Advice for a Road Trip to Alaska

So along the way I started keeping track of all of the little (and moderate) things that someone towing a small trailer or just plain driving the highway might want to know.

1.  Always carry cash and back-up debit and/or credit cards. I had all kinds of issues with my cards. I also saw other people having issues. They all worked out but be prepared- even if you call your bank and credit union to let them know you're travelling.

2.  If you're in the middle of nowhere and see a big bright box with a traffic light connected to it AND there's a sign that says wait for the pilot car- stop and wait. It's amazing how many people blow past those putting themselves and others in great danger in the huge road construction sites.

3.  Go before mid-September or be prepared for shorter hours at information centers and many closed RV parks, gas stations, etc. and possibly snow; definitely freezing weather.

4.  Decide when to go by what your priorities are. I saw fewer critters because it was hunting season in Alaska and moose rutting season everywhere. Think about the weather. I had heavy rain and incredibly clear sunny days. I experienced everything from 90+ degrees to just below freezing. Be ready for snow anytime of the year. There were less tourists when I went which made for happier information center and gift shop folks. The salmon runs were near the end so it was harder to see any bears. Don't forget bugs!

5.  Face it- you'll always have the wrong lens on your camera. Have a point and shoot and your phone available. Keep them next to you at all times.

6.  Signs are not always there. There might be one sign directing you to a rest area or the second sign might be right at the turn. Just slow down.

7.  4wd or AWD vehicles are recommended. They come in handy in the construction zones.

8.  Never let the gas tank get below 1/2, really. I carried an extra 5 gallons just in case. I'm glad I did in a couple of cases. One time because the station wasn't obvious and my truck's gas tank was low. Since my gas mileage was pretty low I was quite concerned when it got below 1/2.

9.  Plan for an average of 55mph. There are lots of steep hills, curves, construction, and more things that slow you down.

10. Don't drive between dusk and dawn. If you do, you really raise your risk for a collision with wildlife.

11. Stop at the small funky, eclectic places. Talk to the people. Connections with others is an important part of the adventure.

12. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

13. Carry lots of music. I could only listen to my set of 6 CDs twice in a day. Radio stations are few and far between and limited in the type of music.

14. Don't forget to stop, look, and listen once in a while.

15. Check your tires! Often. Make sure your spare is good, too.

16. Don't expect to see wildlife. Be surprised.

17. Slow down for the frost heave warning signs and/or orange flags/cones. If you don't, well sometimes it's okay but many times it's not going to be pretty when you hit it.

18. Make sure your windshield wipers are new. So much rain and so many bugs.

19. Bring your own laundry soap if you don't want to run around looking for some and those will be full of perfume. And doing laundry can cost $8CDN for 1 load wash and dry. 

20. Showers- tough. I suppose you could go to an RV park and pay. I only stayed at one B.C. Provincial Park that had a shower and the Yukon and Alaska Parks didn't seem to have any. Be prepared for few showers if you don't have a shower in your RV and you don't stay in RV parks.

21. Review and read the parts of the Alaska Milepost BEFORE heading out on this big trip. I reviewed the various highways I would be driving. Then every night while on the trip I reviewed the next days target camp spot, gas stops, and other interesting stops I might have time for.

22. Have a target of 250-300 miles. Check the Milepost for camping spots (and gas) and then have a back up spot.

23. Wifi is rare. If you stay at an RV park you might only get 1 hour or you pay $5 for unlimited time except they turn it off at 9pm. And none of it is strong enough to download photos. 

24. Coffee shops- bring your own. The larger towns have Tim Horton's otherwise there aren't really espresso stands all over the place. Or stop in a restaurant and grab a cup of coffee or tea. Or bring your own.

25.  Bring a tennis ball. It will come in handy for the long driving days when you hold your neck wrong. You can drive with it behind your neck or lie on it to get the kink out. It works great!

26. I finally took my truck to the car wash and it's shiny. Expect to find many windshield flecks (slight chips) when you return home. I found 24 in my truck's! 

Day 16 Closer to Cassiar

The results of yesterdays 80 miles of Yukon Road

Badge of honor

289 miles today- Whitehorse Walmart to Downtown RV Park; much better. I’m back at the Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake. I really needed a shower and wanted to get some entries posted in the blog before I enter the real hinterlands down the Cassiar Highway! Unfortunately, I only get 2- ½ hour wifi sessions again so I’m posting these on the morning of the 17^th day so I can edit them when I’m awake.

