Suggestions for Alaska - RV-Dreams Community Forum

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Suggestions for Alaska

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

1. The roads in AK are almost as good as the ones down here, but are narrower and mostly 2 lane. There is some construction and areas with frost heaves which require you to drive slower. On average you'll be lucky to do 40MPH. There are RV's ALL over the place.

2, There are generally plenty of campgrounds, but they can get crowded. a good book is the Church's guide.

3, It's so hard to make recommendation, the whole state is the most magnificent national park you can ever imagine. Between the Kenai and Denali you will be overwhelmed.

4. Extend the time if you can, 2 weeks is not enough. The area is huge. It's 500 miles from Homer on the Kenai to Denali.
Drive slow.
Aside form that, it's just like here, only 50 times better.

Enjoy! We can't wait to go back.

tumwatergal · RV-Dreams Family Member

Have fun in AK, it is fabulous!

Be sure to get the 2010 copy of The Milepost. It is the Bible for making a trip to Alaska. All of AK is worth seeing, but if time is on the short side be sure to get to the Kenai. Homer was one of our favorite spots in 2006 when we were there. Denali, Anchorage, Haines, and Valdez were also fantastic. Hope all goes well with your planning.

hogans1947 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just returned from 2 weeks in Alaska and just like every one says, it was incredible !! Even though we are full-timers we opted to not drive there. Three friends that have lived there for many years said the roads are dangerous because of the crazy drivers. Also no one wanted to drive and miss the scenery. Anyway, we cruised from Vancouver to Whittier, then spent a week traveling by train. Loved it !! No crowds and no mosquitoes the first 2 weeks of Sept. Weather was great. We loved time in Denali NP, Anchorage and Seward and all the scenery in between. Brenda

blijil · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just returned from Alaska and found the roads mostly better than advertised with a few exceptions. We spent about 2 1/2 months and wished for more time. Denali National Park is a mystery to us with a different report from every person you talk to. We saw very few animals but the mountains were gorgeous. Personally we think they drive so many busses on the roads that the wildlife has drawn back a bit but others say not. Camping in the park is nice for 3 or 4 days but outside is parking lot style RV parks. Kenai is pretty but we preferred the Russia River area especially the NF campground. Lots to do and see and beautiful. Depends on your druthers but we would rather stay in a couple of nice places over two weeks than spend the time all on the road. However the drive is beautiful and different no matter where you go.

We drove up through Canada on the eastern route and back down the Cassiar hiway and found Canada worth a much longer look than the 3 weeks we were there. In some ways we liked it better than Alaska. More animals and very beautiful.

Make reservations for only two weeks and Churches Alaska Camping guide will do the trick.
Take a big bag of money because everything is from 30 to 80% more expensive than in the lower 48 including gas and groceries as well as any tourist stuff and restaraunts.

Yes we will do it again and maybe again.

Have a great time!
Larry and Jacki

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

thank you all for your experience and suggestions. yes, i am preparing myself for sticker shock on meals, etc based on what i have seen in frommers. had not heard of 'the milepost' nor 'church's', will definitely check it out. coming from 'flatlands' south florida, anything mountanious is exhilarating for us especially when we have to hike it so i am quite sure we will enjoy this trip. you have also convinced me to make it a 14 day rather than 10 day trip.
thanks again..... rick

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

I will take a slightly different approach than some of the others. While our trip to Alaska was back in 2005 and it was a cruise/land tour I may have a few tips for your planning.

In regards to Denali, don't figure a lot of time there. Personal automobiles are limited as to how far into the park one can drive. The busses are an excellent way of seeing things without having to be the driver. While we were there, we saw Dall Sheep, Moose, Caribou, and my favorite, Grizzley bears. While on the bus we stopped within 30 to 40 feet of a female digging for a ground squirrel. We were instructed that if we got close to wildlife like that, we were to keep our heads, arms and hands within the bus. They don't want the wildlife to associate the busses with humans. The female Grizzley didn't mind that we were there at all. All she did was look up when our driver started the engine to move on.

As for research, go to photo websites and search for Alaskan pictures. One good source is a website called Pbase. On their "home page" there is a link to a search engine of the website. Type in whatever you may be interested in and see the pictures that others have taken. You will see thumbnails of those. Click on a thumbnail and you get a bigger picture. Click on the bigger picture and you will see the gallery that the photo is a part of.

If you see an area you like in the pictures, check on an Alaskan map for other places in the same area of Alaska and then search using those names as well. While I have no photos on any website, I took a total of 4000 photos on that cruise and land tour. Others in our party (there were six of us) took another 1000.

It is a beautiful country. And you are planning a trip as we would do if we went again. While we enjoyed the week on the cruise ship, if we went again, we would fly up and then rent either a car and use hotels or rent an RV.

Have fun.

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Friday 2nd of October 2009 07:58:23 PM

tigerlilly108 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Rick,
I was just looking at Linda and Howards photos of their trip to Alaska in 2004 (pre FT RVing) and thought perhaps you would enjoy seeing the beautiful places they visited.
Here is the webaddress:

http://rvdreams.smugmug.com/Howard-Lindas-Pre-Full-Timing/Alaska-Grand-Journey-July-2004/813682_GduRf#19092082_hLsNQ

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

It is difficult for full-timers to recommend only two weeks in Alaska when we take all summer and wish we had seen more. But we are no longer in vacation mode and take our time, including having lazy days.
The Church's book is Traveler's Guide to Alaskan Camping and is well worth it for the camper, listing many places to boondock for free and dump on top of campgrounds. They research it themselves and do not take advertising. They have updates on their website between editions.
The Milepost is a travel guide and here is the website, http://milepost.com/. We got ours at Barnes and Noble. The Milepost takes paid ads and charges businesses to get mentioned, so it is biased towards those who pay. It is still a very useful and has a lot of great information.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Saturday 3rd of October 2009 07:27:55 AM

Sterlingchuck · RV-Dreams Community Member

Just a quick input.

