Heading to Tri Cities, WA July 1 via the Alcan/Cassiar (I haven't ever driven the Alcan). Driving with my buddy in his Class C motorhome. We're going low & slow and aren't in a hurry. Planning on 5-6 days to get to Tri Cities.
I've got my passport & Milepost.
Couple questions:
*Will my credit card work in Canada? Will I have to pay a bunch of hidden charges to use it? Will my c/c company automatically do the US dollar to Canadian dollar conversion?
*I want to bring some Canadian currency with me. Where in Anchorage can I exchange US for Canadian dollars and get the best rate? Should I wait to get to Whitehorse, YT to convert my money?

Any tips or advice for driving down?

Canadians are just like real Americans (they will take offense at that. . ) CC, US, Canadian funny money (theirs is prettier!!!) all works. Haven't been in Canada for over 20 years, so, for more specific, ask someone who has.

I think most banks, maybe your CU, in Anchorage can exchange. I think also, conversion is automatic on CC, but I'm real hazy on that, it's been so long.

5-6 days to Tri-cities is about 500 - 600 miles a day (judging from our trips to Montana). That's 10-12 hours of driving, barring road work. I'd factor in a couple extra days for a more leisurely trip.

We would usually make Billings from Soldotna in 4-5 days, running 12-16 hours a day.

Yes, credit card will convert. Exchange rate is about $1.34 C = $1.00 US. If you really want to make a Canadian border guard's day, get a Canadian insurance card from your auto insurer, they might try to actually hug you at the border station. Last time I took the Cassiar I was in the suds all the way (Visibility less than 1/4 mile) but if clear there is some great scenery along that route. Much was unpaved back then (about 12-13 years ago) Enjoy!

Just drove up and back from Washington State last month. Roads are in pretty good shape.

Yes, American credit cards work fine. Some fuel stations want your credit card inside the station before they'll turn on the pump. Late in the day, some stations close early. Use caution, it would be easy to end up waiting for a station to open.

Cassiar highway is beautiful. I took some time for hiking, camping and photography along the way.

Registered my rifle with U.S. Customs before crossing, and glad I did. I think it was a $25 fee to take the gun through Canada, and they really liked that I had it in a locked case.

BC and Yukon Territories have some nice campgrounds along the way at very reasonable prices. I camped most nights, up and back. Just parked my Jeep, put up my little tent and enjoyed. Canadian currency was very useful to pay for the campsites.

The paper map in the Milepost was great! It's all I used during the drive. Not that it's a complicated route.

Enjoy the drive, give yourself plenty of time.

Regards, Guy

On your cc make sure you call your bank letting them know you will be going though Canada. They might ask how many days you will be in Canada. Don't ask how I know to call the bank before hand😁 Also when using American cash a lot of the stores will not do the conversion rate they will do a one for one. They make money you lose money.. so use cc or Canadian money.. if you bank with Alaska USA they lways took care of the conversion rate.

Wook;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope all is well in your world so far this week.

As others have noted, it's all pay at the pump in BC and there's a chance some cards will have to be used inside instead of at the pump. It works the same for us traveling down stateside - my Amex card doesn't seem to work at WA pumps but the Master Card works fine?

There's usually free WiFi at fast food places and tourist information places too, so if you're wanting up to the minute road data, pull in and hit this site - http://www.drivebc.com/

It's a pretty straight forward site and give highway cam on the passes as well. We never go anywhere here without a quick check there first.

My credit cards take an extra point or two when converting into US currency and if yours does as well, then you don't get to take advantage of the low Canadian dollar to it's fullest. That said, fuel is more money here despite that. I'd say alcohol and tobacco is more here too, but interestingly when we went down the Washington and Oregon coast a couple weeks ago we found many grocery items were about the same dollar value - but of course we had to add $.38 to every dollar.....

If you check out this site you might find you're passing by some very nice hot springs. We've got a bunch of them and I've not been at one I didn't enjoy. http://blog.hellobc.com/the-top-5-hot-springs-in-bc/

Lastly it's baby season now so keep the binoculars and telephoto lens camera handy. My good wife and I ran up the valley to Costco last night and on the way home spotted a herd of a dozen mountain goats including a couple fresh kids so that was cool.

Anyway I think that's it for now before I head off to the salt mines. If you check out the visiting hunter thread in the Canada section there's a few more topics discussed - cell phone coverage and such come immediately to mind. Hope that helped sir and hav a safe and scenic journey.

Dwayne

Make sure your bank and credit cards don't have a foreign transaction fee.

Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account is a good option for foreign travel.

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account

And as always, cash is king. Noting worse than having a cc machine down and only have $3 in your wallet.

