Denali hwy from Cantwell to Paxton

funpro wrote:
Down in Beaver Creek at the moment, beautiful evening. Eventually heading for Haines Junction and Haines - then the ferry to Skagway. Great trip:!!!!

If you're staying at the Beaver Creek RV Park, please tell Jyl and Beat that Sue says hullo!

We did the road with no problems. It's subsistence hunting time and we saw tons of ATV's with big gun racks on them. We did see one huge Caribou herd on the other side of a lake. They were gamboling around and the bulls were challenging each other. I wonder how many will still be around after hunting season?? Great ride. Some real bumps - but we always take it slow.

Down in Beaver Creek at the moment, beautiful evening. Eventually heading for Haines Junction and Haines - then the ferry to Skagway. Great trip:!!!!

I haven't been on the Denali highway this year. :(

It is one of if not the most scenic drives in Alaska and should not be missed.

As noted above, go slow; There's no reason to bomb through this drive.

Thanks all for your comments - looking forward to starting the road in a few days.

Our travel from Paxson to Cantwell in June was on the slow side but no problem otherwise. We weren't pulling a trailer though. We had 3 nights on the "highway" with this pull off being our favorite. It made all the bumps worthwhile.



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funpro wrote:
Has anyone traveled the Denali hwy from Cantwell to Paxton this summer?
How was it. I am pulling a 5th wheel.

I was camping and riding ATV's up there the week of 4 July. I went in on the Cantwell side and camped in the gravel pit (Windy Creek trail) about 1 mile east of the Susitna River bridge. Excellent level gravel pit with plenty of places to park. Another great place to camp is along the Valdez Creek Trail right at the east side of the Susitna River bridge, lots of level areas, but tighter than the big pit by Windy Creek. Then drove out on the Paxton end. The road is in normal shape for this time of year, 20-50 mph depending on the area. The views are absolutly stunning as you don't have a forest of trees blocking your views, the road runs on the high ground affording awesome photos and animal viewing. Nothing wrong with going slow and letting others go around you. There is gas at Cantwell just north of the Denali Highway intersection for $4.89 a gallon on 2 July, the other station at the intersection was out of gas. Gas at Tangle Lakes was $4.74 a gallon on the 5th of July. There is no gas on the Paxson end of the road. Let me know if you have any questions.

We drove it the last of May. Its was very rough on my Journey. I drove most of the time at 25-30 mph using both sides of the road. When I hit the really rough stuff I was down to 5-10 mph. When we went the smoke was very thick from the Funny fires, so we didn't get to enjoy the scenery as much. What I saw was great! Not sure if I'd do it again in the MH but would in a car. We started the day at Tangle Lakes CG, which is the beginning of the dirt section. I believe it took us five hours to make the 110 miles of dirt!

The bridge outside (west of) Paxton was being reconstructed when I traveled on the road this spring... CHECK to see if it's finished. my 7ft wide travel trailer BARELY FIT across the portion of the bridge that was open, and the fifth wheel ahead of me was denied crossing, had spent the night at the bridge and was heading back to Cantwell.

I'm very chicken when it comes to towing on rough roads, so AK 8 was a LONG DRIVE for me, my truck and my TT... most of the time I was going 25-30 mph. It was a very rough gravel road with plenty of pot holes and heaves / dips.

Several other travelers blasted by driving truck campers and class c type rigs doing 50-60 mph; I guess their suspension was much better than mine.

if your 5th is the kind that has lots of clearance, you'll find plenty of places to pull off and rest or camp for the night... I found many of the sidings having numerous deep mud ruts in them, I considered unsafe pull off with my very low slung tt.

As rough as the drive was, the Denali Highway was one of the favorite things I did in Alaska. Once the sun started setting, traffic stopped on the road and it was so very very quiet and peaceful. As the sun set, big fluffy snow flakes were falling around me (early June); it was an outstanding night.

Look in the Roll Call Alaska 2014 posting, there should be recent postings in there.

Bill