We crossed back into “The Lower 48” on Tuesday August 21st at Sumas Washington. I thought I would bore you with some statistics about our trip.

First concept to discuss is “…how far is it to Alaska?” We entered Canada on June 6th near Kettle Falls, Washington. We drove about 6,400 miles from portal to portal. Of that mileage 4,400 miles was in Canada. We only drove about 2,000 miles total in the state of Alaska.

Our trip took 75 days, of this time we spent 43 days in Alaska and 32 days in Canada. We heard from the locals that native lore tells us that when the fireweed has bloomed all the way to the top of the stem it is time to have all your firewood in and get ready to hunker down for the winter. We were starting to get close to that time but probably could have stretched the trip out another month if we desired.

Our group was two couples on the way up and three couples on the way back. As we traveled up the Alaska Highway we averaged 185 miles a day for 11 days and we traveled every day. We were pretty focused on getting there and didn’t spend much time looking around. If it wasn’t right on the route we didn’t see it. On the way back, however, we averaged 143 miles per day over 18 travel days and spent multiple days on several occasions seeing the sights. On the way back we stopped in Haines, Alaska, Stewart, BC/Hyder, Alaska and Prince Rupert, BC for a ferry trip to Ketchikan, Alaska as “walk-ons.”

The Alaska Highway, (originally called the Alcan,) officially starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, but that is a thousand miles north of the US/Canadian border. These roads were just fine. In fact the roads were fine until you reached the last 200 miles of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory. That segment of the highway was awful. When we returned we took the Cassier Highway, which is a little further west. We still had to pass through that bad stretch near the Alaskan border, but then we had to endure another 50 miles or so of gravel on the Cassier. This route was more scenic and we enjoyed it more because we were able to take our time and not drive long days.

The secrets to surviving The Alaska Highway are: Take it easy; Don’t try to go too far each day; and pull off frequently, to let the people who need to make 500 miles a day, get by you. We did meet those type people, and they were proud that they came all the way from Pennsylvania or Florida or wherever in only 10 days. They were the same ones who complained that the Alaska Highway is nothing but a corridor lined with trees.

Our advice is: If you only have three or four weeks to see Alaska, then take the Alaska Marine Highway. A rig the size of ours would cost $2,000 each way from Bellingham to Skagway. That is about double the cost of the fuel to get to the same place. Oh yes, you still get the fun of the Haines Junction to Tok Alaska road. The second option would be to walk on the ferry system and rent a small RV in Anchorage. They run about $250 a day in seven day lumps for a 20 footer.

The Alaska tourist industry is honed to extract money from the tourists and high season is June 15 to August 15. After they get done with your wallet the mosquitoes go after your blood. Campgrounds were pleasantly inexpensive along the route. Provincial Parks were $12 to $14 for dry camping, most water and electric campgrounds were between $20 and $30 per night. In the permafrost areas you have to make do with electric only with water available at a central spot. Alaska laws allow for dry camping alongside the highway as long as you can get fully off the pavement. That is not true in Canada.

If you go to Alaska be sure to get the “Mile Post,” by William S Morris III and “Traveler’s Guide to Alaskan Camping, by Mike and Terri Church. These books will help you find good campgrounds and help find the real Alaska sights. In my opinion the advertising supplements provided by the tourist information centers only direct you to those tourist activities that have paid the advertising fee and written their own glowing report.

To see a Google Map of our route to and from Alaska, click on this link.If it doesn’t load try copying it and pasting it into your browser address line.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ll=57.468589,-130.78125&spn=20.956464,59.765625&z=4&om=1&msid=103138135933846535681.0004386a2b8ee8408ddb1

Form Washington State we send our greetings and conclude our Alaskan Adventure.

Gary Judy, Sonja and Jack.
Link to view Google map.