ALASKA! Driving from California to Anchorage...

[jukes]

Hi!!

We are thinking to drive from Santa Cruz, CA to Achorage (and explore from there).. It's showing as 60hrs, is that winter hours, would it be a faster route in the summer (very end of May)?

Any other tips? a diff route to take on the return journey?

We'd be towing our 30' travel trailer with our 7.3L diesel Excursion....


Thanks!!

[paulj]

The Coquihalla Hwy (5, north from Hope) is reopening to general traffic.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-highway-update-1.6319192

Hwy 1 through Fraser Canyon is now open, with sections of alternating one way traffic (such as the 250ft temporary bridge at Jackass Mountain).

https://flic.kr/p/2mYicZ2

https://flic.kr/p/2mYZMnq

[Blazing_Zippers]

In 2017, we pulled a fifth wheel to Alaska from North Idaho. We left May 15th, and had mostly great weather. The roads are muddy from the oil workers, but actually better than I-5 in most places. Speed is limited to taking pictures of the scenery and animals.
There are frost heaves but most are marked by that time of year. There were all sorts of places to pull over for the night, but never go under 1/2 tank of fuel--we planned for gas at one place, but it was closed and barely made the next fuel stop (we used the 5 gallon gas jug on board to make it).
Anchorage is a dingy place, but there is a RV park very close to a great Costco (with their famous chicken!). Don't miss their "zoo" that's just outside of town.
Soldotna (Fred Meyers) is a great place to stop and explore. There are oil rigs, fishing, good food, and most import, a laundry.
Seward is a must stop if you want a RV place right on the water.
Homer Spit has RV parking at the fishing hole, right on the water. It's an easy walk into the shops for ice cream.
About 2.5 miles South of Ninalchik, there is RV camping in a park at the side of the highway, but if you go down the steep paved road, there are many boondocking sites right on the water. There also is a boat loading place there that uses log skidders to put the boats in. Also, if there might be a tsunami, you'll be the first to know--it's that close to the water.
We also went into Denali about 30 miles to camp for a few days--very cool. We did get a bug North of Denali that made all of us pretty sick.
Fairbanks is another dingy town, but has all the goodies that you need .We spend about $1.00 per mile overall --7000 miles and $7000 in expenses. I would hook it upi and go again!!!!

[Trackrig]

I can make Anchorage to Omak, WA in 60 hours in my truck. That's running 65 to 90 MPH, sleeping in the truck when I'm tired and eating in the truck from the cooler in the front seat with me. I have a 110 gal tank in the truck bed so I don't have to buy fuel on the way, when I'm starting to doze off, I get out and pump some fuel by hand or make a call on the sat phone for a few minutes.

So it was 60 hours down last trip. Coming back up with a nice three axle goose neck trailer with a 9,000# Tucker Snocat on it, it was several days longer.

There was a lot more road construction going on, road work, new bridges going in, paving, and accidents. When traffic would come to a stop I would go tell whoever was behind me that I was going to sleep and to lay on his horn when the traffic started moving.

One long accident was when someone hit a UPS truck head on and the driver went thru the front windshield. Traffic stops, you wait for the Mounties and medics to show up, then the helicopter to take out the body, then for the mess on the road to be cleaned up while the various vehicles are being hauled away by the wreckers. I think I got almost 5 hours of sleep on that one.

I also make good time in the middle of the night when there is only a little traffic and I try to time my trips so I cross the boarders in the middle of the night to avoid the lines.

Remember in Canada there is basically one road, when it comes to a stop, there's no cutting off on another road out and around, you sit there and wait.

Why people are in a hurry to get here to see Alaska, I don't understand. I've been here 50 years and think it's a great place, but the scenery in Canada is every bit as good as Alaska's.

And let's talk about the frost heaves on the road. On the way down with just the truck, just south on the northern boarder, I hit one frost heave so hard it threw the extra new spare tire I was taking down for the trailer, completely out of the back of truck. I never did find it.

And the animals standing in the middle of the road such as moose, bison, bears and goats. They're blocking the road along with the tourists taking pictures.

Unless I had a second driver so there was no sleep stops, I'd never dream of CA to AK in 60 hours.

I've got another trip next summer from Anchorage to eastern Canada to pick up another Snocat, but I'll have to take a trailer both directions so it will be a lot slower.

Bill

[jdc1]

Take a few extra tires and a real jack for both the RV and tow vehicle.

[stickdog]

CA Traveler wrote:
With good weather plan on 50MPH or less due to road conditions and no issues.
1. Met a couple with a bent 5er hitch and they were in day 19.
2. Another dropped a trailer axle.
3. Another was hung up in Fairbanks with issues.
4. And another had engine issues in Haines which was beyond local help. He decided to take the Ferry to Vancouver Island.

Just the ones I knew about.

Your sure a buzz killer.
How many thousands made the trip without problems?

[valhalla360]

Google Maps will show current delays. They do have an option to set a different departure time but the further out, the more it's a rough estimate.

