Going To Alaska During Summer Time

[tamdle]

I am planning to go to Alaska for couple months from early June to end of July of 2017 with my 2016 Georgetown XL 352QS and flat tow the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. This is my first trip to Alaska, and the RV is still new (less than 2000 miles on the odometer).

If you have been in Alaska during this time of the past year, would you please give me some advice on what I should know. I have already plan out the drive and pined-point all of the stops along the way including all fuel stops and the distance between one another.

Some of the thing that I need to know are:
1 - Should I book the campgrounds far in advance, or should I wait for few days before my arrival to each of the location. Does most of campground are packed during this season?
2 - Food on the RV across the border, especially vegetable. Both of Canada and US.
3 - Carry gun across the border. Both of Canada and US.
4 - Road condition, should I expect smooth ride or very bad road along the way.
5 - We both enjoy nature a lot and planned to stop overnight along the highway turn-out. Does the Canadian and US allows the RV to stop along the way at the turn-out? and do they allows you to open the slides if needed?

Any additional advice that does not include in the above list would be appreciated as well.

Looking forward to hear from some of the veteran on this road to Alaska.

Thank and have a wonderful time.

[OldCoot]

Our oldest son just came from Anchorage and is now in Montana and he had to send his guns here to Concord, NC and I had to sign for them. He just went thru customs less than an hour ago.

[Darrens02]

Congrats on your trip to Alaska, I currently live in Valdez. We drove our new 378XL up the Alcan last August. As far as guns, no pistols. They will want to know the series numbers on your rifles, but no assault style will get through. Fuel, always fill up when you can, and remember the further you go the higher price it will be. Most camp grounds will have room, the large group will already went through. Road conditions, the highway is in good shape except for the stretch from destruction bay to the Alaskan border. we averaged about 30 mph through that stretch, but sometimes going only 10 mph. If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me, I will try to answer them if I can.

[Iggy]

Tamdle
I spent 8 year in Alaska.

Early June is a great time to travel north. The weather is still cool in northern Canada but this is still the best time to drive up.

Some of the thing that I need to know are:
1 - Should I book the campgrounds far in advance, or should I wait for few days before my arrival to each of the location. Does most of campground are packed during this season?

You can plan your campgrounds in Canada but you need to know that they aren't like you probably expect. Many are just lots behind the cabin with electric and water with limited sewer.
My suggestion is to contact a RV caravan company and ask them to send you some details about their RV caravan, stops, dates, etc
It is a little trick to follow a caravan by 1 day and stop where they stop.
When they are leaving the RV campground you need to be arriving that day. This may help you a bit to insure a space but I don't expect you to find the campgrounds full at all.
Wifi is limited all the way up.
Make sure your cell phone carrier works in Canada and Alaska.


2 - Food on the RV across the border, especially vegetable. Both of Canada and US.
Don't take fresh vegetable into Canada. If they are frozen in the freezer no sweat. Limited alcohol for personal consumption but you must declare at the border or if they inspect and you didn't declare they take it all.
Coming back into US is about the same.

3 - Carry gun across the border. Both of Canada and US.
NO weapons at all!

4 - Road condition, should I expect smooth ride or very bad road along the way.
Good most of the way. The worst may be in the Northern Yukon just prior to the Alaskan border. Other may have more deatails

5 - We both enjoy nature a lot and planned to stop overnight along the highway turn-out. Does the Canadian and US allows the RV to stop along the way at the turn-out? and do they allows you to open the slides if needed?
Sorry can't answer this but expect it's possible in northern Canada.
I don't think you can do this in Alaska as all major communities have campgrounds. Tok and Tok Junction, North Pole Alaska, Fairbanks, Denali Park, Anchorage.

Other stuff.
If you take your time and stop along the route to take pictures, lunch, etc. you may run into locals or maybe another RVer that you can chat with and find out stops and campgrounds.
All Canadians and Alaskans are friendly folks and if you are open to chatting you will find out lots of great information.

You may also go to the Travel section here in the forum and find others who may have recently travelled or may be heading north the same time.
More folks make it more enjoyable.

If you have any pets make sure their shot records are up to date and you make copies just in case they ask for it.

Passports - Make sure they don't expire during the trip. Some forget to check.

