Wandering from Tennessee to Alaska

M

Machinebuilder

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Location
East Tennessee
I am joining the ranks of the retired and for my first BIG retirement trip I have decided to drive to Alaska.

I won't be leaving TN until late April and will be visiting some family in Virginia, and meandering to visit some in Western NY.

From there I am thinking I'll cross into Canada either at Niagara Falls or the Thousand Islands.

then follow the Trans Canada Highway around Lake Huron (Georgian Bay) and Lake Superior.

After that I start having questions. I am not going to have detailed plans or time schedules.

The Trans Canada Highway takes a "southern" route to British Columbia. and I know people that have done that. I was looking at maps and considering a more northerly route from the north end of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba across Saskatchewan, and Alberta to the Top of the World highway and Dawson City. From there take a side trip to Tuktoyatuk (the arctic ocean).

Does anyone here have any knowledge of that area? I think it is more in the boreal forest and less plains. There are a lot of lakes and not many towns.

There are quite a few parks etc, some are not accessible by road. It looks like it may be some of the most remote places you might go to.

So far my "plan" is to leave home and get back home sometime.

Thanks for any info or suggestions.

Dave
 
Sounds like a very fun excursion / adventure. I have driven back and forth from North Pole, near Fairbanks through Tok and down to Valdez. Very good roads. Lots of uninhabited miles. Mosquitos are thick in places. Be bear aware.

Looking forward to your after trip report.
 
Having driven across the prairies from Vancouver to Winnepeg on the #1 several times, I'd be inclined to go the more northerly route, depending on the time of year. The boreal forest is more interesting than the prairies, at least to me. That said, do not miss driving up the Rockies from the Canadian border to Jasper via Hwy 40 and the Icefields Parkway.
 
I have done NE USA to AK and it was a blast... I look forward to your trip and hope you either have a blog or do a trip report. I'd love to follow along. Great trip; You won't regret it!
 
We drove all the Alaska Hwy, the Robert Campbell Hwy., TOW Hwy, but also the Dempster Hwy to Inuvik, and about all possible roads in NWT (Great Slave Lake and on to Whitehorse), Yukon and Alaska. We always had a rented Truck-Camper with 4x4. For us the scenery got more and more interesting the further north we went. I'd like to do the same again.
We also did a RV-relocation trip from Vancouver to Halifax, but this time we took a very southern route until Grand Forks and then north around Lake Superior and the other lakes. But on that trip the scenery was not as breathtaking as in the Far North.
 
We did the Alaska trip this past summer . Took the trans Canada across the top of Superior as well but when we got to Winterpeg we got on 16 and took it over to Edmonton for a visit . After that we stayed on 16 over until we could hook up with the Cassier. The route north from Winnipeg would likely be a pretty nice drive though and likely better boon docking spots . Maybe we'll try that next time! If your doing the Dempster, Dawson City and the Top of the World, be sure to stop at the "mall" in chicken. Interesting spot with an awesome bakery .
 
Machinebuilder said:
So far my "plan" is to leave home and get back home sometime.
Click to expand...
Howdy

Sounds like you have the essentials covered......take a look at the weather forecast .....
 
Sounds like a good plan to me. Be sure to keep an eye on the smoke/fire situation. Last summer several roads in Yukon were intermittently closed due to fires. Carry extra fuel unless you have a large tank. If you are on the Alcan between Watson Lake and Whitehorse, we're close by - stop and visit (PM me if you want direct info).
 
Thanks for the responses
Last year on my trip to Wyoming/Montana I got about 14-15MPG on 2 lane roads (55-65MPH) this gives me a range of around 400MI. I will take a gas can with me but not fill it most of the time.
I did learn that drinking water is a concern. I am building a good water filtration system and will add a couple more jugs to get me to 20gal.
This Summer I installed the Flatbed and bumper. I still have some work to do to.
I am going to build drop down doors for the sides, and need to wire a good electrical connection between the truck and camper.
going to the Flatbed will increase my storage.

I am probably do some work to the interior of the camper, it is a pretty basic shell with a heater. I have an Engel MR040 fridge/freezer that I use as a freezer.
Being able to keep frozen food with me is great, and I use it to refreeze water bottles to swap into a cooler. This also keeps the cooler dry.

I will be bringing my 2 dogs.
They travel well and I don't want to leave them for a long time.

I have seen on other forums some people had problems carrying bear spray across the border, since all mine is at least several years old I can just buy some new after I cross the border. I don't want the hassle of trying to bring a fire arm with me.

I am not going to worry about the costs, this will be the trip of a lifetime, I want to do the things that I want to do. Like go Halibut fishing from Hyder Edit; Homer, Alaska. Go to Tuktoyatuk, the only road that ends at the arctic ocean. Plus all the other things I find on the way.

I have time to get my ducks in a row and make some more vague plans, and am open to suggestions

Atlin Thanks for the invite I'll keep it in mind, I will most likely take the Alcan away from Alaska

Thanks everybody

Dave
 
I asked at the border the last two times I was driving through BC to Alaska about bear spray.
The border people said no problem as long as I didn't use it on humans.

I envy your trip.
Our last one there was in 2016 for 6 weeks.We use the Alaskan ferry system and driving.

Looking forward to pictures.

I have my 2009,2011,and 2016 Alaskan trips on my blog if you are interested.

Frank
 
Frank, I looked at you 2016 trip, It looks awesome.
All I could see was back to 2012 though.

Years ago I considered the ferry, I dreamed about getting off at each stop and catching the next. Then I figured out its not very realistic.

the more people reply the more excited I'm getting, I enjoy some of the "planning" as much as the trip.
 
Machinebuilder said:
Frank, I looked at you 2016 trip, It looks awesome.
All I could see was back to 2012 though.

Years ago I considered the ferry, I dreamed about getting off at each stop and catching the next. Then I figured out its not very realistic.

the more people reply the more excited I'm getting, I enjoy some of the "planning" as much as the trip.
Click to expand...
Thanks for checking it out.
The trips are not listed by date of trip,just when I posted the trip.
If you go the last 2 in 2014 group you will find the other trips.
Frank
 
Machinebuilder said:
<snip>
I enjoy some of the "planning" as much as the trip.
Click to expand...
Come shape your plans where the fire is bright,
And the shimmering glasses are—
When the woods are white in the winter’s night,
Under the Northern Star.

And let us buy for the days of spring,
While yet the north winds blow!
For half the joy of the trip, my boy,
Is getting your traps to go.

The Tent Dwellers - Albert Bigelow Paine
 
Planing our trips is a fun part of the trip.
For our Alaska trips we needed to plan several
things beside the ferry part.

If you intend to visit Denali NP and want to stay at Teklanika cg
you need to make reservations it's a minimum 3 night stay and
you can't drive the road from there.The pass is only good to drive in and out.

On our trips we made reservations for all our nights stays at the 3 campgrounds
available to "truck" camp.

Most of the other camp spots we just drove up and camped.

If you are going to Homer there is a very nice/clean/convenient RV park just as you
enter the "town". We made a reservation there as well. I think the only other place to
spend some nights is the crowded place out on the strand.Don't recommend that one.

At the end of the TWH at the Yukon river across from Dawson City there is a nice campground
and a free ferry across the river.

Hope some of this info gives you some ideas.
Good planing.
Frank
 
I didn't see any mention of ferry's.

I will dig deeper when I have time and after i order some good Canadian maps.

I'm looking at the Mapart fastrak maps for each province and the Mapart Canada atlas
maybe the Backroad mapbooks too

I'm a map junkie, I like having a big paper map spread out to "plan" with
 
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