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Alaska trip in a cab-over-camper

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Griz ,there are librarys in ever little town in B. C,Yukon and Alaska all have computers you can use. Some times you have to wait a few min's to get one and some charge a small fee. Not to many cell towers lots of places yet.



Its kinda fun to meet folks at the small town Library,and visit---lots of very interesting people up there.



Yeah those falls are somthing else and Prince William Sound is one of the prettiest places up there.



We are going again June of 07, three couples of us and our kids are going to join us for the Alaska part in Whitehorse or Fairbanks.
 
Yeah ,you can rent little 20' class Cs at major cities in Alaska or BC they have the nessicities but nothing more---see lots of them on the road ,but I can't remember the name. caw
 
ECappleman said:
just a question... ... .



Can you rent a mini-motorhome in Alaska?

I would like to rv/camp but not pull/drive from Houston.





Get a copy of the Alaska magazine. It's loaded with ads about RV for rent that have everything you need in them, except food. I believe that the Milepost also has ads for RV rental. Another source is the Alaska Chamber of Commeres.
 
Grizzly



You have received alot of great information. I think at this point you should be convinced the screening of the front of your nice looking rig is unnecessary. On my trip I suffered only one stone chip, and I got it off a school bus about 10m from home. A gravel road is a gravel no matter if it's in New Mexico or Alaska, and you probably don't screen your truck at home.



I spent 9 weeks last summer in Alaska/Yukon/BC. My camper is smaller than yours and I carry it on a 2500 reg cab. I had timbrens installed on the back to eliminate the side roll. Everything worked like a charm.

May I suggest you pay close attention to your tires. In particular there overall condition, and the air pressure. Make sure each tire has the proper valves (high pressure).

I blew one valve completly out of a front tire, thankfully I had just pulled into a campground when it happened. DC has been letting some get out of the factory with standard pressure valves. There was a guy camped beside me in Dawson City who had the same thing happen to him (same truck and tires). I had all the valves replaced in my tires at Yukon Tire in Whitehorse. These are the guys that made me aware of the valve issue.

Next problem I had was grime and bugs on the truck/camper front. It took me all fall to get it washed off. But you shouldn't have that problem because I swear I hit and killed every bug up there.



Places I suggest you visit: Hyder Alaska, specifically the "Salmon Glacier", just keep going up the road past Fish Creek where you watch for bears and salmon. There are no signs or advertisments, but this is undoubtedly some of the best Glacier scenery you will see anywhere in the west that you can drive to. It is "spectacular" to say the least. The best campground there is the municipal one in Stewart.

The "Dempster Highway", heads up to Inuvik and cuts off to the north about 25miles before Dawson City. The first 100 miles has the best scenery so I would suggest turning around at that point, unless your into several more hundred miles of gravel road and your truck and camper so dirty you will not know what colour it is. The road is in excellent condition, and the first 100m is deffinately worth the effort with plenty of little places to get camped after about 75m.

The "Top of the World Highway" out of Dawson City into Alaska, an neat interesting drive, can be very dusty in dry weather as it is all gravel. Watch out for all the old guys driving motor coachs as they do not know the width of there vehicles. They therefore love to drive down the centre of the road. Which can leave you the ditch or in midair depending on the terrain



Valdez Alaska: beautiful place, go past all the camp grounds down town and head out on the Allison Spit to that campground. You will be camped right on the waters edge. I was catching pink salmon right out behind my camper.

The fishing here is very good, and I took a trip out to the Columbia glacier and kayaked with the ice burgs for a day trip, thats very awsome.



Have a great trip, your truck will deffinately not be as shiny when you return as it is now. But then you didn't buy it to sit and admire. You will have had a great time and seen country God probably has seen in a while either.

Pete
 
Mr. Grizzly



Your very lucky to have such an attractive wife to accompany you and drive the Dodge. I did my trip alone and would have loved somebody to share the experiece with.

