Alcan Highway

[geomoudry]

We are leaving for Tulsa OK to drive the Alcon highway as far as Anchorage. Driving our new 25 foot motorcoach. Any advice?

[bodzcampers]

Check road conditions. My best friend in High School took this trip one summer with her family. They broke an axle on the Al-Can, but that was many years ago....hopefully it is new and improved.

[JLeising]

Planning to leave from the San Francisco Bay Area for Alaska two weeks from now. We plan to take the ferry from Port Randel to Haines, then join the Alcan at Haines Junction. We will be in our one year old Solera. Looking forward to it!
Do a search on this site - I found a lot of good info here.
Jim

[bodzcampers]

Found a good resource for Al-Can Summer or Winter. Good News! It is new and improved from when my friend and her family drove it.
Have a blast. Sure looks like amazing country.

The Alcan Highway is a Road Trip You'll Remember!

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by JLeising

Planning to leave from the San Francisco Bay here. Jim

Did that, done that when I was transferred to Eielson AFB Fairbanks.
Take lots of pictures.. Have a great trip

Yes the Alcan is in much better condition than years ago.
You must remember to protect your front grille/radiator from rocks by using some type of vinyl screen to slow down the rocks that are thrown up further north in the Yukon. You have to maintain speed with the truckers and evenif you do the trucks and cars going the other way will also throw rocks.
Good luck

[prairiecamper]

Drove the highway to Fairbanks in 2010, good paved highway most of the way. Early in the year it will have frost heaves, and pot holes in places. Drive slower and smell the roses enjoy the scenery, you will be fine! Most importantly have a great trip!

[sherman12]

I can only dream from Western New York State. Ahhhh, retirement?

[brianak]

Are you camping in the anchorage area? If so camp in Eagle River campground it is much nicer than anything in town and it is only 10 minutes away.

[geomoudry]

Originally Posted by JLeising

Planning to leave from the San Francisco Bay Area for Alaska two weeks from now. We plan to take the ferry from Port Randel to Haines, then join the Alcan at Haines Junction. We will be in our one year old Solera. Looking forward to it!
Do a search on this site - I found a lot of good info here.
Jim

Yeah! We did the Alaska Marine Hwy from Bellingham to Skagway and then drove to Haines Junction.
We will leave Tulsa on June 7, visit parks along the way, stay with wife's sister in Calgary and mosey on up thru Banff, Jasper, and on.. Will stay with our daughter in Anchorage. Return to T-town mid/end of August.

[Yukon Don]

The first stretch of the AlCan between Dawson Creek, BC and Watson lake, YT can be a bit daunting for first-timers.

Make sure your brakes are in top condition, you will encounter some serious grades. Nothing steeper than 8% (on the Canadian end, at least) but they can (and do) go on for miles.

That was sage advice about stone protection and yes, some of the truckers up there can be a real treat.
Oddly enough, there is a stretch in northern BC where you will encounter buffalo all over the road. At all times watch for wildlife.

The road is in decent shape but expect to encounter construction at various points.
DO NOT rely on your GPS for a list of gas stations -top up when and where you can. And do be sure to budget for the extra cost of fuel up there -I've paid as much as $1.70 a litre in one out of the way spot.

Well worth it for the country you'll be seeing, though.

[bend302]

We drove from KY to Fairbanks in '06. That was before the MH and drove a Chrysler Minivan. Don't remember many steep grades but maybe I was looking at the scenery. I covered the headlights with a vinyl covering but still got a stone in the windshield in central Canada. The AlCan was a nice road with some repairs going on. Remember, in Canada, there are two seasons...Winter and Road Repair. So, the later in the Summer, the fewer repairs.

They use a tar and chip process for lots of the roads up there and when they repair a section, they depend on the traffic to push the granite chips into the cooling tar. The result is a lot of "chips" flying up behind traffic so don't follow too closely.

Gas prices up there are a bummer!

Loved the scenery. We wished we had our MH so we could have slowed down and taken more time. As it was, we travelled 9,000 miles.

Bill

[NO3putt]

We drove last summer so here is a couple of hints:
1. Get a copy of Milepost - up dated every year and good guide to camp grounds and guide for ALCAN highway.
2. Don't plan on too early, most campgrounds don't open until mid/end of May
3. Getting gas etc. Wasn't any problem but we did fill up at 1/2 tank
4. We did not book any campgrounds and did't have any problem finding a place to stay.
5. Take plenty of staples, like sugar, flour, pop, can goods. We took enought to get to AK and then restocked. Prices are a bit high for food on the way, example in Whitehorse a gallon of milk was $8.00, pizza at pizza hut cost us $30.00 (prices were much better in AK)
6. Take your time and enjoy the views, we where gone for 3 months.

