Author Topic: Planning a road trip to Alaska?  (Read 2368 times)

paddedhat

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Planning a road trip to Alaska?
« on: May 04, 2016, 07:20:26 AM »
The wife and I end up taking an RV trip from the east coast to AK, every four, or five years. When doing so, we arm ourselves with two invaluable resources, both are books. First is "the Milepost". This is an annually published, epic, phone book sized tome, describing every mile of every road that matters in Alaska and the Yukon, including the exact location of every dog, cat, buffalo, litter barrel, campsite, gas station, tourist trap, hotel, motel, village, town ,city, roadhouse, airport, river, stream, lake, historic site, town drunk, and house of ill repute, you will pass on your journey. The second worthwhile book is Church's "Alaskan Camping".  Which is a detailed description of thousands of camping locations. Since both tend to be out of date by the time our next adventure rolls around, they are now of little use to me.

So, here is the deal. If you are about to launch an epic road trip, and you are interested in having both of these books, be the first one to PM with your name and address. I will mail them to you for free, nada, zilch, my gift to you.  Once you get them, just reimburse me for the postage, with whatever, paypal, bitcoin, sheckels, I don't care. How's that for one hell of a deal?
« Last Edit: May 04, 2016, 08:45:26 AM by paddedhat »

forummm

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Re: Planning a road trip to Alaska?
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2016, 08:57:25 AM »
Sounds like a great trip! What are your favorite places to hit along the way and in AK? I spent 2 weeks in AK (saw a lot of glaciers) once and I plan to go back. Definitely want to see the aurora at some point.

paddedhat

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Re: Planning a road trip to Alaska?
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2016, 09:11:43 AM »
Far too many favorites to list. A few highlights, include the many hot springs, Liard is magical, Chena is a great day trip. Whale and glacier cruises from Valdez. Spending time in the town of Valdez. A half day  touring Lance Mackey's sled dog operation. Riding a significant earthquake in Homer. The Looooong school bus ride in Denali. Bear watching in Hyder, and best of all. some of the real characters you meet on the way.

forummm

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Re: Planning a road trip to Alaska?
« Reply #3 on: May 04, 2016, 09:23:55 AM »
Far too many favorites to list. A few highlights, include the many hot springs, Liard is magical, Chena is a great day trip. Whale and glacier cruises from Valdez. Spending time in the town of Valdez. A half day  touring Lance Mackey's sled dog operation. Riding a significant earthquake in Homer. The Looooong school bus ride in Denali. Bear watching in Hyder, and best of all. some of the real characters you meet on the way.

I've ridden the school bus. Anything good on the journey to AK? Do you go through Canada on the way west or stick to the US? We had a nice trip to Glacier NP and Watterton Lakes, Jasper, and Banff NPs recently.

JoJo

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Re: Planning a road trip to Alaska?
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2016, 11:33:58 AM »
Any chance you’ll be around Manitoba in July-August?  It’s possible to drive up to Thompson, MB and take an overnight train to Churchill, MB on the Churchill River & Hudson bay.  In this time frame there are 1000’s of Beluga Whales around.  It’s also quite possible to see a few stray polar bears lounging around the area and possible to see aurora at night.  Super cool town.  Fun to hang out with travelers, locals, and summer staff at the bar.  There’s not a lot to do but expensive tours but my best tip is to rent a truck there, maybe event split with other travelers, and drive around looking for bears and visit the research center.  I did the trip last August and loved it all.

Thompson is about 8 hour drive from Winnipeg and there's not alot to see along the way but trees and a few first nations towns.  I did manage to see a black bear and a fox.  Stopped at a couple beautiful reflecting pools and stopped at Pisew falls provincial park which is well worth the stop.  Also, swung over to Lake Manitoba (less than a mile from the main road near st joseph) for the most beautiful pink sunset ever.