mike W wrote:
got my 2022 MilePost. Little daunting. Gonna dig in this weekend. But curious what fuel prices are in BC and Alaska this summer? gallon of diesel? Gallon of gas? Thanks

Most recent diesel fill-up with my RDS discount card and at the station with the lowest prices in the general area (based on nothing more than anecdotal drive-by) was $4.64/gallon....Monday or Tuesday in Big Lake AK

Most recent gas fill-up (last night) $4.44/gallon for regular. Premium (which I routinely get for the toys but not last night) was $5.19/gallon. Grocery chain gas in Los Anchorage.

Big Lake is about 45-50 miles from Anchorage (depending how it's measured) and I find diesel to be cheaper there by $0.10 - $0.25/gallon than in Anchorage...but of course that's very much the exception. Generally, one can add 25-50% to the Anchorage prices for the more distant areas on the road system.

...we won't discuss avgas for the ol' PA-12.

[enblethen]

Once you open for example British Columbia, in the upper left side, there is normally a box that shows "regular fuel prices".
Click it for a drop-down menu that shows other gases and diesel.

[Mike_W]

enblethen wrote:
Gas Buddy can be of help for fuel costs.
You need to calculate liters to US gallons and then converter Canadian dollars to US dollars.

I've checked that one. Doesn't appear to list diesel. Maybe I'm using it wrong
Found info elsewhere tho. Global Petrol Prices dot com. Looks like it was as high as 7.14 US a gallon in June and is now just below $6 a gallon.

[enblethen]

Gas Buddy can be of help for fuel costs.
You need to calculate liters to US gallons and then converter Canadian dollars to US dollars.