Spring trip Minneapols To Fairbanks Alaska.

[dog_house_Jim]

Planing to take the AL/CAN HWY.

We are going with another couple that will be driving their first RV. A 33Ft C Class on a ford chassis. We will be in our 2000 39Z Bounder DP.

What is a reasonable time frame to make this trip. the other couple want to push hard to get to Alaska, so that family can come join them. Microsoft Streets and Trips has it as a 7 day trip to cover the 3,550 miles.

Has anyone driven this route is this a realistic time frame? Giving they are going to get the coach and take off.

any information would be appreciated.

[xctraveler]

In 2011 we drove up the Klondike Loop to Dawson City then over Top of the World Highway etc. We spent 2 weeks going from White Horse to Dawson City because we wanted to take it all in, no idea if would ever go that way again. I would tell the newby in a hurry, "Enjoy Yourself, we'll catch up with you in a couple of weeks." It can be done 300 miles per day, but I would not commit to it for myself.

We saw many informal caravans travelling together before White Horse and ran into the parts along the road as they split up because of different travel paces and different desires to stop and smell the moose droppings.

[msmith1199]

2gypsies wrote:
First, perhaps the moderator could move this to the Canada/Alaska forum.

You didn't say 'when' in spring. Most RVers travel around the 3rd week of May and still encounter closed campgrounds, fuel stations, snow, ice, etc.

We drove 50-150 miles/per day because we wanted to experience the whole trip. It costs a lot of money to drive there and you don't do it often so make the best of it. You will be limited in the many awesome attractions if you go early in spring. Things won't be open.

Fairbanks, to us, is not a destination. I hope you wouldn't rule out the Kenai Peninsula, Homer, Seward, Valdez, Skagway and the wonderful areas in the Yukon and Canada.

I was going to say the same about Spring travel. Spring down here in the lower 48 doesn't mean the same as spring up there in Alaska. June in California means warm and sunny days, but I once went to Vancouver, Canada in June and it was really cold and raining and there was still snow falling in the high country, and Vancouver isn't all that far North.

[VinCee]

Though the DW and I flew to Fairbanks Sept. 2013 and spent two weeks in Alaska, I can add the sights are like none other and agree with other posters why rush a trip of this magnitude. Like many, it is the dream RV trip for DW and I when time permits, and in my mind that would be about six weeks from Buffalo, NY.

[cpoo]

Minneapolis to Fairbanks can be done easily in 6 days. That is driving about 8-9 hrs daily and little stopping for sightseeing. It would be a shame to push it that hard because there is much to stop and enjoy. The 6 days were our overall travel days from Madison , wI. We did however add 7 more days of sightseeing as we laid over for a day or two in several places. A brand new motorhome is going to make it more difficult to push hard as it will be new to them. I understand they want family to join and apparently you and your friends have limited time for the total trip so you either borrow from the travel time or the family time. So not perfect to put pedal to the metal to arrive in Fairbanks. Hopefully you can take at least 7 days just to relax a little and be safer along the way.

[Trackrig]

I'd tell the other folks that you'll see them sometime later on!

Lynden Transport drivers can make it in 72 hours. After we bought out DP, we make it from Vancouver, WA to our drive way in Anchorage in 99 hours. Only stopped when we had 3" of snow on the front end and couldn't see where we were going or when we couldn't find an open fuel stop late at night. Had to get home, I was out of vacation time.

On the other hand after I retired the next year, we came down the road in about 40 days and could have used more time to see everything.

Canada has just as good of scenery as Alaska does, why go through it in a rush? Enjoy the trip.

Bill

[427435]

1.) Driving 300 miles on the Alaska highway is a good day's drive.

2.) The scenery along the highway is some of the best in the world-------don't hurry through it.

[joe_b_]

I figure on ten driving days from south Florida to Fairbanks. But seldom do we drive straight through, so it normally works out to be between two and three weeks. I have done Anchorage to Houston, Texas area in six days, traveling solo, but don't recommend that method. From Fairbanks to Bellingham WA, is about 50 hours driving time. Numerous times my BIL, my SIL and their driving age daughter, would leave Anderson, go to Fairbanks and to the Lower 48, leaving on a Friday after work, and arriving in Bellingham on Sunday evening. Not my style of travel but it worked for them. I am an early riser so will often have driven 250 miles by noon. So much depends on a persons age, their health, their enjoyment of driving, etc. I like to spend my time in Alaska and northern Canada, not taking anymore time than necessary along the way in the lower 48. We keep a list of places that look interesting that we wish to return to, on a different trip.
In the 52 years I have been driving to Alaska, I have done 13 round trips by RV, half a dozen or more by car or truck and about that many by flying airplanes up to Alaska following the Alaska Hwy, for the most part.
I find that at my age, 72, about a ten hour driving day is enough for me. In the lower 48, I can make about 600 miles a day and then drop down to roughly 400 a day in Canada. It varies by trip for us.

[2gypsies1]

First, perhaps the moderator could move this to the Canada/Alaska forum.

You didn't say 'when' in spring. Most RVers travel around the 3rd week of May and still encounter closed campgrounds, fuel stations, snow, ice, etc.

We drove 50-150 miles/per day because we wanted to experience the whole trip. It costs a lot of money to drive there and you don't do it often so make the best of it. You will be limited in the many awesome attractions if you go early in spring. Things won't be open.

Fairbanks, to us, is not a destination. I hope you wouldn't rule out the Kenai Peninsula, Homer, Seward, Valdez, Skagway and the wonderful areas in the Yukon and Canada.

[time2roll]

It would take me two weeks minimum just based on miles. Still would be a long drive every single day.

[Westenthal]

We just completed our Alaska trip in August. The farthest we went was Fairbanks. We came straight back from there (Fairbanks) to central Illinois in ten days. Most days we drove around 450 miles. The roads once you get to Alaska aren't bad at all but some of the roads in the northern Yukon are terrible. I am talking 15 MPH. for 5 to 10 mile stretches. Be sure to keep an eye open for the orange flags along the roads that are used to alert drivers of frost heaves.

[tatest]

I had a co-worker who drove from Anchorage to Oklahoma, and a friend drive from Anchorage to southern Michigan, both on permanent moves, and in FWD compact or sub-compact cars.

The trip to Oklahoma was 11 days, through Calgary and Denver, late fall with roads in good condition, but with winter weather for the northern parts of the trip.

The trip to Michigan was at least two weeks, through Canada to Duluth then coming into Michigan through the U.P. That one was at the end of summer, with roads in good condition but not yet winter weather, and they were sightseeing along the way. In those conditions, maybe eight days to Minneapolis might work.

S&T is figuring 500-600 mile days for you, in a RV on good roads that's roughly 10 to 12 hours driving per day. I find that pace difficult to maintain for more than two or three days without a break, but for younger people and multiple drivers, it might work.

Problem I see, in spring the roads might not be in such good shape. You might find sections of the highways in Alaska and the Yukon might have you down to 30 mph or less, rather than cruising 60 mph to maintain a 50 daily average. You could also be dealing with flooding across the prairie, with snow melt in the south trying to flow north into rivers that are still frozen or ice-blocked.

I think I would allow 10 days for planning purposes, yet try to maintain the faster pace, if the trip was to be based on arriving to meet a deadline.

There is a Canada-Alaska forum here where you might find prior discussions.