Planning Stage - Alaska Arctic Jeep Expedition

Subject: Planning Stage - Alaska Arctic Jeep Expedition

I've been off the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for almost two weeks now. The Pacific Crest trail is a 2655 mile trail that begins at the border of Mexico and ends just 5 mile into Canada at a place called Manning Park, Canada. I hiked to the 702 mile mark (Kennedy Meadows) before taking what I thought at the time to be a short break to let the snow melt; that's when I received an email wanting to know if I was still in for the Arctic Jeep Expedition trip. While home I managed to sprain my back while rowing a boat (dinghy) and lifting our six month old chocolate lab (Lucy) out of the front (bow) end of the boat.

When I read the email it took me about two minutes to make the decision to go - with obviously support from my Logistician wife Patti; so, now comes the fun part - Planning!

Here is a SOMEWHAT rather brief description of the trip:

Trip total distance 8000 miles round trip give or take a few hundred miles or so. The Dalton Highway was apparently made famous by a trucker show called the Ice Road Truckers. This road is just 200 miles up on the Denali Highway; the original road to Denali National Park.

There are ONLY two roads in North American that cross the Arctic Circle. What we expect to see are snow covered mountains, clear wilderness streams, Glacier National Park in Montana and Canada, the Icefields Parkway the glacier capitol of the north. Towns with names like Coldfoot, Tok, Chicken, Eagle, and White Horse.

Since I am a member of the Jeep Expeditions group in Arizona (you can visit our web page at JeepExpeditions.org) we expect to depart Phoenix on or about 1 July 2011. Members of our club are also departing from California, Oregon and possibly a few other states . Our plan is to converge on the Icefields Parkway in Canada. From there we will travel to Dawson Creek taking the Alaska/Canada (ALCAN) Highway into Alaska and Fairbanks. This can be called the unofficial halfway point of our trip where we plan to service our vehicles before heading off to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean via the Dalton Highway.

From our farthest point north at Deadhorse, we plan to proceed to Denali National Park. The main group will leave Denali for Dawson Canada via Tok, Chicken and Eagle where we will start the Dempster Highway part of our trip. Note: This is the only road in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle. This road is 600 miles of dirt, mud, gravel as we push on to Fort McPherson and Inuvik Canada.

When we hit pavement again, we will make our way to the Vancouver area then down thru Washington, Oregon and California visiting a number of National Parks and Monuments along the way like Mt St Helens, Crater Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Monument and more.

Presently there are six in our group. More to follow on each one of them at a later date.

Day 1 is as follows: Meet at the McDonalds located at N33 47.889 W112 08.136 on or about Hwy 17 - Phoenix.

Day 1 - Phoenix to Fillmore UT- 496 miles

Day 2 - Planned stop at Golden Spike National Historic Site in Brigham City Utah - Camp at KOA or Super 8 Motel Dillon, MT 496 miles all Interstate Hwy.

Day 3- Camp at KOA in West Glacier Montana, Glacier National Park drive around 296 mile - 355 Half Moon Flats Rd. West Glacier Montana 59936 - 1.406.387.5341 or 1.800.562.3313

Day 4 – Head to Canada and Banf. Camp on Icefields Parkway on available Campground approx miles 297 to 350

Day 5 – Explore Icefields Parkway - meet the rest of the group in Jasper, Camp at Wapiti Campground in Jasper 93 miles

Day 6 - Head to Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaska Hwy. Super 8 Motel $141 AARP or Mile O Campsite $25 - 326 miles

Day 7 – Fort Nelson and Ramada – 280 miles

Day 8 – 320 miles to the Watson Lake area. Camping at Nugget City Campground - Km 1003 Mm 650

Day 9 – 325+ miles to Champagne , Camping at Otter Falls RV & Campground west of Champagne

Day 10 – 323 miles to TOK Alaska ! Golden Bear Motel and RV Park (one of two motels with WiFi in Tok)

Day 11 - 200 miles to Fairbanks – Super 8 Motel - all afternoon for oil changes, tire rotation, etc.

Day 12-14 – Head up the Dalton Hwy to Deadhorse, AK and our most northern destination. Experience 2 hours of night and the breathtaking northern lights. Camp on Galbraith Lake Campground on the way up, open on the way back.

Day 15 & 16 – Denali National Park - Denali Rainbow Campground, Motel and Mall - WiFi motel $150 camp $25RETURN TRIP - Dempster Hwy Group (color blue)

Day 17 Denail/McKinley, AK to Tok Alaska via Denali Hwy. Camp at the famous Sourdough Campground in Tok, AK

Day 18 Tok to Chicken, AK, a side trip to Eagle, AK with final destination Dawson City, YT, Canada Gold Rush Campground

Day 19 Dawson to the Dempster Hwy past the Arctic Circle to River Rock Campground 304 miles

Day 20 River Rock Campground YT to Inuvik NWT the northern most point of any road in Canada. Back to Ft McPherson for the night 293 miles Camp or Hotel (hotels approx $200 per night)

Day 21 Leave Ft McPherson for Hwy 2 and the end of the Dempster. 344 miles Camp in the vicinity of of Hwy 5 & 2

Day 22 Dempster to Haines Jct Yukon Territory - Camp at Nugget City Campground, Watson Lake - 566 miles - We can camp earlier if need be for less miles but camps are spread pretty far apart on this stretch

Day 23 Haines Junction Yukon Territory to Telkwa, British Columbia 529 miles Camp at Ft Telkwa Campground

Day 24 Ft Telkwa British Columbia to Lac La Hache British Columbia 411 miles Camp at Big Country Campground

Day 25 Lac La Hache, British Columbia to Ft Langley, British Columbia 275 easy miles Camp at Ft Langley Campground

Day 26 Ft Langley, BC to Mt Hood National Forest via Vancouver & Mt St Helens 329 miles - Optional via Mt Rainier National Park. Camp at Campground at Mt Hood

Day 27 Mt Hood to Crater Lake National Monument via Redmond, Bend & Newberry Volcanic National Monument. 293 MilesCamp at Crater Lake RV Resort

Day 28 Crater Lake to Red Bluff, CA via Lava Beds National Monument, Mt Shasta, Lassen Volcanic National Park, VolcanicScenic Byway 380 miles. Restful night at Days Inn Red Bluff, CA $49-$69

Day 29 The Sprint Home - Red Bluff, CA to some point around the I-5/I-210 interchange 491 miles

Day 30 The Last Leg to Phoenix - LA to Phoenix via I-10 407 miles.

The route will be reversed from Fairbanks with the same night time stops as on the trip up. Part of the group who will be taking the ferry back from Anchorage to Bellingham, WA.

So there you have it. Stay tuned for what should be some pretty reliable postings.

See you on the trail!

Trawlercat