Alaska RV trip loop routes/planning resources

[jukes]

Planning a trip with our 3 boys who will be 17, 14, 8, to Alaska, Mid July 2020 for 3 weeks. We don't have time to drive there with our TT, so will fly, into Anchorage and hire a Motorhome.
Prob spend 2 nights Anchorage, then want to plan a loop route. Perhaps with campground suggestions, or even spots to boondock? or campgrounds with fishing.
Any itinerary ideas, perhaps also including the lesser known but still accessible?
We would also like to be in some areas with fishing (not on a boat), and not where you have to fight for a spot to stand.
We like to spend a few days in each place, and limit driving to just a few long drives, but with mostly shorter drives (perhaps 2-3hrs).
Thanks!

[PA12DRVR]

"I sure as he!! wouldn't let it deter me from running to Mc Carthy or the Denali Hwy. The risk is that you're on your own for a tow or repairs if you break down on one of those roads.

Of course one pays a premium to use someone else's equipment. It's a convenience for the user that comes at a cost. How much of AK do you want to see? and how much do you want to pay?

For the OP, in good weather, the MCarthy Road and Denali highway are 100% passable, easily with most any RV and not risky (to me anyway)."

GritDog raises some good points. Some things to consider:

- Even if otherwise allowed, travel on the McCarthy Road or the Denali Highway may put recovery on your own nickel...read the fine print, but sometimes there's a towing exclusion for those areas as they are outside of the range of many Los Anchorage, Mat-Su, or Fbks based wreckers. Case-by-case thing, so can't say for sure.

- I've "only" made one trip per year on the McCarthy Road the past 3 years ('16, '17, '18) and only one trip ('17) on the Denali highway recently. Surprisingly, no flats on any of those trips....but both roads (either due to sharp rocks or otherwise) can be tough on tires. Have a spare at least; ideally a plug / patch kit and a portable compressor.

- Personal opinion only: FWIW, despite having driven per above, I don't like to drive the McCarthy Road...it's generally slow, the best scenery is at the end of the road, and McCarthy is (IMNSHO) becoming a destination point for outdoor hipsters...and, although it's still a 4-hour jaunt, I can fly to McCarthy pretty easily in the ol PA-12.

- Also opinion; in anything except late fall drizzle and fog (i.e. rainy, foggy, 35 degrees) the Denali Highway is the most scenic drive in Alaska. My preference is to drive East from Cantwell to Paxson since the Paxson to Los Anchorage leg is more scenic than the Los Anchorage - Cantwell leg, although not by much.

- Barring early or late season travel (i.e. before the road dries out in the spring or while it is getting snow but not enough to plow), both Denali and the McCarthy road are good roads. Denali shuts down in the winter and McCarthy is "shut down" only during transition periods....although I'm not sure what Alaska's recent budget gyrations will do to road maintenance efforts on the McCarthy Road.

All that being said, were I renting a car, just for myself, I'd be somewhat reluctant to drive to McCarthy...particularly since there are quite a few other options (fly-in, bus lines, etc) that take one from Chitina to McCarthy. There are very limited alternatives for seeing the Denali Highway other than driving oneself...so I'd be a bit quicker to "break the rules" if need be to drive the Denali.

[canadafan]

I agree with Grit Dog but in case of damage or other incident, you may have no rental insurance cover at all if you disregard the rules.

[ppine]

Many people travel in Alaska like they are afraid of it. They sometimes end up in crowded RV parks as a result just like back home

The reason is that sometimes Alaska is trying to kill you. Keep your guard up. Time in bush is the most exciting part to me. Go in a group during mid-day. Make some noise when you travel.

[Grit_dog]

Google Maps street view is view able on alot of the "highways" up there. You can look at the Mc Carthy Road or Denali hwy, most of it anyway, in street view.
No different than any other gravel road, in the summer, lol.

Also a great way to map out little "destinations" ahead of time.

[Grit_dog]

The Denali Hwy was also on that list, at least on the rental our friends got when we were up there.
BUT, I don't believe there's rental cops sittin on the Mc Carthy road waiting to ticket? you.
It's all about protecting the interest of the rental outfit.
Since there's no IQ and driving skills test, lol, then some stern warnings hopefully limits the damage done to the fleet and the hassle of more repairs, bad publicity, etc.

I sure as he!! wouldn't let it deter me from running to Mc Carthy or the Denali Hwy. The risk is that you're on your own for a tow or repairs if you break down on one of those roads.

Of course one pays a premium to use someone else's equipment. It's a convenience for the user that comes at a cost. How much of AK do you want to see? and how much do you want to pay?

