Alaska - Routing Help Needed Please

Hi Guys,

I have uploaded our planned Alaska tour to [DELETED OUT OF DATE LINK]

Can anyone take a look and let us know which places we shouldnt stop (or should stop for less time) and places we should try to stay longer.

The "??" indicate that we are looking to find places to stay a night or two, which will reduce the travelling distance to the next location.

You will also notice Im trying to stay at larger towns for the England World Cup Football (Soccer) games too - I dont want much do I ?  ;D

Hopefully, the new FTA Receiver will pick them up, but Im not holding my breath - even to find a sports bar showing soccer will be something - but as its early in the day, we may get control of the remote. 

Thanks
Paul

PS The most forward-planning Ive attempted to date has been 2 weeks - and that fell apart, so we dont expext our dates to be set in stone.

In most of those places you will be lucky to find a sports bar, let alone a tv set. 

Anchorage, Palmer, Fairbanks are fairly good bets. Valdez, Skagway, Homer maybe. You can pretty much forget the rest once you get north of Smithers, except for Whitehorse. YK.

Enjoy the scenery and don't worry about the tv.

Paul,

You might want to read the journals in our library written by folks who previously made the Alaska trip. Click the Library button above and select Trips reports.

Paul,

While we plan to travel to Alaska this summer as well, we have not yet made any? firm plans.? I have purchased The Milepost and will read it once we get underway next week. I attended seminars of the commercial? caravan groups who travel together to Alaska and have circled some of the things they do.? ?You could go on their web sites likely and see their high lights.? www.fantasyrvtours.com? or www.adventurecaravans.com I? liked the? caravans itineraries as it gave me an idea of how many days it could be done if you were on a whirlwind tour.

From the looks of your dates you will likely be ahead of us so please keep us posted on the things you did which were fun and not to miss.

Betty

Looks like we will most likely meet in Dawson city or Fairbanks.

Caution about traveling in May. Things may not yet be open. I was in Dawson City may 30-31, 2002 and several tourist activities were still closed till June 1.

Up the Cassiar will take much less time than you budgeted.

Hyder. Bears unlikely to be seen if no salmon have started to spawn. You are likely too early. To compensate, be sure to go 20 miles up that gravel road to view the salmon glacier.

Seward. Book an all day cruise to see whales, otter, sea lion, birds, and glaciers.

Kenai. My favorite CG is in the old town is Beluga Outlook. It has sites on the bluff overlooking the river mouth.

As Russ says, bears won't be in Hyder until sometime in early July when the salmon begin to run. The Salmon Glacier is magnificent, though, as are the views on the road into Stewart. There will  be waterfalls everywhere in May & June, as the snow melts off. Expect to see a lot of snow yet in May, though. The road up to Salmon Glacier may even still be closed.

Thanks for the replies so far guys,

I checked the Library again - lots of useful info, but takes A LONG time to read thru each tour.? ;D

I only just remembered that I have the 2005 Milepost in one of the storage bays, together with some local booklets we collected on our cruise their last year.

Regarding the Milepost - one of you may be interested in buying this vintage copy from ebay - http://cgi.ebay.com/1956-The-Milepo...ryZ20195QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If anyone has any specific CG recommendations for Vancouver, that would be great !!

Paul

Paul I have stayed at this park and highly recommend it.  It is on the western edge of the city and right off the Trans Canada Highway:

PHONE: 604-420-1722. LOCATION: 8765 Cariboo Pl; Burnaby, BC (CN) V3N 4T2.  Trans-Canada Hwy 1, exit 37 (Cariboo Rd), follow campground signs. An exceptional campground. Paved roads throughout, cement pads with good privacy provided by lush landscaping. RV and car wash bay. Public transit service to Skytrain. Separate tent area. Dog walk area. TERMS: extra person $2.50-3.50, camp tax 7.0%, state tax 7%, pets allowed, check-in after 1 pm, check-out by noon, weekly rental plan available, reservations required, deposit required. FACILITY: 237 total sites, 217 RV sites, 20 tent sites, nine acres, one pool (one indoor), playground, recreation room, hot showers available, flush toilets available, fixed dump station, one whirlpool available, phone hookups, TV hookups. SERVICES: guest laundry (fee), propane, groceries. RECREATION: exercise room.  CARDS: MC, VI.

If you go to this park I can also recommend a route from Seattle that will provide a quicker Border crossing, and less traffic.  Take I-5 north past Bellingham, Custer to Blaine and take State highway 15 north to the Border, and then on north to the Trans Canada Highway.  Then head west to exit 37.  When you exit, keep your eyes open as there are several turns to get to the park.  There are sighs, but just keep a close eye out for them.  I am sure you will like this park.