Some other info perhaps you may find useful: The "Dempster Highway" like I said the first 100m which includes Tombstone Park has the best scenery. The camp ground at Tombstone can be crowded with German tourists and is located in a hollow. Go farther north about 20 to 30 miles until a river ( Blackstone) is consistantly on the right side of the road. Take any of the little gravel roads/trails down along the river and camp there. Very peaceful and the grayling fishing is very good. The weather the end of July was 31' F, a little chilly especially when your chest waders leak!! If you want to cross the artic circle head on northward to Fort McPherson or Inuvik. The road is in good shape and well maintained, but be prepared to get the truck fillthy. Eagle Plains,McPherson and Inuvik all have food and fuel. The temps in August will be cool to cold, expect intermitant snow.



Haines Jct. to Haines to Skagway: Hwy #3 from Haines Jct to Haines Alaska is very nice. Haines Alaska is lovely when it's not raining. They make good micro brewed beer there as well. The pub down by the water gets my vote. When you are heading down the main drag to the water go left out of town along the water, about a mile or so up is a very nice camp ground (newer) on the left built into the hill. Owned and operated by a single lady. Sorry I can not remember the name. A couple miles down past her place the river has a fish trap. The sockeye should be running when your there (August). And the grizzly's come down there in the evening to entertain the tourists. I think the bears draw straws to see who comes down each nite to get there picture taken and perform.

Take the ferry from Haines to Skagway (have prior reservations). The ride takes 1hr, the whole ordeal of getting on and off the boat takes most of the day. Skagway is a cruise ship meca. If your wife is a shopper your visa card may be badly abused here!! Best to head out towards Carcross. About 20miles before the Yukon border there will be a very nice lake (long and big)on the right. There are a few great camping spots along the lake. You have to be a little adventuresome to get the best ones, but even the obvious ones are very scenic, and free!! You should be able to leave Haines in the morning by ferry, shop in Skagway for several hrs. and be camped along the lake by 7:30 at night.

Atlin Lake: From Carcross take Hwy #8 east through Tagish to Hwy1 at that jct a gravel road heads south about 80 miles or so into Atlin. Very nice scenery, worth the trip. Roads in great shape, with lots of spots to camp. Food and fuel are no problem in Atlin.

If you are wanting a custom made knife of any description: " Larry Durrand" in Tagish Yukon makes some of the best guality and gorgeous knives I've seen. Ask at the gas station in Tagish on how to get to his place. He is very friendly and receptive. I stopped in and ordered a knife from him and picked it up on the return side about 3 weeks later.



Bella Coola or Prince Rupert BC: I do not know what your return route may be but if you exit the Yukon down Hwy#37 down past Hyder/Stewart. You can take the ferry from Prince Rupert down the coast to Port Hardy on the North end of Vancover Island. You MUST have reservations made at least 6 weeks in advance for the date you wish. l didn't, as I do not like to travel on a strict time schedule. So I couldn't get on. So I went to plan "B". I drove to Williams Lake BC and then west back out to the coast to Bella Coola and caught a ferry down to Port Hardy from there. ( It is advisable to also make reservations, I made mine 1 week prior with no problems) Well worth the effort. The hill (road) heading down out of the coast mtns into the Bella Coola valley is one you will tell your grand kids about!! Bella Coola has not yet been ruined by over tourisum, but it will be. I noticed a great change since I was last there 10 yrs ago, to last summer. The salmon fishing is usually decent, the bears are plentyful and there's hiking trials and great scenery. Very quaint and unsploiled. There are several very good camp grounds. Some private others provincial. The provincial ones seem to be suffering from bear problems as where I usually like to camp was closed due to Yogi and his buddies. The drive from Williams Lake to Bella Coola and all the experiences, you will greatly enjoy. Food and fuel was plentiful all along the route. Stop at Williams Lake and get forest service maps form the touisum office. They are loaded with little roads and provincial camp spots you will never find on your own.

The inland passage ferry ride to Port Hardy is the icing on the cake. Vancover Island is well worth it and a story on it's own!!

