North Carolina-Canada-Alaska-PNW...

Wbspencer2011

Wbspencer2011

Adventurist
Well we recently decided to take a 9 week expedition from our home in North Carolina with the main goal to reach various destinations in Alaska. We will be leaving in about 6 months, as we need time to outfit our rig. We will head north to Niagra Falls then we plan to hop onto the Trans Canada Adventure Trail just north of Ontario. We will give ourselves 3-4 weeks in Canada as we approach Alaska. We plan to be in Alaska for at least two weeks, maybe longer depending on where our adventures take us. With what time we have left of our given 9 weeks we plan to head south right into the Pacific Northwest to see a few bucket list sites. If there is time we will be exploring a little bit of the Grand Canyon, Arches, Zion areas on our way back to the East Coast. We want to see and do as much as we possibly can but, we will not be planning out every minute so that we have plenty of time for true adventure.
Here is about 3 weeks worth of planning and preparation done so far, this is mostly a rough draft:
map1.PNG

You can follow my build on here at http://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/big-red-overlander-build.4498/#post-81362

If you're on instagram go follow us @bigredoverlander
 
Wow! Fantastic journey. Trying to figure out how to get up to Manitoulin Island not far NW from Buffalo.

Stuck between the scenic route that would take several days just to get up that way. Or too much time on the interstate, but make it up there with still time to look around before having to head back.

Not much chance of getting more than a week or so off with our current work situation.
 
Great trip plan!

If you haven't looked into it before, research the road to Inuvik. It looks like an epic drive to the literal ends of the earth.

Fairbanks. The U of A Fairbanks museum. Outstanding. Lot of history and sights to see in Fairbanks, a side trip to Haines and/or the other small towns on the panhandle could be cool. The Top of the World Hwy would also be a great side trip loop along the way, as would driving up some or all of The Haul Road in AK. seeing Denali would be high on my list. Driving out to the hot springs way out east of Fairbanks would also be cool. Many of the side trips I mentioned are gravel roads. Hundreds of miles of gravel. Ive done some of them, hope to catch up and do more one day.

Grab a copy of the book Mileposts (your library may have a copy you can borrow to get an idea). Its updated every year, and has unbelievable amounts on useful information about Canada and Alaska, down to the pullouts along the roads, contact numbers for services and emergency services of every town on every road they cover as access to Alaska.
 
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Chris, I know exactly how you feel. It's hard to weigh out decisions like that. I'm guilty, too often, of being the guy who pushes to hurry and get to a destination and passing up adventures that could have come to light. So with this trip I am finding a balancing point. I know that we have to be in Alaska by July 9th. Everything before that and after that will be whatever adventure tells us to do.
 
Malamute, I just recently rewatched the Expedition Overland Episode where the team takes the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, it looks amazing. We hope to squeeze that in there. I have been to Alaska once before but we spent most of our time from Anchorage to Homer. We did a lot of fishing and sight seeing on the way. I just recently added the trip to Haines, I'll have to check out some of those other spots your suggested as well as that book.
Thanks for the feedback!
 
Wbspencer2011 said:
Expedition Overland...
Click to expand...

I didn't know they did a trip report to there, Ill have to look it up, thanks!

Be advised, the mosquitos can be absolutely epic in most of Canada and Ak. The times Ive been its varied quite a lot. I camped one evening near Haines Junction and had to walk briskly to keep the cloud (not the slightest exaggeration) of mosquitos behind me so I could brush my teeth. In the time it took me to raise the camper shell tail door and truck tailgate as quickly as I could to get me and the dog in and close it up I had about 100 mosquitos inside with me. I used a fly swatter and some Buhach to slaughter the nasty buggers. One perverse pleasure was catching as many mosquitos in my roof vent as I could, then gassing them with Buhach (uh oh, Buhach is out of business, http://www.modernenviro.com/buhach-pyrethrin-nontoxic-insecticide-pest-repellent-from-flowers/ ).

