Roll Call Alaska 2015

[trcgolf]

I know its early but we have been planning for the past 3 months. I know its another 15 months at least till we leave but we are just going crazy...
So here is our very rough plan overview. Leave mid June from western NY; travel west up through Ill., Wis., Min., ND, into Canada.
Diagonally across Saskatch. and Alberta, BC, and YT...
Our first destination is Fairbanks, via Top of the World Highway... thinking of doing the Dempster to the Arctic Circle. I know there will many stops... some short, some long but all will be great.
Fairbanks to Homer with the obligatory Denali stop for a few days.
Homer to Portland Or; Oregon to San Fran; San Fran to home via the Northern US.

We have so much planning yet to do but reading all the Roll Call posts in 2013, and 2014 just keeps us going. Started to plan finances which brings us to the first major question.
I have heard all the diesel advantages and draw backs of the gas engines. We invested in a 32' fifth wheel and 2013 GMC 2500 HD with 6.0L Crew 4x4. The fiver weighs about 8K empty, I would guess 10,500 loaded. ( I will get that checked for sure)Brand new to Rving

The truck is my every dayer.... need the 4 wheel drive here in winter. The decision with gas was pure economics. A Cummins diesel and matching tranny was $9500 more. Doing the math it was going to take a bunch of miles to save enough in mileage to pay for the increase in price. About 100000 mile by my calculation. We not going to be full timers; one long trip a year to Florida.
Traveling around NY and Pa and maybe Florida, that all makes sense but going on a trip like this, I am not so sure gas was the way to go. So I am asking for those who used a truck like mine to haul a fifth wheel through Canada...Alaska...et al... What kind of mileage can I expect? Sorry for the novelette...I will get better at this.

Edited to add 'Alaska' within the title.

[beeman1]

Looking to be in the Dawson creek about mid June. Leave NH late May.No
real time frame once I get to that area. Retired and love it. going on
5 years of fun. Traveled west two summers and to Nova Scotti one.

[CA_Traveler]

trcgolf wrote:
See you out on the road. we should all try to do a Roll Call sign on our vehicles like 13, and 14.

We meet about 9 rigs from rv.net in 2013. The big sign on the back of our toad added visibility but mostly we sought out each other based on posts.

[CA_Traveler]

2 MHs planning to leave late May and will may visit Banff and Jasper. May do TWH on the way up if the weather is good.

[beeman1]

Ouch:M No way to travel when hurting. Roads are bad enough and get
bounced around.

[trcgolf]

we were to start May 30 but a rotator surgery for the wife may delay out start. Depends on how rehab goes. She is miserable with it so we need to get her fixed up. Hopefully no more that mid June...
See you out on the road. we should all try to do a Roll Call sign on our vehicles like 13, and 14.

[beeman1]

Anyone headed to Alaska late May? Looking to tag along. No big caravans for me. 3 to 4 trucks would be good. Open time frame. Have to see it all. All I can say for sure is I leave late May and back in states late September. Will be using the TC for this trip.Thanks:@

[sue_t]

The condition of the Top of the World in May will not reflect the condition of the highway later in the season. In May, crews will still be working to clear the snow from the highway rather than improving or regular maintenance. Some of the drifts up there are higher than a motorhome and take some work to get through.

Highway crews can't get over there until the ice breaks up on the Yukon River at Dawson City. This is sometimes early May, sometimes late May. Mostly in mid-May.

The border crossing opens when the crews have the highway clear enough for traffic.

[CA_Traveler]

Carrera glider wrote:
We are headed to Dawson in May from Anchorage over Top W. Hwy then on to the Dempster to Tomestone Territorial park for some hiking/flying. We are then heading to Whitehorse after that we are back to Anchorage.

Please post the condition of the TWH.

Really appreciate your post and those from others that are more knowledgeable than us visitors.

[CA_Traveler]

Stewart/Hyder is worth the side trip. The Salmon Glacier is only one we found that you can drive above the glacier and look down. The gravel road is maintained by the mining companies and probably not suitable for a 2WD car.

Hyder and Salmon Glacier.

Second Alert: Fuel was more expensive along the long stretches of the Cassiar in 2013. The only fuel station in Stewart had a 10.5' overhead.

