Advice For Traveling the Alcan?

[Iggy]

It looks like I'm going to be heading to Alaska in May for a construction job and to be with family. I'm guaranteed two months of work, probably closer to four. I'm really looking forward to everything but the mosquitoes!
It's been 25 years since my last trip up there. I'm looking for any advice for traveling the Alcan highway. Crossing the Canadian border and into Alaska, are they time-consuming and invasive on searching the whole van? Is it difficult to boondock or stealth camp in Canada? How far apart are the gas stations? How hard is it to find a friendly gal that wants to go along? Lol, just kidding on the last!
Is there someone on the forums here with more recent experience traveling to Alaska, who can help with some pointers?

 

[GotSmart]

Watch the weather reports closely.

 

[Iggy]

I haven't found a phone app that helps me speak Canadian either.

 

[Willy]

Being Canadian, I'd say that you should have NO problems finding a free place to camp. ..Willy.

 

[VJG1977]

I haven't found a phone app that helps me speak Canadian either.

Just watch The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew like 10 times ah.  You will be speaking perfect Canadian, ah hoser.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I went summer of 2014, I suggest going up the Stewart-Cassiar highway instead of the Alaska highway in northern BC, or go up one and plan to come down the other, I prefer the Stewart Casiar more remote, don't worry about fuel even though there are many gas station that are closed there are still plenty open and if you get to a place where there are a lot of miles there will be a sign telling you to fill up. Boodocking is too easy, so much space so few people, in three months we spent less then 100 dollars on camping spots and some of that was showers. if you can, travel early in the morning and late in the evening in order to experience more wildlife, we saw over 35 bears, moose, bison, foxes, one big old black bear sniffed our tires one morning while my partner looked down on it's back from behind the pop top screens, she could smell it. Not that much has changed in 25 years on most of it other then gas stations have shut down I guess due to the fact that cars have greater range then they used to. Highlites of the Alaska highway or must sees or must make a detour for are The Liard Hot Springs, plan to spend the night camping there we didn't last trip, I remember when that was free, if you spend the night you can have a hole bunch of soaks, for the same price. I would drive into Atlin BC once you get over the Yukon border, I used to have a cabin there and it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet well worth the drive in and you can make another detour through Carcross or even head over to Skagway Alaska over the White pass if you plan on an extra three to four days to take it in nicely. Have fun I love the Alaska highway, plenty of friendly gals in Whitehorse but convincing then to come along may be another story, good luck with that one.

 

[mockturtle]

One thing I neglected to do before I went last spring was to notify my credit card companies that I would be traveling out of the country. The first time I tried to gas up in Canada I was forced to pay cash as my cards were locked. Not having Canadian phone service [another tip] made it difficult to rectify the situation but it did get fixed.

The borders were fine except I had to dispose of a dozen free-range, organic eggs that I had just bought. No eggs across the Canadian border or raw chicken. Look at the list carefully on the website.

Plenty of fuel along the way. I did find that, in May, many of the campgrounds were not yet open. While there are apparently places you can boondock in Canada, I didn't find any along the Alcan and stayed mostly in Provincial Parks. In Alaska, you can boondock about anywhere on public land.

I made a conversion chart of kilometers to miles so I wouldn't exceed the speed limit.

Canadian money is just weird but it's about 75 cents to our dollar now so a good time to go through Canada.

Without looking at my log, I'm probably leaving out a lot of helpful hints. Feel free to PM me with any questions. I love Alaska and can't wait to go back. Maybe 2017.

 

[29chico]

My suggestion is to not hit a moose.  Doing so can really ruin your day.

 

[Iggy]

Thanks for the advice, guys. It's about 45 hours of driving, from Albany Oregon to North Pole Alaska. 5 nine-hour days on the road. I'm planning to take a week going up, to see some of the sights. Then, hopefully the trip back down will be more leisurely, unless I get into cold weather.
My van goes about 500-550 miles per tank, so I think I'll be okay on the distance between gas stations.
I did have one gal that wanted to go up there with me, just to see the Northern Lights. I hated to inform her that they happen in the winter, not summer when it never gets fully dark. Lol

 

[29chico]

