And, it is getting closer. We start heading north on May 15th, so I figured I would begin looking at our route, and things to do along the way.
And I should clarify that the main focus of the trip is not Alaska!
Canada has just finished building an all season road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. It opened in November of last year after a four and a half year construction period. This will be the first summer that you can actually drive an RV all the way to the Arctic Ocean in Canada.
Besides which, as Canadians we are more interested in Yukon and Northwest Territories than we are Alaska. Also, I have read that the best part of a trip to Alaska is in fact British Columbia and the Yukon!
Here's our planned route over the first six weeks or so...
4,160 kms (2,600 miles).
Because we like to take our time and see things along the way, we will try to stick to a maximum of 200 kms (120 miles) of driving per day. And of course there will be a few days where we don't drive at all. And, there will be a few detours that I haven't included in that route.
So, I think we will probably arrive at the Arctic Ocean sometime during the last week of June.
One of the detours we want to make along the way is the old South Canol Road in Yukon. It was built during World War II as part of a pipeline project at the time. The 449 kilometer (279 mi) long Yukon portion of the road is maintained by the Yukon Government during summer months. We just want to do the 230 km southern section.
The South Canol Road.
We will pop into Alaska on the way back south, just to say we've been there. We won't be spending a lot of time there though because we want to spend much of August and September in British Columbia. My father's side of the family is originally from British Columbia and I have lots of cousins still living there who I haven't seen since 2006.
Anyhow, that's the plan for the next couple of months. We are excited to see parts of Canada that we have never seen before!
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Have fun on the beautiful dempster highway. Hope you have good weather so road isn't slick.dry road means dust, though. We left our rv in Dawson city and drove our tow vehicle. Flew from inuvik to tuk since no road. Early August . Absolutely loved it. Too bad to miss wrangell st.elias, Valdez and so much Alaska. Love whitehorse. Drive to Haines for yourvAlaska time.
ReplyDeleteWe hope the weather will be good as well and we will definitely be watching the weather when going on any of these gravel roads. We know what they are like here in Saskatchewan when they are wet so that helps to prepare us for the roads up there.
DeleteWe will have to see how much time we have to see how much of Alaska we will see. If we end up liking what we see on this trip then we can always plan another one that would cover more of Alaska. That's the nice thing about this lifestyle. :-)
Wow very remote indeed. I don't see very many villages and such on the route...will there be gas, food, propane, repair shops somewhere along the way? McKenzie River is nearby. Inuvik & Tuktoyaktuk look like they have everything but in between not much according to satellite images on google maps. Of course google maps might not be up to date. Most of the highway is flat with mountains in the distance. Nice route..cant wait to follow along.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, we will make sure that we have all the essentials when moving from one location with services to the next. Hopefully we won't be left high and dry at the side of the road! ;-)
DeleteSounds like the perfect amount of planning to me.
ReplyDeleteWe think so too. Just plan enough that we have things covered but not too much that there is no adventure left in the trip. :-)
DeleteCome visit Harrison Hot Springs, BC on your way south.
ReplyDeleteSasquatch Prov. Park isn’t too far away.
Enjoy your journey & many great hikes along the way.
We may do just that! We will see how things go. Our first year out in our motorhome back in the fall of 2007 we stopped at Harrison Hot Springs so it's not like we haven't all ready been there. we didn't go to Sasquatch Provincial Park though.
DeleteHopefully we can meet up with you if you come through the Lower Mainland!!
ReplyDeleteWe will certainly try to but it won't be until September or possibly even October though. We would love to see you both again. :-)
DeleteI'll be curious to see how you'll handle the mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteWe've been in bad mosquito and black fly situations before, so we'll just put up with them. And, we are well prepared. I'll do a blog post about that!
DeleteSounds like a fun trip taking you time nd enjoy the sites along the way.
ReplyDeleteYep, it should be a fantastic trip!
DeleteLooking forward to following this trip.
ReplyDeleteSo are we! Hope you and Jeannie have a great summer.
DeleteYour route is exactly what Paul and I had in mind to do this summer! But, health issues are still getting worked on, so will have to postpone this at a later date. Will definitely keep following you along and take notes! So excited for both of you! Yaay! Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the health issues keeping you from doing this trip this year but hopefully we can give you lots of helpful information for when you can take the trip up there.
Deletesounds like a adventure is ahead for you both . Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThere always seems to be an adventure ahead for us! We are sure looking forward to this one though.
DeleteAloha Kevin and Ruth,
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I wrote to you from Hawaii where I had a home (which is now on the market) and I am ready to go traveling in my rig, a 2013 Roadtrek Agile with my senior pooch.
Thanks to your blog, I have learned to extend my trip to Inuvik to include Tuktoyaktuk.
My start date is later than planned (unexpected health issue) so I won't be entering Canada until late June.
This is my rough itinerary. I hope you don't mind my asking your thought on it (of course, barring unforeseen circumstances :0)
Late June: Vancouver to Dawson Creek (via Alcan: Watson Lake/Whitehorse etc). Dempster Hwy to Tuktoyaktuk and back to Tok where I'll turn west to Fairbanks. Roughly 3500 miles, this will take me at least 4-5 weeks or into early August. After a week in Fairbanks visiting friends, I'll head south to Prince William Sound and the Kenai Penninsula, taking in as much as that area through end of September or until the cold nudges me home via the Cassiar to Seattle.
Thank you ever so kindly!
Herlinda
Coarsegold, CA
Sorry for the late reply but Blogger has changed things and comments don't show up in my normal email like they used to so we have to remember to go to a different program to see the comments on older posts and that is when I found yours.
DeleteVery happy to hear that we have swayed you on your recent decision to add Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk to your itinerary, who knows perhaps our paths will cross. We don't expect to get up to Inuvik until early July and then returning to Dawson City to to the Top of the World Highway and we won't be back to the Whitehorse area until late July or early August, where we will then head down the Cassiar Highway as well. Please keep in touch if you think our paths may cross. You can also contact us by email at [email protected]