Planning a trip to AK from Indiana

@tinner12002

We try to stay at the KOA in Hinton, AB, then about 350 miles to Charley Lake just north of Ft St John, then Toad River about 350 miles on, then to Yukon Motel at Teslin, YK. We skip Whitehorse and go all the way to Tok, a 500 mile leg. All of the above have good 30 amp service and pull thrus. All have WiFi, except at Teslin you have to go in the restaurant to use it due to bandwidth issues.

I have a 30' electrical cord that plugs into the trailer socket as 50 amp and a 30 amp plug on the park pedestal end. Much nicer and easier than using the 50 amp cord and a conversion plug.

Enjoy the trip.

There are lots of campgrounds that your rig will fit into. Do not expect 50 amp most of the time and the farther north you go, you will run into campgrounds that only use generator power. Our best camping experiences were in pullouts along rivers or in government campgrounds both US and Canadian and that meant dry camping. Get a copy of the Church's Alaska campground guide. Do not expect the same type of campgrounds that you find in the lower 48.

Tee Jay wrote:
We do Alaska annually in a Ram CC Dually and 40' 5th. I keep a Buick in Alaska for guests to use. I have not found a need for something smaller. The one exception could be parking the dually in downtown Anchorage or Fairbanks, though I have done it. In the years I lived in Alaska any "off-road" was done on a snow machine. That was before the native claims settlement, so much of that travel could well now be a trespass.

There just are not many side roads. Some that come to mind are the Skilak Lake Road, the Denali Highway, The Dalton Highway, the Taylor Highway, and the Kennicott road, all gravel, plus the Hatcher Pass loop and the Knick River road and the Lake Louise road and the Petersville Mine road There are a few others, but just a few.

If you decide to do this, check with the Alaska State Troopers. You said it was licensed, the issue I see is it would need to be capable of safely keeping up with 55mph traffic to get to the side roads.

With that being said Tee Jay, maybe I should be without the extra transportation...just thought there would be more opportunities to do some off hiway site seeing. Also, are there any campgrounds along the AK hiway that you would recommend for that size of tow/rig combo?

We do Alaska annually in a Ram CC Dually and 40' 5th. I keep a Buick in Alaska for guests to use. I have not found a need for something smaller. The one exception could be parking the dually in downtown Anchorage or Fairbanks, though I have done it. In the years I lived in Alaska any "off-road" was done on a snow machine. That was before the native claims settlement, so much of that travel could well now be a trespass.

There just are not many side roads. Some that come to mind are the Skilak Lake Road, the Denali Highway, The Dalton Highway, the Taylor Highway, and the Kennicott road, all gravel, plus the Hatcher Pass loop and the Knick River road and the Lake Louise road and the Petersville Mine road There are a few others, but just a few.

If you decide to do this, check with the Alaska State Troopers. You said it was licensed, the issue I see is it would need to be capable of safely keeping up with 55mph traffic to get to the side roads.

tinner12002 wrote:
I also have been thinking I want to take some small transportation with us...maybe a Kubota or a Polaris UTV, licensed here in IN just for side road site seeing and such...with a full cab of course. Any thoughts, anyone done something similar??

You'll get dozens of opinions on this: here's one from a 40+ year Alaskan.

- The UTV would be good for buzzing around some of the smaller towns, but keep in mind that most places on the road system have at least a nominal regulation against use of ATV's / UTV's on maintained roads;
-If you can get TO the "side road" with your pickup/trailer, you'll likely be able to DRIVE ON that side road in your pickup (i.e. drop the trailer somewhere and explore with the pickup);
- If you've got the power and weight room, no reason not to take the UTV: However, there are fewer "side roads" in AK than one might think and, again, might not be enforced, but there's little of the middle ground between maintained roadway where UTV travel is banned and offroad;
- ....and Off-road is a bit of a sticky wicket; Few maintained trails, easy to get off-trail, off-trail can be very challenging, substantial investigation into land ownership and access rights is needed, etc, etc.
-

I also have been thinking I want to take some small transportation with us...maybe a Kubota or a Polaris UTV, licensed here in IN just for side road site seeing and such...with a full cab of course. Any thoughts, anyone done something similar??

If you want a nice scenic route and coming through Montana, take #89 from Great Falls to #17 through Glacier Park, and Alberta #6 through Waterton Park. Slow down at #505, I will be there to say hi. Our seasonal site is 10 min from there.
Through Pincher Creek to #3 west and then #22 North, #1 west to Banff, #93 north to Jasper, #40 to Grand Prairie, and #43 to Dawson Creek.

I go along with 2gypsies's recommendations. One additional useful item - stop at the visitor center in Dawson Creek (the "official" start of the Alaskan Highway) and ask for the campground & fuel stop list. It has fairly up to date mile by mile locations between Dawson Creek & Tok.

Our 2015 Trip to Alaska.

If you see a vehicle or two stopped, they may be looking at some of the wildlife. They like to graze on the roadside where the trees have been cut back. Stay in the vehicle and they don't even notice you. Had a buffalo walking on the side of the road ignoring campers pass within feet of him.

I bought a nice digital camera with extra batteries and had two 32gb cards. Get one with a very good zoom. Take lots of pics and save them to a laptop every few days, you never know what could happen.

The DW kept notes every day. It's surprising the things you'll forget about a year later.

We also crossed at Sweetgrass/Coutts. Crossed at 7am and we were the only vehicle in sight. Just up the road is an Alberta visitor center, very worthwhile stop. Consider going to Banff National Park, drive the Icefields Parkway up to Jasper National Park. Keep on going to Grand Prairie, then the Alaska Highway.

Consider taking meals for four days for each person in case of problems on the highway. In previous years, the highway was closed for several days for various problems like fires or flooding. If stopped on the road, you may not be near anywhere to get supplies. And there are no alternative routes in many sections of the road.

Be flexible with your time, and plans. In addition to the books noted earlier by many posters, if you belong to the AAA, they have a nice tour book with lots of additional info.