Need Help Planning a Trip to Alaska in our 2014 Prius

Snow tires (regardless of season they are actually a cheap rally racers choice for gravel roads) solar phone and car battery chargers, plug in phone antennas if your phone has the option. Spare water and gas cans, tire plug kit (not that slime in a can crap), bear mace, paper maps and compass, lighters, flares guns, other survival basic stuff

 

Just got back from a 5,150 mile road trip from Utah to Alaska via the Alcan Highway. Averaged 70 mpg . Packed a full sized spare tire, 3 passengers and all our stuff which fit in the cargo area with room to see out of the rear wave window. Used the 2018 Milepost and created my own itinerary for this 3 week road trip which included a 5 night ferry ride from Whittier to Bellingham.

I used booking.com and planned motel stays with an 8 to 12 hour drive in between each stop. Mary's Motel in Golden, Motel 6 in Grand Prairie, Poplars Inn in Toad River and Glacier View Inn in Haines Junction.

I topped off the gas whenever I could but there were lots of stations along the route and it helped that the Prime could travel on 70 mpg.

We were lucky to have friends who put us up in Willow AK. After that we stayed at Carlos Creek in Denali and Alaska Moosehorn ABNB in Homer.

Take the 12 hour bus tour in Denali for $60 and try to get the driver, Wendy! She's awesome and stops for every wild life sighting! Don't fall for the $208 bus tour! They go to the same place and make frequent restroom stops. Wendy will tell you all about the wild life in Denali.

The roads were very good with a few construction spots. No traffic! Needed 3 car washes on my new Prime which I put on the Kennicot ferry (the staff was so friendly!)

What an awesome trip! Moose, bison, bald eagles, caribou, bears, humpbacks, porcupines, squirrels, hawk owls, cranes, more moose and more eagles. Best trip ever... So far


Oh and I used a whole bottle of insect repellent from Costco and mosquito punks! Don't just spray it on your skin. Spray on your hands and rub it all over. Those mosquitoes will find the tiny spot your spray missed! The punks were placed on the front porch or decks near the doors and kept them off of us. We could relax outside without being bothered as long as the punks were about 5 feet apart. I used 4 at a time.

 

Just seeing this thread now. We drove PA to AK and back last year, about 14,000 miles. Slept in the car a few nights, which is a nice little side-adventure in itself if are into that kind of thing!

We did it without a spare, but were well equipped with plug kit, compressor, variety of screws and gorilla glue. We had one flat on the Alcan. Plug kit and compressor took care of it. Still running that tire and plug. (Also got a screw in our new self-sealing Bolt tire. Didn't self-seal. Plug working fine there too). We did know that a major blow-out or sidewall damage could cost us a day or two of time and higher expense, but we were willing to go with that in exchange for the added space, esp. since we were RV'ing it.

Do visit Denali NP if you are able. (We volunteered close by a the Denali Education Center for 5 weeks). Also, Denali Highway was a highlight (Cantwell to Paxson). Somewhat rugged for most of the 134 miles-- more similar to the Alcan that I recall from 1970 when riding as a boy with my parents.

Enjoy!!

 

When are you planning to leave. I can write you more from vacation starting Thursday, until then I should really be doing other things!!

 

Great. More later.

 

A few more comments from our trip last year—
- I wish we had been more flexible with our itinerary and made spontaneous stops along the way. Liard River Hot Springs was also highly recommended to us by a number of people. Unfortunately we didn't stop.
- We drove up on the Alcan and returned on the Cassiar Highway which was nice.
- We took one of the 8 hour Glacier and Wildlife cruises out of Seward. Amazing. You may see some of that on your Juneau cruise, not sure.
- Our favorite hike on the whole trip was the Exit Glacier hike on the Harding Icefield Trail near Seward. If you are physically able to do that hike to the top, do it! 9 mile round trip, climbs 3500'. The hike begins by going through temperate rain forest, across alpine meadows and ends with a view over the 700 square mile Harding Icefield.

 

Two quick pics from our trip—
a) morning-after at a rest stop along the Alcan
b) No, not our tire. We met this guy along the road soon after we started on the 134 rugged and remote Denali Highway. Since we did not have a spare this certainly gave us pause! He was carrying two spares and this was the third flat on his trip, although he was doing a lot more back-country driving than we were. I tried in vain to help him remove that rock from his tire with a screwdriver and pliers. He was hoping to repair it, although I'm not sure if that would have been possible. He resorted to using one of his spares.

 

This is one of my favorite threads to date, thanks everyone for all the info shared. I just recently purchased my second prius, a 2009 touring and am planning several long road trips for this year. Oregon to Texas in June and Oregon to Michigan in April. I'm also fantasizing about a trip deep into western bc as well as west central Alaska. It looks like new tires are a great idea before starting a serious roadtrip.