Roll Call Alaska 2018

jacketsbum wrote:
... My question is how soon is too soon concerning icy roads and closures?...

It has been our experience that the last couple weeks of May are best for the roads. That is usually after most of the snow closures and before the big melt and flooding closures. Notice I said usually. As I said earlier we have had to wait in the past a couple of days towards the end of May for the snow to melt in the Canadian passes and have seen roads washed out during this same time period another year. The biggest concern is crossing the Canadian Rockies. The Alaska roads will usually be in pretty good shape by the middle of May.

We prefer going early (mid May) and returning late (mid September) as there appears to be more wildlife viewing along the roads in the spring and lots of bears chasing salmon in the fall. One year going up we hit it perfectly where the cleared space along the sides of the highway was melted and had green grass and everything else was still snow covered. We saw twice as many bears that year than at any other time. The hard part is the timing of that one week period!

In 2016 we talked with people that got snowbound in a pull-out above Dawson Creek for two days while they cleared the mountain passes. They loved it! No traffic, plenty of snow to play in, and they made some new friends! We do have our accommodations with us so we can stop anywhere we want and wait out the weather!

The two most important things are #1 just do it and #2 do NOT get in a hurry! This is the trip of a lifetime, so slow down and enjoy it. We are usually rolling between 5-6 hours a day. No 500 mile days on this trip for us!