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Old 06-24-2018, 05:00 AM   #61
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Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Manchester Center
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Alaska

I WANT TO GO!!!!

My sister and family just arrived in Petersburg and she is already rubbing it in my face. “ we have seen brown bears, orcas and other whales and bald eagles etc “. They are going to Anchorage on Tuesday to pick up a couple of rvs for two weeks in Denali.

What a wonderful trip you have in front of you. Keep us posted.

Safe travel.
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Old 07-06-2018, 11:06 PM   #62
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Sitting in café near Anchorage airport waiting for 6am flight home. Turning in rented rv after sleeping in it tonight. Been in Ak for 15 days and have had great weather. Clocked 1350 miles and camped in incredible places. 4 nites at Denali is plenty. Drive from Anchorage to Valdez is indescribable. Valdez is a must visit. Drive down there and you will see what I mean.


Bummer, was at Worthington glacier about 45 miles north of Valdez when a 5 year old boy was struck by a rock that fell off a ledge up on the glacier. Be careful as there are many things that will bite you up here
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Old 07-11-2018, 11:28 PM   #63
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We just returned from Alaska and Canada. 66 day trip from Las Vegas. We drove up through Idaho and made our first stops in Banff, Lake Louise (gorgeous), and up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Lake Louise is beautiful and there are some great hikes up there to Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes.


Went to Dawson Creek from there and made a side trip up to Fort Liard so we could say we were in the Northwest Territory. From there to Muncho Lake, Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Dawson City. Took the Top of the World road to Tok, Alaska. The landscape is breathtaking. Then we went to Fairbanks. A couple of days later took a tour up to Prudhoe Bay and back. Quite an interesting trip. Next:
Fairbanks
Denali National Park
Anchorage
Whittier - to the 26 glacier cruise. Beautiful trip
Kenai City
Homer
Cooper Landing
Glenallen
Valdez
Anchorage
Tok
Haines Junction
Haines
Ferry to Skagway (neat one hour trip.)
Whitehorse
Watson Lake
Iskut, BC
Stewart, BC/Hyder Alaska (be sure to visit Fish Creek and enjoy the stunning glaciers you will see along the way)
From there we just made our way back to Las Vegas.


Read up on the Canadian customs requirements. Don't bring citrus fruits from Canada back into the US. They will confiscate them.


We took a side trip to Matanuska glacier and were actually able to climb up onto the glacier. Exciting adventure.


As others have said, the Milepost is very helpful. You can also get info throughout the trip from local sources. We took about 250 Canadian dollars with us as a back up. We never had an issue using credit cards anywhere along the way. Gas was readily available, just don't let your tank get below half. Gas a not a plentiful along the Cassiar Highway but still never had a problem.


Not sure what else to put down. Ask questions. Be glad to answer them.
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Old 07-12-2018, 09:39 AM   #64
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Originally Posted by jkaras7 View Post
We just returned from Alaska and Canada. 66 day trip from Las Vegas. We drove up through Idaho and made our first stops in Banff, Lake Louise (gorgeous), and up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Lake Louise is beautiful and there are some great hikes up there to Mirror Lake and Lake Agnes.


Went to Dawson Creek from there and made a side trip up to Fort Liard so we could say we were in the Northwest Territory. From there to Muncho Lake, Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Dawson City. Took the Top of the World road to Tok, Alaska. The landscape is breathtaking. Then we went to Fairbanks. A couple of days later took a tour up to Prudhoe Bay and back. Quite an interesting trip. Next:
Fairbanks
Denali National Park
Anchorage
Whittier - to the 26 glacier cruise. Beautiful trip
Kenai City
Homer
Cooper Landing
Glenallen
Valdez
Anchorage
Tok
Haines Junction
Haines
Ferry to Skagway (neat one hour trip.)
Whitehorse
Watson Lake
Iskut, BC
Stewart, BC/Hyder Alaska (be sure to visit Fish Creek and enjoy the stunning glaciers you will see along the way)
From there we just made our way back to Las Vegas.


Read up on the Canadian customs requirements. Don't bring citrus fruits from Canada back into the US. They will confiscate them.


We took a side trip to Matanuska glacier and were actually able to climb up onto the glacier. Exciting adventure.


As others have said, the Milepost is very helpful. You can also get info throughout the trip from local sources. We took about 250 Canadian dollars with us as a back up. We never had an issue using credit cards anywhere along the way. Gas was readily available, just don't let your tank get below half. Gas a not a plentiful along the Cassiar Highway but still never had a problem.


Not sure what else to put down. Ask questions. Be glad to answer them.
Did you have any trouble going through the tunnel to get to Whittier? Did you go through the tunnel in a Motorhome or a tow car.
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Old 07-12-2018, 09:55 AM   #65
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Did you have any trouble going through the tunnel to get to Whittier? Did you go through the tunnel in a Motorhome or a tow car.

