North to Alaska....

Just out of curiosity.

Would anybody be interested in an Xterra trip to Alaska (during the summer probably)? Has anyone done this trip before? I'm wondering about how much time should be alotted to do it properly.

Also any info on taking the ferry back from Alaska with a truck?

I would be interested. I've never driven there so I know nothing...only that I liked it there when I flew years and years ago! :)

When I got home from Army Basic training in 1981, Dad and I and a friend of his loaded up a VW microbus and drove it to Fairbanks! The owner was already living up there but needed the VDub delivered! We put 24 cases of beer hidden in the bus and made the trek North! It took us three-four days of driving and sightseeing! We also did some fishing on the coast till a Grizzly ran us off!!! :( We flew back home to MT. One of the funnest trips I have done with the "Old Man."

I've always been in love with the North, and I always said one day I'd spend some time there. I'd definitely be interested in making plans for this sort of trip. Much more interested than Moab. Just a quick look at an online distance calculator, Vancouver to Juneau is 775 miles (1250 kms). To Anchorage it's almost twice that, 1300 miles (2100 kms). 1 day heavy on the go pedal? But I think these distances are as the crow flies.

What kind of trip would we be thinking about, in search of 4x4 fun, hotel to hotel, tent camping, adventuring along the way (fishing, white water rafting, etc). Come to think of it, a little of all would be good, and possible.

I remember waaaaay back in the early days of prehistoric Xterra message boards (old ITW?), someone mentioning road tripping from Georgia to Alaska in his new X. Does that ring a bell for anyone else? Any-hoo, sounds like a blast.

Yup, in a white 4-cylinder no less. He does it every year as I recall.

Brent

Ironically I was just talking to a coworker about a trip to Alaska....

I may be interested in it. Keep us informed.

We were planning on going to GOX/Moab this summer, but Bree and I might be up for something like that.

Im interested. You can drive up and the ferry back was $200 per car or so. (As of last year). If any of you Canadians use BCFerries there is some literature on the tourist racks aboot it. I picked some up but lost it. I am going to Galiano for XMas so I will put it in my Palm-powered memory to get another pamphlet. I was planning to go for a month this year but then went and bought a house - I should have funds next year though! (I hope...)

I'm hoping someone will speak up who's done the trip before. Maybe I'll have to look on-line. I'm wondering about spots to check out, how to dodge the Canadian militia and robber barons, etc. :D

I'm interested. It would be a long drive from Texas, but if some guy from Georgia can do it, so can I. :D

I used to live in the Memorial area...

Go up to Dallas, left to New Mexico, North at Raton pass and then straight up through Co, Wy, and then take a left in Montana and then come right on to Seattle. Run into XTerra drivin' , Henry's drinkin' Pacific Northwesterners and then north to Canadeh. Find Ranger Gord and ask where Superjens, Scott.com, XLax and Bluztraveller are, drink some fine Canadian beer then head to the Great White North!!

Sounds like a plan!!

18 years in this Lookout!!!!!!!!! :D

One of my coworkers grew up in Yellowknife (Yukon) which is right next door to Alaska. She was telling me about the ferry ride, about the highways, where to go, what to see, etc. I'll have to sit down with her longer about this to get some better ideas of good detours along the way, she seems to be a good source of info having done the route several times so far.

She also suggests taking the highways to get there, and using the ferry to get back.

Just a curious question (this is just to get a ballpark feel), when next summer do you guys/gals think is best for you? I was thinking late summer to avoid the springtime mosquito herds.

Also, what are most of you expecting as far as accomodations go? I'm all for camping every night, with possibly a hotel stay every once in awhile to de-stink ourselves.

And, would we plan side trips to do things like mountain biking, hiking, fishing, etc. Maybe a day or half-day here and there so people could even do their own thing if they wanted to.

Late Summer, camping and mountain biking/fishing etc sounds badass. I dont wann go near a hotel

Originally posted by ozxterra
I used to live in the Memorial area...