Well I see I have written you a small novel, so I should perhaps give it a rest. Anything else I may be of information on please ask. Pete
 
Thank you Mr. Goat, Pete. There is a lot of great information in your two posts. My wife and I read them last night and copied them for good reference while in Alaska. At my wife's request I removed her picture. I thought it was a pretty good one, but she said that she didn't want her picture plastered all over the internet. As I reread your posts I will have a ton of questions of places we are interested in. I thought of sending you a PM, but for the benefit of everyone else interested in going to Alaska, I'll just post them. :)
 
Anyone ever get out into Kodiak? Can one take a truck and camper on the Marine Ferry from the Spit at Homer? If they do take a truck and camper, what is the fee?
 
Grizzly said:
Anyone ever get out into Kodiak? Can one take a truck and camper on the Marine Ferry from the Spit at Homer? If they do take a truck and camper, what is the fee?



Yes. Yes. See the Alaska Marine Highway System reservations & schedules web site at:



http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/



Regards, DBF
 
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Wow, what great info. Mr. Goat is very thorough. I went in 1981 in a '81 4X4 Toyota P. U. with a fiberglass shell and I want to go back. The only thing I can add is don't miss Moraine Lake in Banff.
 
Thank you for the nice compliment Mr. Edmondson. I kept a diary on this past trip but not on some of the particulars of camp ground names etc. or I could have been a little more helpful. I just checked it to see if I could give Mr. Grizzly any further tidbits on what I've said thus far.

I can add I travelled a total of 11734. 9 miles and burnt $2811. worth of diesel at . 24 cents per mile. Except for bad tire valves the Dodge worked like a charm and never missed a beat. I had the camper on the truck for 11 weeks in total so the Cummins got some exercise. The engine has ran better and the fuel economy did improve a little as a result of this last trip. I think finally she is broke in. It has 68K at present.

The Cummins operated best with the camper on at 1800- 2000 rpm. Anything over that and she had a sweet tooth for more diesel. Fuel milage varied upon conditions including quality of fuel, the over head usually read read in the 15. 5 to 16. 5 range. Remember the overhead calculates in American gallons. The tank holds approx. 28 imperial gallons.

I never had a problem with bad fuel and I bought fuel in some dingy looking spots. I did find that some tanks of fuel would not give any sort of fuel milage no matter what you did, so I just chaulked it up to poor quality. I had two spare fuel filters under the seat which I never needed. Availability of diesel was absolutly no problem as any place that had gas had diesel. Diesel vehicles are very popular in the north. The price of fuel in the north is more expensive than what it is in the south. Accept it and get over it!! You will be in places and situations where you need fuel, period. You are in no position shop around or ***** or haggle price which I witnessed some guys trying to do. Just fill up the tank pay the nice man and get on with having a great day.

My stratedgy was to burn no more than 1/4 of a tank before I stopped for more. It did two things. First off it gave me 3/4 of a tank to play with if I had to. Next it got me out of the truck every few hours to look around and talk to somebody. It kept me alert as I was travelling alone. Trust me you can meet some interesting characters in these small community stations and there not necessarily the folks who live there.

Some of these little places specialize in making fresh cinamon buns. There's a little place about a days drive north of Grands Prairie Alberta ( I'am sure the lady has made her first million selling them) and another a couple hrs north of Whitehorse. (Braebourne Lake I think) The ones north of Whithorse are about 8" in diameter. These are NOT diabetic or diet buns, a sugar rush you will get.

Well I should be off as it is getting late and I just might have to go skiing in the morning.
 
Mr. Goat, all your tidbits are great I've made copies of all your post to take with us. I made a copy of all the thread because there is a lot of good information here. I had similar experience with my 95 Cummins on my last Alaska trip. My mileage wasn't as good because I was pulling a 29' HR 5er. I like your idea of toping the fuel every 1/4 tank. Last trip I filled up at 1/2 tank, but I read ahead on the Milepost for diesel availability. Your post are great, keep em coming.



DBF, Thank you for the link. I got on the web site, but so far I can't find anything about Kodiak. I'll keep looking and maybe find other web sites.
 
Mr Grizzly

Since you have been to Alaska in 95 your knowlwedge of the country may be greater than mine, especially Alaska it self. So I will stick to the finer tidbits which I'am starting to recall.

