Best time to go

[jacketsbum]

Okay we are going to make the trip to Alaska in 2019. We are trying to decide whether to go Spring ( May & June) or Fall (August & September). I have heard pros and cons for both. Pros Spring- more wildlife viewing, snow on Mountains for prettier scenery, not as crowded etc. biggest cons- bugs, mosquitoes, black flies, bad roads left over from winter, crowded with kids out of school.

Fall pros- less crowded, very few bugs, better roads. Cons- scenery not as good, cold weather moving in quick in September. Places closing up season etc

So with that said I’d like to ask you veterans who have done it several times when is the best time to go? We plan on doing it 8-10 weeks. Thanks!!”

[jacketsbum]

lakeside013104 wrote:

2gypsies wrote:

jacketsbum wrote:

That's what I like hearing! I really am leaning toward Spring because I can stretch the time if needed.. Where as in the Fall I need to leave by October to beat the snow!

Why one or the other? Plan to cross the Canadian border by May 20 and leave Alaska in Sept. or whenever. Spending all summer is the way to do it. It's an expensive and long trip. How often will you do it? Might as well take your time and enjoy it.

2gypsies makes a very good point. Plan to go early and stay late. Be flexible and let the adventure go one day or one week at a time. You will know when you have had enough. When you have seen enough incredible beauty, enough wildlife sightings, caught enough fish, gazed across mountains rising out of vast openness of the waters, hiked enough trails, seen enough glaciers, breathed enough clean air, and immersed yourselves in enough tranquility, you will make the choice to return to you normal everyday life.

Enjoy this adventure and if you are like us, you will be longing for the next return visit.

Lakeside

What fabulous answers! That pretty much settles it Spring it is! We'll head out early May with no time limit and take in Gods beauty! Whether we ever get enough of it remains to be seen! We have been all over this country and eastern Canada. What we have seen defies descriptions! But we never get enough! Thanks to all for your input! Fellow travelers and campers are the best!!

[lakeside013104]

2gypsies wrote:

jacketsbum wrote:

That's what I like hearing! I really am leaning toward Spring because I can stretch the time if needed.. Where as in the Fall I need to leave by October to beat the snow!

Why one or the other? Plan to cross the Canadian border by May 20 and leave Alaska in Sept. or whenever. Spending all summer is the way to do it. It's an expensive and long trip. How often will you do it? Might as well take your time and enjoy it.

2gypsies makes a very good point. Plan to go early and stay late. Be flexible and let the adventure go one day or one week at a time. You will know when you have had enough. When you have seen enough incredible beauty, enough wildlife sightings, caught enough fish, gazed across mountains rising out of vast openness of the waters, hiked enough trails, seen enough glaciers, breathed enough clean air, and immersed yourselves in enough tranquility, you will make the choice to return to you normal everyday life.

Enjoy this adventure and if you are like us, you will be longing for the next return visit.

Lakeside

[2gypsies1]

jacketsbum wrote:

That's what I like hearing! I really am leaning toward Spring because I can stretch the time if needed.. Where as in the Fall I need to leave by October to beat the snow!

Why one or the other? Plan to cross the Canadian border by May 20 and leave Alaska in Sept. or whenever. Spending all summer is the way to do it. It's an expensive and long trip. How often will you do it? Might as well take your time and enjoy it.

[jacketsbum]

lakeside013104 wrote:

jacketsbum wrote:
Okay we are going to make the trip to Alaska in 2019. We are trying to decide whether to go Spring ( May & June) or Fall (August & September). I have heard pros and cons for both. Pros Spring- more wildlife viewing, snow on Mountains for prettier scenery, not as crowded etc. biggest cons- bugs, mosquitoes, black flies, bad roads left over from winter, crowded with kids out of school. Thanks!!”

We were in Alaska from early May until July. The mosquitoes were amazing, for we saw only two the whole time we were in AK or on the Alaska highway in Canada. I never once used the fly dope I carried up there. We saw more buffalo, bear, moose, Stone Sheep, elk going to and coming home from Alaska then we saw bugs of any kind. Never noticed an over abundance of rug rats either or crowds of any kind accept on the Russian / Kenai rivers. We spent most of our awake hours out of doors. Beautiful country.


If I go again it will be within the same May to the end of July or August time frame.

