Our Alaska Trip

[rkassl]

We're back in the US and resting for a week at Glacier National Park. At this point have registered about 7500 miles from Northern Wisconsin to our furthest point which was Homer, AK. We were on the front cusp of the tourist invasion. When we passed Muncho Lake in May it was still iced over as was Klulane Lake. There are still piles of snow in Valdez that the locals say will stay for a long time. We had much more road construction on our way back than going up. I NOW KNOW for myself the condition of the roads. I don't want to hear that the Alcan is all paved. Its paved ok, but the heaves and road construction and rebuilding of the road especially from Beaver Creek to the Alaska border is terrible. Don't get me wrong this was truly an adventure of a lifetime for my wife and I. The things we saw the people we met will be memories for a long time.

Would we make this trip again, in all honesty, probably not. The conditions were extremely hard on the truck and trailer.

What we did was to drive about 200 to 250 miles then depending on where we stopped stay for 2 or 3 nights. Otherwise you would go road nuts with all the driving. For example between Whitehorse and Watson Lake the frost heaves were so bad that the average speed pulling the trailer was about 35 miles per hour. That makes for a very long drive.

Found some great campgrounds, Tok Village in Tok, AK, Glacier View outside of Glennallen, Toad River, Nugget City in Watson Lake, Heritage RV Park in Homer.

It as an amazing adventure!

[CA_Traveler]

dave17352 wrote:
Do you think a truck camper would be a better fit for this trip do to the road conditions? I am curious as I have a TC and a fifth wheel about the size of yours.

Absolutely and a car is even better for the road conditions. Well OK maybe a tank would be the best! :B It's all about trade offs. Our trade off was the current rig and it's limitations. Yours???

[2gypsies1]

Keep in mind, also, that every year is different on the road repairs. With our 40' motorhome we really didn't think the roads were bad at all - but we did drive slow. We had all summer.

[sue_t]

We've towed our 25' fifth wheel over every highway in the Yukon and most highways in Alaska (Dalton remains on the bucket list). We take the truck camper when we want to explore goat trails.

Some days we don't get anywhere fast with either the fifth wheel or camper ... the highways can be rough. No use risking damage. The 100 mile section between Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek usually takes us 3-4 hours.

The 35 miles between our home and Whitehorse will take us an hour with either of the RVs, but only 35 minutes with the car. Often along this stretch I see RVs bouncing merrily along, seemingly oblivious to the road conditions.

In my little Honda Fit, I'm usually whipping along at 70 mph and have to chuckle when an RV passes me ... yup, there are RVs travelling faster than that and they don't know the road!

One trip with my car I had four fifth wheels pass me when I was moving 65 mph alongside Muncho Lake. We had passed these fifth wheels just north of Prince George on the way to Dawson Creek. They did not adjust their driving speed at all for the conditions and so made up the time on me.

It's important to not be in a hurry. Enjoy the down time. Don't expect to make miles. We haven't ever gone road nuts ... by travelling slower we see so much more! That keeps us busy! Makes it easier to brake for wildlife too ... being a photographer that is an essential element of our travels!

[cocos_cabana]

We spent 6 weeks in Alaska in our truck camper (Lance 11'4") and had a great trip in may/july 2011. Went all the way N to Arctic circle and also across Top of the World Hwy. but would not do it in our TT...too many heaves in the pavement.

[dave17352]

Do you think a truck camper would be a better fit for this trip do to the road conditions? I am curious as I have a TC and a fifth wheel about the size of yours.