If you have a flat or need a mechanic it may be a few hours or days to get a part if you are really far north in Canada or inside the Alaskan border.

Fairbanks and Anchorage is the big city which has almost everything you may want.
The rest are smaller towns or villages with limited services.
Gas shouldn't be any worry but expect to pay Canadian dollars for gas.
Expect gas being $1.20 - $1.50 a liter. Multiply the liter price by 3.8 and you will see what you are paying in Canadian dollars.
So $1.20 a liter x 3.8 = $4.56 a gallon Canadian Dollars.

Get yourself a Capital One Visa or Master Card to use while in Canada.
When buying in Canada you do not get charged any exchange rate to US dollars. At the moment the Canadian dollar is weak and US dollar is strong.
If you bought something in Canada for $1.25 it actually will cost you $1.00 US dollars if you use a good credit card with no exchange rate.

Also notify all you credit card companies that you plan on going into Canada and Alaska. Also check to see if your bank has any branches in Alaska (Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage) just in case you need some cash.

Take your time, enjoy the beautiful scenery and take lots of pictures.
Hope you have a great trip.

Iggy


PS Here is the Canadian thread for travel.
http://www.forestriverforums.com/forums/f168/


For some reason they don't have anything for Alaska

[Darrens02]

Also get a copy of the book called "milepost". It is like a tour guide in the front seat. It will start at mile 0 at Dawson, and goes to Delta Junction. The last time I got one Amazon had it, as well as other book stores

[Bob Vaughn]

Unless you can sleep when it is light you might want black out covers for the windows and vents in the bedroom. It never gets dark ...... Our cat drove us crazy because he thought if it was light we needed to be up and taking care of him......

[3886john]

You can bring long guns "rifles and or shotguns" into Canada, you need to fill out a Non-Resident Firearm Declaration form. You can down load it from the RCMP web site. It will cost you $30.00 and you can take up to 3 long guns in. Just declare them at the boarder. If you want a handgun in Alaska either buy it there and send it home, take an FFL with you. Or send it up a head of time to a FFL holder. I have been up there several times, the mosquitoes are worse than the black bear's. Stay away from anything with a baby, a mother moose maybe more dangerous than a bear!!

[Iggy]

Originally Posted by Bob Vaughn

Unless you can sleep when it is light you might want black out covers for the windows and vents in the bedroom. It never gets dark ...... Our cat drove us crazy because he thought if it was light we needed to be up and taking care of him......

A big roll of tin foil is what we used with scotch tape.

[spydernut]

Check out Adventure Caravans RV Tour of Alaska
1-844-712-1069
Alaska RV Tour | Destinations | Adventure Caravans

We've gotten some great feedback. Planning out trip in 2018

[dahagen]

Lots of good advice. When we went we had no reservations and the only full campground was at Laird Hot Springs. But we always found a camping spot by 4 PM and many filled up by 6 PM. And the Milepost book (a brand new one) is mandatory.

[dmlranhc]

Drove the Alaska highway in 2007 and enjoyed it all the way. There are no steep mountain climbs. Great views of animals in the Stone Mountain Provincial Park in northern British Columbia. In fact I liked British Columbia more than Alaska for animal viewing. The last 100 miles west bound in the Yukon Territory, the roads had bad dips near the shoulder, my brother broke his weight distribution hitch because of them. Definitely book reservations early for camping near Denali National Park and the bus tour of Denali National Park. You can't drive you vehicle very far into Denali, you must take a bus tour. So reserve that as early as possible. All roads in Alaska were excellent.
We took a tour of Prince William Sound from the town of Whittier. You pass through a long tunnel that is shared with the Alaska railroad to get to that town. Boat tour reservations must be made early. No problem finding campsites other than near Denali. When we were there we were surprised by the prices in Alaska. Gasoline was the same as in the lower 48 and groceries were very pleasing too. Have a good trip.

[RETIREDATLAST]

You can expect some frost heaves. Drive slowly over them. They are usually marked with red flags on each side of the road. Also some gas stops may not be open. Carry extra fuel. I have made the trip two times. Reservations were not needed.

[V-Lite Fun]

We did this trip the same months you want to go.

Get a copy of the Mikepost. It is worth every penny. It shows everything along the road by the tenth of a mile.

