We spent the summer of 2019 in AK. It was not long enough. We drove 12,103 miles from central IL.
We bought a used 26 ft trailer specifically to pull to AK. The shortest you can live in the better. We looked for a twin axle trailer and are glad that's what we got. We lost a bearing and damaged the axle north of Wasilla. Having 2 axles we were able to limp to a repair shop. A single axle we would have been sitting. The nearest tow service that could have towed us was in Anchorage about 75 miles away.
We didn't find the prices to be all that much higher than in the lower 48, maybe a bit higher as around large cities in the lower. Our total cost came to about $1/mile.
There are plenty of places to dry camp. And you'll want to do that just to experience it.
Here are some suggestions for traveling:
1) Take your time. There's a lot to see.
2) Watch your speed. Disregard the speed limits. Keep it slow so you can watch for wildlife. You definitely don't want to see a moose up close. On our way back from the Arctic Circle a moose ran out of the brush and stopped close enough to the side of my truck I could have touched her. Surprised both of us. We saw several vehicles on the road that had hit moose and bear.
3) Take a generator. It will make dry camping a lot more enjoyable.
4) Carry an extra 5 gal of fuel. As another said, never miss a chance to fill up even if you just filled up a few miles ago. There are places it's a long ways between stations. Even if the map says there's a town ahead don't expect to find services there, or in some cases even find the town.
5) Visit Anchorage and Fairbanks but don't spend a lot of time in them. They're cities. Cities are not Alaska. Go to the U of AK Museum in Fairbanks and the museum in Anchorage. Good exhibits and well done.
6) Leave early, avoid the crowds. We left IL May 16. I wish we would have left 2 weeks earlier. We had some cool nights in Alberta and some places the lakes were still frozen over. But we avoided the crowds. The later in the summer you leave the more crowds you'll run in to.
7) When at Denali, if you take a tour bus to see The Mountain, get the earliest bus in the day you can. It's a long trip from where you catch the bus to the visitor's center for viewing. The later in the day you get to the visitor's center the less chance you have of being able to see Denali. Clouds roll in during the day. Only about 30% of the visitors get to see Denali due to cloud cover. You do not want to go all that way and not see Denali.
๐ Keep a daily diary of everything you did each day. What you saw, what you spent, things that happened. You will see so much that by the time you get home you'll be on information overload. You won't remember some of the things that you thought you'd remember.
9) Take a camera for each person. Old school, but get pocket cameras. Something you'll always have with you. Then make sure no one goes anywhere without their camera, even if it is stepping out of the camper for a few minutes. And get an extra battery for every camera. Phone cameras are OK but you'll find a separate camera more useful in the end. And take pictures of everything and pictures everyday. We took over 4000 pictures and each one is a memory.
10) Spend the time and money on day tours/cruises/ferries out of Homer, Seward, Valdez, Skagway, Haines, etc. Particularly Haines to Juneau. The captain does more than just take you from Haines to Juneau. When whales and other wildlife are spotted he stops and gets closer for pictures.
11) Stop in visitor centers in each town. Each has an interesting story to tell no matter how small the town.
12) You'll no doubt go thru Watson Lake Yukon. Do a websearch on Sign Post Forest if you have not heard of it. Make your sign before leaving home.
13) Avoid Seward, AK over July 4. That's the Mt Marathon race. Town will be packed and there's not a lot of room there to begin with.
14) Most important - Get the latest edition of Milepost. It will be your Bible. Read it before you leave and then follow it mile for mile as you travel.
15) If you see a road - take it. There aren't a lot of roads in AK and everyone we took had a great view or story.
Camped in every state
