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!

[Tee_Jay]

Boat trips:
Almost all river guided fishing trips are limited to 4 persons, and run in the range of $250 per seat for a roughly 6 hour trip. If this is of interest, book now
RV Rental:
You will get an appointment time to go over the operation and paperwork. Then you need to go buy TP, food, drink, snacks and such That process usually takes most of the day. And you pretty much need to be in Anchorage overnight to be there on time. Discuss with the agent when you book.
Fishing:
Been about 50 years, but on the Denali Hwy about 25 miles in from Cantwell is a very nice stream with a roadside and streamside camp area, good Grayling fishing. On the other end out of Paxson is the Tangle Lakes, with fishing from shore in lake or stream, and with camping area. I believe both ends of the Denali are paved to those points. The Chena River on the Chena Hot Springs Road also has camping and fishing. Valdez will have salmon fishing from shore, ask around, and from charter boats. The Kenai at Russian River will have Reds, or Sockeye if you prefer. Your issue is gear. Rods, waders, nets, lures and flies, cleaning equipment, storage. A guide furnishes all that as part of the package. The other issue is technique. Some people get it and some never do.

At Denali, take the tour bus at least one day, they go all the way to Wonder Lake and return. Most folks see at least some wildlife, some see a lot. Take a lunch and water. You can get off anywhere and get back on the next one, either direction.

There are a number of Alaskas. The tour boat cruise will show you the marine side. Most of Alaska is North of the Alaska Range or East of the Matanuska Glacier. That Alaska sort of starts at Talkeetna, or used to. Last time I was there it had sort of drifted toward genuine imitation plastic Alaska, but there were still some bits left. The Talkeetna River is sort of glacial, but Clear Creek is clear, and I believe there is a shuttle boat service that will run you up there.

One thing to consider....If you catch a fish, what do you do with it? Release it, eat it now, or ship it home. Know the answer before you start. The cost of shipping is not cheap.

Have a great time. It will be too short and you will consider returning.

[PA12DRVR]

FWIW, for fishing, I'd double-ditto everything that Grit Dog said. The past few years for me I've been trying to justify my boat purchase, so my fishing has been off a boat, but in years gone by, I've fished all the spots he mentioned and it can be a real fishing frenzy.

Similarly, a drift boat trip down the Kenai with a guide who knows what he / she is doing will be a fish slayer, unless the river is high due to rain or dirty due to fire run-off.

If you hit it at the right time (mid-August or later), LOTS of opportunities for river fishing in the Mat-Su: either from a riverboat (typically you plus 3 others) or as a walk-in or as a drop-off...

[Grit_dog]

Didn't do much lake fishing while up there and AK is big place, lol.
Few good spots were. Ponds around Lake Louise. Ponds along the Mac Carthy Rd. Cooper Lake outside of Cooper landing. Killed the dollys and rainbows there from the banks.

And every one was also a "campsite"....bonus.

[Grit_dog]

If you want the most ridiculous trout fishing you've ever done and can handle the cost of a guided trip, highly recommend Middle Kenai/Skilak Lake day trip. 4 of us caught probably 25-30 rainbows with the biggest being about a 10 pounder and the "small ones" 3 pounders started getting boring! lol

[Grit_dog]

"Night 2 -3: Cooper Landing (Personal opinion is unless one is fishing, there are better places to visit; and this is backtracking from getting the RV in Anchorage, FWIW)
Agree, and I think a bunch of the immediate scenery is burned up this year. Only go if fishing. If you hit the Reds, park at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers and hike up the Russian (big trail, can't miss) far enough until you start running out of people to fish with. 2-3 miles will doo it. Same fish, less combat)
Night 4: Willow ? Talkeetna? (It would not be a relaxing drive to go from Cooper Landing to Denali / McKinley in one day...but can be done if needed)"
Take Fishook Rd from Willow up to Hatchers for the day/night. 1/2 to 1 hr off the Parks puts you up in the high country.

Or go up to Hatchers from the Palmer side. 1/2 hr out from town and you're in the pass and take the Fishook road down to Willow to the Parks Hwy on your way out and on up towards Talkeetna and Denali.

[jukes]

Hi,
thanks for this itinerary suggestion. So my husband REALLY wants to do some fishing... not from a boat, but from shore. river, ocean, lakes, anything. That's why we were thinking Cooper Landing... and from there could check out Seward too. After being on the cruise we are happy to be away from the crowds for a bit, just enjoying fishing, nature, RV camping..
So, an alternative could be to skip that and head straight up as you suggest. WE looked at getting an Air b+B or hotel and car hire in Seward but it works out a lot more costly than getting the RV and staying in that, even (getting all 5 of us up to Anchorage to get RV seems so expensive!!) but we could have say 2 nights in Seward in a rental apartment and then go get the RV and head north. would we need a car in Seward, is there fishing accessible without a car, or husband could go with a guide that day on the river.
Is the fishing good elsewhere? Campgrounds actually on a river perhaps? our 8 year old enjoys this too. See the Salmon which should be running at this time.

[PA12DRVR]

FWIW,

I'd suggest a day or two in Seward, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards, so would suggest the following:

1st day in Los Anchorage arranging the RV (This will be a bit of a challenge: not sure how often the shuttle runs or if it's feasible to get the RV the same day your cruise ship arrives.) You might double check with the cruise line. Most of them that come into Seward provide or at least offer transport to Anchorage

Night 1: Los Anchorage
Night 2 -3: Cooper Landing (Personal opinion is unless one is fishing, there are better places to visit; and this is backtracking from getting the RV in Anchorage, FWIW)
Night 4: Willow ? Talkeetna? (It would not be a relaxing drive to go from Cooper Landing to Denali / McKinley in one day...but can be done if needed)
Night 5: Denali
Night 6 Fairbanks
Night 7 Valdez
Night 8 Anchorage

^^^ Of course you won't stay just one night in Denali, but the reason for listing the above is that if you're planning "2 weeks" in the RV, that's 14 days/nights..not very long to do the Seward-Anchorage-Cooper Landing- Denali-Fairbanks-Valdez-Anchorage route.