The road is excellent except for an 80 mile section from Destruction Bay, Yukon to Beaver Creek, Yukon. There is no pavement. In June it is very rough. It doesn't look like a road in some places. Go very slowly. I did 20 mph this whole section. Many flew by me bouncing all the way. When we got to Tok, Willard's RV repair lot was filled with motorhomes and trailers with all sorts of damage. We sheared one bolt on the sway bar. Fixed in a couple of minutes. This section will be much better on your return. They will have it graded and filled.

Other than that section you have to be watchful for frost heavies. Some are marked with stakes, some aren't. Watch the white line. If it looks wavy up ahead slow down before you get to it. You will find this mainly in the Yukon and some areas in Alaska like the Tok to GlennAllen highway. By July this have been filled and paved.

Tok is a good place to stock up, wash your RV and decide which way you want to tour Alaska: Tok to Fairbanks etc or the other direction to GleenAllen etc.

Camping is no problem. We never made a reservation. Never had a problem finding a place to stop. When we went you could stop long the road but I understand the Yukon is discouraging that now. In the Mikepost you will find numerous places to "boondocks" on forest land etc. in Alaska we stayed at many state parks and forest land. There is no water,dump or electric unless you stay in a commercial campground but that will limit your experience by a great deal. There are some fastastic places off the grid you don't want to miss if you like nature.

Alaska is the most RV friendly state I have visited. Fred Myers grocery stores and various gas stations have dumpstation, propane, water and other RV needs. We stayed at a Walmart or two also. Fred Myers in Soldotna was like an RV park. It gets very croweded in that area the first couple weeks in July due to Red Samon run.

You will find community run canpgrounds in Valdez, Seward and Homer and others. These again are dry sites so travel with full water tank and dump when you see a place. We put lots of hours on our generator.

Homer Spit is a cool place if you want to go halibut fishing. They clean, flash freeze and ship your fish home for a price. The museum at the university in Fairbanks is well worth taking the time.

Get some Canadian cash before you cross into Canada either before leaving home or near the border. Banks not near the border will have to order it for you which takes a few days.

We never had a problem with food items going into Canada but coming back into the lower 48 they wanted to go through my refrigerator. We had a dog with us and all paperwork but it was never asked for it anywhere. When crossing the borders, look the agent in the eye and don't lie about anything. We drove right through except coming home. Going in we had a case of wine with us. Legally you can only have 1.5L per person as I recall. When they asked if I had alcohol I was truthful. They asked what I was going to do with it. I told them it was our summer supply of our favorite wine. She understood. I noticed they always looked to my wife for her reaction to their questions. And as others said, forget the guns. You will go to jail with handguns. You can take long arms but you have to fill out paperwork which is best done before you go. Check Canadian website for up to date regulations on all of this.

Be sure to make a sign with your names on it to put up in the Watson Lake sign forest. You will wish you had. Also the planetarium in Watson Lake is worth the time. They have a great northern lights display. We went over to Banff and Jasper NP in Canada. Beautiful place. Went north from there up through Grand Cashe and on to the Highway in Dawson Creek.

On the return for a change of scenery consider the Cassier Highway just before Watson Lake going south. Jade City has some very cool but very expensive shops. Gas is about every 200 miles. Gas up at the intersection of the Cassier and the AlCan cause it's a long way to the next stop. You will see more bears than anywhere else on this highway. We had to stop for them in the road. There are lots of places to pull off for the night. There is one real good campground about 3/4 of the way down as I recall.

I could go on forever. It is the trip of RV trips. One everyone should make. Go slow. Stop early each day. Relax. We did get a crack from a stone on one windshield and we had no flat tires. Traffic can be sparse in areas. In and emergency flag down a trucker. Most have Sat phones. For other things that might arise flag down another RV. We got helped and helped others at different times. Everyone is traveling the same few highways all summer so you will run into people again and again. Oh, we had a Verizon MiFi and had Internet most of the time BUT don't use it in Canada or you will have an astronomical bill. We found hotspots to use in Canada many times. Good luck and safe travels.

[johng4706]

Originally Posted by RETIREDATLAST

You can expect some frost heaves. Drive slowly over them. They are usually marked with red flags on each side of the road. Also some gas stops may not be open. Carry extra fuel. I have made the trip two times. Reservations were not needed.

