Alaska Road Trip

Here's what I'm planning: fly into Prince George, British Columbia. Rent a car in Prince George. Drive to Dawson Creek where I'll take the Alaska Highway all the way to its terminus. Then down to Anchorage, then back east, then south on Highway 37 and the Trans-Canada Highway back to Prince George, from whence I will fly home. The length of this route is approximately 3800 miles. I will have thirteen days of driving time. I will be leaving in the last week of June.

Thoughts? Opinions? Advice? 300 miles per day isn't too much to ask, is it?

Kevin,

I only WISH I was an expert on that area! Under normal circumstances in the continental 48, 300 miles per day is an easy project. However, I don't know about the Alaskan Highway or the other roads you mention -- and there is the possibility that they could be slower going for a variety of reasons.

MS Streets and Trips shows that your route can be done in 73 hours at 52 mph average. I think this might be optimistic. But even if you can only average 35 miles per hour, the time is 108 hours -- meaning you could still get it done in 13 days. But I've never done it. Perhaps someone with actual experience will see your request and post a good answer for you -- thousands of people see this forum every day so you've got a good chance! Come on, all you bashful lurkers! Help us out! :) Bob

Made some inquiries at a travel agency today, and I'm not sure I can afford it. Car rentals from Prince George are very expensive when you pay by the kilometer. I could afford it from Seattle, though...would 4,953 miles be asking too much?

I think the best option for me in 2005 is to buy a cheap car, drive it to Anchorage, and sell it or give it away. I could spend $1800 on a car and still save money when you factor in the cost of the rental, the increased amount of money spent on gas (one-way from Sacramento is still 400 miles shorter than round-trip from Prince George) and the air fare from Anchorage, which also looks to be cheaper than a round-trip ticket from Sacto to P.G. I will do further research and, if it looks like I can pull this trip off this summer, will post further in this thread.

For whom it may concern (c'mon, people, post in this thread)--

I think I might have found a deal for a one-way car rental going SOUTHBOUND, from Anchorage to Seattle. It will cost me about a grand, I think. I will be investigating this and if there are no hidden catches like mileage charges, I could be making arrangements as soon as today. One way from Anchorage to Seattle is 2,648 miles per MS Streets and Trips, factoring in a detour north to Fairbanks so I can drive the entirety of the Alaska Highway. I think nine driving days should be sufficient.

I've been reluctant to mention it, because it sounds like you really want to DRIVE, but have you thought about including a segment of your trip on the Alaska State Ferry system? When I get up there, one way will probably be done via the ferries -- it's the "poor person's" way to cruise the Inside Passage!

Indeed I have given thought to the Marine Highway. But it seems very chancy to do within the two-week window I usually have for my vacations. That might be for another time, when I don't have any other plans but am content to simply fly up there and take the Marine Highway back.

But anyway, it's official: I have made arrangements to drive an Avis rental car from Anchorage to Seattle, departing 27 July and returning 7 August. With the drop-off fee waived the car will only cost me a grand. I am VERY excited.

That's a dream trip for sure! I'm glad you were able to get something arranged on it -- but I'm a little "green" about it right now! :) My guess is that 300 miles a day is probably a reasonable plan, so you should be OK on that aspect of it.

Hello, My name is Rian and I'm from the Netherlands.
My boyfriend and I want to do a roadtrip through the west of America. The following route: San Francisco; Reno; Twin Falls; Yellowstone NP; Salt lake City; Bryce Canyon; Grand Canyon; Las Vegas; LA.

We only have 10 days, because we want to visit family in Minnesota. (we want to start our trip on august 29th and want to arrive in MN on September 9th). Who can help find out, what best we can do? Book a trip in the Netherlands or in the states? Go by bus or by car? What does a ticket cost from LA to Minneapolis? And from Minneapolis to Amsterdam?

Rian,

If you saw my original post in response to your questions, please ignore it -- I misunderstood your plan so I have re-written my answer accordingly.

