by GrumpyGrizzly » Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:58 am
I've done the ALCAN 7 times.. Three times North, 4 times South.
The 6th time I came down, I was driving a big UHaul truck pulling my Jeep on a trailer behind me. My son was riding and sharing the driving with me.
I drove from Anchorage all the way through Destruction Bay, used to be a VERY appropriately named down because the roads in that area were always being worked on..
I got to Destruction Bay and I couldn't believe it. It was smooth as glass. The Canadians had taken it on and finished it up finally. I was in total amazement.
No flats on that trip. On another trip I think I went through 4 or 5 tires but, they weren't high quality tires or anything special..
Here's a secret.. Keep an eye on the sides of the road as you're driving.. If you see little sticks with red flags on them, those are surveyors markers and from what I found, the more sticks with red flags in one spot, the worse the frost heave you're coming to is going to be.
Carry at least 2 spares, and then carry spares for those as well.
The last time we came down, I had 3 vehicles all pulling trailers. I lead with a 19' Class B rv, pulling a 19' travel trailer.. My wife followed with an 8x10 snow machine trailer with my GoldWing on it. Then my son followed with my S-10 pulling a Harbor Freight (Actually Fred Meyer) trailer. Basically I had 20 tires on the ground during that final move.. Not one flat.. The only problem we ran across was a herd of buffalo blocking the road and apparently we were interfering with their mating rituals.
One more tip.. If you want to see the wildlife, run late into the evening.. All the full timer RV'ers will be off the road setting up their campsites and the traffic won't be anywhere near that heavy. The full timers get up early and hit the road and quit early as well.
Get the Milepost.. I repeat... GET THE MILEPOST!! It will tell you everything you want to know about stops along the way, primitive versus full hook up campgrounds, attractions along the way, what's at each gas station and restaurant.. Just remember, it's published the year before and you might not find the gas station open..
OK, last tip.. When you're traveling North early in the year, NEVER stop at the first gas station in a town.. Likewise, if you're traveling South late in the year, never stop at the first station you come to in a town..
They know how far the previous gas stations are and they pretty much are banking on the fact that you're coming in pretty dry.. Why the difference in the time of year?? Most of the tourists are heading North early in the year and going back south before the snow falls again..