I went to Alaska last year. Total about 16k miles from Myrtle Beach and back. WATCH out for the red flags along the road. My first incident, I think I had ALL eight wheels off the ground at one time. After that, I knew what to look out for.

Because of the Alaskan winters, they take advantage of the extended daylight to do their annual road work and maintenance during the summer. Expect more road work up there than in the lower 48.

When I went last year there were a couple stretches of packed gravel. They mix the gravel with calcium chloride to pack better. When it gets wet, my SUV and TT was covered in brown road spray over 5 ft high. You want to wash off ASAP. Some CG's have power sprays to rinse your rig. In those sections I was only going about 15 mph.

Dawson City doesn't have any paved streets. I left town 50 lbs heavier because of the dust I picked up.

It was a GREAT trip and each frost heave or gravel road section was part of the trip and experience. Take your time, take lots of pictures and ENJOY.

[Ian Walker]

I'm Canadian & often get asked what to do with guns coming into Canada. I always give the same answer. Open a safety deposit box in the US & leave your weapons there. If you get to the border & you declare it's a real hassle. Certain rifles they'll accept. Others they won't. Can't tell you which but you could go on the Canada Border Services website. If you don't declare & they search you that probably means a jail cell for a couple of nights

[larryandamy]

I did this trip this past summer and had all of the same questions.
I posted a detailed trip report that was quite a long post and I added it to this post at the bottom.
I did a detailed Excel spreadsheet of miles per day and costs that I can send you also.
My trip was 11,044 miles from San Diego and back.
It started on June 4th and ended on July 11th.
Email me or call me at 760-803-4509 and I can get you the spreadsheet.
I will answer your questions below:
1 - Should I book the campgrounds far in advance, or should I wait for few days before my arrival to each of the location. Does most of campground are packed during this season?
In Canada they do not let you camp at rest areas or turn outs, but I never saw anyone checking. Every place I stopped but 2 had openings.
There are some popular places you should make reservations like the Liard hot springs… They will be full… This is definitely worth the stop.
In Alaska many campgrounds were full so if you want to stay at place with nice sites and hookups, then reserve months in advance.
Denali campsites I booked in March and barely got any. South of Anchorage (Williwa) I had to book early also.
But in Alaska you can almost camp anywhere there is space off the road unless there is a No camping sign and I only saw a few of these.
In Valdez... we dry camped in the old Valdez area free that was were the earthquake/tsunami wiped it out.
If you like to dry camp, the Denali highway is incredible, but the 134 road is 121 miles of gravel and YOU MUST go <30MPH or you will damage tires and axles.
I will never pull a trailer on the Denali hwy again as I busted 2 leaf springs, bent 2 axles and went through 3 tires.
But a motorhome or camper in truck would be OK. I sold my trailer and bought F350 with camper just so I can go back.
I plan on spending at least a full week just on the Denali Hwy next time and the next time… I plan to go back a lot!

2 - Food on the RV across the border, especially vegetable. Both of Canada and US.
We had no issues on this. I read all the warnings and even discussed them with the Canadian border agents and they laughed…

3 - Carry gun across the border. Both of Canada and US.
Again.. I read all the warnings and advice (most anti-gun advice from liberals) and we had no problem taking a bolt action 5 shot 308 rifle.
You just need to go online and complete the form and pay the $24 and let them inspect your rifle at the Canadian border and there is no problem..
Then show the paperwork to USA border agent at Alaska entry and no problem.
BUT NO HANDGUNS !!!
We had several close encounters with grizzly bears and I would not go a trip without a rifle.
Once I had the rifle loaded and ready to shoot as a grizzly came into our campsite and destroyed 3 tents in the Savage Rive Campground in Denali National Park.
The rangers evacuated all tent campers and one hiker was mauled by a mother grizzly with 2 cubs and they closed trails too.
Yes I had bear spray and the bells, but in my opinion a gun is a must… Especially if you go where I go.

4 - Road condition, should I expect smooth ride or very bad road along the way.
You will see about 80-100 miles out of +2000 that are gravel and about 10 to 20 miles of what I call bad. Bad meaning driving less than 30MPH. The frost heaves just as you enter Alaska are horrible for about 50 miles… DRIVE SLOW ON THESE!
See my detail report below for details on the road.

