Alaska Itinerary

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I previously laid out our tentative Alaska itinerary. So how did we do?

Date Planned Actual
7/17 Washington to Boston Bar, BC Washington to Boston Bar, BC
7/18 Boston Bar, BC to ?? Boston Bar, BC to Whiskers Point Provincial Park, BC
7/19 ?? to ?? Whiskers Point Provincial Park, BC to roadside pullout just past Fort Nelson, BC
7/20 ?? to Liard River Hot Springs Roadside pullout to Liard River Hot Springs
7/21 Liard River Hot Springs Liard River Hot Springs
7/22 Liard River Hot Springs to ?? Liard River Hot Springs to Whitehorse, YT
7/23 ?? to ?? Whitehorse, YT to Kluane Lake, YT
7/24 ?? to ?? Kluane Lake, YT to Tok
7/25 ?? to Tok Camping in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Nabesna Road entrance
7/26 Day trip to Slana entrance of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Tok to Fairbanks
7/27 Tok to Fairbanks Fairbanks
7/28 Fairbanks Fairbanks
7/29 Fairbanks Julie in Fairbanks; rest flightseeing over Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Parks
7/30 Julie in Fairbanks; rest flightseeing over Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic National Parks Fairbanks
7/31 Fairbanks Fairbanks to Denali
8/1 Fairbanks Denali National Park
8/2 Fairbanks Denali National Park
8/3 Fairbanks to Denali Denali to Palmer
8/4 Denali National Park Palmer to Soldotna
8/5 Denali to Solid Rock Bible Camp Soldotna
8/6 Hang out with a friend from NC at Solid Rock Bible Camp Soldotna to Homer
8/7 Solid Rock Bible Camp to Homer Homer
8/8 Homer Homer
8/9 Homer Homer to Soldotna
8/10 Homer Soldotna; Julie and kids hang out at Solid Rock Bible Camp
8/11 Homer to Seward Soldotna to Whittier
8/12 Kenai Fjords National Park Whittier
8/13 Kenai Fjords National Park Whittier to Anchorage
8/14 Seward Anchorage
8/15 Julie in Seward; rest do day trip to Katmai National Park out of Anchorage Julie in Anchorage; rest do day trip to Katmai National Park
8/16 Seward Anchorage to Seward
8/17 Seward Kenai Fjords National Park out of Seward
8/18 Seward Seward
8/19 Seward Seward
8/20 Seward Seward
8/21 Seward Seward to Anchorage
8/22 Julie in Seward; rest fly from Anchorage to Lake Clark National Park Julie in Anchorage; rest fly from Anchorage to Lake Clark National Park
8/23 Julie in Seward; rest at Lake Clark National Park Julie in Anchorage; rest at Lake Clark National Park
8/24 Julie in Seward; rest fly back from Lake Clark National Park Julie in Anchorage; rest fly back from Lake Clark National Park
8/25 Seward Anchorage to Kenny Lake
8/26 Seward to Glennallen Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, McCarthy Road entrance; Kenny Lake to Valdez
8/27 Wrangell-St. Elias National Park Valdez
8/28 Glennallen to Destruction Bay, YT Valdez to Donjek River, YT
8/29 Destruction Bay, YT to Haines Donjek River, YT to Haines
8/30 Ferry from Haines to Juneau Ferry from Haines to Juneau
8/31 Juneau Juneau
9/1 Ferry from Juneau to Gustavus Ferry from Juneau to Gustavus
9/2 Glacier Bay National Park day tour ferry Glacier Bay National Park day tour ferry
9/3 Ferry from Gustavus to Juneau Ferry from Gustavus to Juneau
9/4 Ferry from Juneau to Haines Ferry from Juneau to Haines
9/5 Haines Haines
9/6 Head towards Glacier National Park Haines to south of Whitehorse, YT
9/7 Head towards Glacier National Park South of Whitehorse, YT to Morchuea Lake, BC
9/8 Head towards Glacier National Park Morchuea Lake, BC to Fort Fraser, BC
9/9 Head towards Glacier National Park Fort Fraser, BC to Jasper National Park
9/10 Head towards Glacier National Park Jasper National Park
9/11 Head towards Glacier National Park Lake Louise, AB (Banff National Park)
9/12 Head towards Glacier National Park Lake Louise, AB to Montana

Flexibility turned out to be key for this trip, and I'm glad we didn't book lodging ahead of time (we never had an issue getting a site on short notice).

A few things one can glean from this:

  • Fairbanks isn't nearly as interesting as we thought it would be. It's an average town whose claim to fame is being really far north and therefore really cold in the winter. We cut our stay short, and we would have cut it even shorter had I not had some RV issues I had to address while we were in a city with actual stores. Unless you are going to see the northern lights, you can skip Fairbanks. It was light 24 hours a day when we were there, so this wasn't even an option for us.
  • It made more sense to be parked in Anchorage for our flights from there. That made life a lot easier on Julie.
  • We unfortunately didn't get to visit with our NC friend at Solid Rock Bible Camp; she had to head back to NC earlier than planned.
  • Homer, Seward, Homer, Seward... we got all kinds of opinions from folks on where we should spend our time. They are both small fishing villages at heart, and the weather was so bad for us in both that we don't have fond memories of either. I'm sure they are both beautiful if the weather cooperates, but I'd be hard pressed to recommend one over the other. I ended up working most of the time in both towns.
I won't lie, this was a taxing itinerary. We knew it would be, but I don't think any of us appreciated just how much we'd be moving around. Unless you are familiar with this area of the world, it's hard to grasp by reading words on a screen, but there was a lot of driving involved. It's a big state, and there is a lot of ground to cover just to get to and from it.

If we ever return, we'll pick a few things and really focus in on those. If I take the silver lining view of the terrible weather we had, it's that we have plenty of opportunities to visit places we've already been while seeing new things!

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