Alaska 2017

The wife and I took a trip to Alaska towing our 171 from mid-July to mid-August in 2013.  I had the plan of one week up, one week back ,and two weeks to play.  We started in Washington state an hour west of Seattle and drove to Dawson Creek to the start of the AlCan and took the Cassiar back.  We also brought our little dogs with us.  (Make sure to get papers from the vet).

As mentioned by others, you will want to have the most current version of the Milepost.  It was an excellent reference and would list services, turnoffs, etc. by the mile or less.  It will let you know where gas stations are.  My wife drove past a couple because they “didn’t look like a gas station”.  Sometimes you might not notice the pump until you pull in.

Three hundred miles capacity in the gas tank will be plenty of miles and long as you pay attention and plan on filling up even if you are only at a half a tank.  Don’t think about only putting in a few liters because the prices “have to get better”.  We were paying about $4.00 in Washington that summer and I had sticker shock the first time I had to pay 1.75 CDN /liter.  I think we ended up paying that twice and at one place I paid 1.94 CDN /liter.  I did carry two 5 gallon cans of gas.  Besides the price of gas being high the exchange rate was pretty crappy.  If I remember right gas was most expensive in northern BC and became a little more reasonable in the Yukon.

You will definitely want to spend two or more nights at the Liard River Hot Springs.  Besides soaking we also saw a moose from the boardwalk.  Whitehorse had a couple of museums that were decent.  Make the side trip through Skagway and Haines.  We did it on the way back and caught the Alaska ferry between the two.  Lots of bald eagles in Haines (and The Hammer Museum).  Skagway is hit by the cruise ships but was fun to visit. Do the walking tour with the National Park Service.  In Denali we stayed at the Teklanika campground.  You are only allowed to drive so far in the park, so don’t worry that you will have to keep the vehicle parked if you camp at Teklanika.  You will have to buy a Tek bus ticket but you can ride to the Observatory every day for one ticket purchase.

We spent a week on the Kenai at Cooper’s landing.  It was close to the fishing on the Russian river.  We didn’t fish but saw numerous guys in the water.  We took a glacier and wildlife cruise out of Seward.  Well worth the money.  You can buy an Alaska coupon book.  We got one from someone returning from Alaska and saved over $100 for the cruise.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.