5 - We both enjoy nature a lot and planned to stop
overnight along the highway turn-out. Does the Canadian and US allows the RV to stop along the way at the turn-out? and do they allows you to open the slides if needed?
Canada no and Alaska yes.
Many people do it in Alaska and I never saw any rangers or police in Canada to enforce it, but they want you to stay in the Provincial parks. It is not legal to camp in rest stop or road sides in Canada.

Here is what I plan to post on the Forest River RV forum.
================================================
Myself, my wife Amy and our neighbors Rik and Lavonne recently completed a great trip from San Diego to Alaska.
I have gotten so much good info from this forum so I thought I would give some back.
I condensed as much as I could, but I will warn you right now that this is a long post.
I have spreadsheets and pictures that are not included. But if you are interested, email me and I can send to you.

We left on 6/4/16 and returned on 7/11/16. Almost 6 weeks…
My wife Amy, and Lavonne flew up to Anchorage to meet us at end of week 2 because my wife still works and could not get 6 weeks off.
The towing vehicle was a 2008 Toyota Sequoia 4X4 with 5.7L V8. I put new heavy duty shocks and installed 1000 lb lift bags in the rear springs.
TT was a 2011 Stealth 27 foot SS22-16 Limited toy hauler with about 7200 lbs loaded. I installed the Cadillac of hitches… The Hensley Arrow which eliminates all sway.
Total miles driven was 11,044 miles with average gas mileage of 9.08 MPG.
Stopped for gas 84 times as the driving range of the Sequoia with a 26 gal tank at 8-9 MPG was 150 - 175 miles. Total fuel bill was $1915.08.
The toy hauler has a 34 gal fuel tank for the toys and I had to use some of this fuel 3 times when I found that gas stations shown on the GPS were not there or closed.

Significant stops were at:
Jedediah Smith Redwoods, Crater Lake, Mt. St Helens, Whistler, Prince George, Fort Nelson, Johnson Crossing, Whitehorse, Tok, Copper Center,
Valdez, Anchorage, Williwa/Girdwood, Seward, Talkeetna, Denali National Park, Denali Hwy, Fairbanks, North Pole, Delta Junction, Destruction Bay, Watson Lake, Liard Springs, Dawson Creek, Jasper, Lake Louise, Icefields Parkway, Banff, Calgary

Road conditions:
From San Diego to the Alaska Hwy:
From San Diego to Vancouver was mostly Interstate with no issues.
Border crossing at Bellingham was 45 minutes, but only because we brought a rifle and had to submit form and pay $20 Canadian.
Exchange rate was $1.24 Canadian to 1 US dollar. Gas price in USA was around $2.25 to $2.75.
Gas in Canada was around $3.75 USD per gallon, but varied from $0.99/liter to $1.37/liter Canadian money.
The road north coming out of Whistler had some serious downgrades with many sharp and steep turns.
There were several times I was concerned about my braking and I played with trailer brake setting quite a bit.
I was not happy with the situation and wished I had more engine braking with less reliance on vehicle and trailer brakes.
I had to apply the brakes too often. I was concerned that they would overheat and if I lost either vehicle or trailer braking I would definitely crash and burn.
I stopped several times to cool the brakes and I ending up increasing trailer braking setting from 8 to 11 on Hensley brake controller.
But sometimes I was behind a rig with big diesel truck going slower than me and I envied how much they could brake with their engine only.

ALASKA HWY:
Alaska hwy from Dawson Creek, Canada to Tok, Alaska was in good shape overall.
There are many stretches of construction zones where the road is packed dirt or loose gravel and one with tar that got on our vehicle and trailer when they are doing fresh paving.
There was a stretch of gravel/dirt over 90 km long before Beaver Creek with average speed around 30MPG.
In the rain you get covered in dirt and mud. In dry conditions, tons of dust.
Main concern is loose gravel areas where inconsiderate drivers are passing very fast and flinging rocks at you. Got 2 chips in the windshield.. No cracks yet.
When you see them coming from behind, get as far over the right as possible.
The road from the Alaska border to Tok is the worst stretch of road in the whole trip for paved roads.
It is all paved, but has many severe bumps and dips from frost heaves that can easily cause a bent axle or tire damage.
For some reason Canada seems to maintain these better that USA/Alaska side does. Drive slow (<30MPH) over these sections which last about 50 miles.