We drove our motorhome through the tunnel to Whittier. No problem. Trains and semi trucks go through the tunnel all the time. Just remember, this is a one-way tunnel and traffic is controlled going in or out of Whittier. The tunnel is about 2.5 miles long.
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Old 07-12-2018, 09:23 PM   #66
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We drove our motorhome through the tunnel to Whittier. No problem. Trains and semi trucks go through the tunnel all the time. Just remember, this is a one-way tunnel and traffic is controlled going in or out of Whittier. The tunnel is about 2.5 miles long.
Thanks everyone for the awesome information on going to Alaska. We have made it to Tok Ak Been here a couple of days and going to the North Pole tomorrow. Only one windshield crack in the Seneca . The trip has put wrinkles in our brain both good and bad.
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Old 07-13-2018, 09:29 AM   #67
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Thanks everyone for the awesome information on going to Alaska. We have made it to Tok Ak Been here a couple of days and going to the North Pole tomorrow. Only one windshield crack in the Seneca . The trip has put wrinkles in our brain both good and bad.
Are you going to the"North Pole" or just the small town of north pole? If the later, don't bother, it is just a suburb of Fairbanks. The only thing there is a couple tourist traps mostly for kids with Santa theme. Fairbanks is full of resturants and if that is your thing, you'll love it. If not its just a days drive down the Parks highway to Denali.

Got home from our 15 day MH vacation in Ak very early Sun am a few days ago. We are still recovering from the long flights and layovers but can't let that taint a totally amazing trip. Arriving back in Tn/Ky at 1am I was immediately struck by the darkness that we had not seen for 2 weeks. Then it was the signage and billboards everywhere that blanket the roadways and hillsides along the interstate. It mostly goes unsaid, but you realize when you get home that Alaska has an underdeveloped, wide open spaces for as far as the eyes can see and almost no signage. An occasional speedlimit sign but virtually nothing else. That's where the MIlepost comes in handy to give you the exact MM for something you are looking for. Otherwise you can easily drive right past as if it is marked it is a sign just feet from the actual turnoff that is likely just a gravel road.

Alaska hwy's leave a lot to be desired due to weather and frost heave. Our Class C MH must have no springs on the rear axle and cracked loudly with even the smallest bump or raised crack in the pavement. No surprise when I looked closely at the front tires and noticed the inter tread was starting to cord. I'm sure the tow was knocked out by a previous renter and we added a few knocks ourselves. This was our 3 Alaska trip but our first cracked windshield due to a stone ding. Rough roads did the rest and gave us an 8" crack by time we turned it in.

Had trouble getting our 40 year old kids to take the wildness of Alaska seriously. That took care of itself pretty quickly when they had a Moose and calf burst from the bushes about 10 feet infront of them on their first hike. A couple of large Grizzleys walking across the gravel bar about 50 yards from an off the grid campsite later in the first week got their attention as well. I started getting request to come along on their hikes and "bring your gun Gun".

Starting 5th day home and just getting back to normal. Time to get the boats back on the lake.
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Old 07-15-2018, 04:32 PM   #68
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Hope i’m not replying too late....

Our inaugural trip in our 2017 Seneca was from Des Moines to the arctic circle and back. 10,000 miles, and yes my wife and i are still married.

Sounds like you’re just outside of Fairbanks right now? We did the Dalton Highway to just south of Coldfoot (boondocked near Prospect Creek airport). We highly recommend it. There are about half a dozen neat little roadstops along the way with interesting characters running them. The geography changes north of there as you climb the Atigun Pass and the locals said the road becomes even worse.

Not sure the path you’re taking home, but i recommend camping at Chicken, Alaska - right by the Canadian border, and staying at the Chicken Gold camp. It’s on the Taylor Highway, which prior to taking the Dalton Highway we thought was the worst road in North America. Chicken Gold Camp is a treasure of an RV park... awesome owners, food made each night, hosts teach the kids how to pan for gold. At night all of the gold miners from the nearby camps meet in an old frontier building about 1/2 mile from the campground and drink the night away. I had way too much Goldschlagger with my wife that evening and almost stumbled into the backside of a moose on the walk back to the camp.

Hands down the most beautiful place on earth was Destruction Bay in Yukon Territories (on Alaska Highway). Spend a day or so in Silver City. There’s nothing there as far as civilization goes, but the geography is about 10x that of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, plus has hot springs in the SW edge that cause fog to constantly roll onto the cold water. Bumped into an Ecuadorian priest and two seminarians on a service mission at a gas station there.

General note on the crappier roads up there, I eventually got comfortably with tearing off large pieces of the underbody of the Seneca when they shook free. The freightliner rig performed flawlessly but the box seemed intended to be used for winters in Florida. Each stop i would do a one-over on the underside to make sure nothing would cause issues. The sections of underbody near the tires were especially troublesome since they had 2” carpenter screws holding things together. When they became loose they we vibrating giant screws right by my tires.... yikes.

Have fun!
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