Alaska to Colorado

[Schattenjager]

Greetings! I am new to this board and look forward to learning a great deal from you adventurous folk!
My plan is to leave Anchorage on November 18th headed to Denver. A good friend is flying up to make the trip with me and we are thinking of taking the Cassiar Highway to the Alaskan Highway. It should be great fun - hopefully there will be snow enough to smooth the roads and make for some beautiful scenery. My German Shepherd and cat are coming along for the adventure (I am moving back to Colorado) so there are bound to be some interesting stories come of this.
The vehicle is a newly acquired 2000 Land Rover Discovery. It has 62K miles on it, and is in great shape. The dealership has done all the service, which is up to date. I have already installed an OME Medium kit, ordered a Great Basin Rovers front drive shaft, and am planing on making my own Center Diff. lock. Light Force 170's will go on the Highlander roof rack and join the Land Rover Hella 5000's on the Genuine Brush Bar. Right now it has 255/60/16 Nokian Hakka 1's but I am planning on going to BFG 235/85/16 ATs for better ground clearance. Should the snow / ice prove to be a problem, I will order the trusty RUD chains from Bill Burke (bb4wa.com) before leaving.
So... any advice you folks have for this adventure? We are going to document it as well as we can via camera and video and of course the critical notes along the way.

 

[bigreen505]

:wavey: Welcome to ExPo! I look forward to meeting you when you get here.

The only advice I can offer is don't expect the BFG's to go through snow like the Hakka 1's -- totally different league. Also be sure to bring your video camera along for the ride. The fun between the cat and dog could be worthy of America's Funniest Home Videos -- could pay for the trip! :victory:

 

[Bergger]

Sounds like it should be a wonderful trip. Welcome back to Colorado. What part are you settling in?

 

[paulj]

My plan is to leave Anchorage on November 18th headed to Denver. A good friend is flying up to make the trip with me and we are thinking of taking the Cassiar Highway to the Alaskan Highway.

My guess is that you will be mostly driving on pavement, or compact snow on pavement. The Cassiar may still have some gravel, but ordinary RVs can handle it. So the enhancements like a lift and diff lock won't help. If the Nokian tires have worked well on winter roads in Alaska, they should be fine for this drive south.

As to route, you may have made a typo. From Alaska you take the Alaska Highway to the Cassiar (the junction is just before Watson Lake). In BC the Cassiar meets the Yellowhead, which takes you east to Prince George. From there you have the choice of heading on to Jasper and Alberta, or south through BC on 97 and on to the US border. I've driven most of these roads, except the Cassiar north of the Stewart turn off - but not in winter.

Are you going to be camping along the way? Most commercial campgrounds, and many provincial ones will be closed.

Do you have copy of the Mileposts guide book?

paulj

according to 'Drive BC', most of the Cassiar, hwy 37, currently has 'compact snow with slippery sections'.
http://www.drivebc.ca/byRouteEvents...7_S&routeTwo=&routeThree=&routeFour=&x=21&y=9
http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/popular-topics/driver_info/route-info/hwy37/hwy37.htm
http://www.gov.yk.ca/roadreport/
http://www.stewartcassiar.com/tourism.html

 

[pangaea]

Sounds like a fun trip. No real suggestions for you, since it looks like you have a pretty good handle on things. If you have any problems on the Colorado side of things, feel free to drop me a line and I'll do what I can.

Welcome (back) to Colorado though. We might have to have a CO ExPo get together when you get here.

 

[BajaTaco]

Welcome to the Portal. Sounds like a fabulous trip and a great vehicle to do it in. Best of luck, and maybe I will get to meet you next year.

 

[flywgn]

Welcome to ExPo, Schattenjäger.

That's a great trip you have coming up. If you think you might not be back that way anytime soon, you might give some thought to taking the road (dirt) out to Telegraph Ck from Deese Lk. Spectacular scenery in the Stikine Gorge. You can ask about road conditions at the store/gas station at the junction.

There's a good lodge/cabins/restaurant at Bell II, which is the bridge across the Bell-Irving River if you want to break up your trip there.

Also if you have the time and inclination, consider taking the short sidetrip (65 miles, paved) out to Stewart, B.C./Hyder, AK.

I know much depends on the weather and your schedule. The "Cassiar" route is one of the better N. American roads for scenery and viewing game.

I, too, recommend Milepost for a handy, easy-to-use guidebook for your trip.

Have a great trip and, again, welcome.

Allen R.

PS I like your "User Name"...Are you a P.I?

 

[DaktariEd]

Schattenjäger,
Welcome!
It took a quick Google search to figure out your name...very cool!
You really have to explain now...
:sombrero:
Ed

 

[Desertdude]

WOW cool trip! Always a good idea to set yourself up a survival pack in the unlikely event you get stuck and have to walk - a small camel back works well and can also carry water for you. Fill it with the basics. ( including dry socks

 

[desertgirl66]

Sounds like an awseome trip planned!! The Cassier Highway has stellar views. Not to mention the AlCan up to Highway 37 south.