Go up to Dallas, left to New Mexico, North at Raton pass and then straight up through Co, Wy, and then take a left in Montana and then come right on to Seattle. Run into XTerra drivin' , Henry's drinkin' Pacific Northwesterners and then north to Canadeh. Find Ranger Gord and ask where Superjens, Scott.com, XLax and Bluztraveller are, drink some fine Canadian beer then head to the Great White North!!

Sounds like a plan!!

When you put it that way, it sounds like you guys are right up the street. What are you doing for lunch today? I may swing by there later. :p

I read an article a few months ago in one of the four wheel drive magazines about some guys who did an Alaska trip. They took some kind of old pipeline road that is no longer in use and stayed off the main highway. I'll have to dig through my old magazines. They made the whole trip in an old WWII Jeep. YIKES! That had to be a long ride.

You gave m inspiration to search for more articles like you mentioned, I just came across this account of a trip near Anchorage.

Knik Glacier (http://www.findarticles.com/cf_offrd/m1185/n10_v31/19679905/p1/article.jhtml)

Having lived for 3 years on the north slope several lifetimes ago, I am not interested in going back but you might start here:

Milepost (http://www.milepost.com/)

I just moved to Anchorage at the end of Oct. It was about 2500 miles, Portland to Anchorage. We left late Monday, and got in Saturday, but were towing a car and it was snowy. I've talked to people who have done it straight thru in 2 days though. You can't drive to Juneau, you can only get there by boat or plane. The ferry to Bellingham leaves from Skagway, or Haines, which are about a 750 mile drive from Anchorage. I think it's pretty expensive, you have to pay for you plus the truck. Adult fare fare Haines to Bellingham is $268, and the truck would be $607. (Last year's rates). Here's the website for the AK Marine Highway http://www.dot.state.ak.us/ The trip up was beautiful, I'd love to do it someday not being in a hurry. and it's beautiful up here. Anyway, hope that helps, let me know if you all want more info.

Thanks Brian. Good to know, and welcome to the board.

Ok, add me to the list of people that are very interested in a trip to Alaska this summer. Among the sites I'd like to try to see: Skagway, Denali/Mt.McKinley, Prudhoe Bay, and Anchorage/Kenai.

It seems like the ferry might be a bit expensive, and not much quicker. It doesn't seem to be too luxurious either, especially since you can't return to the auto deck while underway, there's no sleeping in the truck.

I'm all about doing it cheap and adventurous. Camping the whole way sounds good. Mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, whatever...let's do it!

-chip

Yeah, I can't believe how expensive it is for the ferry. May as well take a cruise both ways and rent a Jeep in Anchorage for a week. Blasphemy! Fourty lashes with a wet noodle.

However, depending on where we take the ferry from we might save money in gas anyways.

If you guys will allow a Frontier to come along, I would be interested.

I definitely don't have a problem with that, just no Jeeps :D

You're in Calgary? Whoever is coming from Seattle/Vancouver will be heading a bit East anyways, you can head West and we can all meet in Kamloops, BC before going North.

We'd probably need 10 to 15 days to get up there and come back. This would give enough time for some sightseeing, a little fourwheeling and just generally enjoying the trip. Camping would be my preferred method of accomodation as the exchange rate of the toonie to real money is so poor and the FUN factor of camping is so high.

Here is the 2002 ferry schedule and fare document. I'm not sure which port would be typical for coming back down from Alaska. Maybe someone smarter than me can figure out how much it would cost to bring a Xterra down and just buy passenger fare (sleep on the deck).

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/schedres/scheds/tables/S02time.pdf

I also ordered the Milepost, so I'll probably have better info when that gets here.

Just my opinion, but the Milepost is kind of hard to use and full of ads. The one we used is called The World-Famous Alaska Highway-A guide to the Alcan & Other Wilderness Roads of the North by Tricia Brown. It's really descriptive, good info, and color pictures. We got it at Barnes & Noble. It breaks it down by each town and lists restaurants, motels, campsites and stuff to see.