That's good to know, the last time I drove it was in the spring of '96 and it was is pretty rough shape. Driving along the Frasier River with no guard rails on a dirt road that is washboarded out wasn't a lot of fun plus add in the fact that gas stations were few and far between and that makes for a long nerve wracking trip.

I usually round trip it every year and a couple trips to Whitehorse added on.

Slow down between Koidern and Kluane.......muskeg and permafrost make for a difficult piece of road.

I use my local bank card at an ATN if Whitehorse to get $CAN. Small fee.

Advise credit card company of your travel.

Carry some food with you as most restaurants suck.

Buy gas at major places as they sell much more.......none held over winter etc.

Lotsa black bears on Cassiar.

Take your time. Remember speeds are in Km/hr. You can't buy beer at convenience stores.

Make sure vehicle ins. is Canada approved. Call ins. co.

Thanks for the heads-up. We're flexible and aren't bound by time, so we may be selling ourselves short at 5-6 days.

Thanks Kid for the insurance tip. Appreciate the c/c tips. I'll call in advance. Vern, we're going to Costco to pack the fridge! Likely won't eat out much on this trip. Thanks for the tip about the km/hr Ironbender. Forgot about that.

Cards or cash are fine. Do let your card company know, however, that you'll be heading off in a new direction. Forgot to do that and the card company shut me down between the first and second fuel purchase at Watson Lake. Had cash to cover, but had to call the card company and get myself reactivated in the morning.

Dwayne/BC, THANKS for the links. Didn't know about the Hot Springs. We'll have Bino's & a good camera, my buddy is a total photography nerd--hence why we're not in a hurry.

Thanks for all the advice and tips from everyone.

Good plan on the CC alert.. Last week the wife was recruiting for teachers for the NW Arctic in Houston. This week, she's in Indianapolis. I've had calls/alerts....

Got my card put on hold once myself, just from Kotzebue to Kenai... but i was kinda hammering the sucker...

Enjoy the road! Take your binos and camera.

The road surface is great especially compared to 50 years ago. Forty years ago, if you were advertising a "cherry" used car for sale
in the Anchorage Times, you would list it as "no Alcan".......meaning it had not been abused by driving to Alaska.

WATCH OUT FOR BICYCLISTS!

WOOK ON HIS WAY !!!

LMFAO!

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.
Favor Center

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.'

Yes. And really clean, neat campsites too. I'm looking forward to going back to the Yukon for a fishing/camping trip. Maybe next summer!

Guy

carry an extra can or 2 of fuel if you can

slow down for the bridges some of the bridges are quite a bit higher than the road surface so hitting them at a good rate of speed will be a bit rough on things.

otherwise it was smooth sailing 3 years ago when I did it with my brother-in-law and loved that road. for being a dirt road it's better than a lot of paved roads that i've been on over the years

Check your phone service to make sure they don't tack on any additional foreign or roaming charges. These can get expensive quickly.

i didnt want to disclose our secret ...even at our peso rate it is really a bargain ...

fishing is good too for sure ...

I made the trip from CT 14 times over the years. Make sure your vehicle is in good repair before you leave, as others say credit cards no problem. Most banks along the border will do currency exchange. I would cross from ND and the first town I would stop at the bank and make the exchange. The way I travel 1000 USD was more than enough. Fairbanks AK banks may have some CAN currency or may not. As for the trip, its pretty good one, I always planned on 7 days on the Alcan. Take your time. Keep your tank full, There are spots on the road that you are a good 120 miles between service stations. take some extra belts hoses for your machine- insurance if you will. 300 to 400 miles per day is about right little more or less. Enjoy it's a fun trip, even when you are alone like me, and your old underpowered VW Jetta Diesel. I even did the trip a few times in winter- that makes for interesting planning.

If you plan on having some "adult beverages" in the evening you will want to take some with you, if you don't you will cringe at the price of them in BC.

The allowance you can take duty free is fairly generous, you can check Canadian Customs on line and the amounts are listed.

I usually take the maximum allowed and give it to my Canadian friends.

drover

That was fairly inexpensive for the times but I just did a conversion of what the $50 would be in todays dollars -

$50.00 in 1952 had the same buying power as $455.53 in 2017

Mr Van Bibber left us this last year. He was well thought of in YT!

When I visit US campgrounds today, I see they want $8 to $15 for about a cubic foot of firewood. I probably have $100k's worth stacked behind the house.

I have too many transactions a month for a Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account.

For any others making the trek, I recommend keeping an eye out for any big dark lumps up ahead on the pavement. In our case, they turned out to be two bison bulls with no interest in moving, matched by my lack of interest in striking one at highway speed. This was in winter, so it might not be much of an issue mid-summer.

