Driving from seattle to Alaska, who's done it?

[Bmcox86]

I'm moving to Seward Alaska this summer and we have to drive, will be leaving Seattle June 16 and have to be in seward by July 1, who's done the drive up there? Is 14 days feasible, it's 2400 miles and I'll have a wife, 1 year old and dog in the car. Looking to travel 350-400 miles a day and maybe stay a day here and there. I have heard that it's rough in places and to have an extra spare tire, but other than that I'm lost. Ordered a few books but looking for real experience! Thanks in advance

 

[Yellowknife]

I'm moving to Seward Alaska this summer and we have to drive, will be leaving Seattle June 16 and have to be in seward by July 1, who's done the drive up there? Is 14 days feasible, it's 2400 miles and I'll have a wife, 1 year old and dog in the car. Looking to travel 350-400 miles a day and maybe stay a day here and there. I have heard that it's rough in places and to have an extra spare tire, but other than that I'm lost. Ordered a few books but looking for real experience! Thanks in advance

That's a dead easy trip. Usually done in about +/- 4 days if I recall my last time. Highway is all paved now, so the main question is if you want to take the main drag or the slightly shorter, slower, more scenic Cassiar. Spare tire and fresh oil change should do ya. Expect expensive gas, particularly on the Cassiar and the Yukon.

Yk

 

[ericfamilee]

We are originally from Idaho and have lived in Alaska for 13 years now. We have driven the alcan 7 times and once did the cassiar and went through Seattle. The Cassiar seemed like it took longer and was more windey. We usually do it in about 3 days with my wife and 6 kids in our suburban. We prefer to drive through the night while the kids sleep. But taking extra time to do the trip is a good idea, especially if its your first time. Of all the times we've done the trip we only got one flat, and we got it fixed in the next town. So 1 spare is plenty from our experience. The alcan has more places to gas up, while the cassiar has fewer. So if you go cassiar make sure to plan accordingly. Our favorite part of the trip is liard hot springs, which you will mis if you take the cassiar. It's a fun trip, lots of wildlife, and beautiful scenery. Good luck and welcome to Alaska!

 

[airlocksniffer]

Haven't from Seattle but did from Montana along the Alcan. Great trip, took us about a week but we had pretty low mileage days (400-500) and we did lots of stops along the way. I'd love to do it again some day. My mom used to work in fish camps up there in the 90's and could do it in 2 days.

 

[Matt Cashell]

We went from MT to Fairbanks in something like 42 hrs, but we rotated drivers and only stopped for fuel. We took the Alcan, and there were some long stretches without fuel, so take plenty of supplementary fuel/containers.

 

[mtnwrunner]

You'll love it. I've done it several times and as I recall, a buddy and I drove non-stop from Seattle to Fairbanks and we did it in like 30 somethng hours or something like that. But that's when we were young and stupid. Best scenery in the world.

Randy

 

[El Gavilan]

I did it back in 1996 from Portland to Seward in 3 days. Only got a motel one night, usually just pull over at a wide spot, lean the seat back and snooze until daylight. Really pretty country North of Vancouver.

 

[DudeFromOhio]

Check with your bank before you go! They suspended my account when I used it in Canada because they thought my card was stolen. Not great when you are at a gas station on E.

 

[tuffcity]

It takes me about 3 days from Vancouver, BC to Whitehorse, driving by myself. I usually do the Cassiar in the winter just because it knocks about 2 hours off to Whitehorse. The Alaska hwy in the summer is a nice drive, just don't do the Ft. Nelson to Liard in the dark. I don't know if the bloody bison like to congregate on the road in the summer but the last thing you want to do is hit one of those! Awesome scenery and if you're camping along the way the provincial campsites won't be too busy. Gas prices will be frightening the further north you get in BC. If you plan to run on cash take some Canadian $ because there might be places that won't give you an exchange rate.

Enjoy the trip!

RC

 

[Vance in AK]

I've done it probably 6 or 8 round trips. As others have said it's a piece of cake now days. I have done southern Oregon to Kenai (near Seward) in 70hrs (Just shy of 3000 miles) solo driving a 1800gal fuel truck when I was a helicopter mechanic. Close to those times doing the same thing on other occasions. Moving each direction with the family on the mini van from Kenai to southern Montana (just shy of 3k miles) we did 5 easy days.
I prefer the scenery on the Cassiar, but as others have said less services (but still plenty). If you use UHual they don't want you to go that way because they don't have any contract service providers (may have changed). If nobody mentioned it get a copy of The MilePost Magazine.
It will be good to have another Rokslider in AK. You will be 95 miles from my home.

 

[El Gavilan]

On my trip in 1996 I had hit the gravel portion of the road and as I'm driving a small Chevy Cavalier sedan, I was beginning to wonder whether or not I was on the right road. I came to a place where a road crew was working on the road and they had setup a traffic stop with a young lady in braided pigtails manning the stop sign. I was the first in line and she approached the car to let me know it would be 15 or 20 minutes, so I asked her if I was on the right road. She got a kick out of the question and stated "you are not only on the right road, you are on the only road!" We both had a good laugh at that one. I really did enjoy the quick trip up there, saw lots of bears, caribou, sheep, and goats and tons of scenery.

