Summary of our trip to Alaska

Steve here to summarize our trip:

Leaving from and returning to the Vancouver, BC area we covered 12,463km/7,789 miles in 3 months...a distance we would normally cover in 6 months. We could have used another 2-4 weeks as BC, the Yukon and Alaska is such a vast area that there was much more we wanted to see and do.

We didn't see as much wildlife as we thought we would considering the remoteness and the distance covered.

We didn't have any serious issues with bugs. Only in a couple of locations were the Mosquitos and Black Flies a small annoyance.

There is plenty of opportunity for target practice in Alaska. Most highway signs look like this or worse unless they're near a populated area.

The roads were rough from:

• Destruction Bay on Kluane Lake in the Yukon to the US border,
• Glennallen to Valdez,
• Taylor Hwy/Top Of The World Hwy to Dawson City. The road is paved to Chicken, AK  and the Canadian side was good.
• Hwy 37 cutoff on the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy to Boya Lake Provincial Park, then it gets better.

In the Yukon bad stretches of road are usually flagged...in Alaska not at all.
Consider all fresh patches of black top as "Speed Bumps"
The gravel sections were, in most cases, smoother than the paved sections, however extremely dusty when dry or obviously muddy when wet. Twice the interior of our trailer was actually cloudy with dust when we entered...major cleanup required.

Now with that being said, don't let our experience discourage you and keep in mind that our truck rides probably ten time rougher than a pickup. We have no experience with Class A's but I'm sure their ride would also be much smoother. I don't think we would take our "home" up there again though.

We now have a squeaky floor in the Montana and two worn tires on one side, a bad squeak in the dash of the truck that mysteriously disappeared after 3 days. (I know things don't just fix themselves but everything's still working!) We will now be getting our alignment checked before upgrading our wheels and tires to the H load rated Goodyear G114.

 Most RV's we saw were Class A's and large 5th wheels. Most of the Class C's we saw were rentals. Europeans fly into Whitehorse,Yukon or Anchorage then pick up their rentals. If money was no object that's the way we would do it...fly up, pick up a rental and beat the crap out of it :).

We also saw a lot of RV's that were shipped over from Europe.

We spent:

• $1,922.00 on campgrounds (average $20.45/night over 94 nights, with 10 of those free boondocking nights)
• $5,419.72 on diesel (We average 7mpg)

All of the Alaskan's we spoke with said that the weather in June and July was the best in memory...August was back to normal.

In May there is still snow and frozen lakes and rivers in many areas.
The bugs begin in June.
July and August is normally rainy.

Must haves are:

• The Milepost
• Traveler's to Alaskan Camping Guide (We didn't have this but has been highly recommended)Both can be purchased together on Amazon.
• Alaska Tour Saver Coupon Book for huge savings on tours, fishing and much more.

 

 

What an awesome experience this trip was...

another one off our "Bucket List"!