Originally posted by brian903
Just my opinion, but the Milepost is kind of hard to use and full of ads. The one we used is called The World-Famous Alaska Highway-A guide to the Alcan & Other Wilderness Roads of the North by Tricia Brown. It's really descriptive, good info, and color pictures. We got it at Barnes & Noble. It breaks it down by each town and lists restaurants, motels, campsites and stuff to see.

Thanks for the info!

Holy crap Schlud I think you need a degree to figure out those schedules.

I've been poking my nose around websites with any info on Alaska/Yukon/Northern BC in 'em and came up with a few handy links. This one is particularly good, includes milemarkers for destinations (food, parking, sights, towns, gas, hookers, etc) Bell's Alaska (http://www.bellsalaska.com/highways.htm)

The best at-a-glance map I found is this: The Milepost (http://www.themilepost.com/highwaymap.html)

Seeing the whole region in one shot shows us we actually have a lot of options once we leave Vancouver. It's incomplete, missing the highway going from Vancouve past Whistler, so I'm guessing there are lots of highways along the way that are also missing which we'll see on a proper paper map or GPS.

I think it would be nice to drive up to the Arctic circle if we're that close in the first place, but it's not exactly around the corner, it would be a substantial detour. Overall we could stay on the Canada side in Yukon heading towards Dawson City, then make the loop in Alaska from Fairbanks down to Anchorage and visit Denali Park on the way.

One thing we could plan regarding the ferries is using it to avoid that big NE-then-SE detour once we're in Seward. Maybe using it to take us to visit Skagway/Juneau, and get off it at Prince Rupert which is roughly 20 hours of driving back to Vancouver. If that was decided, the ferries schedule is showing trips at the end of July and the end of August: Schedule Seward AK to Prince Rupert BC (http://www.dot.state.ak.us/cgi-bin/external/amhs/schdsrch.cgi?fromport=SRD&toport=YPR&frommm=07&fromdd=&fromyyyy=2002&vessel=)

Gadzooks, Seward to Prince Rupert looks to be $570 (if I'm looking at the right chart). And I have no idea if that includes a room onboard :confused:

Denali park and Mt. McKinley would be a good visiting point.

Skagway to Bellingham, WA is $371 for the truck, $282 for your ass. But that gives you an inside passage view of almost all of BC and 1600 miles of not driving. I can't find a route from Seward to Prince Rupert (although that would be a nice chunk to cut out)

Here's another website www.northtoalaska.com

Nice bridges anyway. :D

http://thor.prohosting.com/~andy51/bc/summer/bridges/cleado1.jpg

Ok, maybe we'll need mud terrains...

http://thor.prohosting.com/~andy51/bc/summer/roadlook/road2.jpg

And maybe a winch.http://thor.prohosting.com/~andy51/bc/summer/rivers/river4.jpg

But the eating is good!
http://thor.prohosting.com/~andy51/bc/summer/rivers/fish1.jpg

Mmmm, those look like Northern Pike. Boney eating but put up a great fight :D

I would love to do that trip. It's a WHOLE lot cheaper to do the Labrador ferries.

354.00 canadian for 2 people and a truck, and all the beer you can carry in your truck, you'll need it. a berth for the night (it's a 36 hour ferry) is 37.50 canadian per person. It's also cool because you see icebergs (2) whales (2) and crash through some monster waves when you hit the strait of st. lawrence. After we boarded, we found we could visit our vehicle lots of times during the journey.

212.00CDN per person. that's like $50 a person in USD!

No major mountains on the journey though. I would do Alaska if I could afford the trip.

Matt

Ok, I want to move this into the planning stage. If you are interested in an Xterra trip to Alaska I started an e-group for discussion of the trip. Please only join if there is a possibility of you attending.

Here's the link.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xterra_alaska/