Mike

 

[Ray]

All good advice here. Cassiar is one of my favorite drives, and now has double lane wide bridges. Those old single lane bridges with the big trucks were the wrong kind of fun.

When you see a road sign that says the corner is a low speed (30kph), believe it as the Canadians do not straighten anything out trying to dumb down the danger like in the US.
Get currancy in WA, but try to avoid those dollar coins as no bank in AK will take coins back.
Turn your cell phone off or get it set up for international travel. You don't need a $3,000 bill at the end of your trip for international data charges. BUT it depends on your carrier, so check it out well before your trip.
Stop at Liard hot springs. Even in summer its a great way to spend an hour or two.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Check with your bank before you go! They suspended my account when I used it in Canada because they thought my card was stolen. Not great when you are at a gas station on E.

Yep, this happened to us as well.

 

[kodiakfly]

I've done it several times and all good advice above. You only need The Milepost as far as books, unless you want something specific like "Birds of NWT" or something like that. I've done it everywhere from 4 days to two months. Spare tire as mentioned, and if you're towing a trailer, have a spare hub and what you need for bearing swaps, should the need arise. And then be proficient doing bearings. I literally had a pit stop kit ready to go and could redo a bearing tool box to tool box in no time, in the dark.

Also have several friends who've done it and while I've never had a horror story, common horror stories involve radiators/coolant, head lights, transmissions, trailer hubs, flats and then freak catastrophic failure. Before my last trip, I replaced my water pump and radiator, head lights and even had my transmission rebuilt (because it had 160k on it and I was towing 5,000 lbs) before my trip. If you're towing, I recommend a simple set of air bags and an external tranny cooler. Two simple add-ons that make a huge difference towing.

As far as planning, figure out what you want to see along the way ahead of time. If there's a cool fly shop in Kamloops, plan on that before you get half way through BC and realize you're 600 miles away and on the wrong road and can't get there without back tracking. The trip can be as rugged or as comfortable as you want it to be. Have fun!! I've enjoyed the hell out of it every time I've done it.

 

[Yellowknife]

Forgot one very important piece of advice... Towing Insurance! Getting a tow on the Alcan (or on most Alaska hwys) can be massively budget crippling and my towing insurance is like $1/month. USAA covered me when our jeep blew the alternator in the NWT over 100 miles from the nearest town. Paid for itself basically forever with that one tow.

I have a number of good stories about being stranded on empty highways in the winter, including once near Liard Hotsprings. It took three days to get a case of transmission fluid from Whitehorse. Good times.

Yk

 

[Bmcox86]

Wow thanks for all the tips and advice, lots of stuff to start digging through and decisions to make, we're hoping to camp most of the way up when we can and I'm definetly bringing my spotter and binos for all the wildlife. Got AAA yesterday just in case and think I will grab a larger gas can. We will be driving a 2012 Subaru forester(hippy I know) with a hitch hauler and roof basket so no trailer, all our house hold goods will be moved by movers and my truck will be delivered to anchorage. Are they plenty of campgrounds along the way and how easy are the border crossings?

 

[Yellowknife]

I've never had an issue with finding enough gas in the summer, even on the Cassiar. Just have to be smart and not pass gas stations just because you have 1/2 a tank left. If you are all stuffed in a Subaru, a gas jug isn't critical IMO, although it might lower the worry level a bit.

I have usually camped along the route. Not too exactly and excess of campgrounds, but I've always found enough gravel pits, etc to camp in.

Never had an issue with the Washington, Idaho, or MT crossings, and the Alaska one has been easy. The NY crossing on the other hand..... that one got me in trouble one time! Apparently just being Alaskan on a dirt bag road trip is pretty suspicious the New Yorker border patrol

Good luck and enjoy the trip.

Yk

 

[ericfamilee]

You will need to get the passport cards for you and your wife to cross the borders. Your kids will need thier birth certificates. Have them handy when you get to the border stations. Also, you can't bring handguns through canada. And if you bring rifles, you need to have all the paperwork ready to go for the Canadian port of entry. I believe your pets need to have a health record to go through canada too. The folks in Canada have always been real nice and helpful.

 

[kodiakfly]

Are you military? If so, I'll elaborate on border crossings...they're not easier if that's what you're thinking.

Camping is the way to go! There's plenty of places to stay, both proper camp grounds or just turn offs to stay. Have the camera ready at all times. You'll come around the corner and there's bison or sheep in the road looking at you, wondering why you're on "their" road.

 

[Bmcox86]

Kodiak, yes I am. I don't plan on having my guns with me because of the hassle so im having them shipped. My wife and I have passports but we just applied for a passport for our infant because of conflicting information, Canada said birth certificates was fine and US said passport was required.