DENALI HWY:
The rest of the roads in Alaska were pretty good except for the 134 mile stretch called the Denali hwy.
That is where I lost 1 tire on one day and 2 leaf springs on the next day.
The weird thing here is that the road doesn’t look that bad… But it is deceiving.
If you talk to the locals and mention towing a trailer over the 134 mile stretch (21 miles are paved on the east side), they just look at you and shake their heads.
They don’t do it and they don’t recommend it and I will not do it again…
Yes, if you could drive slow (<30 MPH) over the whole unpaved 113 miles, then you might be OK.
I did try to keep it below 30, but when the road looks that good is it easy to creep up to 50 MPH and I admit that I did much to my chagrin.
The scenery and wildlife were amazing and, for sure, every future trip I make to Alaska will include driving the Denali Hwy…
I could easily spend a week or two just on this highway. But not pulling a trailer.

Repairs needed and places to get parts:
In Alaska I was able to get parts very reasonably priced at Six Robblees who have everything needed in their Anchorage or Fairbanks stores.
We used CAT Transport to deliver two axles from Anchorage to Valdez next day for $102.
We lost a whole wheel assembly just a mile outside of Valdez. The whole wheel and hub came off! I drove for a mile and didn’t know until another car flagged us down and told us.
CAT delivered the axles right to us in the Valdez visitor center parking lot where we installed them the next day.
I should have replaced the bent axles in Fairbanks when I replaced the 2 broken and 2 unbroken leaf springs, but the axles didn’t look that bad.
Live and learn! Even slightly bent axles need to be replaced.
Total bill for repairs for the whole trip was $2671.36, but this included two new tires for the Sequoia ($565) and a 2nd trailer spare tire ($148) that I didn’t have to buy.
The 2 axles I got from Six Robblees were completely assembled with new hubs, bearings, brakes.. everything for $1202.10.
Also includes 2 bare axles from Stanton in Edmonton for $174.98.
After fixing everything in Valdez, I pulled a newbie boner and curbed the trailer bad at a gas station in Jasper, Alberta and totally bent one of my new axles.
You know… too impatient to wait for pump and tried to move to another pump… I am still kicking myself!
So I bought two bare axles from Stanton to fix it and now I have a spare axle. But I had to drive to Edmonton to get these and that was a 10 hour roundtrip drive.
One good thing came out of this… Me and my neighbor Rik can completely swap out an axle in less than 2 hours.
And yes… There is a left and right side due to the electric brakes configuration.
We learned that the hard way when a passerby mentioned it right after we finished installing the first new axle in Valdez.
We had a 50/50 chance to get it right and lost. But we made sure the 2nd new axle was correct and then re-did the first axle.
If you have to buy a new assembled axle, make sure to tell them to label the left and right sides. Six Robblees did not do this for us and it cost us 1.5 more hours of work.