Today started quite briskly in Whitehorse. Usually I get dressed in the morning and take Templeton out for a potty walk then return for breakfast and tea. Sometime during the night the trailer door popped open and since he had jumped off of the bed before I rolled out he decided to go on his own. We’re in a Walmart parking lot next to a busy road!! I jump outside in nightshirt and flannel pants and call to stop him. I finally convince him to come back when I walk to the truck and say let’s go for a ride. So scary. Damn door is curved and is a crappy design. My son Allen has spent a lot of time trying to get it to close properly which we thought was fixed. Unfortunately, the constant rattling of the Yukon roads are causing issues. Tonight it’s closed and bungee corded. Thank goodness we weren’t at Pine Lake- known for bears- because there was a bunch of dog food all over the floor (don’t ask)!

Templeton's new spot to travel. On top of the pile o'stuff behind and sort of between the truck seats.

Then after I posted my “badge of honor” muddy vehicle photos, Allen texted that one of my tires looked pretty low. All of the tires were 6 pounds under which may be the reason the 4wd wasn’t working quite right. I must have spent an hour literally driving in circles around Whitehorse trying to find air for the tires. All of the tire stores and automotive-type shops were closed- including Jiffy Lube. And the gas stations didn’t have air- well one did but I couldn’t get the trailer and truck into it. I finally stopped by the information center and they told me about one at the other end of town- been there twice now. Back I go and yay- they have air for my tire. The truck handled much better today. I didn’t get out of town until 12:30. Ugh. I really wanted to stop at a couple of museums but no time.

My drive was taken up listening to “Trucker” radio out of Ontario because I forgot to change out my CDs. I can only listen to the same ones over and over a couple of times. Trucker radio is country but not the new stuff that sounds like pop music. And they did interviews with various trucker people including a 22 year old woman who is a trucker. Different world.

Just another lovely river view

There wasn’t much Autumn color today. This section will be lovely a week or so from now. Like much of the trip the road is nearly always in the shadow of mythic mountains. So high above you that you are humbled by their magnificent size. I never get tired of being in their presence. I don’t know their names and really don’t feel a need to. I feel like I’m the size of a flea.

I went through an area called Carcross, short for caribou crossing. There used to be thousands of caribou in the area. Once the Alaska Highway was built the population dropped to a few hundred. The numbers are around 1,600 now. The highway cut through the migration path of the caribou, allowed for more killing of them, and loss of habitat from mining and logging. I have a lot of time to ponder such things and this highway is so much bigger than it seems. In 1942, in the name of security, the U.S. and Canada built a road through the wilderness with absolutely no regard for the people whose land it was nor for the wildlife that utilized the wilderness. This type of disregard for the First Nations/Native Americans is still occurring. Just look at the huge stand being taken in South Dakota. The tribes are standing up for their land and water because an oil pipeline is being shoved down their throats. How ridiculous. Greed has destroyed our planet, our water, our air, and so many people. When the hell do we stop? Maybe the South Dakota conflict will be the turning point to put the land, the wildlife, and the people first. Rant done.

Rainbow over the highway

Tomorrow I head a new way toward Prince George to save 130 miles but has so much beauty I hope to take a few days enjoying it. The Cassiar Highway offers Stewart B.C. with Hyder Alaska across the road. Hyder is the location of the Fish Creek bear platform where you can watch them fishing (google it and watch the videos). Also, farther south is Kitwanga, home of some of the oldest totem poles and the 'Ksan Historical Indian Village nearby. I have no idea where I’ll be camping except, hopefully, Camp Run-a-Muck RV park in Hyder tomorrow night. Maybe Kantishna Lake tonight. And somewhere near Kitwanga or along the Yellowhead Hwy 16. It's 2 days to home from Prince George.

See ya on the other side because I don’t know if wifi is available anywhere along the road.

Wildlife- American kestrels, red-tail hawk, magpies (I see them nearly every day), golden eagle, sharp-shinned hawk, and some sort of little bird that likes to sit in the middle of the road doing something (they have a slightly yellow breast).

Lesson #16 Give your dog treats whenever he gets in the truck to go for a ride, just in case of an emergency.

Day 15 Many Miles to Go

Moon Lake morning

409 miles today! Cantwell RV Park to Whitehorse Walmart. The most I’ve driven in a day since starting the journey and, I might add, too many miles. I ended up driving at dusk which is pretty tough in a landscape full of critters. Let me start at the beginning.

