North to Alaska....

[ScottG]

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.

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.

[superjens]

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

[Toy Man]

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

[brian903]

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.

[Schludwiller]

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

[Flyin'S]

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

[superjens]

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.

[IggyB]

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

[superjens]

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

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.

[IggyB]

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.

[Schludwiller]

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/sche...es/S02time.pdf

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

[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.

[Schludwiller]

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!

[superjens]

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

The best at-a-glance map I found is this: The Milepost

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

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

[Schludwiller]

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