Denver To Alaska December 08

[DH2002]

well I finally made it it took 6 days and alot of miles but my wife and I made the trip from Denver to Anchorage to relocate, it was fun but it being in the middle of winter, christmas time and being on a time crunch (wifes job) we were booking the whole way. Ran into a coupld of problems but we overcame but got some good pics and it was a trip to remember so enjoy...

Day 1 December 21

We were hoping to leave early in the morning but due to scheduling conflicts and friends wanting to take us out for lunch we didnt leave until about 130 pm. Our destination was Billings, Montana about 550 miles away since the sun was setting early we did most of our driving in the dark and when we got to Billings we were both beat so the first place we grabbed was a horrible Best Western, but as bad as it was it was a place to lay the head and catch up on some zzzzzz,s

The truck filling up ready to go

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[DH2002]

Day 2 December 22

Woke up in Billings Montana to a cool 3 below, after grabbing breakfast at IHOP we hit the road destination was Calgary Canada about 541 miles away. But after hearing that the highway to Butte and up to Great falls was clogged due to snow drifts we decided to take the Lewis and Clark trail and avoid the highway. It was definately worth it the vastness of Montana is breathtaking and beutiful even in winter time. When we hit the border it was easy had to declare a shotgun and ammo it took about 30 minutes and 25 bucks and that was it. We got into Calgary about 8 pm and decided to stay at the Westin Calgary. We ate at this steakhouse called Kegs it was awesome had the ballpark steak and shrimp it was great will be going there again if I am passing through. The hotel's underground garage was full but they let us park the truck in a service bay so it would be secure rather than parking outside in the overflow lot, so that was cool of them.


Lewis and Clark trail
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It was a little windy
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[DH2002]

Day 3 December 23

woke up to it being 6 below outside but the the parking garage was a warm 55. had breakfast in the hotel and the destination for the day was Dawson Creek about 548 miles away. Really hate to say but nothing exciting happened just a whole lot of traffic between Calgary and Edmonton and cold. We got to Dawson Creek and pulled up the Alaska hotel and there was a women with a HUGE pipe smoking the riefer outside so on to the Super 8 we went, we were talking to the clerk at the super 8 and she told us that the Alaska Hotel had HOURLY RATES!! Thank god we decided to go somewhere else.
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[DH2002]

Day 4 December 24

Woke up and it was cold about 29 below good thing I had the truck plugged in we hoping to get to Watson Lake 600 miles away but with it being christmas eve we knew gas would be scarce, boy were we right. After filling up in Fort Nelson there was NO gas for 320 miles until we reached Watson Lake thank god we brought fuel cans. Say some cool scenery but the best part was outside of watson lake we came upon 2 male buffalo fighting and a herd of about 7 buffalo standing in the street. We pulled up next to them and as we starting pulling away they starting running with the truck. Definately a cool experience. We pulled into Watson Lake and only one gas station would be open the next day on christmas BUT the desk clerk said last year the gass attendent got drunk and forgot to come on christmas day so we went to bed hoping.....

it was morning so...
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Kinda hard to see but the male buffalo fighting
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[DH2002]

Day 4 December 25

Woke up to a very cold 41 below but truck started so that was a relief. We headed to the gas stationg and sat there until about 11 when the clerk showed up and promptly up the price on the gas. About 93 dollars later and the wallets a little lighte we decided to take some pics of the sign forest but with it being 40 below we decided to stay in the truck. We only made it to Whitehorse since it was christmas and gas would be rare we went what we could and stopped early for the night

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[DH2002]

Day 5 Decmeber 26

Woke up in Whitehorse to about 10 below not bad considering the night before got gas and hit the road and boy they were bad. Since it was christmas the roads we unplaved the roads were rough so it was gonna be a long day of going slow. Border crossing was a joke some 60 yo US customs officer was at the booth 3 questions later into the US didn't care about the shotgun the dog nothing. But when we hit Tok we decided to keep going and pulled into Anchorage about 10 pm so 3100 miles later we were done
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[2drx4]

We got to Dawson Creek and pulled up the Alaska hotel and there was a women with a HUGE pipe smoking the riefer outside so on to the Super 8 we went, we were talking to the clerk at the super 8 and she told us that the Alaska Hotel had HOURLY RATES!! Thank god we decided to go somewhere else.