Enjoy.
Lakeside

That's what I like hearing! I really am leaning toward Spring because I can stretch the time if needed.. Where as in the Fall I need to leave by October to beat the snow!

[PA12DRVR]

" Fall color was pretty sparse this year when we left September 1st. "

FWIW, fall colors have really kicked in the past 6-7 days: Alaska doesn't get much tree leaf change (except to yellow), but the ground cover is really changing and most of the trees in Los Anchorage and environs are decidedly yellowing.

[lakeside013104]

jacketsbum wrote:
Okay we are going to make the trip to Alaska in 2019. We are trying to decide whether to go Spring ( May & June) or Fall (August & September). I have heard pros and cons for both. Pros Spring- more wildlife viewing, snow on Mountains for prettier scenery, not as crowded etc. biggest cons- bugs, mosquitoes, black flies, bad roads left over from winter, crowded with kids out of school. Thanks!!”

We were in Alaska from early May until July. The mosquitoes were amazing, for we saw only two the whole time we were in AK or on the Alaska highway in Canada. I never once used the fly dope I carried up there. We saw more buffalo, bear, moose, Stone Sheep, elk going to and coming home from Alaska then we saw bugs of any kind. Never noticed an over abundance of rug rats either or crowds of any kind accept on the Russian / Kenai rivers. We spent most of our awake hours out of doors. Beautiful country.

If I go again it will be within the same May to the end of July or August time frame.

Enjoy.
Lakeside

[Tee_Jay]

Traffic on the Kenai falls off drastically after August 10. Everything starts to shut down after labor Day, as in no water at the camp sites. As noted, others have reported a broad area of snow including Ft St John and Grand Prairie on September 13. We have been snowed on on May 24 from Tok to the Kenai in a previous year.

For fishing, 15 July onward. That will get you a shot at Kings, peak Red season, and Silvers August into October. Halibut will still be good through August.

Fire season is May into June, then declining. Rain usually starts Fathers Day for the balance of the summer, but is a light misty thing most times. Fall color was pretty sparse this year when we left September 1st.

Have a good time.

[georgelesley]

We just finished a late May-June trip. Left AK back in Yukon July 1. Lots of wildlife, little bad wx, very few people, campgrounds wide open no problem with reservations a few days ahead. The roads were in many cases just us driving. The Kenai was busy as was Homer and Seward. The rest was not. Yukon and British Columbia was wide open.

[rag-ftw]

A lot depends on what you want to see and do. May-June less rain more animal sightings, better fishing for kings (if they open a season) more bugs and more tourists. August-September could be rainy could be dry and sunny, less animals, better fishing for silvers, better fall colors, less tourists, but possible snow and cold weather in the rockies. You might have to stay in one place for a couple of days while the snow melts.

We've been there for four summers from mid May to mid September and have enjoyed the entire time each year. This year was pretty wet in the summer but we managed to find things to do to keep us busy. An besides it hardly ever RAINS in Alaska. Usually it is a drizzle or something less than .25" a day.

Read the blogs, read the brochures, and check the historical weather reports and make your decision around what you want to see and do. No one can really say what would be best for you!

[PA12DRVR]

I won't offer an opinion on any part of the travel except the Alcan and Alaska...

As stated in the referenced thread, I think September is the best time of year in Alaska. If the choice was May/June or August/September, I'd choose August/September everyday. If weather is bad (particularly in September), it can be pretty dreary, but rainy May's and June's are not unknown (reference Los Anchorage this year, FWIW).

IMNSHO, the fall scenery (which includes mid-August onward, depending how far North one is) is better than Spring/Summer and, with some judicious planning, one can see as much wildlife...although possibly not the same type.

The body blow that bugs take in late August and the generally greater outflow than inflow of tourists in late August would really carry the day for me.

[jacketsbum]

2oldman wrote:
Best time AK

Going thru that makes Aug/September as rainy and buggy but lots of fall color. But the seasonal closings is a bummer too. Spring starting to look better

[wilber1]

Also more daylight in the spring. Maybe too much.

[2gypsies1]

Check the dates when Sue did her photos and blogs and you can get an idea of what it's like.

http://yukonsights.ca/

By the way.... haven't heard from Sue in a while. Hope everything is o.k.

[Darryl_Rita]

Middle of September, 2018. 3 inches of wet snow flattening everything green in Grande Prairie. Always a gamble up here.