The Milepost is a must! There are soo many interesting "tidbits" in there and when they say "watch for a certain animal at this milepost", well danged if that animal is not there! Going through Jaspar and Banff is spectacular, but watch out for the crazy drivers!! Seriouly, in the 2.5 months that we spent in Cananda and Alaska, those National Parks were the scariest with drivers.

Have an awesome trip!! Take lots of photos. :truck:

 

[DaveInDenver]

Welcome to ExPo, Schattenjäger.
PS I like your "User Name"...Are you a P.I?

LOL! With Lightforce 170s on the roof, hardly a Schattenjäger. Maybe a Leichtjäger?

Anyway, sounds like a cool trip.

 

[Schattenjager]

What better way to chase shadows than to use powerful lights? You should of seen my night light as a kid...
Thanks for the well wishes and info - I live by the “Chance Favors the Prepared Mind” motto, so we will probably have enough supplies to survive a moon landing. Anyone know much about the gun laws in Canada? I am familiar with their anti-pistol views, but I have a 12 ga shotgun with a Knox recoil absorbing stock that uses a pistol grip. Is this a no-no? I hate (read: wont) make this trip unarmed. I brought two shotguns up with me and there was no problem - but they were less “tactical” in nature. I’d hate to scare the border people.
BTW - Schattenjager is a very old Germanic title for medieval special ops crusaders. It is on my family coat of arms from way back, so someone in my family was apparently a **************. I guess the reference to my night light gives away the fact that times change...
I will be moving to the Denver area to work with Allstate Financial.

 

[paulj]

It's a good idea to travel this route with a shotgun. I just read over on the rv.net that the owls along the Yellowhead Hwy have been scattering greased pellets on the highway, presumably so they can attack when you skid off the road :chowtime:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/18570279.cfm

 

[devinsixtyseven]

:jump:
that is a GREAT trip. i did the route with my dad in his newly-acquired tundra, going the opposite direction...salt lake to anchorage...and in the same time frame. we drove it over thanksgiving.

we were looking to make time, so we skipped the cassiar and went north to edmonton from slc and then took the al-can. it's a much faster drive, but not as beautiful.

some tips...

avoid driving at night in foul weather unless you have to (between gas/lodging). in several areas, the road narrows and passes through rolling, wooded terrain, and in the snow the road becomes ONE LANE. if you get caught in a snowstorm at night, run with EVERY LIGHT YOU HAVE, and point a yellow fog lamp backwards. we were almost in two accidents due to heavy snow, a single lane, completely blind shoulders, and little or no warning of approaching traffic.

drive the canyon during the day for the same reason, you'll be doing 25mph if the weather is bad, and youll be passing/pacing semis. there was no guard rail at the time we drove (about two years ago), and some of the turns are extremely sudden...we drove it at night in a snowstorm as well. i dont remember the actual name of "the canyon" but youll know it when you get there. come to think of it, you might skip it if you take the cassiar.

you can do triple digits in 4wd on the eastern side of the al-can if you choose that route, where the forest is trimmed back for fire and wildlife corridors. take it easy elsewhere, youre just passing through, the wildlife owns the road. in general, point a set of fogs 45* out from the front of the vehicle so you can see well in to the woods...elk and moose are very common there and stick to the roads in bad weather, where it's easier to walk, and they will spook and run across in front of you. we even had a few canids do this.

dont assume there's gas. while there should be no more than 250-300 miles tops between pumps on the al-can, expect to pay a premium, and take at least ten gallons with you in case the pump you were planning on is closed or empty--we saw a lot of seasonal operations.

i think youll go through whitehorse...stop at the deli for a sandwich . it's about a block away from the tourist building...not sure the name, but it's the one where you can get gourmet meat/cheese/bread and they have a chalkboard on the back wall listing fish and game sold by the 10# and 100#. very small and it's on the second floor of the building. great food.

if you spend the night at that place with all the signs from around the world, the hotel/motel across the street is cheap and easy and breakfast was good. just ignore the cig burns on everything...

be sure your rig is ready for -30F temps. it was only -20F when we left the place with the signs in the early AM, that's still pretty chilly. most of the time, it was between -10F and 10F during the day.

take a lot of pictures and dont forget to look at the scenery. it's some of the most beautiful on earth.

i hope you enjoyed your time in my home ...anchorage and the kenai peninsula are...well, i hope all of you get to visit there someday, words fail me! just bring your camera ...

post up when you get to the 303, it seems like there are a lot of ExPo people here in denver.

-sean

 

[g23.40sw]

There should be lots of memories captured

I am the friend flying up to make the trek back to CO. There will be a 8 mp camera and 2 1 GB sd cards for that. Looking forward to the adventure!