Have multiple extra bottles of the best bug juice you can tolerate. I used mostly Bens 100. I think I had 3 or 4 bottles scattered around so it was never hard to find one, and always tried to have one in my shirt pocket. Its a real issue if you have to be outside without bug juice in bug season in most of the country up there. You just adjust to melting things you touch, like watch crystals, gun stock finishes or plastic parts, steering wheel and such from the deet. I don't know if theres anything around today that works as well. 100% deet does work. Id give the dog a little wipe from my hands around her face and legs, theyd get mobbed with skeeters in the parts thin enough they could burrow in. White socks can also be a real bugger, They crawl into your hairline and feel like getting poked with needles or something. Its hard to believe something so small can have that irritating of a bite. Its possible youll say bad words before its all over. Still, its all epic and glorious country, reeking of history and adventure. Well worth the trip. everyone should do it at some point, even as a geezer. If you compare the scale of the country in the West with other, more civilized parts of the US, Northwestern Canada and Alaska are even that much larger scale than the western US. Its truly hard to imagine the scale of the country before seeing it and driving it.
 
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The Spell of the Yukon
By Robert Service

I wanted the gold, and I sought it;
I scrabbled and mucked like a slave.
Was it famine or scurvy—I fought it;
I hurled my youth into a grave.
I wanted the gold, and I got it—
Came out with a fortune last fall,—
Yet somehow life’s not what I thought it,
And somehow the gold isn’t all.

No! There’s the land. (Have you seen it?)
It’s the cussedest land that I know,
From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it
To the deep, deathlike valleys below.
Some say God was tired when He made it;
Some say it’s a fine land to shun;
Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it
For no land on earth—and I’m one.

You come to get rich (damned good reason);
You feel like an exile at first;
You hate it like hell for a season,
And then you are worse than the worst.
It grips you like some kinds of sinning;
It twists you from foe to a friend;
It seems it’s been since the beginning;
It seems it will be to the end.

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I’ve watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I’ve thought that I surely was dreaming,
With the peace o’ the world piled on top.

The summer—no sweeter was ever;
The sunshiny woods all athrill;
The grayling aleap in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The wilds where the caribou call;
The freshness, the freedom, the farness—
O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,
The white land locked tight as a drum,
The cold fear that follows and finds you,
The silence that bludgeons you dumb.
The snows that are older than history,
The woods where the weird shadows slant;
The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,
I’ve bade ’em good-by—but I can’t.

There’s a land where the mountains are nameless,
And the rivers all run God knows where;
There are lives that are erring and aimless,
And deaths that just hang by a hair;
There are hardships that nobody reckons;
There are valleys unpeopled and still;
There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back—and I will.

They’re making my money diminish;
I’m sick of the taste of champagne.
Thank God! when I’m skinned to a finish
I’ll pike to the Yukon again.
I’ll fight—and you bet it’s no sham-fight;
It’s hell!—but I’ve been there before;
And it’s better than this by a damsite—
So me for the Yukon once more.

There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;
It’s luring me on as of old;
Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting
So much as just finding the gold.
It’s the great, big, broad land ’way up yonder,
It’s the forests where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.
 
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Thanks for the heads up on the Mosquitos. My Aunt who lives up there told me when I was a kid that the Mosquito was the state bird. I dont seem to remember them being too bad on the Kenai Peninsula but maybe it was just a mild summer. I'm working on making sure well be prepared for any insects or critters.
 
Yes, it depends on the year, how many were killed off in the previous winter (not much snow cover and really cold helps kill them I think), how good conditions are currently, and probably luck. Id been through Haines Jct before and there was nothing notable about the mosquitos. Some people use headnets, I never did, but probably would have a couple times if Id had one. Ive been in June, July and Aug, all had different conditions varying with the year and time of year.
 
That looks like an awesome trip. We LOVE Alaska....and enjoyed Expedition Overland's account of their travels there. That was what got us hooked to his whole overlanding idea. Is each pin on your map a place you want to explore? That's ALOT of pins!!!
 
Hisgal2 said:
That looks like an awesome trip. We LOVE Alaska....and enjoyed Expedition Overland's account of their travels there. That was what got us hooked to his whole overlanding idea. Is each pin on your map a place you want to explore? That's ALOT of pins!!!
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Some are just points of interest, gas stations, hospitals, camp sites...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Having spent the entire summer of 2015 at Coldfoot on the Dalton Highway, I would highly recommend a trip up to Deadhorse.
 
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