Denver To Alaska December 08

[DH2002]

well I finally made it it took 6 days and alot of miles but my wife and I made the trip from Denver to Anchorage to relocate, it was fun but it being in the middle of winter, christmas time and being on a time crunch (wifes job) we were booking the whole way. Ran into a coupld of problems but we overcame but got some good pics and it was a trip to remember so enjoy...

Day 1 December 21

We were hoping to leave early in the morning but due to scheduling conflicts and friends wanting to take us out for lunch we didnt leave until about 130 pm. Our destination was Billings, Montana about 550 miles away since the sun was setting early we did most of our driving in the dark and when we got to Billings we were both beat so the first place we grabbed was a horrible Best Western, but as bad as it was it was a place to lay the head and catch up on some zzzzzz,s

The truck filling up ready to go

 

[DH2002]

Day 2 December 22

Woke up in Billings Montana to a cool 3 below, after grabbing breakfast at IHOP we hit the road destination was Calgary Canada about 541 miles away. But after hearing that the highway to Butte and up to Great falls was clogged due to snow drifts we decided to take the Lewis and Clark trail and avoid the highway. It was definately worth it the vastness of Montana is breathtaking and beutiful even in winter time. When we hit the border it was easy had to declare a shotgun and ammo it took about 30 minutes and 25 bucks and that was it. We got into Calgary about 8 pm and decided to stay at the Westin Calgary. We ate at this steakhouse called Kegs it was awesome had the ballpark steak and shrimp it was great will be going there again if I am passing through. The hotel's underground garage was full but they let us park the truck in a service bay so it would be secure rather than parking outside in the overflow lot, so that was cool of them.


Lewis and Clark trail

It was a little windy

 

[DH2002]

Day 3 December 23

woke up to it being 6 below outside but the the parking garage was a warm 55. had breakfast in the hotel and the destination for the day was Dawson Creek about 548 miles away. Really hate to say but nothing exciting happened just a whole lot of traffic between Calgary and Edmonton and cold. We got to Dawson Creek and pulled up the Alaska hotel and there was a women with a HUGE pipe smoking the riefer outside so on to the Super 8 we went, we were talking to the clerk at the super 8 and she told us that the Alaska Hotel had HOURLY RATES!! Thank god we decided to go somewhere else.

 

[DH2002]

Day 4 December 24

Woke up and it was cold about 29 below good thing I had the truck plugged in we hoping to get to Watson Lake 600 miles away but with it being christmas eve we knew gas would be scarce, boy were we right. After filling up in Fort Nelson there was NO gas for 320 miles until we reached Watson Lake thank god we brought fuel cans. Say some cool scenery but the best part was outside of watson lake we came upon 2 male buffalo fighting and a herd of about 7 buffalo standing in the street. We pulled up next to them and as we starting pulling away they starting running with the truck. Definately a cool experience. We pulled into Watson Lake and only one gas station would be open the next day on christmas BUT the desk clerk said last year the gass attendent got drunk and forgot to come on christmas day so we went to bed hoping.....

it was morning so...

Kinda hard to see but the male buffalo fighting

 

[DH2002]

Day 4 December 25

Woke up to a very cold 41 below but truck started so that was a relief. We headed to the gas stationg and sat there until about 11 when the clerk showed up and promptly up the price on the gas. About 93 dollars later and the wallets a little lighte we decided to take some pics of the sign forest but with it being 40 below we decided to stay in the truck. We only made it to Whitehorse since it was christmas and gas would be rare we went what we could and stopped early for the night

 

[DH2002]

Day 5 Decmeber 26

Woke up in Whitehorse to about 10 below not bad considering the night before got gas and hit the road and boy they were bad. Since it was christmas the roads we unplaved the roads were rough so it was gonna be a long day of going slow. Border crossing was a joke some 60 yo US customs officer was at the booth 3 questions later into the US didn't care about the shotgun the dog nothing. But when we hit Tok we decided to keep going and pulled into Anchorage about 10 pm so 3100 miles later we were done

http://c1.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/1/l_9380cc6f83944fe99bbc8b95318889e0.jpg

 

[2drx4]

We got to Dawson Creek and pulled up the Alaska hotel and there was a women with a HUGE pipe smoking the riefer outside so on to the Super 8 we went, we were talking to the clerk at the super 8 and she told us that the Alaska Hotel had HOURLY RATES!! Thank god we decided to go somewhere else.

I lived in Dawson Creek for a while... And still go back there sometimes. 'The Alaska' is an interesting place, but NO, you don't want to stay there. But as a seedy bar, I'd say it has potential.

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Nice trip. At 40below, I'm glad I'm not there

 

[Willman]

Sweet trip my friend!!!

That is got to be one pretty drive!

I would love to do that in the summer on a motorcycle!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[JED THE SPREAD]

I cant get my head around -40. I am trying to but cant even imagine how cold that is.

jed

 

[RedDog]

I thought the shots really did capture the cold. It's been unusually nasty here and it's back again after a brief break. Currently -32ºc.

You also mentioned the traffic between Calgary and Edmonton. That's the QE2 right through the Alberta power corridor and it now carries the second highest volume of traffic in Canada. I'm exactly half way in the middle.

 

[Applejack]

I cant get my head around -40. I am trying to but cant even imagine how cold that is.

jed

That's exactly what I was thinking.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it.

 

[kerry]

Thanks for posting that. I've driven much of that route in the summer but it would take some serious motivation to get me on that road in winter. What preparations did you take to survive out on the road in case of a mechanical failure or sliding off the road?

 

[DH2002]

Had some mre's I had from the army propane heater tow straps 5 gallons of water etc.....

 

[TRDFAN]

That is an awesome trip! I have been wanting take a trip like that for a while. Do you think you could have done it with an RTT or something like that? Those temps are extremly cold. It would probably be pretty miserable but I am curious all the same. Cool pics too.