Denali Highway

Come back in the winter. They let the road snow shut and it's a great snowmachine trip. Drive in a little ways from Cantwell, park the rig, unload the machines, and head for Paxon Lodge for the night, then return the next day. You do need to check if any of the places are open along the way for gas or else you need to haul a sled loaded with gas.

Try to pick sunny weather so you can make decent time. If the clouds are down on the deck causing flat light, you'll be long time on the trail. Better to wait until dark when the headlights can hi-light the bumps for you. And you should see what it's like out there when it's snowing and the wind starts to howl.

Bill

We drove in from Paxson as far as Tangle Lakes CG (which is paved), then after we dropped the trailer we drove a bit on the Denali with just our truck. Was a pretty rough road and we were glad we didn't try to drive it from Cantwell to Paxson.

Edited to add: this was just a couple days ago.

We are in Valdez now. The MH we rented from GAH was allowed on the Denali Highway, albeit at 25 pmh, but from the intel we got it was not worth the drive. We heard from a CG host that someone started from Paxson, got 30 miles turned around a came thru Palmer to get to Talkeetna. Plus it was raining and that would have made it worse. Thanks for the inputs.

We did the Denali Highway in early June, 2014. The road was just fine. I found these 1-ton bags of calcium chloride interesting. Not for sidewalk deicing but for dust mitigation I'll bet.

In our 8 weeks, our favorite campsite was a boondocker along the Denali Highway.


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jnharley wrote:
We would not even drive our truck on it.

Lol, better to stay in the city then.

mockturtle wrote:

Fer2005 wrote:
I actually did drive it 2 years ago in my Journey pulling my Taurus. Then it was mainly washboard from end to end.

What I'm looking for now is current conditions. We will be renting this year was considering it.

Thanks.

If you rent an RV you will not be permitted to take it on the Denali Hwy.

But it's not like abc rentals has a web cam nailed to a tree out there to catch you in the act!

The Denali Highway is one of the most scenic roads in Alaska. It is raised above most of the brush allowing 360 views most of the way...awesome 360 views!!! I've driven it many times with my truck camper and towing an aluminum trailer with ATV's without any issues, drive smart and go slow in the bad areas. 40-45 mph is normal for me.

We would not even drive our truck on it.

Ditto PA12DRVR. Also don't forget the blueberries should be getting ripe about now! Lots of opportunities for picking low bush berries.

FWIW, I consider the Paxson-Cantwell drive one of the most scenic and enjoyable in Alaska. Yes, it is on a gravel road; yes, it is rougher than a typical gravel road in the L48; yes, your rig will get dusty and dirty.

If any of those are barriers, then don't take this trip.....but if you want some scenery and a good chance to do something more akin to "camping" than "RV'ng", then the Denali is a good place to go. I'd suggest taking at least 3 days / 2 nights to make this trip, if not longer. Scenery, opportunity for campfires, interesting spots to walk around/hike, etc. make this a good place to see a bit of the country other than the typical "tourist trap" spots.

And afterward, there are lots of places in Wasilla/Los Anchorage/Squarebanks to wash the rig, rent a room, get a full-hookup rental spot afterwards to cleanup and wind down.