For the OP, in good weather, the MCarthy Road and Denali highway are 100% passable, easily with most any RV and not risky (to me anyway).

[PA12DRVR]

"Inholding": It's actually land titled (in the case of my in-laws going back far enough, patented) in the name of an individual, i.e. "Tom Jones, holder of fee simple interest of 95 acres more or less per lot 12 plat 48-1295 in the Chitina Recording District, etc"....this land is in turn surrounded by park land. Wrangell St. Elias NP has several inholdings including the "towns" of McCarthy and Kennecott....although these are connected via (IIRC) a State-of-Alaska owned road, the McCarthy Road.

Canadafan raises a very valid point: Most rental companies (cars or RV's) will have use restrictions. The restrictions are the usual as mentioned (no unnumbered roads, etc) plus (in Alaska), although it's been 20 years since I rented a vehicle up here, they usually call out specific restrictions: the Chitina - McCarthy road is usually restricted and I believe the Haul Road (even though numbered as Alaska 11 IIRC) is also restricted.

[canadafan]

If you are going to rent a motorhome do check out the use restrictions.

Such as: No use on unnumbered roads, logging roads, unpaved roads.
Each rental company has different rules about this.

[Grit_dog]

^Whats that mean? They have property that’s part of the park but grandfathered to them?
We need to get back up there before the kids are all grown. Oldest is a junior in high school this year......I need a month off next summer!
Only lived there for 18 months and it felt like home.

[PA12DRVR]

"we spent 3 days between the Chitna River, Klutina and Copper river and never made it all the way up to the Kennicot mine,"

My in-laws have been in the McCarthy Kennicott area since the '50's and now have an inholding in WSENP. This enabled me to get up to that area many years ago and walk through Kennicott and the mine before it was a NP and certainly before it reached the current level of development. It was really something to see things back then that were, other than a layer of dust and some inevitable pilfering, just like folks walked away in 1938.

The mine is an interesting tour now but it's fairly sanitized, cleaned-up, and just not the same as it was in the '70s.

Summer of '18, I got too busy chasing reds myself and didn't pay attention to my drift, got pushed into the sandbar, and almost spent more time on the river than was planned. Fortunately, we were able to swing the stern out to a deep channel and jet off without sucking up all the sand and gravel in the world...

[Grit_dog]

We did do some guided fishing out of Cooper Landing, thanks to our landlord who owns a lodge there. The owner was pretty gracious about trading work I did to his rental house for some fishin!
Unreal experience trout fishing the middle Kenai. When your 10 year old catches a 10lb rainbow, it's a good day! And the combat fishing up the Russian river was definitely something I'd do again (now I know where to go). You could do that easily without a guide, provided you have all the gear, waders, etc. It's literally follow the trail.
If you are going guided or getting a cabin, look up Drifters Lodge, Bob. Good guy.

Our close personal friends bought Anglers Lodge down in Soldotna a few years ago as well. Never been there yet, but based on the the folks I know they are, it would be awesome too. They're catering more to the $$$ crowd though so there's that.

[Grit_dog]

Again PA12 echos the same sentiments I'd tell you (not a coincidence since he's a local).
I found the NF campgrounds (mostly no reservation) on the Kenai Pen always full during the summer, although recall mostly just weekend trips to the KP.
There's a "secret" camping spot near Cooper Landing, up at Cooper Lake. Not far from town, but good bank fishing for Dollys and rainbows for the kids and "remote."
Of course only my opinion, but I would 100% RV the whole trip. Too much to see and do and things to get side tracked with that leave you doing "something" at 9:00 at night and you remember you forgot about dinner or getting back to wherever you had planned and there's multitudes of spots to pull off and spend the night in the middle of the woods if you're self contained.
Plus everything is so far apart that back tracking to a base point uses up alot of valuable time, miles and fuel. Speaking of which, the back tracking could be even more onerous if your route doesn't go by a fuel station.
Example, we spent 3 days between the Chitna River, Klutina and Copper river and never made it all the way up to the Kennicot mine, because we got side tracked fishing (reds were running and hit a couple lakes that a friend told us about) and exploring. Hung out with a guy running a fish wheel, etc. If we had a home base to get back to, it would have been inconvenient.
Worst part about this thread is I'd give my eye teeth to take a 3 week trip around AK again......