I lived in Dawson Creek for a while... And still go back there sometimes. 'The Alaska' is an interesting place, but NO, you don't want to stay there. But as a seedy bar, I'd say it has potential.

[Backwoods Rambler]

Nice trip. At 40below, I'm glad I'm not there :)

[Willman]

Sweet trip my friend!!!

That is got to be one pretty drive!

I would love to do that in the summer on a motorcycle!

Thanks for sharing!

[JED THE SPREAD]

I cant get my head around -40. I am trying to but cant even imagine how cold that is.

jed

[RedDog]

I thought the shots really did capture the cold. It's been unusually nasty here and it's back again after a brief break. Currently -32ºc.

You also mentioned the traffic between Calgary and Edmonton. That's the QE2 right through the Alberta power corridor and it now carries the second highest volume of traffic in Canada. I'm exactly half way in the middle.

[Applejack]

I cant get my head around -40. I am trying to but cant even imagine how cold that is.

jed
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it.

[kerry]

Thanks for posting that. I've driven much of that route in the summer but it would take some serious motivation to get me on that road in winter. What preparations did you take to survive out on the road in case of a mechanical failure or sliding off the road?

[DH2002]

Had some mre's I had from the army propane heater tow straps 5 gallons of water etc.....

[TRDFAN]

That is an awesome trip! I have been wanting take a trip like that for a while. Do you think you could have done it with an RTT or something like that? Those temps are extremly cold. It would probably be pretty miserable but I am curious all the same. Cool pics too.

[Ireland]

I would love to do that run sometime...Thanks for sharing

[Bill Beers]

I love this picture of the bridge leading into Teslin.

-Bill



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[DH2002]

That is an awesome trip! I have been wanting take a trip like that for a while. Do you think you could have done it with an RTT or something like that? Those temps are extremly cold. It would probably be pretty miserable but I am curious all the same. Cool pics too.

The main problem isthat so much is closed in the winter all the campgrounds I saw were shut down and must of the turn outs had no overnight parking hotels were easy to find since it was winter only truckers really drive it. If you could find a place to set up and had the right gear it would be sweet

[Something]

great pics
nice truck!

how many total miles?

[DH2002]

great pics
nice truck!

how many total miles?

Thanks was bout 3200 miles not to bad

[Zorro]

I cant get my head around -40. I am trying to but cant even imagine how cold that is.

jed

I can give you some pointers ... been snowboarding by -52C, it was -40C last weekend.

your nostrils freeze as if covered in dry snot (poor image, but that's exactly how it feels)
cold "attacks" any exposed body parts ... usually nose and the cheek bones. Obviously, that's assuming your ears and fingers are covered. A rather intense tingling feeling within seconds ... which turns rather painful for a few minutes when they warm up again. Nothing to get worked up over ... just wait it out.
If the cold is intense enough, it also feels as if your head was very slightly squeezed in a vice. Not painful or anything, just enough to notice.

I haven't had to deal with hypothermia yet, I dress in layers (2 socks, 3 pants, 3-4 shirts, balaclava, scarf and hat). However once you get cold or sweaty you're done until you find a warm place, and not just for an hour or 2. Talking getting warmed up for the night.

You can't get anything done outdoors. Everything takes forever because nothing works. Straps are frozen solid, anything plastic snaps ... god forbid you start touching some metal with your hands.
You have small gloves in the big gloves, can't grab anything, take the big ones off, small ones let the cold in and your fingers "freeze".

Oddly enough however, when it's that cold it's also very very very dry, and if you start sweating or plan to do some effort, you can open your coat and let the brisk air through to make sure you are dry.

When it's very cold the snow is incredibly light and fluffy ... best snow there is.

