Alaska Summer 2022

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Homeby5

Quick update:
On the way to Badlands, SD we ran into a high wind alert. Gusting to 60mph.
Truck and TT did fine with no sway freelancing but we decided to pull into Cody city park and stay for the night.
CG has electric and sewer.
Stay safe guys...

Reading about that huge wind/dust storm I hope you escaped the worst of it.

[OldSalty]

Been Lurking on this thread for a bit... thanks to the posters for providing all the info...

Leaving DFW 5/21 going straight up with plans to cross over at Portal, ND on the 25th... it'll be leisurely from there, hopefully boondocking most of the time... need to be Anchorage on 6/12 so figuring a couple of hundred miles a day... I'll be working on weekdays so keeping daily mileage down is a necessity.

This will be our longest continuous trip pull the trailer, we normally do 5-6,000 during a summer, we expect to do 10-12,000 this summer... Good luck and safe travels to all on their trip... I'll continue to watching for any new info being posted and will post again if I've find something worth posting...

[10 fan]

Originally Posted by GBB

Worst is ahead of you north of Fort Nelson where the Alcan crosses the Rockies. Stay safe.

It snowed most of the time but didn't stick. Saw a lot of moose, caribou, fox, buffalo, black bears, one brown. It was a beautiful drive. One several mile stretch of gravel. I'm in Whitehorse now.

[Homeby5]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Reading about that huge wind/dust storm I hope you escaped the worst of it.

Made into Badlands. Local news reporting lots of wind damage, overturned trucks, campers, etc..
Supposedly winds were up to 80 or so...
Anyway, next stop will be Custer for a few days.
Question...any recommendations for CG around Glacier NP?

[USMCJS]

Originally Posted by VC63

HI Everybody,

I am starting research for next summers trip to Alaska. I am thinking this trip will be through June, July and August. Reentering the U.S. around the first of September. We will be leaving north Florida about June 7th. We will be in our 35' Tiffin class A gasser pulling a toad. I am planning on getting to the boarder around June 19-20. We have traveled most of the U.S. area before so I expect only one or two tourist stops between Florida and the Canadian boarder. And making a couple of rest days too.

I think I will be entering Canada through Montana. I have read to enter around Glacier National park. That is my first question. Where near Glacier?

Once we enter Canada we want to stop at Banff and Jasper. I have been told these are must sees. After that we are open to what ever is on the way. I am a little concern about the route. I know there are not many choices but I would like to here what others have done. I think we will take the AL- Can up and maybe the Cassiar back down into Seattle.

I am reading about all the things to do along the way through Canada and in Alaska. What are the most do things we should see.

My other big question is camp grounds. I have also read there is a lot of free places to boondock. I have my on board generator and am planning on a suitcase solar to help. I will probably upgrade my batteries to 300 AMP HR.

We are not big or experienced boon dockers only overnighting in Walmart or similar places. We will want to stay in campgrounds with at least power part of the time. I assume water and dump stations are not hard to find. We stayed in a few campground this summer in Michigan U.P. that only had power and we did fine for 3-4 days. I am thinking with the Genny and a little solar we could manage a few day without power too.

I have a ton of other things to ask but I hope this starts a new conversation for those who are also planning for next summer and help from those who have already done the last frontier.

Of course all of this is dependent on Canada being open next summer. Hopefully this darn COVID will be MUCH better by then.

Thanks to all I look forward to hearing what people have to say

One word of caution. Three years ago we made a side trip off the Cassiar highway to Hyder, AK. for a Halibut dinner. On the way back to the Cassiar on 37A, at around 10 P.M. (still light) we stopped at a rest stop that had two vault toilets. No one else there so I parked very close to the facilities. I was approaching the vault toilet door and something caught my eye right next to the toilet. I was staring into some big brown eyes. I backed up and stupidly stood behind my car door to look closer. It was a large grizzly foraging next to the toilet. He was hidden by the tall grass. I got in the car and we just watched him for a spell. He then walked out in front of us and continued eating. Probably a 1000 lbs on him. Never displayed any aggression. But.......my point is NEVER EVER assume the tall grass in and around the rest stops are danger free......He could have had me in a second. I was literally 4 feet from those big eyes.... Take care and don't assume anything when it comes to bears unless it's to assume they are close...

