Community Forums

iawoody2 · 04-14-2013, 04:38 PM

We left Iowa mid May 2010 and had no problems at all. Only had about 15 miles of gravel near the Alaska border. There were some frost heaves but they already had them clearly marked in advance. Fantastic trip the wild life and scenery are awesome.

Lenmar · 07-28-2013, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuki

We are traveling to alaska starting from So. California on the first of May and have been reading lots of stories of what to arm our M/H with, some in other forums have suggested investing in a rock guard and window covering for toad, we'll be taking our time (4 months) and driving slow taking all the precautions mentioned in different how to books. We would appreciate some input from anyone that has taken the trip.

Juan Marquez
2008 Monaco Cayman
2005 Honda Element

HI YUKI, we too are going to be going to AK and will be checking in on you to see how you are doing. The more info we can gather, the better and safer trip we hope to have.

karencollins · 08-02-2013, 11:44 PM

We just left Alaska today after spending about 6 weeks there. We came into Canada from Washington & stayed to the west going up. We've seen a lot of really bad roads. We never drove over 60 & in a lot of places 35 or less. We were towing a car & the road was so bad in some places it managed to damage the hitch ( an expensive Blue OX) & cause a steal bolt on our tow bar to shear. We've also had problems with our inverter. We bought a bra for the RV & a Bra for the car that covers the front, hood & windshield. That was well worth the investment. Today we came across the Top of the World Highway. It is really not worth the trip. The road is so bad, you can only go about 30 & in some places we were doing 10 mph. Yes, it was pretty in some places, but we've seen so many beautiful spots during our trip, this part was not worth the trouble. So far, we've gotten 1 small chip in the RV windshield. We bought some chip repair right away. I would suggest carrying that with you. Yes, you do want your toad. We ended up parking in some places & doing day trips in our car. It saved us time & gas for the RV & was just easier. Give yourself plenty of time so you can enjoy places & not have to rush. We're very glad we made the trip, but don't want to do it again.

Mixmanbob · 08-20-2013, 10:19 AM

We are planning a trip north in 15 or 16. Thanks everyone for the great advise!

karencollins · 08-21-2013, 08:06 AM

Make sure you buy the Milepost book & the Camping Alaska by the Churches was also helpful. We found the MIlepost to be very confusing because it skips all over. The best suggestion I can give is to use Streets & Trips to lay out the trip, then make a spreadsheet & put the pages & maps corresponding to those areas on that. Print it out & put it in the milepost book. It will save you hours of frustration. Also, we laminated the map & put little dots on all the areas we were going. If you'd like a copy of my spreadsheet, send me a message & I'll email it to you.

bertman · 08-25-2013, 02:17 PM

Anybody ever taken the Ferry (Alaska Maritime Hwy.) up to Alaska? Seems like it would be an exciting trip. Staying on the ferry for five days would be relaxing as compared to driving 1000 miles! And, especially great site seeing! Terribly expensive though. Thousands of $$$$. Seems to make sense though, ferry one way, drive back. The best of both worlds? Anyone done this?

RV735 · 08-26-2013, 05:36 AM

bertman, See our blog of our Alaskan trip including traveling form Haines to Prince Ruppert, BC. Our blog for the Alaskan Marine Highway: RVGR8escape: July 2012

We traveled up the Alaskan highway and down the Alaskan Marine Highway in 2012.

Safe Travels and THE JOY IS IN THE RIDE

t55watson · 08-26-2013, 11:12 AM

Drive it both ways. Up in the early summer (June) and down in late summer (end Aug. Begin Sept.). The scenes are completely different. Save a bundle of cash. If you want to see the inside passage leave the rig on one end, ferry to the end and fly back to your rig. You still save a bundle because you aren't ferrying a vehicle.

karencollins · 08-27-2013, 11:45 AM

We checked into the Ferry prices with our RV & decided not to do that. However, we did take a cruise on a cruise ship of the inside passage & it was "a lot" less than the Alaska Ferry. We had clouds, rain & fog the whole trip & really didn't see anything. You just never know in that area. We drove up the west side of Canada, went to Glennallen, parked the rig & took a day trip in the car to Valdez. We skipped Juneau & Skagway because we went there on our cruise, but you can drive there or park your rig & car trip there from different areas. We did take the rig to Seward & took the fjord trip. We saw more on that day trip than our whole cruise. It was well worth the $$. Also went to Homer, which was very pretty. Also, you can buy a book called toursaver which gives you buy one, get one on different trips, rafting, etc. Costs $99 & it paid for itself. You can look it up on toursaver.com to see what is being offered. Each year, the tours change, so you probably want to look up what's being offered in the year you're going to use it.