[PA12DRVR]

A few more thoughts:

- Most places on the road system are going to be pretty popular with tourists during summer;
- I think the OP mentioned in a post that they had access to the standard marine life (whales, seals, etc) at home. If so, while one can see moose caribou and bears at the strangest places and almost anywhere, perhaps the trip should focus on places other than the Kenai Peninsula, i.e. Denali, etc. for hooved mammals.
- Bears: While confessing that I don't get the fascination with bears, it seems to be a top attraction to Alaska: My strongest suggestion is to decide if bear viewing is a high priority and, if so, plan that as the keystone to your trip...that means timing of seeing bears dictates when you make the trip. Late July to August seems to be the high point for bear viewing flights...and that's the best way to see bears. One can take a drive into Denali NP and possibly see a bear on the road. More likely is "See that dark brown spot halfway up the valley? That's a bear."
- Katmai / Brooks Falls etc are the best combination of accessibility and likely change of seeing bears or lots of bears. Not the cheapest place to go.
- Fishing: lots of freshwater options; generally later in the summer is better for salmon (conversely, less active for other species). If you end up based in the Los Anchorage / Kenai Peninsula area, lots of options for river fishing for red and silver salmon...and it may vary depending on the trip / location, but it can be done with an 8-year old. Drift and powerboat (on different sections) fishing the Kenai river is popular; bank fishing for salmon is available in Seward; lots of options in the North-of-Anchorage Mat-Su area.
- In the interior (i.e. Fairbanks, Denali) probably easier for a family trip that chases grayling / trout / dolly varden...but salmon are available as well, just a bit more hit-and-miss on the timing etc.
- As mentioned by a previous poster, staying in the variety of public service cabins can be a great way to go...takes a fair amount of early selection and planning.
- If one wants to really avoid the crowds, get a good tent, a good stout rental car, and tent camp one's way around the state, doing the VBRO or something when in town. Tent camping on the road system can be the entry into 1 - 2 day side trips on the hiking trails which can be enjoyable for a wide range of ages if the mental interest is there to explore and tent out.

[4runnerguy]

When we were in AK some years ago (see our signature pic) we flew up and spend four weeks. We did the tent route, and every 4th or 5th day we'd find a cabin or motel to get a good scrubbing. Now we did some backpacking and found several trails on the Kenai to do, so I think we spent over a week there. with only three weeks, I'd concentrate on the area between the Kenai and Denali. Anchorage is kind of between those two areas so you'll pass through there mid trip to restock.

If you want to camp on the Kenai, we found the Chugach NF CG's to seem less elbow to elbow than modt of the other campgrounds on the Kenai. Some of those CG's do take reservations. We also camped at a few of the State Park CG's around the state. Also check on websites for individual towns. We canped at a great little site at Hornaday Park in Homer.

We did both the 26 Glacier and Kenai Fjords cruises. The first was amazing but we had absolutely perfect weather. The seas were so rough for the Kenai cruise they couldn't even get us all the way out. Lots of green people on that cruise.

If you're looking for an intresting experience for your kids, consider renting a cabin from Alaska DNR or from Chugach NF. You might have to hoof it a short distance to the cabin, but you can really get a feeling of solitude at many of them. One place we stayed in a cabin was Kachemak Bay park. Had to take a water taxi out of Homer. We could see loads of salmon swimming right along the shore just below the cabin. Doing the cabin thing takes a bit of research and planning, plus getting reservations the second they open up, but it's a great Alaska experience that your kids will love.

[jukes]

PA12DRVR wrote:
Some at-best-quasi-organized thoughts:

- I've taken visitors on both the 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier and the Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward. Can almost guarantee no seasickness on the 26 Glacier Cruise (fully heave compensated catamaran) and it's unlikely on the Kenai Fjords trip (big vessel, displacement hull, etc).
- I've taken visitors and myself on numerous saltwater fishing trips on both charter vessels and my own: My guess is that with the right medications (either OTC stuff or prescription stuff) one can entirely avoid true "chumming" seasickness..but if one is prone to being seasick, certain trips might not be enjoyable even so....but that's the nature of the beast....gotta go where the fishies are.
- Seward, Whittier, and Homer (possibly Kenai and Cooper Landing) get pretty unpleasantly full of either visitors or summer Alaskans during the ...summer. There were two instances this summer when (at Seward) I could not have launched my boat if I did not have a seasonal rental place to take the truck and trailer back to....all the public and street parking were full.
- If I was to visit Seward, Homer, or Valdez for several days during tourist season, I'd plan a long way ahead and do an AirBnB, VBRO, etc for a house...and avoid the hassle of RV'ng there; not sure how that logistically works out if one's brought an RV up from the L48.
- Can't really speak for anywhere except Seward (may be the case elsewhere, but I've not looked in to it) but there are quite a few options of parking an RV outside of "town"; i.e. paid places that range from a spot of ground to electrical only to water and electric (not many "full hookups") .... but even "outside of town" these tend to fill up pretty fast.
- One should go to great lengths to avoid Seward in or around the 4th of July or during the Silver Salmon derby <<< don't ask me how I know that one.
- Can't help you with the activities that satisfy the whole family...my wife and I tend to end up doing stuff the adult children enjoy and the grandkids tolerate or vice-versa.
- For the places that any tourist will visit, Alaska is not a remote, untamed wilderness. That being said, one must be prepared to "rough it" to one degree or the other. Roughing it might mean that one only drinks King Street (a local brewery) beer on a sightseeing cruise (one Texan loudly complained that the boat didn't stock St. Arnolds...:E) or it might mean being prepared to deal with rain and fog...or cooler temperatures..or getting up early to catch the boat or bus...or having to have more than just Nike's for footgear..or, or, or.
- In most spots that one will visit as a tourist, the bugs aren't as bad as legend has it. Nothing that a little bug dope or breeze won't cure. Off the beaten path is an entirely different story and lives up to every bit of the legend....Alaska law requires that private pilots carry mosquito headnets as part of their summer survival gear; once you're out away from civilization during summer, that requirement makes a lot of sense.