I went summer of 2014, I suggest going  up the Stewart-Cassiar highway instead of the Alaska highway in northern BC, or go up one and plan to come down the other, I prefer the Stewart Casiar more remote, don't worry about fuel even though there are many gas station that are closed there are still plenty open and if you get to a place where there are a lot of miles there will be a sign telling you to fill up.  Boodocking is too easy, so much space so few people, in three months we spent less then 100 dollars on camping spots and some of that was showers. if you can, travel early in the morning and late in the evening in order to experience more wildlife, we saw over 35 bears, moose, bison, foxes, one big old black bear sniffed our tires one morning while my partner looked down on it's back from behind the pop top screens, she could smell it. Not that much has changed in 25 years on most of it other then gas stations have shut down I guess due to the fact that cars have greater range then they used to. Highlites of the Alaska highway or must sees or must make a detour for are The Liard Hot Springs, plan to spend the night camping there we didn't last trip, I remember when that was free, if you spend the night you can have a hole bunch of soaks, for the same price. I would drive into Atlin BC once you get over the Yukon border, I used to have a cabin there and it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet well worth the drive in and you can make another detour through Carcross or even head over to Skagway Alaska over the White pass if you plan on an extra three to four days to take it in nicely. Have fun I love the Alaska highway, plenty of friendly gals in Whitehorse but convincing then to come along may be another story, good luck with that one.

Yes, you will see more wildlife on the Stewart-Cassiar highway.  You will also see what seems to be billions of trees right up to the side of the road.  So much so that getting a view of the countryside is next to impossible due to the thick wall of trees for the most part of the highway.  It got so bad that we were thrilled when we came to a burned out area because we were able to get a glimpse of the local topography.

 

[ascii_man]

Watch the weather reports closely.

One thing I like about my car is that it has a NOAA radio included.  Weatheradio Canada[1] uses the same frequencies, so you could buy a receiver before you leave.  Coverage is not complete, of course. There is also a list of AM & FM stations[2]

Credit cards give you a decent conversion rate, as does your ATM card; call your banks about whether they have foreign transaction surcharges; many don't.

And in my experience, the Canadian agents are nice; you're more likely to have trouble with the US agents on your return.  Unless you pull a "no habla ingles": then they'll give you an EBT card and case of diapers.

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatheradio_Canada
[2]
http://ec.gc.ca/meteo-weather/default.asp?lang=En&n=8830FA44-1

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Yes, you will see more wildlife on the Stewart-Cassiar highway.  You will also see what seems to be billions of trees right up to the side of the road.  So much so that getting a view of the countryside is next to impossible due to the thick wall of trees for the most part of the highway.  It got so bad that we were thrilled when we came to a burned out area because we were able to get a glimpse of the local topography.

I never noticed that, there were so many lakes and cool places to camp that I did not miss the large expanse views that the Alaska highway has to offer, I agree the  Stewart is different not such big valleys and great views still nice though. We actually saw the most bears on the Alaska highway, in the Liard river basin south of Watson Lake, one evening we saw twelve along the side of the road, in a 40 km stretch, eating dandelions. I have been up that highway dozens of times, I used to live up there, still go up regularly and have never seen so many bears as our last trip. we lost count  6 grizzlies and 30 black bears then we lost count. I couldn't believe it. If you do go up or down the Stewart-Cassiar go into to STewart and Hyder Alaska worth the drive in.

 

[Willy]

Watch the movies Fubar and Fubar 2 and you'll see how to act/speak Canadian. ..Willy.

 

[mockturtle]

I did take the Cassiar back down from Alaska. Very pleasant.

 

[ascii_man]

One more point on the weather thing: a lot of newer CB's have weather radio receivers (as do virtually all marine radios). Nice to have equipment with multiple functions when you're dealing with a small space. This one advertises local alerts: www.amazon.com/dp/B004RO3RBE

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I gather that most people who travel the Alcan use a copy of The Milepost as their guide:

http://www.amazon.com/Milepost-2016...8&qid=1457223730&sr=1-1&keywords=the+milepost

If you have a Barnes & Noble nearby, you can probably find a copy there to examine and decide if it will be useful to you.

Regards
John

 

[mockturtle]

While I did use the Milepost, I found its preponderance of ads to be irritating.  I used the Church's Guide to Alaskan Camping very useful, as well.

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

 How hard is it to find a friendly gal that wants to go along? 

I'm friendly! When are we leaving? 

 

[Patrick46]

I'm friendly! When are we leaving? 

See?? you asked, and now's the time to ACT!!! (and not hesitate!)

 

[Iggy]

I'm friendly! When are we leaving? 

Are you just wanting to see the Northern Lights? Or to see if the mosquito truly is the Alaska state bird? Lol