Roads were fine until above Whitehorse to AK state line, then only frost heaves marked with red flags on side so just go slowly over them.
Let us know if you have any other questions.

[JLeising]

If you haven't found and read it yet, check out this string: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...128-25575.html
I found it very informative -

ten days until we leave -getting excited!

Jim

[fanrgs]

We are towing our Rockwood Mini Lite travel trailer to Alaska this summer, leaving Denver about June 15-16. If you are interested in the mountain ranges, river valleys, glaciers, fiords, and volcanoes along your route and wondered why they are there, you are asking questions about geology. We will be driving through some of the most interesting, visible, and photogenic geology in North America. We will see some of earth’s oldest sedimentary rock around Banff and Jasper and some of the youngest igneous rock in the active volcanoes of the Alaska Peninsula, visible across Cook Inlet from Anchorage, Kenai, and Homer. And in between those two bookends is just about every other age and type of geology that exists.

I am a retired geological engineer and have worked in Alaska on and off since 1972. So, I am putting together a blog on "Mllepost Alaska Highway Geology" where the geology we are seeing will be tied to the road mileages/mileposts shown in the Milepost. If you want to ask questions or post photos of interesting geology, click on my blog link below and I'll do my best to find answers and post interesting photos:

Milepost Alaska Highway Geology

PS: the blog's cover photo of a perfectly clear Mt. McKinley was taken from Talkeetna by my wife in June 2000.

[Yukon Don]

fanrgs, I will be following your blog with much interest.

If I read the first entry correctly, it sounds like we may be in the same neighbourhood in August. If so, I hope we get a chance to meet.
I've spent a lot of time in the wilds wishing I had a geologist around so's I could pester him/her with ten thousand questions like some little kid.

I look forward to your next blog entry.

[Bikeski]

FANRGS

we will be leaving NH on or about June 2, towing our Rockwood Mini Light. At this time we plan to go below the Lakes then to the Alcan. We have been going to AK every Summer for the past ten years to visit the children and grandkids but this is the first year driving instead of flying. Be interested to follow your journey and blog we will keeps our eyes open for a Mini Light. Have a great journey.

[Taylorgso]

Originally Posted by JLeising

Planning to leave from the San Francisco Bay Area for Alaska two weeks from now. We plan to take the ferry from Port Randel to Haines, then join the Alcan at Haines Junction. We will be in our one year old Solera. Looking forward to it!
Do a search on this site - I found a lot of good info here.
Jim

Hope you can post updates along the way... Also on Solera forum. Have a safe and fun trip!

[win]

I to will keep my eye on your blog.
I have a interest just because im from Alberta and love Jasper as the Athabasca glacier is receding at a alarming rate, anyone that hasn't been there should really put this trip on their bucket list before its gone

[fanrgs]

Yukon Don--we may be in Dawson City around the middle of August, then on to Jasper NP about Sept. 1. This is your chance to have a "geologist by your side," at least in the figurative sense. So, feel free to send me private messages on this forum or, better yet, comment on my blog, so all the blog readers can see the questions and answers.

Bikeski--thanks and I'll do my best to keep you interested. This is our first trip up the Alcan too. That's why I am so interested in documenting the geology along the way. Have a great trip!

Win--glaciers everywhere are in major retreat, as are the Arctic Ocean sea ice and Antarctic ice shelf. Today there was a news release that Russia had ordered 16 of their scientists to evacuate a research station on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean off the Canadian coast because it is melting at a dangerously rapid rate. They had thought the floe would last until September, but warm sea temperatures have caused it to break up 4 months early. But, remember that climate is cyclic. The Vikings were able to raise crops in Greenland (that's why they named it that) 1000 years ago. But, by 1200 AD, they abandoned their agricultural colonies due to the onset of the "Little Ice Age" that lasted until the early 19th century. That cool-down may have also been partly responsible for the abandonment of Mesa Verde and other Ancestral Pueblo villages in Colorado and New Mexico. BTW, I posted an introduction to glaciers on the blog yesterday.

[Yukon Don]

Originally Posted by fanrgs

Yukon Don--we may be in Dawson City around the middle of August, then on to Jasper NP about Sept. 1. This is your chance to have a "geologist by your side," at least in the figurative sense. So, feel free to send me private messages on this forum or, better yet, comment on my blog, so all the blog readers can see the questions and answers.

Will do X2.

I'm curious, will you be travelling up the Dempster Highway as well?