How Many Miles

[Montara24d]

Does anyone have a rough idea of the mileage from the boarder crossing in Sweet Grass, to the Alaska boarder.
John

[joe_b_]

I will stand by what I said. The cruise ships are fueled and provisioned at their home port in the lower 48, the buses are owned by the cruise companies, driven by out of state seasonal drivers, for the most part. They stay at company owned hotels when on land, eat at company owned restaurants, and the money paid for the trip by the tourists stayed with the company outside.

Just curious, what your background is to be such an expert on Alaska? I have lived in rural Alaska for over 25 years, have made 13 RV round trips to/from Alaska and the lower 48, have made another half dozen or more round trips by car or truck, made 8 or 10 flying trips, with me as the pilot, following the Alaska Highway or the Cassiar between the lower 48 and Alaska, I have personally run river boats from the Fairbanks area to the mouth on the Yukon River and back, plus I have accumulated over 3,000 hours of bush flying, as a pilot . Did my best to wear out four different airplanes and a half dozen RVs, the years we lived there.
Most of the Alaska tourist industry is only operating during the short summers. When many of the private businesses close for the winter, the owners head outside to live till the following summer.

The Alaska economy has always been based upon extractive industry. Such as mining, timber, fishing, petroleum, etc. Tourism is much the same.

Full time, tell us about your Alaska experiences, if you would please.

[fulltimedaniel]

joe b. wrote:
From the Bellingham Washington area to the Fairbanks area is roughly 50 hours driving time. You, as the driver gets to decide how many days to spread that over. The RV segment of the Alaska tourist industry is actually quite small. Most visitors arrive by ship or commercial air travel. Very few of the summer workers are Alaska residents, but are up from the Lower 48 to work for the summer, and then return home. (Most are full of advice, some of which is correct, LOL) the tourist market have a much smaller impact on Alaska, than many think. The cruise ships and Airlines headquarter in places like Seattle, Portland or Vancouver, etc. very little of that money ever makes it to Alaska. Many of the outside tour companies own hotels in Alaska, staffed but out of state employees. Most Alaska residents can't afford to quit their full year job to take a seasonal job that probably is paying minimum wages.

Out of the 2 million visitors in 2015 only half came by ship. There are approximately 27 different ships making hundreds of port calls within Alaska, and those folks and the others (all 2 million visitors) spent over 2 BILLION dollars and created 47,000 Alaskan jobs. (Data from CLIA)

Now those ships all pay Port taxes, landing fees, docking fees, buy Bunker oil, re-provision and on their days off the crews go and spend money too and on and on. Spending millions that go to taxes alone for the state to say nothing of the businesses that profit.

Those 2 million visitors will spend much of their money in restaurants, Flight seeing trips, Boat trips, raft trips, trips through Denali, and on more souvenirs than anyone could count. and this is just scratching the surface. A good share of their time in Alaska is on ground portions of their tours..not on the ships.

The truth is vast amounts of that money stay in Alaska and fuel it's economic growth and health. Take for example just transporting these tourists around Alaska requires hundreds of buses which mean full time all year jobs for mechanics, logistics people and so on. This is just one small example.

Many many Alaskans make a full time living in the tourist industry and many more depend on the seasonal influx of tourists and dollars. and I think they would disagree with the post by joe b.

The quoted post above is just a bit too simplistic in it's viewpoint.

[joe_b_]

From the Bellingham Washington area to the Fairbanks area is roughly 50 hours driving time. You, as the driver gets to decide how many days to spread that over. The RV segment of the Alaska tourist industry is actually quite small. Most visitors arrive by ship or commercial air travel. Very few of the summer workers are Alaska residents, but are up from the Lower 48 to work for the summer, and then return home. (Most are full of advice, some of which is correct, LOL) the tourist market have a much smaller impact on Alaska, than many think. The cruise ships and Airlines headquarter in places like Seattle, Portland or Vancouver, etc. very little of that money ever makes it to Alaska. Many of the outside tour companies own hotels in Alaska, staffed but out of state employees. Most Alaska residents can't afford to quit their full year job to take a seasonal job that probably is paying minimum wages.

[fulltimedaniel]

Veebyes wrote:
Truth be told, the best scenery in a northern trip is in Canada. Banff to Jasper is nothing short of spectacular. The PPs on the Cassiar Highway are some of the most scenic in N America. Chances are more wildlife will be seen along this road as well.

So many want to race through Canada or seem to think that there is nothing to see in Canada. They are so wrong. It is very easy to spend 3 weeks passing through Canada.

