Looking for advices for a Canada/Alaska Trip
 

Hello,
we are looking for some advices.
My friend (Austrian - Honda African Twin) and myself (German- KTM 950 Adventure) – want to do a motorcycle tour through Canada and Alaska from the 21th of May to 23th of June.
The plan up till now:
- flying into Vancouver (21.05) with our bikes (fixed date)
- driving to Bellingham and taking the ferry to Haines (25 – 28.05) – Inland Passage – (already booked)
Then on the road: Haines to Anchorage - Kenai - Denali – Fairbanks – (Prudhoe Bay) – Dawson City - (Inuvik) – Top of the World Hwy. – Watson Lake – Dawson Creek – Jasper – Banff – Vancouver
That is the plan right now.
It is a shame – but we will have only 5 weeks all together for this trip, so we will see, if we can go to Prudhoe bay or/and to Inuvik.
Do anybody have some advices for us, what we should not miss, while we are in Alaska and Canada.
Or some special advices for places to stay. Or another route, towns and so on???
Please tell us.
Thanks
Henning

Looks like you've hit the highlights there. If you are sick of pavement and willing to miss Whitehorse, you could take Yukon 4 from Carmacks over to Ross River, then down to Watson Lake. I've taken that way a few times. Nice campground near the waterfall just south of Ross River, where there is also a hotel (at least in 2010 there was), with restaurant, fuel and grocery nearby. Watson Lake has the Northern Lights museum, (which I never fail to stop at) and on the south end of town is the Air Force Lodge... an old WWII vintage barracks superbly converted to a little hotel by a German couple.

Sounds like a great trip. Would love to take the ferry up the coast myself one day.

Hi Henning,

Sounds like a great trip, you'll have fun.

First comment, are you sure you don't want to do the trip counter clockwise, i.e. stay south initially and then head north and ferry back to Bellingham at the end the trip? You'll arrive in North America in late May which isn't bad, but it is a shoulder month (in between seasons) so the later you go in the season, the warmer it will be and the better chance you have for better weather. Not to say that late May can't be warm and June cold but arriving in Alaska in mid to late June sounds like a better plan than arriving in late May.

Second suggestion, an alternative route heading south is to take the Stewart-Cassiar highway (#17) south just before Watson Lake which then takes you through Prince George to Jasper. Nice ride.

Third suggestion, when heading back to Vancouver from Banff Hwy#1 is certainly nice but you also have options to detour through some of the less main roads through Cranbrook (on #93) and if you have time you can loop a bit and stop at some of the little mountain towns like Nelson, hop a ferry and cruise through the warm and sunny Okanagan region through towns like Vernon. Very nice detours, but you have to have time to do them. If you want, fire me an email and I can detail a couple of winding routes through the mountains that I would recommend.

Ride safe.

Thank you for your advices.
The time is fixed, and i have think about to do the tour clockwise, but for me it is better to be at the end near the place i have to return the bike. Because if we go clockwise the tour and something happened at the end we missed the ferry and then we have a great problem. in the other direction (when we will be close to Vancouver and something happened) we will put the motorcycle on a truck and went to Vancouver.
I hope the wheather god will be with us. And on the other hand in end of May (Begin of June) - maybe - there are not so much people (tourists) on the road and at the best places.
Thanks
Henning

Done Alaska/Canada three times and would go again in a heartbeat. Y'all have fun ...

11,000 miles in 22 days - Alaska 2008

Hey Henning,

Perfectly understandable logic to start far and work your way closer to home, especially when a person doesn't really know what it is like in Alaska. Take a look at the average weather at that time of year for the towns you'll be passing through to make sure you are well dressed for whatever the weather might be.

At least you will be late enough for the ferry at the end of the top of the world highway. Usually opens mid May once the ice flow has cleared the river. Prior to that, the highway isn't maintained.