Anyone Taken Their B Up The 11 To Deadhorse, AK?

[tylerdurdeno9]

We are planning a bit of a trip this upcoming september. I am currently working for the alaskan railroad and my contract is up the 17th of september and we are currently planning an end of the season trip up to check out the northern lights for a week or so. I am looking for someone who has taken this trip and has any suggestions whatsoever. I know I will have to get chains but other than that I am in the dark! Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated!

Chris

[sodajerk]

When we went in June, there was a bit of rain. We took it slow, moved over for trucks and faster drivers. The roads were not slick and muddy so that you would get stuck in the mud. Hard packed gravel, and a few paved sections. I would do it again. Stop often and wipe off your lights so other can see you better.

[tylerdurdeno9]

sodajerk wrote:
We just drove our B to the Artic Circle, in the rain last month. Gas and diesel (and ice cream) were available at the Yukon River crossing. We decided not to go to Coldfoot, never planed to go to Deadhorse. Just the Circle was on our bucket list. No flat tires, no busted windshield, just a lot of mud. Ours is an older Chevy one ton van.

When you went were the roads as bad as everyone is saying?

Chris

[sodajerk]

We just drove our B to the Artic Circle, in the rain last month. Gas and diesel (and ice cream) were available at the Yukon River crossing. We decided not to go to Coldfoot, never planed to go to Deadhorse. Just the Circle was on our bucket list. No flat tires, no busted windshield, just a lot of mud. Ours is an older Chevy one ton van.

[Davydd]

Oilman wrote:
What does "Up The 11" mean ??

That's the highway number.

[applegater]

Not on our MB Cruiser, the lowest point underneath was the rear differential at 8 and a half inches, the genset was above the floor and thus both the vehicle and genset exhausts were above the 8 and a half. There are many times I wish I had kept it and refurbished the inside!

[Oilman]

What does "Up The 11" mean ??

[Davydd]

The lowest clearance point on my 2011 Great West Van Legend is the exhaust pipe that comes out the bottom and makes a sharp 90 degree horizontal turn under our Onan generator. That measured 7". The fiber glass skirts look low but it is deceiving. They are at 8.5" or higher all the way around. I suspect this is true of most Sprinters.

[applegater]

One thing I forgot to mention, while our B was a fully equipped rv(MB Cruiser) it had 8 and a half inch clearance which is higher than some B's .

[applegater]

We drove our sprinter B to Prudhoe Bay in 2010, just after Labor Day. There was a couple of rough stretches where they were grading the road but nothing was all that bad. We camped a few miles from Prudhoe on an access road to the pipeline, it was great. The scenery was gorgeous, the road had more paved sections that we expected. If you really want more information ask a similiar question on the Alaska forum here. Lots of folks have driven it. There is a nice BLM campground about five miles north of Coldfoot. We pulled over for approaching trucks and had no problem with rocks. Fuel should be available at both Coldfoot and Prudhoe but don't know if the businneses at the Yukon crossing would still be open.

[pigman1]

We went up to Deadhorse 3 years ago. Because I had a household 17 cu ft chest freezer with me (to bring down the salmon and halibut) we chose to take a tour. Flew up, spent a day there and they drove us down in a large van over two days. Spent a night in Coldfoot on the way down. Great trip but some areas were severely washboarded so our decision to leave the rig in Fairbanks was a good one. We went up in early June and they had 8" of snow in Atagun Pass the day we came down. Below freezing in the early AM in Deadhorse.

I'd be sure to take a good CB as the truckers use it the whole route. Also a good bunch of cold weather gear and survival kit for that time of year. Be sure to call the Inn or wherever you're staying up there if you want to get up to the oil fields and the Arctic Ocean. They need your passport number or other info so Homeland Security has a chance to check you out before you go on their tour. Unless you have an oil field ID you can't just drive yourself around. We had a great time and would recommend the tour, but i'd do it alone if I didn't want to do it that way again.

[Davydd]

That's the one trip in Alaska I desired to do but decided not to. Common sense won out over wanting the challenge. 🙂