Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Tips for driving the Alcan

I think I'm in the line behind the motorhome........I dread the upcoming trip to Seward as the clusterfumble around turnagain Arm is incredible.
Hopefully there aren't any belugas nor dall sheep causing further pile ups.

I feel your pain!

thats more than five....

I'm sure I've said it a thousand times... 86 was the first time I heard my mother utter the words....

Around a corner and over a hill somewhere between Eagle River and Glennallen....

And out of the blue at 55 or so years old she says "GREAT, another MF motor home" Dad and I almost ran off the road laughing.

11 counting me. Probably others behind me.

Well the fastest vehicles on the road are the motor homes. At least, they are always in the front of the line. Did you ever notice that the C-N-D AYH businesses like the Master Card better than a Visa. Do let your card company know what you are up to. Use your card as much as you can for the exchange rate. today, the Canadian dollar was worth $0.755 to the American dollar. Before you turn on to the Cassiar, fill your tank. The gas stations can be far apart and expensive. It's ,a twisted roller coaster at the North end but. Pretty . We went in March and there were a lot of Caribou in the trail.
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There were sheep today...

We made vit from Fairbanks Ok in March of 1956 in our Family 1954 Chev. wagon. No troubles, but muddy and frozen roads. In 1980 we came back from Anchorage in a borrowed Travco motor home the first week of June that drove sideways down the road. Not much trouble for the old goat. Wiper blades fell of with the first rain. Flat on an inside dual in Whitehorse, broke a bolt in the alternator putting on a new spare belt. Use a 2X4 to wedge the alternator to tighten the belt until we stopped in Ft St John. Grouchy old man said he would fix it, but said leave and get out of his way. I guess he screwed the alternator housing up trying to drill out the broken bolt and had to put another housing on it. I asked how much and he said $20. I gave him $50. All was good until going across Raton Pass at midnight. The coach quit and I was having battery problems. Turned the lights out and you couldn't drive a needle up my A$$ as it quit in the left lane. Lifted the lid on the motor and saw instantly that the manual choke had vibrated closed. Opened it up and got the shift over the pass. Being an old Lady with all the shaking and rattling our 3 Sons and a Buddy's Son ea. had a Phillips screwdriver to continually retighten the cabinet screws.
Being a lot younger than I am now, we only remembered the good parts and we had a lot of them.

Butch, when you crossed Raton Pass - you were just a few miles from our ranch, and even me!

Do I really need a permit to take firewood for camping/personal use from Alaska to Yukon Territory, British Columbia & Alberta? I don't believe that I can bring firewood for personal use from Canada to MT/USA, not sure about Canada though.

I believe that we're driving from Anchorage, down the Cassiar, over to Banff, AB and then from Banff to ID and Spokane. I'm being dropped off in Walla Walla or Tri Cities, WA.

I know that place...

cant tell if you can even cross the border with wood but why bother to have to carry weight when wood is available there ... we have in Yukon some wood to burn for you ...

Yep. I'll bet!

I didn't want to have to buy wood, since I have so much. However, that's likely what I'll do.

Cash works but the more remote you are you are not going to get current exchange rate , easy to get dinged that way. Some credit and debit cards charge you additional charges also check before you go. And make sure your insurance and towing will be covered in Canada.

Freight ain't free! And the extra wear and tear the extra weight causes may result in a breakdown costing orders of magnitude more than a little bundle of firewood...

Firewood at Yukon Territories campgrounds was free. You'll need a way to split it, but it's avail in bins at the campgrounds. Those campgrounds are a bargain too at only $12 Canadian!

Farther south in BC, I did pay for some firewood, but it was reasonable. And split, and even delivered to the campsite!

Guy

In 1952, my father and 2 friends drove from PA to Whitehorse for a 30 day hunt with the late Alex Van Bibber who lived in
Champain YT.
The 30 day hunt was $50 per day per hunter, with each hunter having his own guide.
At that time the entire highway was dirt, and still having some very crude bridges over streams.
The one guy was a Chevy salesman, and they took a new 52 Chevy station wagon with 3 spare tires.
They only ruined one tire, and the only car damage was a broken windshield and some paint damage on the hood.
Scrapers worked the road continuously to keep it usuable.

WHAT???? $12/night to camp at the Yukon campgrounds and free firewood? That's insane. I was planning on $25-40/night for camping and I'm talking about a regular campground, not a full utility hook-up and whatnot. When it said '$12 camping permit required,' I figured that was in addition to the campground fee. lol

That's pretty impressive. $50/day was probably a lot then. Reasonable deal over the course of a one-month hunt though. Reminds me of the old Eastman video 'Challenging the NW Territory.'