If you try to do this by bus, it will make it impossible because of the lack of direct routes in some cases, and scheduling difficulties. Your only option, in my opinion is a car rental. Because your start and stop points are Los Angeles and San Francisco, I think you might be able to get a car with no one-way drop charge (maybe!). This would save you some money. IF the car agency quotes a drop charge, you might consider starting AND ending in San Francisco (or LA) instead, if the driving costs to take the car back to the renting location would be less than the rental drop charge. Shop different companies though, because there will be large differences between them.

I don't have much experience with travel agencies for booking, so I cannot say whether you should book here or there. But a European agent who is experienced in travel in North America would be able to pull all the details together for you, if you are uncertain about doing it yourself, and maybe find ways to save you money that are not available to US citizens. That's certainly not a bad way to do it, and you will be less likely to make mistakes that could cost you time and money. Just my opinion!

Right now, a ticket from LA to Minneapolis is about $150 per person. Travelocity also reports the cheapest fare available TODAY for Septemeber 2005 is $1200 for Minneapolis to Amsterdam, but that is too far in advance for them to be reporting any discounted prices, so it may not be a realistic idea of what you'll actually pay. Usually, only a last minute traveler would pay that high a price. If you watch for fare sales, you should be able to get seats in the $600-$700 USD range, maybe less. You might also check fares for London, and then get something local from London to Amsterdam -- you can sometimes save money that way as well.

To cover your planned stops, you must drive about 4.3 hours each day. That's seemingly not much, but when you figure all the time you'll want to spend stopped at these places, it will work out to be pretty tight -- you will have to keep moving in order to get to it all. That's not the best way to do it -- you can spend many days at Yellowstone and still not see everything, same with Grand Canyon -- but if it is all you have, then I think you could do it. The total miles for the route are about 2382, driving time 43 hours.

Bob

Kevin - I have lived in Alaska 28 years and driven the Alaska Highway a dozen times at all times of year. I could write volumes about the adventures of driving in the North country but I'll limit this to just a few recommendations based on your flying into Anchorage and renting a car to take south to Seattle.

If you drive fairly long days from say 9am - 8pm,it will take you about 4 days. Of course that doesn't give you much time to stop, but trust me when I say that just the sheer beauty and magnificence of it all will blow you away even from behind the steering wheel.

Kevin - I have lived in Alaska 28 years and driven the Alaska Highway about a dozen times at all times of year. I could write volumes about the adventures of driving in the North country but I'll limit this to just a few recommendations based on your flying into Anchorage and renting a car to take south to Seattle.

If you drive fairly long days from say 9am - 8pm,it will take you about 4 days to drive straight from Anchorage to Seattle. Of course that doesn't give you much time to stop, but trust me when I say that just the sheer beauty and magnificence of it all will blow you away even from behind the steering wheel of your car. And don't forget that in July and early August we have almost 24 hours of daylight up here so you don't even notice what time it is.

Since you have 12 days for the trip, make the most of it. Start by getting a copy of The Milepost at any bookstore or online. It's truly the "bible of the north" and it's the Alaska Highway driver's best friend. It tells you mile by mile everything you need to know including where the sheep are typically on the road!

There are several places that are worthy of extra time along the way . I'd recommend starting off by going south of Anchorage to Seward or Whittier and take a glacier cruise (4 hours including lunch and amazing sights).Then spend a day in Anchorage - many cool things to do. Then head north and in about 6 hours you're at Denali National Park. Spend 1-2 days there. Then 3 hours on to Fairbanks. Spend a day exploring. Then south for about 2-3 hours to Delta Junction - that's actually the official start of the Alaska Highway - that's where the 0 mile marker will be. Continue on to Tok to overnight. There's a KOA-like Campground and a couple of motels.

Next day you drive into the Yukon Territory in Canada (be sure to stop and take a cool picture of both sides of the border. This could be a fairly relaxing and short day (4-5 hours)if you stop at Kluane Lake for the night, or rather long (9-10 hours) on to Haines Junction. From there some of the highlights will be Whitehorse, Watson Lake, the winding highway that goes back and forth between the Yukon Territory and British Columbia about half a dozen times, Liard Hot Springs, to just name a few.