When stopping at Stewart/Hyder, is sure and make the 20 mile trip from Hyder to Salmon Glacer--worth the drive. If you want to see some bears, go the Hyder dump. That's where we saw some up close.
All roads to and from Alaska go through TOK. You go through here both coming and going.  5 days there is about 4 more than you need. Consider back tracking from White Horse and going to Skagway, taking the ferry to Haines, then going to TOK and down to Valdez.. While going to -or from Valdez-- take a side trip to Chitina and on to the old town of McCarthy to see the Kennicott copper mine.  Don't try to take the RV beyond Kenney Lake, on Hwy 10 when going to Chitina. Just use the toad for the trip, with overnight camping or rooms at McCarthy. Stay at the rv campground about a mile from the ferry in Haines on the water front. Park facing the water and maybe you'll see whales out in the inlet. We did.

Remember, when entering Alaska, stop at the first LANG grocery store (Alaska's name for Safeway)  you encounter and go their customer service counter. Purchase an Alaska Discount coupon book. We did and saved the cost of the book in the first week in Alaska.

While in Valdez, we took the LuLu Belle whale watching cruse. Great boat, saw lots of wild life, whales, and went up the the St Mary's glacer ice field. Well worth the ride--and got it a half price with the discount coupon book.

When going to Homer, consider staying at the state park, on the beach 1 mile south of Niinilchik (mile marker S-137.2) and taking the toad to Homer. The spit at Homer is a zoo and a big tourist trap. Wall to wall RV parks and hotels.
BTW, most of the fishing trips at Homer come back to Ninilchik in a van and the boats leave right from the beach where the campground is located.

While on your way to or from Kienai, consider a stop for a couple of nights west of Cooper Landing at  Cooper Creek USFS  campgroud (S-50.5)--nice place. While there try the  Kieni River Raft trips at the bridge (S-50.1) for a great  and easy raft ride down the river, again at half price with the coupon book.

RV camp grounds in both Anchorage and Fairbanks had 2 nights for the price of one with the coupon book.

Wait until you're in Alaska before making any campground reservations. We did the whole trip without any at all and got a space everyplace we stopped.  I bet the price of fuel will cause a large number of cancelations  of Alaska trips this summer.

We have stayed at the campground in North Vancouver -  Capilano. Get off the trans Canada Hwy at exit 14 and go towards the harbor. When you ge to Marine Dr, watch for the RV park signs. It's run by the local indian tribe and is a first rate campground.

Chet18013

All good advice, Chet, and concisely stated as well. Matches our experience quite closely.

Thanks for the info Guys

After spending a few days wiring/tuning the FTA Receiver, I can get back to planning the Alaska trip.

Paul

Hi

Just found this website packed with info on travelling thru BC and Alaska.

Great road and campground info covering all the roads.

http://www.karo-ent.com/hwylist.htm

Paul

Hi Paul,

I don't know where you are in your trip as of today, May 8, but if you haven't done Vancouver yet then I recommend Burnaby Cariboo RV Park over the Capilano Park by the Lions Gate Bridge.  I've stayed in both of them, in fact last year stayed at BCRV Park for about three months while undergoing radiation treatment.  Indoor pool and good hot tub there.  I was there last night for one night--now back home in Sechelt.

Ciao,

Doug

Thanks for the recommendations on BCRV in Vanocuver.

We did stay there - it is a nice place, even if they did put us right outside the mens toilets !

However, I was able to stand at the window of the guest lounge (above the mens toilets) and take some great photos of the roof of the RV - saves me having to climb up there (I did climb a few rungs a month or so back and I definately think these things are designed for lighter people? ;D)

When we left Vancouver, we decided to take route 99 thru Whistler.

It proved to be a great choice as we saw a bear on the side of the road around 5 miles south of Whistler town.

However - a word of warning for anyone thinking of taking this route - there are constant roadworkings between Vancouver and Whistler and the road condition is terrible.

Heading north from Whistler to route 97, the scenery is fantastic but again the roads are really poor.

Be sure you see the right hand turn at the "big white church" at Pemberton or, like us and it seems many others, you end up at a dead end 25 miles further up the road - yep, thats 25 miles back again.

Travelling from Whistler we averaged 27 miles per hour for the 200 mile journey (including the dead end miles).

Having said that, we travelled on route 97 today, which is a nice smooth tarmac road, and found the whole journey really boring with the fantastic views of route 99 missing.

Paul

Oh yes - whilst going at around 25 mph today, we managed to get a nice big chip in the windshield - hopefully the glass centre will be able to repair it tomorrow morning.

Both Ann-Marie and I did burst out laughing around 60 seconds after we got the damage, when we passed a sign for Lazee Dayz [sp] CG (well I think it was for a CG).

It seems even 6000 miles away, good old Lazydays are having a subtle impact on our trip  ;D ;D ;D