I'd suggest skipping Cooper Landing, taking the 1 day / 1 night (possibly 2 days 1 night) it will take to get the RV and get headed out of Anchorage, spend several days in Denali; take the Denali-Fairbanks-Valdez drive for the scenery (possibly spending 2 days 1 night in Fairbanks), then return to Anchorage.

The Museum of the North and Chena Hot Springs are cool to see in the Fairbanks area, maybe take a riverboat cruise.

...but I'd suggest with two weeks to make Denali the focus of your trip while allowing some decent time to drive the remainder of the road system and see the scenery. Use the next trip either for a different part of the state or for activities in Fairbanks-Valdez - Kenai Peninsula.

[jukes]

ppine wrote:
Take the State Ferry from Bellingham. It is a whole different trip than a cruise ship. You can rent a state room. There are good restaurants. You get to stop in places like Wrangell and Petersburg. The ship is full of Alaskans. No formal night, no Broadway shows, no crowds from Los Angeles.

I have taken the ferry twice and a crusie ship once.

already booked the cruise part, although this sounds interesting...

[jukes]

Hi thanks. I think we will somehow get the RV from Anchorage the day we arrive in Seward. Perhaps sending my husband up to get it and then bring it down to us, we like the look of Cooper Landing as an area to spend the first few nights. bit of a pain having to waste a day getting the RV but the alternative is a rental cabin and one way car hire which costs a lot more.. then we plan to head up to Denali NP, then need to figure out the rest...
Fairbanks area??
then Valdez?
then drop RV in Anchorage and fly home... should have about 2 weeks for the RV part..

[PA12DRVR]

I suspect you'll enjoy the scenery on the Vancouver - Seward cruise: have had guests that arrived from (I suspect) that same cruise and they liked it. Accommodations might be cramped....if it's the same line as some.

I'd recommend looking into your lodging in Seward ASAP. Hoteling it during tourist season will be pretty spendy even if available. Would suggest possibly a VRBO or similar...should be able to lock that in now and (maybe!) miss the to-be-expected price bump for summer.

Another alternative to get to Los Anchorage is to take the train. It's a pleasant ride and in my not-completely-informed-opinion (I've taken the train but not the shuttle bus) appears much more enjoyable than the bus.

Good optics (binoculars and camera) are a must for any voyage on the water. Good to have in general in AK.

[ppine]

Take the State Ferry from Bellingham. It is a whole different trip than a cruise ship. You can rent a state room. There are good restaurants. You get to stop in places like Wrangell and Petersburg. The ship is full of Alaskans. No formal night, no Broadway shows, no crowds from Los Angeles.

I have taken the ferry twice and a crusie ship once.

[jukes]

thanks everyone! okay, so we did something unexpected and booked a cruise from Vancouver to Seward for the first week of the trip!! it actually didn't cost too much more than renting an RV/or hotel costs/food/gas etc for that week... we have airmiles for the diff one way flights..
Then we need to figure out spending a few days in Seward area for the shore fishing and getting an RV from Anchorage.. and continue on up from there! May send my husband on a shuttle bus up to anchorage to get the RV and bring it down to us in Seward so we can stay it in there somewhere and then head off... shuttles for all 5 of us etc or one way car hire is expensive.
never saw myself as doing a cruise, but it's actually kind of exciting!

[Grit_dog]

"- 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."

This is a totally fair statement and the tow out could be VERY expensive or non existent even on a sunny day in July. So I may have understated the potential "risk" to ones wallet for sure.

For the L48ers, AK is not a phone AAA and 35min later a wrecker shows up kinda place, if your phone works at all....
For example, I had to get the pickup towed out of Petersville in the winter (in hindsight and plan B I could have brought up or went back in to the friends cabin and brought out a generator, plugged the truck in, hooched up the engine compartment and put some heat to and got going (bad injector and -30F didn't mix).
The ONLY wrecker that agreed to come out, on a nice plowed 2 lane road only 10? miles off the highway wanted like $1500.
We borrowed a friends truck and drove back to town ( to get the aforementioned supplies to get the truck started aint no uber to call or phone to call them with) and happened another friend went and borrowed his bosses rollback and we just went up and hauled the truck home.
2 morals to the story. 1. Alaskans are very good and helpful people. It's not like we were long time "friends" with either of these folks, only lived there like 6 months. 2. I never left the house on a snomachine trip without plenty of propane for the heater and my 2k Generator again!
We would have been phucked if it weren't for the kindness of others. I filled a couple guys' fuel tanks plum full after the ordeal and trucking company guy (with the rollback, both coincidentally worked for different large trucking companies) got a bunch of his favorite beer, at his request, since he refused payment!

[Grit_dog]

ppine wrote:
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.

Go in a group? Like a 6 shot group, or are you more of a 15 shot 10mm guy?
I agree, but the fact is, there are alot of people who are afraid of their own shadows and not actually after the "adventure" as much as they are the scenery. And that's fine. I don't want more people in the back country.....But literally the first thing I did, the first weekend after landing in AK is haul my snomachine up to Hatchers, toss on my avy pack and some Hot pockets in the hot dogger and hit the back country!

I got decent life insurance. Actually rather they be talkin stories at my funeral how a brown bear got me while snaggin reds than how much I liked my Laze Boy!