Main Learnings’:
1. Don’t drive too fast… We actually bent 1 axle slightly on the Alaska HWY where the road looked good. I thought it was OK, but it caused problems later…
2. Spare parts are good to have.
a. Two spare tires for vehicle and for the trailer
b. Leaf springs…
c. Axles… OK… axles are overkill, but if you have space, a bare axle is less than $100 and most have to be custom configured for your trailer.
d. Wheel bearings and seals…
e. I brought lots of tools and 3 jacks and 2 jack stands. Yeah… I would have loved to have those hydraulic levelers that can pick up the whole trailer.
3. 5 to 10 gallons of extra gas.
a. For vehicles with decent range due to bigger fuel tanks or better mileage this is not an issue.
b. But even then… Don’t push it! Fill up with at least a 100 mile range of fuel reserve.
4. The major learning... For me and my way of traveling… Pulling a trailer is not going to cut it. We plan to visit every National Park in the USA and I am not going to do it with my current rig.
a. I am going to sell the Sequoia and trailer and buy a 1 ton diesel truck with a slide in camper.
i. If needed, I will pull a small trailer with my Goldwing motorcycle and my wife’s SYM 250 scooter instead.
b. The biggest reason is the limitations there are pulling a 27 foot trailer in being able park or to explore areas without worrying about being able to turn around and get back to the road.
c. The next reason is that I want the engine braking provided by the diesels. I will put up with the cost and the noise and the smell and all the other diesel negatives to get this.
d. The next reason is the trailer’s susceptibility to damage from poor roads. A 4X4 truck with 1 ton suspension will laugh at conditions that will easily damage this trailer.
i. My Stealth SS22-16 trailer has two 3500 lb axles and I upgraded all four tires from load range C to load range E before I left. If I was going to keep this trailer and do Alaska with it again, I would upgrade to at least 5000 lb axles too. But I will not do this again.
ii. The trailer I am going to build for towing my motorcycles is going to be seriously beefed up, but I still won’t be driving down roads like the Denali hwy towing it.
5. Use a credit card without foreign transaction fees for gas and other purchases and be wary of cell phone roaming charges.
a. I paid for most of the gas with my debit card thinking I would be clever and keep all the fuel cost in one account… But I got a total of $26.96 in these foreign transaction fees. Not a lot, but it pissed me off.
b. ALSO… My wife has AT&T cell phone service and we forgot to turn off roaming before crossing into Canada… $174 in roaming charges! Our bad, but AT&T did agree to cut it in half.
i. I have T Mobile with unlimited data and free roaming worldwide so my phone was no issue.
ii. I do plan to get an Iridium satellite phone for about $400 and 2 month limited coverage for $60 for emergencies. The whole world has coverage.
6. Get bear spray and have it with you all the time. We had it and never had to use it, but there were a few times we left it in the trailer or the car and it didn’t do any good there.
a. We had 3 close encounters with grizzly bears and were charged by a moose on the trail. Twice grizzly’s came right into our camps at Denali and once while we were doing laundry at the visitors center.
b. We all had the bear bells also, but the rangers said they do not do a thing and are a waste of money. Talking loud is better and my wife and Lavonne got that covered well.
c. Yes, we also brought a gun. A 308 rifle and filling out the form at the border and paying $20 Canadian was no problem…
i. Handguns are much more difficult and no guns with <4 inch barrel.
ii. We didn’t have to use it, but twice I had it ready if needed.
iii. There is nothing I can say to the anti-gun people to change their minds, so please don’t try to change mine. I always take a gun when doing this kind of trip… legally!
d. We are not those crazy guys that get out of their vehicles and try to get close up pictures. That’s what zoom lenses are for.
e. We had many bear encounters on this trip and one hiker got mauled by a grizzly on a trail in Denali National Park near Savage River campground we were staying at.
f. They evacuated all tent campers in the campground after a few tents got destroyed by a grizzly.
7. Overall, I was disappointed with Denali National Park…
a. Not with the wildlife… This was one of the best places to see moose, bear, elk, antelope and the sled dog show was great.
b. We did not opt in for the minimum of 5 to maximum of 14 hour bus tour inside the “restricted” road which is 80% of the park
i. I looked at the dirty and uncomfortable busses and talked to the people who did it and we decided that this is just not for us.
ii. The people who did it said it all said it was great. (I think to justify the time and cost they spent…) But when I asked them if they would do it again, almost all said no.
c. The scenery and views are less spectacular than most other areas of Alaska and Canada. Yes it is beautiful, but there are many other areas that blow this away.
8. Valdez is our favorite town in Alaska and the road to Valdez has the most spectacular scenery and views. (Richardson HWY)
a. Take the cruise on the Lu Lu Belle. Captain Fred is amazing. He talks most of the time during the cruise and shares a mountain of information you would not hear anywhere else.
b. We dry camped for free in the old town of Valdez that was wiped out during the 9.2 earthquake in 1964. The town was leveled and relocated, but we camped right off the bay and had a momma grizzly and 3 cubs near our camp.
c. There are 3 nice RV parks with full hook ups right in town within walking distance of all the shops and things to see. But they are compacted together like a parking lot… Not my style…
9. The Icefields Parkway drive is a tie with the Richardson Highway drive to Valdez as far as the most stunning, spectacular scenery. These 2 drives were unanimously voted as the best scenic drive we have ever done in our lifetimes.
10. Stop at Liard Springs for the hot springs. It is the best outdoor hot springs setup I have ever been to. We stayed at the campground one night and went in twice.
11. Whittier is our next favorite town… The town of Hope was disappointing.
a. You have to drive 5 miles through train tunnel to get there and may have to wait up to an hour for the train to clear… Yes, you drive on the train track road built around the rails.
b. Whittier is the small coast town you see in all the puzzles.
c. Hope is more like a small group of buildings where there was once a hippie commune.
12. Talkeetna was a great town for a day visit for food and shopping.
a. We didn’t take our Goldwing motorcycles in the toy hauler on this trip and if we had, the bikes and trailer would have been trashed…
b. But we did rent motorcycles and did a day trip from Anchorage to Talkeetna. It was great except I got a Harley Road King and let’s just say… I wish I had my Goldwing…
i. Don’t bash me for not liking Harley’s.. To each their own. I am an engineer and I don’t like the noise, the vibration, and the poor performance and reliability.
ii. I stupidly wore shorts which was never a problem on my bikes, but I got a nice 2nd to 3rd degree burn on my lower leg from the exhaust pipe. Yeah, my bad… Don’t ever wear shorts on a Harley.
13. There is a historic village at the Mile 0 RV park in Dawson Creek that was amazing. Amy and Lavonne spent lots of time there and said they wanted to live there.
14. Canada has more wildlife seen from the Alaska Hwy than you will see in Alaska.
a. If you see a vehicle or more pulled over, then slow down and prepare to stop… 90% of the time they are viewing some awesome wildlife… But stay in the car!!!
b. Alaska has higher density of people and we did not see much wildlife from the roads there.
c. Highlights of the roadside wildlife was:
i. Whole herd of Bison running, rolling in the dirt and lots of Bison babies.
ii. Black bear chowing down on a roadkill elk.
iii. Herds of Stone sheep
iv. Lots of grizzly and black bears, moose, red fox, porcupines…
15. Bring lots of mosquito spray.
a. Most area were not as bad as advertised, but there were places where I covered myself with 100% DEET and it worked great.
b. I bought the screen pants and jacket with full head cover on Amazon for <$20 each and they worked great for me. You look like a dork, but a dork with no mosquito bites.