This morning was the coldest so far. I used the propane Mr. Heater briefly last night to take the chill off and this morning while making tea and breakfast. This was the first time on the trip I’ve seen Templeton shivering.

Kluane National Park

I overestimated my next camp site because I forgot I lost an hour when I left Alaska (they have their own time zone) and the 80+ miles of horrible road construction. Yukon road construction is NOT like Washington road construction. The road is torn up, washboards, potholes, and if it’s wet you might slip and slide if you go too fast. Sometimes there’s a pilot car, flagger, and/or a random traffic light on a box. My biggest problem is that when I put the truck in 4wd to gain better traction it won’t go back to 2wd. The little light flashes endlessly which meant driving 20 miles at 40mph tonight hoping it would shut off. It’s been doing this on the trip lately and I don’t know why.

80 miles of rough road

The drive past Kluane National Park was pretty much every superlative you can think of- pretty, beautiful, fantastic, spectacular- you get the point. The Autumn colors were at their peak. The area did not look like this a week or so ago. Wow, just wow. The yellows were fluorescent as were the pinks which brought out any greens still left. They were like stands of lights amongst the deep forest green of the spruces. There was also fresh snow on the tops of the mountains. Made for a lovely day with blue sky as the background.

Autumn colors with windshield bug 

I had planned to camp at Wolf Creek just outside of Whitehorse but then realized that was too far since I didn’t get on the road until 11am (Christmas and birthday shopping in Tok). My back up was Pine Lake just the other side of Haines Junction which is a good 2 hours or so from Whitehorse. Who knew that Canadians also celebrate Labour Day? For the first time I encountered a full campground. There were no others between Haines Junction and Whitehorse! And the Yukon doesn’t have a bunch of litter bin pull offs that one can slip into for the night, at least not in this section. I drove until 9:30pm to Whitehorse; yes to the Walmart parking lot. I knew I could find a free spot there and didn’t want to find out the Wolf Creek campground was full and then turn around.

View along the way

Part of the reason for stopping was the wildlife I was encountering on the road. First some elk cows were on the side of the road trying to cross. Fortunately, I was watching for just such an encounter and stopped to let them cross. The bull didn’t cross with them so I moved on in case I was intimidating him. Not far down the road, I saw one of the Yukon Territory’s wild horses munching on the side of the road. I stopped long enough for a couple of photos and moved on. It’s true, you never have the correct lens on the camera when you need it.

Fortunately for a red fox, as I was entering Whitehorse, my 4wd was stuck and I was only going 40 mph when it ran in front of me. It was pretty dark but I got a great look at it. Again, avoid driving at dusk. It explains so much of the roadkill and signs of roadkill I’ve been seeing along the road, plus the fact that people drive extremely fast.

Random stuff- there are Thai “restaurants” at every little stop in Alaska. I use the term restaurant loosely because most are a hut or a trailer. The pad thai I had at Glennallen was okay. There’s rarely Mexican or Chinese but Thai and American, everywhere.

In the Yukon Territory it’s the law that you drive with your lights on. Must be because of all the construction. LOL

Clouds and blue sky

Wildlife- elk, wild horse, ptarmigan, red fox, black-capped chickadees (while waiting for the pilot car), northern harrier (male), northern goshawk, merlin, gray jay, flicker, bald eagle, red-tail hawk, and a lovely family of Trumpeter swans- parents and 3 juveniles.

Lesson #15 Sometimes you have to push yourself way beyond your bounds- be cautious, be mindful, and be good to yourself.

Day 8 Of Mighty Muskeg and Massive Mountains

284 miles of muskeg and massive mountains can sure make one feel small. Snag Junction campground to Tazlina (Athabascan for "swift water") Rest Area today. The Alaska Range always seems to be nearby. Today I crossed into Alaska! The border crossing wasn’t too painful. No searches- yay! 

Yukon-Alaska border

It’s funny because I still find myself calculating meters when I see a mileage sign. Gas is half the price as Canada's and I don’t have to calculate that! I can’t believe I’m 8 days from home! What a long way I have traveled. 