I travel into Canada a couple times a year. Have never had a border guard check my insurance.

Yes, have seen quite a few near Liard Hot Springs in winter.

Same experience during a blizzard.....bison were covered with snow and lying in the road.......finally realized that a bull very close to me had just blinked an eye.....close call.

Have Canadian money.
Mid 90s, in the truck, I was well up into Quebec,
stopped a a resturant for a travel mug of coffee.
They charged me over $2 for the coffee, and all I had was
an American $5 bill, got Canadian change! Expensive
darn coffee, but it was good. Glad I didn't have to break a
Benjamin.

AWESOME trip. Loved driving to central, WA. Buddy and I drove the Cassiar to the Canadian Rockies (loved Smithers and Banff) and my buddy dropped me off in Walla Walla. Yukon, BC and Alberta are every bit as beautiful as Alaska. Free wood at the campgrounds, like others said. You can drive your vehicle as fast as is safe for the conditions. There aren't any Mounties, except in the urban areas. Beautiful weather 6/8 days. Canadian customs agents DID search our RV when we returned from Hyder. GREAT trip overall. $1,200 including camping fees to drive 2,810 miles to central WA.

Glad to hear this! Good weather over that long a stretch, is, well.... a stretch!

Yeah, this white boy was struggling with 90 degree weather in both Canada and WA. Enjoyed it though. Wish I could have gotten in the water more.

Just made the trip, dragging a small trailer. Had to divert from the Cache Creek to Williams Lk route due to fires. Saw many black bear, deer, wood bison, moose and Caribou. Took a run to Dawson, ferry across to the Taylor hwy.(start rant) The Taylor is terrible and seems to go on and on. Tok cut off is equally terrible with it's usual frost heaves and drops in the road. The Tok cut off has always been horrible between Mentasta to Chistochina. It was crappy in the 60s and continues to be so today, despite many many over lays and rebuilds. Even the earthquake rebuild is bad. No road in Canada is as bad as the Tok CO and the Taylor. Rant over. Tool 6 days and had 3 days of rain. Not a lot of construction delays. Overall, good trip.

Are you in town now?

I am.

Sorry, I forgot to look back here!

Give a holler, I'll buy lunch.

"...The Tok cut off has always been horrible between Mentasta to Chistochina..."

Man, I hear ya there! I tell people it must be an Alaska version of "the Ghost and the Darkness" , and grizzlies are eating the road crews each night, for that one bridge that never gets finished. I remember the joke of the day was a sign that said resume 45 mph. You would jar your fillings out at even 35 mph on that stretch of road. But, I still would go back!

Tok cut off I swear they redid pretty big portion back in 2012 but you can't tell that now, one of the most [bleep] roads in the country.. that road is slow and steady ..

Riley has been getting lots of road time going up there to x-ray that bridge as they build it... they have not met their contracted time schedule, at all.

That road goes through some of the most miserable country imaginable to build a road on.

I'm guessing there is a lot of thick perma frost that has been going through dramatic freeze thaw cycles since the road was originally built.

I believe you are correct on that. It has been rebuilt many times that I remember.

Gal I know and her hubby and kids just left AK last week he got out of the service and couldn't find a job to his liking, got hired in VA

Took both vehicles, she rolled the one she was driving, totaled it

She only got cuts and bruises, thankfully both kids were riding with dad in other vehicle

Had to jettison a lot of stuff to make everyone fit but as Willie says. They're on the road again

Any up to date news on the Alcan? I will be driving it mid Aug. and any recent experiences would be appreciated.

I rode on my ultra. Canada marks pavement breaks and frost heaves pretty good. The milepost price to version is good read, but if I Rembrandt right, it wasn't up to date on construction. Maybe they have online version. Adviser may have recent threads.

The Alcan is about as good as it's ever been.......the area from Kluane to Beaver Creek is the usual break-up that comes with permafrost and muskeg......

Some of the tourists whine but WTH!

Top Of The World is good....new bridge construction at Chicken......wish they'd just take it out and let folks ford the river......adds a bit of flavor to a good Alaska road.

Spoken like a real Alaskan...

I just came through all that country last week and was quite amused by the variety of vehicles that tourists travel in. Of course we've all seen the "Road Barns" that exude wealth.......a pullout on each side so Ma can have her sewing machine in one and her piano in the other.

At Dawson I saw several of these European off-road boxes with landing mat and shovels strapped to the side. What a disappointment for them to spend all that $$$$ and ship that vehicle to North America only to find they don't have to ford any rivers.
These vehicles look as though they could traverse the streets of Anchorage......no problem!

Now I'm seeing some really high end pickup campers that are new to me........the Siberian 4x4......Skookum as hell!