Thanks so much for this, Yes! my worry is being in overcrowded, over touristy areas, and i think our plan to find an air bnb/cabin just outside Seward, Homer would be better, and we'd then have a car for easier exploring and traveling. then get the RV for when we head north. also we'd need fishing suitable for an 8 year old, so not the combat style i read about ha ha. i like the idea of the glaciers boat trip outside of Whittier, which i guess we can do as a day trip from the Seward area. we won't risk anything with a chance of sea sickness, last boat i went on like that i spent the whole time laying down waiting for it to end and didn't see anything!
i know it's hard to experience the wild, remote, quiet alaska, my husband would love that, but we can find some less touristy locations perhaps. we are originally from England, so a bit of rain and clouds is okay, rather that than scorching heat. really we just want to take in the natural beauty, unique to Alaska, do some simple fishing, meet some locals, soak it in., see the wildlife.

[PA12DRVR]

Some at-best-quasi-organized thoughts:

- I've taken visitors on both the 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier and the Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward. Can almost guarantee no seasickness on the 26 Glacier Cruise (fully heave compensated catamaran) and it's unlikely on the Kenai Fjords trip (big vessel, displacement hull, etc).
- I've taken visitors and myself on numerous saltwater fishing trips on both charter vessels and my own: My guess is that with the right medications (either OTC stuff or prescription stuff) one can entirely avoid true "chumming" seasickness..but if one is prone to being seasick, certain trips might not be enjoyable even so....but that's the nature of the beast....gotta go where the fishies are.
- Seward, Whittier, and Homer (possibly Kenai and Cooper Landing) get pretty unpleasantly full of either visitors or summer Alaskans during the ...summer. There were two instances this summer when (at Seward) I could not have launched my boat if I did not have a seasonal rental place to take the truck and trailer back to....all the public and street parking were full.
- If I was to visit Seward, Homer, or Valdez for several days during tourist season, I'd plan a long way ahead and do an AirBnB, VBRO, etc for a house...and avoid the hassle of RV'ng there; not sure how that logistically works out if one's brought an RV up from the L48.
- Can't really speak for anywhere except Seward (may be the case elsewhere, but I've not looked in to it) but there are quite a few options of parking an RV outside of "town"; i.e. paid places that range from a spot of ground to electrical only to water and electric (not many "full hookups") .... but even "outside of town" these tend to fill up pretty fast.
- One should go to great lengths to avoid Seward in or around the 4th of July or during the Silver Salmon derby <<< don't ask me how I know that one.
- Can't help you with the activities that satisfy the whole family...my wife and I tend to end up doing stuff the adult children enjoy and the grandkids tolerate or vice-versa.
- For the places that any tourist will visit, Alaska is not a remote, untamed wilderness. That being said, one must be prepared to "rough it" to one degree or the other. Roughing it might mean that one only drinks King Street (a local brewery) beer on a sightseeing cruise (one Texan loudly complained that the boat didn't stock St. Arnolds...:E) or it might mean being prepared to deal with rain and fog...or cooler temperatures..or getting up early to catch the boat or bus...or having to have more than just Nike's for footgear..or, or, or.
- In most spots that one will visit as a tourist, the bugs aren't as bad as legend has it. Nothing that a little bug dope or breeze won't cure. Off the beaten path is an entirely different story and lives up to every bit of the legend....Alaska law requires that private pilots carry mosquito headnets as part of their summer survival gear; once you're out away from civilization during summer, that requirement makes a lot of sense.