Minimum Time to Visit AK from San Francisco?

If you have a month, that will allow a effective vacation, while not 'rushing though everything".

Start by ordering a copy of "MilePost" Each year they drive the length of the Alaskan Highway, and write another version of the popular magazine. They list everything to see at each milepost, and where the view points are located, gas stops, great places to see a lake, and whatever. It can be enjoyable to just read that!

I ended up flying to Fairbanks, and toured Alaska by car, and stayed with friends in Fairbanks. It was back when gas was $4 a gallon, and more along the highway.

You might also consider using a cargo ship to ship your RV to Anchorage, and then drive it back, so you don't spend so much time going both ways. My friend in Fairbanks bought a 1 year old car in Florida, took a winter vacation in 2007 and drove it to Seattle. Then put it on a ferry, and flew home to Fairbanks. When the car arrived in Anchorage, he had a friend drive him down to the docks to pick up his car. Buying a new car in Alaska can be very expensive, with high shipping costs added to the MSRP, and not as many discounts as buying in the lower 48.

Have fun,

Fred.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
If you have a month, that will allow a effective vacation, while not 'rushing though everything".

Start by ordering a copy of "MilePost" Each year they drive the length of the Alaskan Highway, and write another version of the popular magazine. They list everything to see at each milepost, and where the view points are located, gas stops, great places to see a lake, and whatever. It can be enjoyable to just read that!

I ended up flying to Fairbanks, and toured Alaska by car, and stayed with friends in Fairbanks. It was back when gas was $4 a gallon, and more along the highway.

You might also consider using a cargo ship to ship your RV to Anchorage, and then drive it back, so you don't spend so much time going both ways. My friend in Fairbanks bought a 1 year old car in Florida, took a winter vacation in 2007 and drove it to Seattle. Then put it on a ferry, and flew home to Fairbanks. When the car arrived in Anchorage, he had a friend drive him down to the docks to pick up his car. Buying a new car in Alaska can be very expensive, with high shipping costs added to the MSRP, and not as many discounts as buying in the lower 48.

Have fun,

Fred.

Fred,
Thanks.
What a great idea, shipping to Anchorage and driving home. That would cut the time to something I could pull off as a vacation.

Are you retired and can take take more than four weeks or are you using vacation time?

A lot of people go up more than once (Canada and Alaska are a large place to see), and you're using this as a scouting trip?

Bill

Trackrig wrote:
Are you retired and can take take more than four weeks or are you using vacation time?

A lot of people go up more than once (Canada and Alaska are a large place to see), and you're using this as a scouting trip?

Bill

To do the trip soon would require vacation time. Retirement is a few years away for my wife, maybe longer for me.

I think it's really a sightseeing trip more than anything. Just the idea of doing it at a camping pace is appealing.

don't know about the driving days, but I flew in and spent a week sightseeing. took the glacier cruise, drove up to fairbanks and the pipeline, panned for gold, etc. obviously the longer the better but I don't consider my week there to be a "waste".
bumpy

San Francisco to Fairbanks is approx. 2,960 miles - one way - via the Cassiar Highway.

By my style of driving that's 10 days on the road to Alaska and 10 days back

925 miles to the Canadian border near Abbotsford BC, 1,185 more miles to the Yukon Territories border at Upper Laird where you would join the Alaska Highway (2,110 total), 555 more miles to the Alaska border (2,665 total) and 295 more miles to Fairbanks.

Via the Alaska Highway / Dawson Creek, BC - the distance is 3,080 miles one way.

925 to Canada - 690 to Dawson Creek - 595 to Yukon near Watson Lake - 650 to the Alaska border - 295 to Fairbanks.

Up via the Alaska Highway - Fairbanks - Anchorage - Homer - Valdez - home via the Cassiar is a round trip of 7,200 miles. Averaging 350 miles per day - 20 days of driving and only sight seeing out the windshield. Average speeds will be 40-45 mph for much of the drive up north - 7 - 8 hours behind the wheel every day.

The good news is that days are LOOOOOONG in the summer up north. Starting out at 5-6 am is easy in full daylight.

Frankly with only four weeks, I'd fly up to Anchorage - rent an RV and take my time actually in Alaska. The cost of fuel alone is going to run $4,000-5,000 (diesel). Say 3/4 of that just getting to Alaska and getting home - that can pay a lot toward plane tickets and RV rental.

I would plan on two months at least. This is the trip of a lifetime so don't cut it short. If you don't have the time to do it right now I would wait until later. Or do as pawpaw suggested and fly up.

Our first trip to Alaska was to cruise the inside passage. This for us was an initial investigation to see if we wanted to spend the time, effort, and money driving the inland route. We were very much impressed with the views from our balcony and enjoyed the coastal cities and their sightseeing opportunities. In short, we were hooked! We have now spent two summers, approximately 4.5 months each time, in Alaska in our rv and still have not done/seen everything on our list. (Obviously we are now retired)

Driving the Alaska Highway is not something to do in a rush. There is to much to see and too many frost heaves to get into a hurry.

Tell us how much time you are able to allocate for your trip and we will give you additional suggestions!

Another option on another thread - ship the RV to Alaska via the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system from Bellingham to Anchorage (Whittier) or Haines. Drive around Alaska and either ship it home or drive home.

The AMH will be you traveling on the ferry with the vehicle/ RV.

Or ship the RV as cargo to Alaska.

Both will likely cost more than driving - but shipping to Whittier would involve only about 10 days of to Alaska travel vs 20 days driving.

LaunchnRetrieve wrote:
I'm going to read everything in here, but thought I would just ask a quick question. What's the minimum amount of time I would need to make a trip to Alaska and back, starting in San Francisco? And by minimum I mean an enjoyable trip, not just a how fast can I do it trip. Is this a vacation trip or do I have to wait until my wife and I retire to have enough time?

We started in the same place as you but took the whole summer. You will be pushing the time envelope to just do a month. We blogged our trip at sheltierv.tumblr.com if you want to get an idea.