Cars hate it too.
Crank the engine in the morning and it will sloooowly go through the near solid oil. You can actually hear it turn over and gather speed. We have block heaters for that purpose.
My buddy's diesel truck did not start last weekend despite multiple glow plug cycles, fuel froze in the lines I think.
Any flaw in the car's mechanicals will show. Every single time the temps drop below -30 I see many cars on the side of the road with a broken component ... tierod, driveshaft ... you name it, it's not perfect it will break.
And if you have to do any repairs ... that's fun as well. You have to have a heated garage, and the car has to sit in it for a day or 2 in order to warm up just enough to be worked on not too uncomfortably.
I mean ... if you were stranded on the side of the road by -40, you could do the repairs ... but it would suck. Really suck.

Oh yeah, and at those temps, your tires are rock solid (even dedicated winter rubber) and the asphalt is frozen. We have black ice, ice so hard and clear that you do not see it at all. You just figure it out when you're going backwards into the ditch.

When you live in -40 climates, you pretty much try to hurry up from the house to the car, and from the car to the office.

[Sergeant_V]

whooah. I'm going to stay in the Southwest.

[DH2002]

Yeah it sucks but I love it I will take the cold over the heat anyday I just couldn't stand the heat when I visited family in Texas. They would say it's a dry heat but 110 still sucks dry or not. I can allways add more clothes I can only take off so much before I go to jail. I don't know you guys take the heat.

[Streakerfreak]

Yeah it sucks but I love it I will take the cold over the heat anyday I just couldn't stand the heat when I visited family in Texas. They would say it's a dry heat but 110 still sucks dry or not. I can allways add more clothes I can only take off so much before I go to jail. I don't know you guys take the heat.

You sound like me:elkgrin:

[canadianjk]

I cant believe I live an hour from the start of the Alaska highway and still cant manage to make time to get up there.

[buel09]

I'm curious what was the process to get the shotgun through Canada ...Thanks for sharing

[DH2002]

I'm curious what was the process to get the shotgun through Canada ...Thanks for sharing

All I did was pull up give all the paperwork when they asked if I had any weapons I told them I had a shotgun they gave me a slip and told me to come inside. My wife and I went inside they ran our backgrounds then we went to another desk another agent asked a couple of questions like why I had it, where I was going and so on. Then they came out to the truck and measured the barrel. Then went back inside paid 25 dollars and they stamped a paperwork which they told me to keep until I left Canada. It wasn't as bad as people say maybe 30 minutes total. Getting back into the us was easier showed them the canadien paperwork and that was it. It kinda helped that the canadien agents happened to be ex-military police and I was a mp in the army so they were really friendly

[silentsamurai]

sweet write up man! i am looking to take a trip from Orange, CA to Kennicott, Alaska soon. You and I have the same truck. I'm curious as to how many miles per tank you were averaging? on clubfrontier you know the speel. people were mentioning 350 a tank, sometimes more, sometimes less. When i fill up my truck and drive around the street it says a full tank is good for about 250 tops.

Basically I averaged it would take me 3,536 miles to get to alaska. at 300 miels per tank. $40 a tank to fill up.

3536 / 300 = 11.78 rounded to 13-14 tanks of gas 1 way

14 fill ups @ $40 a pop = $560.00 in gas one way.

Does that sound about right? your help would be greatly appreciated. And if you dont want to say how much it costs, thats cool. Just trying to prepare my wallet for the long haul.

Thanks for sharing and glad to hear our nissans can make it in such bad weather! :)


Cheers,
Adam

[DH2002]

gas will cost more in locations were supply is limited i would have about 800 dollars for gas at Watson Lake I paid about 92 canadien dollars to fill up so it adds up and with the gas mileage the truck was loaded down so I got about 250-270 a tank not to bad. Are you getting hotels or tenting it?

[silentsamurai]

i'll probably tent it to save more $$ :) Plus hte experience will be great. Thanks for the info.

Adam

[jeepmedic46]

Beautiful pics, Thank you for sharing.:smiley_drive:

[Powdaze]

Yeah it sucks but I love it I will take the cold over the heat anyday

Same here.

Great trip btw. Loved seeing those pics. We are taking a run from Colorado up to the circle later this year with a stop in Fairbanks to visit family on the way.