WHITEHORSE: There are many campgrounds around the area. The one I stayed at was High Country RV. You will be approaching Whitehorse from the south east on Hwy #1. The first entrance off into Whitehorse is by Robert Simpson Way to the right. Turn left at this point instead and you will be in the High Country Campground. It is not much on atmosphere ( gravel with poplar trees) and the owner is about as friendly as a bear with a chapped bottom. But the place is very neat, orderly, and has all the amenities, laundry, internet, pumpout, etc. , is meticulously clean (washroom/showers) and is a reasonable cost, about $26 Can. with taxes per nite. You got water/sewer and electricity with that price. And when you want to go into town you go out the driveway across the hwy, down Robert Simpson Way, go left at the traffic circle onto Fourth Ave to Main Street, turn right, go 60ft, turn right into a parking spot and you should be pretty much in front of a coffee/internet bar. The place is big, modern and has good coffe and baked goods. And theres a great sporting goods, tackle/gun shop next to it. You are now in downtown Whitehorse and only 5min from the camp ground. I went there every morning while in Whitehorse.

Whitehorse is the capital and shopping meca of the Yukon (even has a Walmart) and has everything you will need. Like chest waders that don't leak and high pressure valves for your tires.

If your in town in August you will see alot of your countymen in town dressed to the nines in camoflage, either returning from or heading out to hunt something with antlers or horns on it. These guys are are paying huge dollars to do this. Too rich for my blood, I'am limited to deer and turkeys in my back yard.

A local attraction that I highly recommend you visit is Frank Turners dog mushing kennel ( Muktuk Kennels) just about 1/2 north out of Whithorse from the camp ground. Frank has run in the Yukon Guest ( Canada's Iditerod) dog sled race for the past 20 yrs. He is one of the most repected dog mushers in the Alaska /Yukon area. He runs tours of his operation most afternoons starting at 1pm. The tour lasts all afternoon is very educational, fun (you get to take the dogs for a walk) , and fascinating. Frank and his wife are very friendly and welcoming. And he tells interesting tales of the north. She serves homebaked goodies to you in the kitchen while Frank is narating one of his films. Pick up any tourist brochure on Whitehorse and the details of how to get to he Turners will be inside. This is well worth the time.



Skagway to Carcross:The Big Lake I mentioned previously to camp at between Skagway and Carcross is TITSHI Lake, finding the few camping spots are easy and obvious. Carcross is an old and interesting little town. The general store is so old it probably sold the wood to Noah to build the Arc. It is deffinately worth a little 1/2 visit as it has a lot of very old and interesting goods inside. They sell moose antlers with scenes carved in them. Beautiful work, but real pricy!!!

Skagway: The old railway line between skagway and White Pass looks like a intesting jaunt. Unfortunately with Skagway being a cruise ship port it is inundated with folks off those boats. If there are no boats in it may be a consideration. There were four boats when I was there so I had a few beers in the house of Ill Repute that is now a restraunt/bar, ( excellant locally brewed dark ale) passed on the tour of the upstairs attractions. Did a little brousing of the way over priced local merchandise and headed for Titshi Lake and a camp fire.



Haines Jct Yukon to Haines Alaska: Stock up on diesel fuel and potato chips in Haines Jct. Be careful when pulling up in front of the general store that metal guard rail out front is just the right height to dent your bumper and knock off your licience plate bracket. ( trust me I have some experience here)

Do NOT buy any fresh fruit (citrus) as the officious US customs folks at Haines will only confiscate them later in the afternoon.

The drive to Haines is very nice you go through alot of varied terrian, mountainous at times. You will come down into Beasent Camp and US customs. Doesn't seem to matter where you hail from everybody gets the third degree. One chap on the passenger side with his hand on his side arm, the other at your door playing three sets of 20 questions. Polite and curteous but very serious. Heard the same story as mine from several folks so be prepared. As a contrast when you get down to Hyder there is no US customs at the border apparently it is the only unprotected US border crossing in existance. The locals tell me there never was Canadian one either until 9-11 and then for some reason Ottawa decided in there infinite wisdom to put in a customs station. Purely ridiculous. When you see the whole Stewart/Hyder situation yo will see what I mean.

