Roll Call Alaska 2014

[sljohnson1938]

Anyone traveling to Alaska in 2014? We ,my wife and I, are planning a trip and was wondering if anyone is planning on going in 2014 also.
Would go this year, except we have two weddings to go to in MI, one in late June the other in early August.
So next year we are planning to leave home in NC in mid July, we plan a 2 month trip. We were there in 2004, only that time we were with paid RV tour. Loved it, and would take another paid tour in a 'heart beat', but the cost is now too much.
The reason for the mid July date is looking at the 2013 Alaska postings the wx, road conditions and insects are at their worst. Later in the season all three are better. Plus I want to travel back on the Cassiar Hwy in Sept is supposed to be the best time of the year on the Cassiar, plus less travelers.
Finally, money is an issue with us. So we will 'boon dock', stay at
free or low cost CG's, rest areas, etc. when ever possible.


Hope you all have a great trip and hope to see you some where along the way.

[krlgswanson]

EsoxLucius wrote:
We are currently in Jasper. Follow us on our blog jtappen.wordpress.com

Vrey nice pictures....my excitement is building 74 days to my departure.

[CarmenandJoey]

EsoxLucius

Have a great trip safe trip, I got a chance to see some of the pictures, BEAUTIFUL!
My wife and I are looking at doing the trip next year and all these blogs and pictures help us plan. It's well appreciated how everyone shares their experiences on the road, it helps us plan and stay excited about the trip!

[Kidoo]

Just want to share this Web Site, new to me, some very good info onroute to the north country. It can be loaded to mostly anything, I just loaded it in my Streets and trips.

http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/uc/index.php/2012-10-03-01-10-22

[GordonThree]

Anyone in Lake Louise? The dog and I are spending two nights to recoup from 12+ hr driving days to get here. Was going to hit Jasper next but I think I'll visit on the way home in June instead.

[EsoxLucius]

We are currently in Jasper. Follow us on our blog jtappen.wordpress.com

[hr0082]

Not that I wish any of you to have "bad" weather, but your reports of snow, rain, cold, etc make it a bit easier for me to make it to our tentative departure date. We're still waiting to see if/when our daughter and her family will come for a visit. They are both teachers and one of them has a curriculum writing gig, the date of which has not been finalized. We're hoping to be on the road June 4.

I've been working on a proposed route, using my old 2010 Milepost which I have used on two trips. I have a suggestion for any of you who making the trip for the first time. Document wildlife and other interesting info in the Milepost. I did that on the first trip and found it to be quite useful on the second. An example being "Dawson Creek mile 304 were 4 black bear---1 adult and 3 cubs." That was the first year, so the next year we were on the lookout and sure enough the next year we saw 5 black bear very near that spot.

I just ordered the 2014 Milepost and I will go through the old one and make a spreadsheet with the info from the 2010. I'll keep it in the new Milepost so I can be on the lookout at those spots which we found interesting on the previous trips---such as "great pies" at a particular cafe.

Can't wait to get started!

[sue_t]

It is raining in the Whitehorse area and snowing at Destruction Bay this morning.

Supposed to be nicer tomorrow...

Nice this morning near the Alaska/Yukon border though.

[CA_Traveler]

Nomads_2 wrote:
Quick update - Leaving Dawson Creek this morning.

Let us know about traffic and camping to Ft Nelson. It's reported to be jammed due to oil construction.

In 2013 we did not see as expected large numbers of animals on our Alaska trip. But the ones we did see were wild and in their element.

[Nomads_2]

Quick update - Leaving Dawson Creek this morning. Have already traveled over 3000 miles just to get to this point. Expecting rain today and tonight. Will not have internet to update blog tonight. Hopefully will have tomorrow night. We will see. Will post road conditions etc the next time we have connectivity.
Max and Anne
alaska2014.blogspot.com

[fanrgs]

mclee47 wrote:
We were planning to stay at Fort Nelson about June 13 for the first night out of Dawson Creek, but it sounds like that might not be doable due to campgrounds jammed with oil field workers. Any suggestions?

If you are planning to stay in Fort Nelson, you probably should call or E-mail Triple "G" Hideaway as soon as you know when you will be there to see if they have an available space for that date. Then you can make a decision based on that information.

There aren't any other RV parks in town except the Bluebell Inn, which only gets bad reviews from those who have tried it (see Campground Ratings).

[CA_Traveler]

sites with no WiFi (despite the ad to the contrary)

Actually this is a good lead in to not expect what you may read and to be flexible and have a backup plan. If you're not flexible then probably best to not head to Alaska.

We arrived at the first CG at Watson Lake which was closed and the second of three CG's burned down. There went our backup. BTW The Church book was well aware of this much earlier but didn't update their on line updates??? But there right in front of us was a brand new AFD fuel station that we had activated in Ft Nelson. Fill up and head down the road...

The downtown Watson Lake CG had a site for us and they had WiFi! Really? Really? Really? Well yes they actually did have WiFi, but don't expect it - like the internet is down, our equipment is not working, etc. Well downtown Watson Lake WiFi did work BUT, not at our site, had a signal at the office but their dial up or whatever they had was consumed. So NO they didn't have a usable WiFi.

Our once in a lifetime trip turned into an adventure and we dealt with WiFi and a lot more. These are hard working people - they sleep in January - working to make your stay something to remember. The adventure sucked us in and we're going back!

[fanrgs]

Between Fort Nelson and Toad River there are the Tetsa River Campground Regional Park at MP (DC) 345 and Tetsa River Services and Campground at MP (DC) 357. Water and outhouses at the regional park and electric hookups on pull-thrus with well water, a dump, and WiFi at the private RV park, according to The Milepost. Those two campgrounds would save you 50 miles off going all the way to Toad River.

If you happen to boondock, the Fort Nelson Museum has water and a free sani-dump. We stopped there last August for some water because we thought we might be boondocking between there and Fort St. John. No such luck once we saw the condition of the side roads, so we stayed at Sikanni Chief.

We would NOT recommend Sikanni Chief RV Park no matter how good it looks from the highway. It is overpriced and no full hookups are available for one-night RVers. You only get narrow muddy, but pull-thru, sites with no WiFi (despite the ad to the contrary), terrible mosquitoes (it is right on the river, so no surprise there), and historical signs hidden so passers-by won't see them and stop. It is definitely NOT the "camper's paradise" that they advertise!

[CA_Traveler]

Bucky Beaver and his lodge clan were swimming about at Toad River. And Mr and Mrs Moose were strutting around last June. Click here.

[fanrgs]

We stayed at Toad River last August and thoroughly enjoyed it. They were busily adding new cabins to the park and the RV spaces under the trees next to the lake were full-hookups. We saw a beautiful sunset over the lake and even some wildlife in and around the lake, so we got some good photos.

We by-passed Muncho Lake and stayed at Toad River based on an early summer recommendation from Janet Rupp, the originator of Roll Call Alaska 2013. We were very glad we did and highly recommend it to "2014'ers."

[sue_t]

Muncho Lake has two provincial park campgrounds on it. Both nice spots.
Summit Lake also has a provincial park campground that is a nice stay.
Neither has services though.

We often drove from Dawson Creek area (Kiskatinaw provincial park) to Summit or Muncho Lake in a day. So it is do-able. The road is in good condition so it is reasonably easy to make miles.

Toad River is, of course, do-able as well. It is an interesting spot. Not too fancy, but generally reliable for services. Breakfast is very good in the restaurant. The only time we stayed there was during one of our winter trips and he let us park by his generator shed for the night as the camping area wasn't plowed out.