The Milepost is very good for Maps and points of interest. I would suggest that you might wish to visit Alaska RV Parks . It lists privately owned RV parks set-up by highway / area. There are several really nice parks that just do not advertise in the Milepost (and the MP doesn't list them without charging). Ads are very expensive and very hard to recoup at RV space rent fees.

Hope this helps

-- Edited by Sterlingchuck on Thursday 18th of February 2010 12:44:21 PM

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'd like to reinforce Bill's comments and say that the Church book is invaluable and the others are OK, but not at all necessary. The next time we go, we'll only buy the Church book.

MJ · RV-Dreams Community Member

Rick,
Gene and I were in Alaska this past summer in a 36' motorhome. We saw lots of rented motorhomes during our stay. I was disappointed with Denali as we did not get very close to the wild life but enjoyed the hikes near the entrance. We spent 3 days at the Teklanika River Campground at mile 29 inside the park. We purchased the Teklanika bus pass and could ride any bus further into the park that had a vacant seat and get off anywhere. You must stay 3 day and can not take drive your truck or MH while there.

My best memory is hiking from Exit Glacier up to the Harding Ice Fields. This is a 6 to 8 hour round trip hike and you climb 1000' per mile. It is 3.7 miles one way. It took us 6 hours to get to the top and 3 to get back down. It was the hardest thing I have ever done but the most exhilerating. We were 67 and 72 at the time. http://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/harding_icefield_trail.htm

No one has mentioned the Great Alaskan Tour Savers Book. http://www.toursaver.com/
It's $100. plus shipping but we saved over $500. after we paid for the book. We took a flightseeing tour over Mt. McKinley and it was a buy one get on free. That paid for the book right there. That was awesome!

We also hiked the Russian River Falls Trail to see a bear catching salmon. We were within 40' of the bear but were very quiet and showed no sign of approching. Still WAYYYYY too close. Got some great pictures. This trial is very easy and only 2.5 miles each way. Here is a youtube link and it is the same thing we saw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzxh5uZwxfk We were there on July 14, 2009 and the salmon were running. You may be too early for this.

The other outstanding thing was the Norman Lowell Gallery just south of Anchor Point on the Kenai Peninsula. I am not much for art galleries, but this was almost a spiritual experience. And it was Free!!! Here is his website. http://www.normanlowellgallery.net/#permanent Some of his paintings are 7' by 14' of the Alaskan scenery. Amazing!

Get ready for an awesome trip.

Marianne

-- Edited by MJ on Friday 19th of February 2010 09:06:45 PM

two travelers · RV-Dreams Family Member

We would like to do a Rental in Alaska next summer...I have heard it is very pricey but worth the money.. I would like to plan to be there at least 3 weeks if not 4... just so we can see as much as possible...hope you post more about your trip when you get home...patti

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Well we are booked and ready to go for this June and we can hardly wait. A long time friend of mine was so excited about the trip I planned that he did the same thing and we are going together in an RV caravan! He is my white water rafting buddy where we have rented RV's to make those kinds of excursions. We talk every week about our plans.
Here is what I found out about renting an RV. Alaska's bulk tourist season is only 90 days long, June-August although in May people do start to come and some stay as late as September. So the companies that cater to the tourists have to find a way to make money throughout the rest of the year. This means they give 'specials' if you book early.
So in my case, for the rental this June I booked last October at almost a 40% discount. My buddy that went through the same agency paid 20% more than me because he did not do it until a month or two later.
I booked with Great Alaskan Adventures. While I can not comment how everything will work out once we get there I can tell you they were fabulous on the phone. A 30 foot single slide motorhome with unlimited miles, insurance and a bunch of other stuff I got for 1600 dollars, not bad compared to the others and its guaranteed to be a 2009 or 2010 model.
Now let me add where you need to be careful in planning your trip, your plane reservations. I searched and searched and went with Delta because they had the best 'arrival' time into Anchorage, in time to pick up the RV, stock up, spend a night at the rental place (they allow that) then take off. I made the reservations months in advance like the RV. Well I got an email two weeks ago that the flight I was taking to Salt Lake City to connect to the flight to Anchorage, has been scrapped. They changed my departure flight to something that gets in 4 hours later. I panicked. I called the RV place to see what my options are, they said no problem, if no one is there when we arrive (they also pick you up at the airport for free), we can take a short taxi drive to their place, they will have the RV ready for us with our name on it and they told us where the keys would be so we can spend the night there and early the next morning do all the paperwork with them. So far thats good customer service!
I will definitely report when we get back, I am counting down the days towards June!

Gandalf · RV-Dreams Family Member

Good move! We rented Class C motorhomes twice from Great Alaskan and both times they were great. We have driven up several times also and prefer that but when you only have a couple of weeks fly/rent is a good option. Ask them about free Alaska state park privileges as they used to give them when we rented. Also plan on driving to a Fred Meyer store to stock up your fidge on the day after you arrive. Have a great advneture. You will no doubt be bitten by the Alaskan travel bug ( and I do not mean mosquitoes, but the urge to return!)