You still have about a 40 mile jaunt from the customs station to Haines, along the way you will be following the waters edge for the last 20 miles or so. This area has alot of bald eagles sitting around watching for lunch to appear. Apparently in the fall the birds gather here in great numbers and is one of the premier spots to view them. I was there in late July and there was quite a few sitting around.

Well I should be off as I'am forced to go skiing again in the morning. Pete
 
Mr. Goat. Pete, that was very interesting about Whitehorse. I sure liked that area when I was there in 95. They had a Chinese restaurant, which had some of the best chinese food I had ever had. We will stay at the High Country RV you mentioned and go to some of the places you talked about.

Never been to Skagway and Haines nor Juneau, but we intend to on this trip. Do you take the ferry to Juneau at Skagway or Haines? The ferry will take on my truck and camper? Where do you recommend staying in Juneau and what are some good attractions there?

Carcross sounds very interesting. They probably have a lot of antiques, which is my big downfall.

Hyder on the way back is a must as we want to see grizzlies fishing for salmon in the river, so we will spend a couple of days there. Anything else to do or see in Hyder? Thanks again Pete.
 
Grizzly said:
Do you take the ferry to Juneau at Skagway or Haines? The ferry will take on my truck and camper? Where do you recommend staying in Juneau and what are some good attractions there?

Carcross sounds very interesting. They probably have a lot of antiques, which is my big downfall.

Hyder on the way back is a must as we want to see grizzlies fishing for salmon in the river, so we will spend a couple of days there. Anything else to do or see in Hyder? Thanks again Pete.



I would leave my camper in Haines and ride the Fjordland catamaran to Juneau, stay overnight in a hotel & return on Fjordland the next day. Twenty-four hours of Juneau is enough for me. Catamaran office is upstairs over the bar at the foot of the main drag. Juneau is another place overpopulated with cruise ships.



Do what you want to do in Whitehorse on the way up. On the way back, take the ferry from Haines to Skagway (1 hour ferry trip) and avoid 300+ miles of driving. If you can, arrange to be in Skagway on Saturday; no cruise ships are in that day and the whole town relaxes. That's also the day of the steam train ride up over White Pass, a great ride. Go look at the ghost town of Dyea, Skagway's rival during the gold rush, now a part of a national park.



Then you can leave Skagway going uphill to Carcross; stop & look around for a few minutes. Then take the short-cut Tagish cut-off (Hwy 8) straight east to Tagish and the Alaska highway - you can skip Whitehorse again with this shortcut. From the junction of Hwy 8 and Hwy 1, you can go south on Hwy 7 to Atlin, BC, a picturesque little town from the gold years. Sixty miles on a good gravel road. There's a restaurant and a small campground there, too.



Have fun, DBF
 
Mr. Grizzly



I never got down to Juneau so I have no knowledge on the sites there. I can tell you the car ferry swallows up buses and tractor trailers, so Dodge's with campers were small potato's. The ferry I boarded at Haines had left Juneau very early that morning and picked all us folks up at Haines on the way to Skagway. Now the ferry is a side loader. So it is not easy to get vehicles on and off. But the Alaska ferry folks do a superb job in putting the sardines in and out of the can so to speak. The unfortunate part is as DBF pointed out the ride from Haines to Skagway only takes 1 hr. But it takes all day do to the wait in line and load and unload procedure. I was 1 hr getting off the boat in Skagway after we hit the dock. After all that I was due for a beer in the reformed house of Ill Repute!!!

DBF probably has a good point in taking the catamaran from Haines down to Juneau. But you may want to do some research to see if it's worth paying to ferry the truck down there. The Alaska ferry web site can probably give you the scoop on the times and routes

I worked with a Gal who has relatives in Juneau, she's there every year visiting, I'll ask her what the low down is on Juneau for you. She will know all sorts of tidbits.

Carcross is not big the only store loaded full of antiques was the old general store I spoke of. But if you enjoy seeing a genuine old historic store this is worth a little time.

Forced to skiing again in the morning so I should be off. Pete
 
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