Heading North

One of the big open questions we had early on during this trip was whether or not we'd attempt to get to Alaska. We're trying to hit all of the national parks, and eight of them are in Alaska (with a combined area of double the other 55 combined).

I knew from day 1 that I wanted to go to Alaska, but I didn't know how feasible it would be. There is a fairly short window during which the weather is conducive (best to be gone by mid-September unless you plan on staying the winter). It's really, really far away (about 1,700 miles through Canada from Washington). It's also really, really big (over twice as big as Texas), so even once you cross into it, getting anywhere within it still takes a lot of time.

That, and we had to bide our time hitting the California parks to make sure they weren't still snowed in. That was going to take us through much of June, leaving us with a very small window to get through Oregon and Washington (and their four combined parks) with enough time left to do Alaska.

We also had some apprehension about the road to Alaska. We've heard some horror stories about busted tires and windshields.

After doing our research, which included talking to multiple people who have done the trip along with multiple people who are actually from Alaska, we decided to give it a go (to which Julie would say, "was there ever any doubt?").

Deciding to do it is one thing; actually planning a trip like this is an entirely different matter. After doing this for more than a year, we are halfway decent at planning and booking things now. But this process tested our skills.

This seems like a good time to mention that of Alaska's eight national parks, only three are accessible by car. A handful of them should really be wilderness areas instead of national parks, but I didn't make the rules. Planning driving trips to parks isn't all that hard. You just pick a day, make sure you have enough time and gas, and go. Now we had (got?) to bring land planes, seaplanes, and ferries into the mix!

So what does a trip to Alaska to "visit" (I use that word loosely, as you're about to see) the eight national parks look like? Something like this:

• 7/17: Washington to Boston Bar, BC
• 7/18: Boston Bar, BC to ??
• 7/19: ?? to ??
• 7/20: ?? to Liard River Hot Springs
• 7/21: Liard River Hot Springs
• 7/22: Liard River Hot Springs to ??
• 7/23: ?? to ??
• 7/24: ?? to ??
• 7/25: ?? to Tok
• 7/26: Day trip to Slana entrance of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
• 7/27: Tok to Fairbanks
• 7/28: Fairbanks
• 7/29: Fairbanks
• 7/30: Julie in Fairbanks; rest flightseeing over Kobuk Valley National Park and Gates of the Arctic National Park
• 7/31: Fairbanks
• 8/01: Fairbanks
• 8/02: Fairbanks
• 8/03: Fairbanks to Denali
• 8/04: Denali National Park
• 8/05: Denali to Solid Rock Bible Camp
• 8/06: Hang out with a friend from NC who is working at Solid Rock this summer (crazy coincidence, right?)
• 8/07: Solid Rock Bible Camp to Homer
• 8/08: Homer
• 8/09: Homer
• 8/10: Homer
• 8/11: Homer to Seward
• 8/12: Kenai Fjords National Park
• 8/13: Kenai Fjords National Park
• 8/14: Seward
• 8/15: Julie in Seward; rest do day trip to Katmai National Park out of Anchorage
• 8/16: Seward
• 8/17: Seward
• 8/18: Seward
• 8/19: Seward
• 8/20: Seward
• 8/21: Seward
• 8/22: Julie in Seward; rest fly from Anchorage to Port Alsworth
• 8/23: Julie in Seward; rest at Lake Clark National Park
• 8/24: Julie in Seward; rest fly from Port Alsworth to Anchorage
• 8/25: Seward
• 8/26: Seward to Glennallen
• 8/27: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
• 8/28: Glennallen to Destruction Bay
• 8/29: Destruction Bay to Haines
• 8/30: Ferry from Haines to Juneau
• 8/31: Juneau
• 9/01: Ferry from Juneau to Gustavus
• 9/02: Glacier Bay National Park Day Tour Ferry
• 9/03: Ferry from Gustavus to Juneau
• 9/04: Ferry from Juneau to Haines
• 9/05: Haines
• 9/06: Head towards Glacier National Park

You can glean a few pieces of information from this itinerary.

First, it's clearly not done. But it's much closer than it was a week ago, and there are only a few rough edges to smooth out. We probably won't plan all of our Canada stops anyway. Instead, we'll drive as far as we can each day and find a spot to stay once we're worn out. We'll slow down a bit on the way back through Canada to see some of the sights, but our goal on the way up is to get to Alaska as quickly as possible.

Second, Julie doesn't like flying. She's a trooper who will power through commercial flights, but she was out at the first mention of "seaplane." So she won't make it to all of the parks, but she's good with that, and we'll have pictures and stories to share with her. Plus, she's saving us a bunch of money by staying behind!

Finally, Juneau is an island only accessible by ferry, the only state capital that can claim that distinction.

Other than the flights and ferries, which are booked, the rest of this is fairly fluid. For example, we may decide to spend more time in Homer and less in Seward. We may decide to spend more or less time in Fairbanks. We didn't want to lock ourselves in too tight, which we've done for this entire trip so far due to my need to work. Instead, we wanted to retain the ability to react as the spirit moves us.

We leave the lower 48 in less than two weeks. We only have a few more supplies to pick up, but we're pretty much ready to go!