Alaska mid-August

[Donh1]

This will be our second trip (2017) to Alaska towing our 23ft travel trailer. Our first was in 2015 and we travelled starting in mid June. For a change we thought it would be nice have regular nighttime darkness and maybe see the northern lights. My question is will most of the tourists be gone. On our first trip most of the campgrounds were fairly busy and we enjoyed meeting people. The last thing we want to do is travel in the total off season and stay in deserted campgrounds. Any experience with touring this time of year in Alaska. Don

[Donh1]

Thanks for all the great information. We really enjoyed Alaska the first trip and are looking forward to this one. Our plans are to be out of Alaska by mid September and spend some time on Vancouver Island in late September before heading home to Ontario in October. Should be fun. Today as I am typing this it is minus 22 degrees.
Don

[SBradley]

Donh1 wrote:
This will be our second trip (2017) to Alaska towing our 23ft travel trailer. Our first was in 2015 and we travelled starting in mid June. For a change we thought it would be nice have regular nighttime darkness and maybe see the northern lights. My question is will most of the tourists be gone. On our first trip most of the campgrounds were fairly busy and we enjoyed meeting people. The last thing we want to do is travel in the total off season and stay in deserted campgrounds. Any experience with touring this time of year in Alaska. Don

By the first September things are pretty quiet in Alaska, tourist are heading home and locals are busy getting that last trip to the Kenia. The colors will be changing, most of the bugs will be gone it is actually one of the nicest times to be outside.

Generally the weather wil be pretty good just plan for the cold the longer you stay maybe plan on winterizing by the end of Sept. you can still travel South without water in the lines and tanks. Weather is forever changing I have had beautiful sunny days and cold crisp nights in September, sometimes even snow. Be patient wait out a bad day. I just talked to my nephew in Tok yesterday only -41 below zero, 1 inch of snow, you're not likely to experience anything like that.

Plenty of darkness but not much chance of see the Northern lights in the early fall,

The major fuel stops will still be open. Plan on boondocking, most camp grounds will be wrapping up the season.

[Grit_dog]

Oct 1 is when most of the dump stations close up, but I wouldn't let that stop me. Wink
You'll lose the tourists and a lot of the bugs by Labor Day. You'll gain the potential for some winter driving experiences by October. Late silvers will still be running in sept.
But based on the last few years, a fall trip would be relatively bad weather free.

[PA12DRVR]

As noted, mid-August is still Tourist Season. There's a bit of a sweet spot from (maybe) the last week of August to the middle of September. Anytime after 1-September, there's an increasing risk that facilities will be shut down, but it's just about a certainty after 15-September.

FWIW, there's lots of places to boondock and places to get water and dump sewer that are available until freezeup, just not most of the standard camping facilities. September is one of the better months to be in Alaska IMNSHO. Bugs are gone, tourists are gone or rapidly disappearing, scenery is spectacular, etc.

[2gypsies1]

There will still be many folks around in August. It's Sept 1 when they start leaving and things close up. The last time we were in Denali mid-August and it was packed. We had reservations for Teklanika campground and it was full.

[SideHillSoup]

Things will get a lot quieter not only in Alaska but in the Canadian provinces you pass through on your way home.
Labour Day weekend is usually the last camping weekend for most people in Vanada and their rigs get parked right after that.
As well a lot of campgrounds will either close or start to wind down for the season. A lot of BC Probincal cmapgounds stop taking reservations on the labour days weekend and "some" close off parts of the campgrounds so that they don't have to mainatain the entire park.
This being said. You won't have an issue finding a empty spot in the campgrounds that are open, and you most likely won't find them full with fellow campers.
I know where we camp the campground is just about empty and if the weather cnages we have found that there are only us seasonal campers left in the campground.
Also where we camp and the campgrounds around us are cloaked by the end of September this is including BC provincial campgrounds as well as private campgrounds. So by the end of September your going to have a hard time finding a campground open. I not saying there isn't any open after the end of September but they will be few and far in between, around here anyways.
So you may want to do some research on routes heading south and see what's open for the time period you think your going to head home from Alaska.
Soup.

[Isaac-1]

I have been to Alaska (although not with an RV) the first week of September, high points can be noted as not seeing the sun for 6 days straight, and an early season winter storm with 75 mph winds along the coast.