As someone else mentioned, figure around 50mph, so if it's 2000miles, figure 40hr of driving as a rough idea.

[paulj]

Travel to Alaska has had a lot of discussion on the Canada/Alaska board. Due to pandemic boarder restrictions there has been much of in the recent years, but older threads should mostly be applicable.

I just a video about by a Youtuber who drove to Tofino to pickup a campertop last summer. She had quite a time getting timely negative covid tests. Other than that her travels sound like ones I've done in the past decade.

SW BC had major highway damages in Nov/Dec, so you should check highway conditions (DriveBC). The freeway from Vancouver north (hwy 5) may still have restrictions this spring. And Hwy may also have slow spots.

While I've seen season highway closures on Google Maps, I don't think they adjust travel times for winder conditions. In urban areas and well traveled routes current time estimates take realtime traffic into account, but they don't try to project those times into the future.

In the past the Mileposts book has been the go-to guide book for driving to Alaska. It was up dated yearly, though mainly that affected the ads for tourist attractions and some services. Open fuel stops vary with the year and season.

Looking at Google Maps, it offers 2 alternatives with about the same time and distance. Average speed is 53 mph.

The westerly one, through Seattle takes Hwy 99 north from Vancouver. This is a mountainous route with 14% grades, but currently it is the only way north that is open to all traffic. And right now it will be quite snowy.

For a fast freeway segment look at Sacramento to Olympyia, average speed about 63 mph. On the other hand, Hwy 99, Vancouver to Cache Creek has a 43 mph estimated speed.

The core of the Alaska Hwy, Dawson Creek to Whitehorse is estimated at 54 mph. Whitehorse to Tok is rated at that, but that stretch is notorious for its frost heaves, which in May could be extra bad, and slow you down to 40 (esp. with a trailer).

An alternate route that Google doesn't show, is somewhat longer, but I suspect overall easier goes further east.

I5 north to Shasta, then US97 through Oregon and WA. It becomes BC97. Stay on that through Kelowna and Kamloops. This bypasses the damaged BC highways, and the big cities.

Then Hwy 5 to 16, and job east through Jasper. Catch the Alaska Hwy at Dawson Creek.

The main alternative to the Alaska Hwy is the Cassiar, BC37. That's somewhat newer (as a fully paved route), and more remote wilderness.

While distances are pretty accurate, travel times are estimates, highly dependent on what speeds are assigned to particular stretches. Some travel apps let you specify speeds, others you just have to work with what they choose. My impression is that GM takes road type (freeway, hwy, street etc) into account, as well as a terrain (grades, curves). But I take such estimates with caution.

[ScottG]

jukes wrote:

ScottG wrote:
Most of the driving directions sites (like Mapquest) give you driving time at that very moment. Get the same directions at a another time and the driving time will be different based on current traffic.
So you can "play" with it to figure out the best times.

oh so I can change it to May or June, when certain roads may be clear of snow for example?

Sadly, no. You could try at say 7:00 AM today and then like Noon but you can't do anything in the future.
Sorry if I mislead.

[jukes]

CA Traveler wrote:
We wanted to do the entire Alaskan Highway so went up from Montana and back via BC. Anchorage? Not so interesting for us vs many other areas. Fuel stop distance was not a consideration for us, but be more conservative during the winter. Hours? No clue as the trip was 9,600 miles for 3 months.

okay, we'd go May/June.. Anchorage is just a meeting point, in that I may fly up with the kids and my husband may drive up and down....He'll have more time. We did look at the ferry from Bellingham, WA to Whittier but they quoted $7000 for him to take the travel trailer!

[jukes]

ScottG wrote:
Most of the driving directions sites (like Mapquest) give you driving time at that very moment. Get the same directions at a another time and the driving time will be different based on current traffic.
So you can "play" with it to figure out the best times.

oh so I can change it to May or June, when certain roads may be clear of snow for example?

[jukes]

bgum wrote:
That would be under best driving conditions and not towing as it affects fuel stops.

okay it would be end of May, and yep, towing always slows us down!

[ScottG]

Most of the driving directions sites (like Mapquest) give you driving time at that very moment. Get the same directions at a another time and the driving time will be different based on current traffic.
So you can "play" with it to figure out the best times.

[CA_Traveler]

With good weather plan on 50MPH or less due to road conditions and no issues.
1. Met a couple with a bent 5er hitch and they were in day 19.
2. Another dropped a trailer axle.
3. Another was hung up in Fairbanks with issues.
4. And another had engine issues in Haines which was beyond local help. He decided to take the Ferry to Vancouver Island.

Just the ones I knew about.

[CA_Traveler]

We wanted to do the entire Alaskan Highway so went up from Montana and back via BC. Anchorage? Not so interesting for us vs many other areas. Fuel stop distance was not a consideration for us, but be more conservative during the winter. Hours? No clue as the trip was 9,600 miles for 3 months.