Alaska Bound - RV-Dreams Community Forum

wlc4544 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Alaska Bound

jagco · RV-Dreams Family Member

Don't have any answers to your question, but wanted to wish a great trip! Be safe and enjoy the beauty!

wlc4544 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Jeff and Georgia,

Thanks - this has been in the planning for a long time. We're looking forward to everything, but the side trip to Skagway and a cruise down the Lynn Canal to Juneau is high on the expectation list.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boy, you are packing a lot into a short time. A lot of miles and a lot to see. Campgrounds are pretty available and we didn't make too many reservations when we were up there in 08. It probably is best to call ahead on the day of arrival, because if you have to go somewhere else, the distances can be daunting. A good book to get is the Churches campground guide, very thorough.

Enjoy the trip!

igotjam · RV-Dreams Family Member

The only one I would do Is Edmonton (a week or 2 in advance) I would recommend Glowing Embers in Spruce Grove (west of Edmonton). Its not great but the best of a bad lot.

Jim01 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm with Fred on this one. You've got a lot of miles to cover and a short time to do it.

When we went up there, we took 12 weeks to go from the US / Canada border, go to basically the same places you are planing to go to, and get back down to the U.S. in Washington. And, we didn't feel we had enough time to see all the things we wanted to see.

Good luck on your trip. you should be able to get into most CGs without much trouble, but like Fred said, call ahead, just to make sure.

Jim

wlc4544 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks to all for the input. Looks like we'll call ahead and hope for the best. Again, thanks for the comments.

Sunseeker · RV-Dreams Community Member

I ditto Fred's recommendation of Mike & Terri Church's book, Traveler's Guide to Alaska Camping. It's available on Amazon. Campgrounds generally have space but we tend to call the day of arrival to confirm. When the salmon are running campground availability near fishing will be tight. (Salmon fishing season is different in different areas.) Note that some (many) campgrounds in both the Church's book and the current issue of Milepost are no longer open so you might want to call ahead just to confirm that the business still exisits. (This is true every year.)

I hope that you meant that you'll take 6-7 weeks TO Alaska and the same (or longer) on the return. It's along way from Georgia and there's a lot to see. We're on our 4th trip to Alaska right now. We're in Glenallen today after having already traveled from Seattle, visited Dawson City, Skagway, and spent 5 days in Valdez. We left Seattle May 9th and will cross back into the lower 48 near the end of September. Even that scheudle is tight. There is so much more to see.

To visit Skagway we recommend that you stay at Carcross instead of driving down into Skagway. That avoids crossing Customs with your rig both ways (and the hill into Skagway is "interesting" [extremely steep].

Enjoy!
Sunseeker

Jbbar · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm with Sunseeker leave your rig in Canada and miss out on customs and the "hill", it is a nice day trip down from Carcross or even Whitehorse. Either coming or going you should be sure to travel the Cassiar Highway from Watson Lake south to Kitwanga, the scenery is spectacular and the wildlife are plentiful. Make time for a day trip from Dease Lake to Telegraph Creek as that is a great drive and the pie at the Riversong Cafe in Telegraph Creek is to die for.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We took the combination bus/train trip from Whitehorse back and forth to Skagway that is sold at Pioneer RV Park. It was a great day trip.

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Boy you FT RV'ers are really spoiled biggrin

I wish I had that much time. We just back from Alaska too. Rented an RV for two weeks. From Anchorage we hit Coopers Landing, Seward, Talkeetna, Denali then back to Anchorage. You are right, one can easily spend the entire tourist season there and not scratch the surface. Good luck on your trip.

two travelers · RV-Dreams Family Member

Can I ask who you rented your RV from.. We want to do that in 2012 with our Grandsons..patti

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

Great Alaskan Holidays in Anchorage. They are in the web. A great savings tip, make the reservations in October-November time frame for a trip in the following year. You will get up to a 40% discount. The reason is that the tourist season is essentially over with, their RV rentals is shut down, but they still keep a skeleton crew and they need a steady flow of cashing still coming in. They will ask for a 500 dollar deposit towards the rental.
I placed the reservation last year in October, my buddy who also went up with his family went to the same place but did the reservation in November and the price had already started to go up.
Friendly staff, immaculate facilities, and what I liked the best is that the RV is not a driving billboard advertising the company. They only have a very small (12" by 12") sign in the back that is actually inconspicuous. It just has their name and their phone number.

Sunseeker · RV-Dreams Community Member

Someone we met who had rented an RV suggested that you price "outfitting" the rental by purchasing linens, etc at Walmart instead of renting from a rental company. It might be much less expensive. FYI- There are Costco and a Walmart stores located very conveniently in Anchorage.

rjenkins · RV-Dreams Family Member

I had called several RV renting companies and the only outfitting they provided was stuff like grills, extra lawn chairs, inverters, etc. You could get extra pillows and sheets if you wanted to but the linens all came in the price quoted for the RV. There is a Walmart down the street from this dealership.