Third Alert: In 2013 earlier travelers along Cassiar were invited to spend days waiting for the flooded road to clear. But weather and road conditions change all the time...

[CA_Traveler]

We stopped just south of Dease Lake and we went to sleep with the roar of the water from the Tanzilla River. It was just a pull off along the road and several others joined us.

Alert: In 2013 there was major construction of a very high transmission line along many many miles of the Cassiar. It already had put a damper on the beautiful scenery and I'm not looking forward to seeing it's completion.

[SBradley]

Cassias is the best route up from the West Coast.
I drove both routes in September 2014.
It is at least 12 hours shorter, very little construction. It is a two lane road in great condition only short breaks in the pavement the longest maybe a couple of hundred meters, all near Dease Lake.
Dease lake is a nice area to take a break or stay the night, fuel up before heading to the junction if heading North there are no other fuel stops until you reach the jct..
Bell 2 is another place to stop for a break and fuel.
Check the mile post you will see that there are plenty of places to camp or rest.
Read the signs when you pull into a rest stop some say no camping but they also provide a time limit if I remember it was 8 hours, more than enough to stay over night.
Also if you plan on resting, stop before it gets to late as they tend to fill up.
This is a much nicer drive than the other route, I saw 8 bears in twenty miles just North of Bell 2 in the early evening.
You can't get around the construction just South of the boarder to Alaska so just take your time it's about 140 km not to bad if drive slowly. No pilot cars late in the evening.
You could run up to Dawson but your not really avoiding the gravel road just exchanging it for another the Top of the World hwy.
We are headed to Dawson in May from Anchorage over Top W. Hwy then on to the Dempster to Tomestone Territorial park for some hiking/flying. We are then heading to Whitehorse after that we are back to Anchorage.

The other route thru Dawson creek has at least two sections of construction one 130 km. several pilot car stops, they weren't to bad but did slow progress. The worst part is the speeding traffic heading the opposit direction throwing rocks (broken wind shield). There is a long stretch where gas drilling is taking place just off the hwy. They come out of the camps from muddy roads which in the rain make the paved hwy slippery, and when it is dry extremely dusty so bad you have trouble seeing more than 100 m. In this section there is also a lot of truck traffic.
This route is also boring after awhile rolling hills remind me of Kansas.

If anyone is interest in more details let me know I live in Alaska and travel all over the State. My wife is the photographer she travels to even more remote locations for wild photos, Kaktovik last fall Polar bear trip 1200 pics in two days that took some time to par down.

[marsharini]

2gypsies wrote:
If you haven't done so already, everyone should ready the STICKY on the first line of this forum titled 'Helpful Ideas for Alaskan Travelers'. It has a lot of good information.

That and look through some of the blog links posted. Some are extremely helpful, some so-so, but it gives different perspectives.

[fullmoonoversal]

Tee Jay wrote:
We avoid the Cassiar. Did it once about 12 years ago and the wife hated it.

Most of our days are 350 miles: WA to Merritt, BC; Then to Hinton, AB; Then to Charley Lake (Ft St John north end); Then to Toad River; Then to Teslin. The last two stages are 500 mile days, Teslin to Tok, then Tok to the Kenai.

Prince George is two days of travel for most to Washington.

My DH and I did the Cassiar this past spring and returned the same way in the fall. The roads were pretty good with a few exceptions. The scenery was great. Coming back the camping opportunitiies were further apart but we managed to find enough pull off places to spend the night. We spent the night in a hotel one night each way;

[2gypsies1]

If you haven't done so already, everyone should ready the STICKY on the first line of this forum titled 'Helpful Ideas for Alaskan Travelers'. It has a lot of good information.

[soos]

Firehawvvk wrote:
Glad I found this topic. My wife and I are now retired and getting back into RVing after a LONG hiatus. We just bought a TT today and pick it up soon whenever the weather will clear for a few days as we purchased it about 8 hours away.
We are jumping right into RVing with a trip planned to AK this May. I will follow this thread and hopefully learn about what to do and maybe more importantly, what not to do.

In your spare time, peruse the Roll Call Alaska 2014 for a whole summers worth of tips from last year.