Today was the first time I let my gas tank go to ¼ tank. Somehow I missed the “gas station” in Burwash Landing, Yukon. I talked to the Beaver Creek Information Center person- Gisele- and she agreed that they don’t make that one obvious. These stations are often just big tanks with a hose hanging off them and no sign. This is why I have 5 gallons of gas in the back of my truck. And why you always keep that tank at ½ for much of the trip.

I am worried about snow on the way home, especially the roads in the Yukon. They say it does snow at this time of year but generally doesn’t stay. Gisele mentioned the Alaska Ferry so I might check into that. We’ll see. Considering the issues I had with rain I don't think I could tow the trailer in the snow.

I sure got spoiled in B.C. and the Yukon. They had litter bin pull offs at regular intervals (ALL with bear proof garbage cans) and semi-regular rest areas with clean pit toilets. In addition, the rest areas in the Yukon all seemed to have interpretive signs. Alaska- yeah the rest area is a gravel pull off, that’s it. Not very travel friendly.


Spent some time at the 730,000 acre Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. It's designated an Important Bird Area, part of an international program to designate and protect habitat areas. Tetlin is critical for migrating sandhill cranes and nesting Trumpeter swans. I took a short walk down to a couple of old trapper cabins to stretch my legs. Amazing that people lived in these cabins so far from any civilization.

A view over Tetlin

The Tazlina Picnic Area along the Copper River is my stopping point tonight. It’s about 4 miles from the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Visitor Center. Nice big paved lot with clean pit toilets and a view of the river. The river has really undercut the banks. I can see why, as it is really rushing and full of gray silt. This is the river the famous salmon come from? Tough life.

Tazlina

Copper River in background

As I was driving through the vast mighty muskeg this morning I saw a strange shape on top of one of the stunted spruces. I pulled over to the side (no cars so not too worried about hanging out) and took a look with my binoculars. What to my surprise but a Northern hawk owl!! I grabbed the camera (couldn’t get to the 500mm lens) and took a bunch of photos. It was much too far away but I can crop a photo if it’s halfway decent. Later on down the road I spotted a large raptor fly over the road and land in the trees. As I got closer it flew up and with deep powerful fast wing beats headed over the forest. It was a gyrfalcon; there’s no mistaking that wing beat and the swept back falcon wings! I found our trumpeter swans hanging out up here. They nest on the ponds all over the place. I’ll be following them home soon. 

Northern hawk owl

In Tok (pronounced toke) I stopped at the information center to get more info and talk to the folks. Great stories! Apparently, two different RVers lost their dolly towing their vehicle on the roads up here and didn’t realize it until they pulled into Tok! One was on the Taylor Highway and the other was on the Alaska Highway. How the hell do you not notice?! I can attest to the ridiculous speeds these people drive over the frost heaves and dips. (So can my windshield. Once the bugs were cleaned off I discovered a bunch of tiny chips.) Hell, I hit a frost heave and the front end of the truck caught a tad bit of air. Fortunately, I was slowing down so the hitch and the trailer didn’t get hit quite as hard. Alaska doesn’t give any warning like the Yukon road folks do. This trip and especially these roads are not for the faint of heart. Can’t wait to turn around and do it all over again! Ugh!

Wildlife- Northern hawk owl, gyrfalcon, red squirrels, trumpeter swans, common loons, ducks, and gray jays. No moose.

Yet another lovely lake along the drive

Lesson #8 A long hard amazing wonderful journey can take you places you never dreamt of.

My Route and My Wild

My Route
The yellow lines are my planned routes- one way up and another way back. From Washington State, up the length of British Columbia, through a corner of the Yukon, all the way to Denali National Park. The route leads over 2,200 miles one way through near-wilderness from temperate forests to boreal forest to tundra. How much wilder can you get? 

Where will I stop? Who will I meet? How long will it take? What amazing sights will I see? What amazing experiences will I have? How will this solitary trip shift my spirit? So many exciting questions.

Wild Woman
I'll be off to the wilds for 3 weeks in about 3 weeks! I've been pondering that much time alone. I know what happens to me when I camp alone for many days. The wild woman emerges. I become one with the air, the water, the forest, the soil. I become the wolf, the bear, the raven, the salmon, the frog. My hair tangles and my scent becomes earth. I feel things not seen and hear the tiniest of sounds not heard. I can taste the air and smell the wild scents. My heart opens-I become feral. My spirit soars to new heights and my intuition strengthens. I feel stronger and wiser, wilder and bolder. I shift to me again.
Three weeks- the biggest question is will I civilize when I return?