Alaska road trip in july! Advice and recommendations needed.

My husband and I will be taking a roadtrip in July to Alaska. I here July is the best time to visit. We are starting from home (Minnesota) and driving through some of the Canadian National parks to get to Alaska. It's the last state we have left to visit. I guess my question is has anyone road tripped through Alaska? We are big on national park and realize most of the national parks are not accessible by our van. Has anyone driven the lonely highway to Alaska? We do a lot of camping, photography and sightseeing. Also we will be stopping at a couple of the Canadian national parks but not all of them due to to time so if anybody has been to these I'd love recommendations. We want to see as much as we can so any recommendations or tips are welcome!

Thanks a bunch!
-grace (30 years old)

Welcome back!

First thing you should do is order a copy of The Milepost. This is a "must have" for any road trip to Alaska.

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Originally Posted by graceplaster

I guess my question is has anyone road tripped through Alaska? We are big on national park and realize most of the national parks are not accessible by our van. Has anyone driven the lonely highway to Alaska?

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As alread mentioned, The Milepost is essential to make this trip really enjoyable. It will answer all your questions. The Alaska Highway is neither a lonely highway, nor is it the only route from which you can choose to get to Alaska. The Map which comes with The Milepost will show you all the various routes from which you can choose.

As I plan my fourth trip to AK, I am puzzled why you think your van may not be able to visit the NPs. My old van has coped with them, though the larger parks such as Denali are out of bounds of private vehicles. There is a bus which you take into those parks. I have never had any problems accessing the Canadian NPs with my van.

This question was raised only recently. You might like to check it.

How long do you have for this trip. A month really does not give you much time. July is a good time, but from my experience June, and the longest day is the best time. The season up there is May to September.

Lifey

I've done the Alaska Highway - in both directions.

You will definitely need a passport to go through Canada. If you haven't already applied and gotten one, now's the time.

Alaska does have a number of national parks that are pretty well inaccessible to anyone, because there are no roads. Denali National Park has a road that you can drive to mile 14, and after that, you'll need to be on either a national park bus or a commercial tour bus. We've done both, but the national park bus will take you out to the visitor center. Wrangell-St Elias has a 4-wheel drive road, but there are tours available for hire. Kenai Fjords National Park is mostly waterway accessible - one of the longer boat tours at Seward will get you into that one.

Almost impossible ones to access with your own private vehicle include Gates of the Arctic National Park, Lake Clark National Park and Katmai. These parks were made part of the system in order to preserve their wildness, rather than exploit them to visitors.

As far as Canadian parks are concerned - I've been to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper (AB) twice in my lifetime and loved them both times. Also went to Yoho National Park (BC) twice. The Icefields Parkway is breathtaking every time.

I will concur with the other comments - get The Milepost, it's a "must have" for the Alaska Highway and things within Alaska. Also, a month does not give you much time. We took 7 weeks and it still wasn't enough to see everything we wanted to see.


Donna