Like I said. Email me if you have any questions or want more details.
This is just my report to share experiences from this Alaska trip.
No intent to judge or criticize anybody else.
I understand that many may not agree with my opinions or preferences and that is fine with me.
Viva la difference!

[lucky55616]

See my 2016 Alaska trip report here: http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1252710

As other have said, an RV trip to Alaska is a trip of a lifetime. We never made any camping reservations and had no problems getting a place each day but we did try to stop by 4 PM. The border patrol was very strict about fresh fruits and vegetables crossing the borders and will confiscate them from you. They are also strict on firearms. We had 2 cats traveling with us and had heard that we needed special paperwork from the vet in order for them to cross the border which we got, but we were never asked for that paperwork the entire trip at any borders even though the cats were in plain sight for the border patrol to see. One of the border patrols commented "cute cat" and that was it. The late night sun was awesome and we never had any problems sleeping without any special blackouts for the windows.

Enjoy your trip !!

[DouglasReid]

If you have not lready purchase a copy of The Milepost". It is a mile by mile description of the roads beginning in the "Lower 48" up to and including within Alaska.

It will tell you EVERYTHING about what is to be found, seen and experienced alone every mile of the route, no matter which route you take.

It will prove invaluable and most useful on your trip!

Good Luck, Have Fun!

PS, look in yoru local book store in the Travel Section.

[1A Camper]

We did Sept and no problem getting camp sites. I do not know about summer.
Roads were better than I expected.
Stop at information center, lots of good hand outs.
Gas can be far between stop, any time we were near 1/2 full and saw gas we filled up and had no problem, something that we saw in Canada was they want the CC, before filling.
We had no guns but were asked 2 or 3 about them, when crossing a boarder. we were pulling a trailer. other then that, we were waved thru.
We were going to park in a pullout and a Canadian was there and told us that there was no camping but did not think anyone would say anything.

[tamdle]

Originally Posted by OldCoot

Our oldest son just came from Anchorage and is now in Montana and he had to send his guns here to Concord, NC and I had to sign for them. He just went thru customs less than an hour ago.

Thanks OldCoot for the gun information. Currently, I do not have or own any gun yet. Just moved to TEXAS and was planning to buy a gun for our travel protection. Many thanks for the information.