If you take your time, allow for road construction, and don't get impatient with all the motorhomes, you should have a most enjoyable adventure and spending 5 days in Alaska and 7 days on the highway will put you back in Seattle with a pile of memories and right on time.

Have fun!

I should say that actually I have 10 days of driving time, not 12. The first day of my vacation is devoted to flying to Anchorage and the last is flying home, with ten days driving in the middle.

I have already ordered a copy of "The Milepost", which, according to their website, will be delivered in March. I also have a very good book called "Scenic Driving: Alaska and the Yukon", which is most informative.

Am not sure how much time I'll be lingering in the places you suggest. The drive to Seward sounds most inviting, but that would be 250 miles round trip and it would probably eat up a full day. I will probably do it, though. I don't want to have to hurry at the end but neither do I want to end up somewhere in southern British Columbia with two full days to kill before my flight home.

Here's a question for you: what if, instead of going straight along the Alaska Highway, I decided to take the Taylor Highway and Top of the World Highway through Chicken and Dawson City? Would that be better?

CB, thanks for your great post! We've been hoping someone with local knowledge and experience would jump in.
Bob

300 Miles a day? That a little low (this coming from someone who has no problems spending 16 hours on the road!).
Taking the Alaska Highway is a nice idea. Here is an idea for an extention to the route that will prove to be both a excellent source of views and a nice drive.
Rather than fighting the Metro Vancouver traffic, perhaps you should take BC hwy 97 through Prince George and Kamloops to 97A and Kelowna BC. There, you can take your time traveling through The Okanogan of British Columbia and Washington State. Continue on BC 97 south to the border crossing at Oroville, Washington. This now becomes US Route 97, and continues south through Washington State. Take 97 south further to Wenatchee, Washington (the apple capital of the world). (you will notice that athough the rumers are that Washington State is all rain and pine trees, there is a desert in Washington). Then, turn west on US 2 over Stevens Pass thorugh Cashmere, Leavenworth, Skykomish, Index, Sultan, and eventuall into the Seattle Puget sound area. Definately worth the trip!

Brad M.
<i>(The AAA guy)</i>

Kevin,
yes - the Taylor Highway is great fun and to say you've been to Chicken is certainly a conversation starter. However, it does take a chunk of time - plan on 2 days from Tok to Whitehorse at the least via that route. The natural stop is Dawson City where you can go to Diamond Tooth Gertie's and cross the Yukon River.

Whichever way you go you're sure to enjoy it.

Good luck!

I think I will do if I can--go through Chicken and Dawson City, that is. Avis might not allow it, though. I know Hertz doesn't allow their rental cars to be driven on the Taylor or Top of the World Highways. Then again, what Avis doesn't know won't hurt them.

The drive to Seward will take all day for two reasons: The motorhomes are pretty thick this time of year and from experience aren't particularily courteous (there are exceptions - bless them!) enough to use the pull-outs. The other reason, if you make the trip I would highly recommend taking at least the bay tour on one of the tour boats. If you stay the evening take advantage of the great B&Bs in the area and check out the Alaskan Sealife Center (my dad works there)! Combined that will make for a long day, but you can make it back to Anchorage in a day. Renown tours had a deal last year where they would pick you up in Anchorage and do the driving and have you back by the early(ish) evening. There is also the railroad, it offers an amazing way to see the sights and avoid the traffic. If you decide to drive, please be patient, there are a lot of people from around the world with a vast array of driving "skills" all on a relatively (in places) narrow road. Each year there are four or five big wrecks and it is sad to us who live here that someone's vacation, even life has been ruined during their trip here. My other words of advice are: Anchorage is a "big" city with a nice view, dont stay there for long if you want to see the real Alaska, get to the small towns, walk to docks and talk to the locals at the small diners or bars, make sure to climb at least one hill/mountain and take in the wonderfully clean air and beautiful view. Good luck and have a great time on your Alaskan adventure! CT

So, tell me DiverDown--would you drive the Alcan the whole way, or would you detour through Chicken and Dawson City? Take the Top of the World Highway and Taylor Highway?