Bearman
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
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Joined: 02/10/2002
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Hi all.
We are going to head to Alaska next year around the end of May or first part of June. I am looking for out of the way places I can get to with a large unit that the wife and I can ride the ATV's from. I take 2 quads and a Jeep along with us and this is a trip I have always wanted to take. We are well set up for dry camping 6 golf cart batteries, solar, gen set, 400 gal of water, ect, ect. I worked and lived in Fort St John and Dawson Creek for many years, and have worked in the Yukon many times and it is beautiful up there, I just ever took the time to enjoy it. If anyone knows of any staging areas or trail heads please let me know. We camp in Southern Alberta Rockys in many staging areas and enjoy it very much. We actually have not been i an actual camp ground in 3 years. Longditude and Latitude cord. are the best if you can. Just remember for camping areas, this is a large unit and is not 4 wheel drive, but I have been knowen to get it into some prettytight spots. If you have any ideas at all let me know because when we get close to a spot I take theJeep and check it out just to make sure Ikeep the rig out of trouble.
2000 Volvo 660 425hp 1550tq
2006 Canadian Sport 385 RLTS triple slide, triple axle
5500 watt Onan genny
03 700 Polaris Sportsman
98 300 Polaris Explorer 4X4
94 Jeep YJ "TOAD"
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alaskan-rver
Anchorage, AK
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Joined: 09/25/2005
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Just about every trailhead in southcentral Alaska is RV-accessible. I would encourage you to register at the Alaska ATV Club website--their member section lists details for just about every trail within a few hundred miles of Anchorage.
Let us know when you get up here, and maybe we can ride together somewhere.
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Bearman
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
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Exellent web site Sean, thanks for the tip. I will post when we will be up there and where we will be.
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TomW2
Southwest Washington State USA
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Joined: 05/23/2005
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It looks like your toy hualer is full. How does the jeep go along with you? Are you triple towing? That isn't legal everywhere.
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Bearman
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
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TomW2 wrote:It looks like your toy hualer is full. How does the jeep go along with you? Are you triple towing? That isn't legal everywhere.
Thanks
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mcgillagorilla
north pole ak
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Joined: 01/02/2004
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hey bearman, i think you will find pleanty of places to camp. wife and i snowbird from alaska to the lower 48 we leave to exscapt the worst winter with our 28 desert fox and have never paid too stay in a caampground. if you pm me i will see if i can find some of the places that looks good to go on the milepost. we are going out after christmas and will probably come back in or about the middle of may. just in time to beat the tourists and before the tourist season prices take affect.
bob mcgill
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Wmcmanus
Cayman Islands (and wandering the US in big rig)
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Joined: 11/12/2007
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I have the same question, only that I won't fit in any RV park, or at least not without paying for 2 spots. Motorhome is a 43' built on a Class 8 semi truck chassis, towing a 40' trailer (gulp). See pic in my profile.
Trailer has an interesting feature in that it is hydraulically self propelled. So in case I get stuck anywhere, I can unhook and get myself out of the jam by walking around the trailer with my remote control box (assuming its on a reasonably hard surface, crosses fingers). It helps also to maneuver in tight spaces at RV parks.
Inside the trailer is a street legal race car (Ariel Atom) and a Dodge RAM 2500 diesel pickup truck. So lots of options in terms of getting around.
I'm planning to head up in late May and back down in late August. I understand about driving slow and being careful not to get too close to the shoulders on the gravel roads, but would welcome any "reality checks" that people may be able to offer. I figure that if the commercial semi trucks can make it up and back without issue, then I shouldn't have any problems either.
Would be dry camping as close to 100% of the time as possible.
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alaskan-rver
Anchorage, AK
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Wmcmanus wrote:I have the same question, only that I won't fit in any RV park, or at least not without paying for 2 spots. Motorhome is a 43' built on a Class 8 semi truck chassis, towing a 40' trailer (gulp). See pic in my profile.
Trailer has an interesting feature in that it is hydraulically self propelled. So in case I get stuck anywhere, I can unhook and get myself out of the jam by walking around the trailer with my remote control box (assuming its on a reasonably hard surface, crosses fingers). It helps also to maneuver in tight spaces at RV parks.
Inside the trailer is a street legal race car (Ariel Atom) and a Dodge RAM 2500 diesel pickup truck. So lots of options in terms of getting around.
I'm planning to head up in late May and back down in late August. I understand about driving slow and being careful not to get too close to the shoulders on the gravel roads, but would welcome any "reality checks" that people may be able to offer. I figure that if the commercial semi trucks can make it up and back without issue, then I shouldn't have any problems either.
Would be dry camping as close to 100% of the time as possible.
While that is an awesome looking rig, I would HIGHLY suggest that you leave the trailer behind. I'm afraid that you'll find a rig that large (and with so little ground clearance) extremely constraining up here. I'm afraid that most of your dry camping will have to be on paved road shoulders. Virtually all the dry camping spots worth coming up here are on unpaved surfaces, and usually accessed by roads with dips and potholes which will probably cause you to bottom out/drag one or both ends of your trailer. Furthermore, I doubt your self-propelled feature on the trailer will help much on these kinds of surfaces. Heck, you'll have a hard enough time on the frost heaves around the Yukon-Alaska border of the Alaska Highway with your tow rig, let alone the trailer.
True, semis drive between Alaska and the lower 48 all the time. However, with their fifth-wheel style articulation, they can turn far tighter than I guess you can, almost all are the "deck above the wheels" type trailers, so they've got ground clearance, and they don't want to stop alongside lakes, fishing steams, and parks.
Instead, consider a tow bar for the pickup, if you want a toad. Unfortunately, Alaska (and northern Canada) is the kind of place where the quality and quantity of your campsite (particularly when boondocking) options is INVERSELY proportional to the size of your rig--I'd hate to see you drive so far only to be able to see so little.
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dav5942
Stuart, FL
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Joined: 05/24/2004
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Have to agree with the trailor being tough to find places to dry camp. However many Federal, State and local parks will have room for you. We took the Harley, 2 ATVs, bicycles, cruzin coolers, 12' boat, etc., etc. last year. Rode the Harley once, never used the boat(even though we fished over 40 days), but did use the ATVs quite a bit and the 4WD Jeep. We had everything in our 42' garage coach with the Jeep in tow so was not a problem to find a place to camp. Going back next year with no boat and no Harley and a bunch of fishing equipment.
2007 Newmar 42' Mid Engine w/Fatboy,ATVs-in Garage,lifted Jeep(s) in tow, Hog Valley Florida(a diamond in the rough),'09 Alaska again!
2007 Tour Alaska Fishing '08 Tour Grandchildren Newmar Mid Engine
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Wmcmanus
Cayman Islands (and wandering the US in big rig)
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Thanks for the replies, and sorry about finally getting back to this thread nearly a month later! Maybe I should leave the motorhome behind and just drive up in my Ariel Atom instead! Of course with only 3.5" of clearance, that might be a problem too!
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