[hemifoot]

Originally Posted by USMCJS

One word of caution. Three years ago we made a side trip off the Cassiar highway to Hyder, AK. for a Halibut dinner. On the way back to the Cassiar on 37A, at around 10 P.M. (still light) we stopped at a rest stop that had two vault toilets. No one else there so I parked very close to the facilities. I was approaching the vault toilet door and something caught my eye right next to the toilet. I was staring into some big brown eyes. I backed up and stupidly stood behind my car door to look closer. It was a large grizzly foraging next to the toilet. He was hidden by the tall grass. I got in the car and we just watched him for a spell. He then walked out in front of us and continued eating. Probably a 1000 lbs on him. Never displayed any aggression. But.......my point is NEVER EVER assume the tall grass in and around the rest stops are danger free......He could have had me in a second. I was literally 4 feet from those big eyes.... Take care and don't assume anything when it comes to bears unless it's to assume they are close...

we were fishing Meziadin and took a side trip to Hyder for halibut and some glacier viewing last time we were up that way.worth the trip..

[10 fan]

We made it to Whitehorse, snowed a lot but no problems. The roads to Tok were not as bad as I expected. Drove slow and watched for flags. Picked up a handgun I had shipped there and headed to Valdez. I'm in Bear Paws RV Park, good AT&T and much to my surprise very good wifi. $30 with full hook ups(30a) Sunny and 65 yesterday. Sunny and high 50 all week.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by hemifoot

we were fishing Meziadin and took a side trip to Hyder for halibut and some glacier viewing last time we were up that way.worth the trip..

Hyder on the Cassier Hwy is the place to go toward the end of August on your return. That's when the fish run is and the bears are in the water trying to catch them. Some bears are not adept to catching fish and it's so funny to watch. There's a raised boardwalk to observe and usually a ranger is there to supervise.

Bear Viewing in Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

[jl.kauai]

In the Yukon the provisional parks provide free firewood. Often times it is not split so take an axe with you. If you want to stay in Valdez on the water you will need a res. Lots of good fish available nearby. The Chevron station in Tok has boondocking to the rear and a good place to wash off your rig at the outdoor car wash. Be sure to visit Talkeetna on the Fourth of July if you can. Great parade.
Travato John

[LFOD]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Hyder on the Cassier Hwy is the place to go toward the end of August on your return. That's when the fish run is and the bears are in the water trying to catch them. Some bears are not adept to catching fish and it's so funny to watch. There's a raised boardwalk to observe and usually a ranger is there to supervise.

Bear Viewing in Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game

How is the Cassiar? We are going up to AK via the ALCAN in June but was looking for a different route when heading back down south in August. I didn't see a whole lot of campgrounds on the Cassiar, and those I saw didn't have recent reviews.

[LFOD]

We're heading across SD currently and pulled in to Presho SD to wait out the current winds. A Class A pulled in a few minutes ago with their awning structure ripped off. Kind of surprising since the winds are no worse than 30 kts gusting.

[twogypsies]

The Cassier Hwy is just fine. It is a little narrower than most 2-lane hightways and not many shoulders to pull over but overall, it's great. We did it with a 40' motorhome, towing the Jeep.

There are plenty of places to spend the night. We used public parks and as I recall, there's an RV park or two in Hyder, itself. \

There are a few YouTube's on it. Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVAC...=RVingtoAlaska

[vseasport]

We traveled from Wasatch State Park Utah to Kimberly Idaho yesterday. It was a wild ride but we made it. Rest stops were jammed with trucks and RV’s ducking out of the wind. Saw one class A trying to secure his awning that was ripped off the side of his rig. I heard a loud boom and thought we had a flat tire. Turned out the wind was blowing open our spring loaded retractable window awnings. It happened several times and the snap back made a horrendous bang. Also spoke with a friend in Dillon MT staging to cross into Canada. He said the wind there was blowing with gusts from 35 to 45mph.

[No Plan]

Travel safe Mark... We had extremely strong winds here in Colorado all of last week... 35-45 mph. Today it was 27 degrees this morning after a 90 degree day yesterday. 2-3 feet of snow for the mountains forecasted and up to 8 inches here on the Front Range.

I'm sure there are some in their coaches up in the high country here that are going to be dealing with some severe conditions...