Well racing through Canada actually does make sense if your goal is Alaska, your time is limited, your funds are limited and you would rather spend your time at Denali Natl Park than on the Highway.

There is undoubtedly great scenery and many animals through Canada. But my personal opinion is that the grandeur and scope of Alaska does offer something just not found along the road north.

But to put this a bit in perspective Alaska alone last year had more than 2 million visitors during the summer season. That created more than 47,000 seasonal jobs. This year more than 1 Million people are expected to visit Juneau alone. My guess is that the vast majority of these bypass Canada altogether going by ship or plane.

[Veebyes]

Truth be told, the best scenery in a northern trip is in Canada. Banff to Jasper is nothing short of spectacular. The PPs on the Cassiar Highway are some of the most scenic in N America. Chances are more wildlife will be seen along this road as well.

So many want to race through Canada or seem to think that there is nothing to see in Canada. They are so wrong. It is very easy to spend 3 weeks passing through Canada.

[DancinCampers]

jmckelvy wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Please explain why you couldn't look this up yourself.

I was thinking the same thing. If a person is seriously thinking about this drive he should at least have maps and do his own research instead of depending on internet responses.

Then rv.net would be irrelevant.

[jmckelvy]

2oldman wrote:
Please explain why you couldn't look this up yourself.

I was thinking the same thing. If a person is seriously thinking about this drive he should at least have maps and do his own research instead of depending on internet responses.

[2oldman]

Please explain why you couldn't look this up yourself.

[shum02]

sue.t wrote:
Smart phone doesn't work at our place - we're too far out from the cell tower. My vintage Blackberry Curve with internal memory and no SIM card works fine though.

Unfortunately, the old CDMA phones no longer work in BC or Alberta though, so we're stuck in Yukon with our cell phones.

In Northern Ontario, or for the most part outside the GTA take that phone and toss it, CDMA has hit the tech bone yard.

You can buy a decent new or refurb'd Android for less than $100 Cdn.

[fulltimedaniel]

explorenorth wrote:

fulltimedaniel wrote:
Bring your smart phone up near your face and say: Ok Google (or serie) mileage from Sweet grass to Tok Alaska.

In less than a second you will have an answer. And a diagram of the route. And a map you can look at....

My Samsung doesn't....

Your Samsung if it is a smart phone like the S5,6 or 7 most certainly does have this function.

Look in your apps or reduce your home screen by pinching it and then tap "Widgets" look for the bar with the little microphone in it.

All Android devices came with this.

[sue_t]

Smart phone doesn't work at our place - we're too far out from the cell tower. My vintage Blackberry Curve with internal memory and no SIM card works fine though.

Unfortunately, the old CDMA phones no longer work in BC or Alberta though, so we're stuck in Yukon with our cell phones.

[explorenorth]

fulltimedaniel wrote:
Bring your smart phone up near your face and say: Ok Google (or serie) mileage from Sweet grass to Tok Alaska.

In less than a second you will have an answer. And a diagram of the route. And a map you can look at....

My Samsung doesn't....

[fulltimedaniel]

2gypsies wrote:

fulltimedaniel wrote:

Montara24d wrote:
Does anyone have a rough idea of the mileage from the boarder crossing in Sweet Grass, to the Alaska boarder.
John

Bring your smart phone up near your face and say: Ok Google (or serie) mileage from Sweet grass to Tok Alaska.

In less than a second you will have an answer. And a diagram of the route. And a map you can look at....

You're assuming everyone has a Smartphone. 🙂

Yes I am and in this day and age that is a pretty safe assumption. And if a person doesnt have one they should think carefully. It is a powerful tool if used to even 50% of it;s potential.

But I also find that some folks with smart phones don't realize they have that capability and they know nothing about that widget/app from google.

[2gypsies1]

fulltimedaniel wrote:

Montara24d wrote:
Does anyone have a rough idea of the mileage from the boarder crossing in Sweet Grass, to the Alaska boarder.
John

Bring your smart phone up near your face and say: Ok Google (or serie) mileage from Sweet grass to Tok Alaska.

In less than a second you will have an answer. And a diagram of the route. And a map you can look at....

You're assuming everyone has a Smartphone. 🙂

[fulltimedaniel]

Montara24d wrote:
Does anyone have a rough idea of the mileage from the boarder crossing in Sweet Grass, to the Alaska boarder.
John

Bring your smart phone up near your face and say: Ok Google (or serie) mileage from Sweet grass to Tok Alaska.

In less than a second you will have an answer. And a diagram of the route. And a map you can look at....