Heading to an RV Trip in Alaska: Any Advice?
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Anonymous
| In Yellowstone area they recommend bear spray - do they have that in Alaska? And does it work to scare off bears? |
Anonymous
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OP here, thanks for all these replies!!! Especially all the info about the bears. I truly did not have that on my radar at all. I've encountered brown bears while camping and backpacking in Yosemite and Glacier, but that was 25 years ago when I was young and brave and traveling without kids. I did a lot of homework (thanks to the PPs from Alaska who told me to get smart on this) and now we're the proud owners of two canisters of UDAP bear spray, 4 sets of bells, and 2 whistles. And lots of tips on how to store food inside the RV. Also, thank you to the person who posted the Milepost link. It arrived today, and it's awesome.
Our itinerary is roughly as follows: Day 0: arrive in anchorage at 11:30 pm, sleep in motel Day 1: Anchorage: pick up RV, go to Costco and stock up, and drive to denali (if we have the energy, if not, just stay in anchorage for the day) Days 2 - 4: Denali: Hiking, doing the bus tour, possibly doing a white water rafting trip outside of the park; visiting talkeetna on the way out Days 5- 10: Kenai peninsula: scenic train; sea kayaking; boat trips in resurrection bay and prince william sound; glacier hike; seward sealife center, etc. I can't remember all the details but we have something planned pretty much every day. hopefully we're not over-scheduling but since I don't know that we'll ever get back there, I definitely want to squeeze in as much as possible. I'll report back when we return with more details for those who are interested in doing a similar trip.  Thanks again for all the great advice!!
I'll report back when we return.... |
Anonymous
I'm from Alaska, and this is all true. Except I'd recommend Fred Meyer or Carrs instead of Walmart. You can get the milepost at Costco, too. |
Anonymous
Bear spray is not a deterrent (like mosquito spray), it's something you use if a bear is actively charging you. It has to be accessible when you're hiking. There are no recorded attacks of bears on groups of more than 4 (? I think. Might be 5) people, so be noisy. That being said, it has been a bear-y year. I wouldn't go hiking around creeks, especially unprepared. In Anchorage, maybe. Be careful about food storage -- not sure if you'll ever be sleeping outside of the RV, but if so ANY food and ANY smelly stuff (toothpaste!) should NOT be in your tent, ever. (I'm a different Alaska person than the other person, but I did grow up there and my family still lives there. Also, we didn't own guns). |
Anonymous
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I lived in Alaska for several months, many years ago--
your itinerary sounds great (I lived in Seward and loved that area and the Kenai peninsula). My only rec would be to consider checking out Denali State Park. I found it to be really beautiful and there was literally almost no one there (compared to the NP). I camped either in or very near it (can't recall now) and it was great. I'll also second the food recs. When I moved up there I was astonished at how expensive groceries were (within Seward). You'll do better around Anchorage. |
Anonymous
I mean, people might disagree but I grew up in Anchorage and there's plenty to do... really, to eat. It's a large, diverse town with some good restaurants -- every single Alaskan will recommend the Moose's or Bear's tooth for pizza and beer, you can get coffee at Kaladi, Snow City or Middleway do good breakfasts, and there are other good options too. Given that you get in late and will have traveled a lot, I'd stay in Anchorage that first night UNLESS you know that the weather at Denali is A+, in which case book it up there because that is unlikely to remain the case. There are some really nice parks in Anchorage, with great views, so don't discount it despite what some people will say about it being too big or too boring. It's not. |
Anonymous
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OP here. I'm back and I survived the bears and the RV!! The RV was scarier than the bears. Here's our itinerary for those who asked:
- Day 0: We arrived at around midnight alaska time, which was 4am ET. Very very exhausted. Slept at the Marriot suits in downtown anchorage. - Day 1: Walked around anchorage, then went to pick up our RV at Clippership RV rentals. I do NOT recommend them. ABCmotorhomes is a better place to rent from, if you're looking to do a similar trip. Our RV was old and crappy, the bedding sucked, the BED sucked, and their customer service was lacking. Anywho... went to Walmart to stock up on supplies, and then drove up to Denali. We arrived around 9pm (still very light out!), found our campground (Riley Creek, right inside the park entrance), and got settled in. Made my first RV dinner. Woohoo! -Day 2: Woke up to a very cold rainy day. Our plan was to hike but it was realllly pouring. We slept late, took the shuttle bus from the campground over to the Wilderness Access Center (saw a moose walking right by us at the bus stop!!!!!!!!) and figured out our plans for the next day. There are a bunch of bus trips you can take from the Wilderness Center, depending on what you want to do in the park. You can only drive 15 miles into the park. After that, you have to take one of their buses. There's just one road that goes into the park. We made reservations for the next day to take the shuttle bus that goes about 60 miles into the park, to the Eielson Visitors Center. Then we went to the nature center (very close, but we took a shuttle b/c it was pouring) and then walked over to the visitors center. The visitors center is great, tons of information about the park and the state. There's a shuttle bus from the visitor's center that you can take to the sled dog kennels, where they do demonstrations and you can pet some of the dogs. you can also hike to the kennels. Again, rain --> shuttle. But we hiked back from the kennel all the way to our campsite, b/c there was a glorious break in the rain. Of course, that break ended, and we spent the rest of the night hanging out in the RV. - Day 3: Took the shuttle bus to the Eielson visitors center. It's about 3.5-4 hours each way, b/c there's just one long windy road, and the bus driver stops to point out wildlife. At Eielson, we got off and did the alpine trail hike, which was awesome. It's shortish (1 mile?) but there's a 1,000 foot elevation gain so you are working pretty hard. Amazing views of the Alaskan Range from the top. By the time we got back to our campsite it was pretty late, so we made dinner and relaxed in the RV. Our plan to spend most of our non-sleeping hours outside were felled by all the rain. - Day 4: Left Denali National Park and drove down to Denali State Park to do the Little Coal Creek hike. Highly recommend. Again, we got great views of the Alakan Range... AND!! We saw actual Denali!! The clouds cleared, the sun came out, and we had a perfect view of the mountain, which (I had no idea) is not visible all that often. Someone told us later that week that all the tour operators are warned not to ask visitors if they saw Denali, b/c only about 1/3 of them do, and the rest who don't get very pissy about it. After the hike we drove to the town of Talkeetna, walked around, and had a great dinner. Left there are drove all the way to Eagle River campground, which is right outside of anchorage.
- Day 5: Took the alaskan railroad scenic train from Anchorage to Whittier. In Whittier, we took a Glacier Cruise (about 5 hours), and then boarded the railroad to get home. All in all about a 10 hour day. Totally worth it. One of the best days of our trip, hands down. For food, there was a cafe on the train, and we bought the buffet lunch with our cruise. - Day 6: Drove from Anchorage to Seward, on the kenai penninsula. On our way to Seward, we stopped at Exit Glacier and hiked up to the Glacier. You can ask for a park ranger to lead you. We didn't plan to do that, but a ranger was coming out of the visitors center with another couple just as we were getting our bearings, so we joined his group and I have to say, it was great. He told us so much about the history of the glacier and the surrounding area. Was totally worth it. Then we drove to Seward, and parked the RV at the waterfront RV site, which was AMAZING. It's first come, first served (no reservations), and I am so glad we got a limited spot there. Once we parked and got settled in, we took off for a hike (Caines head). Gorgeous hike, gorgeous views once we got to the water. - Day 7: Whoo boy. This day was a bummer. We were so excited for this one excursion, which involved taking a boat to an area where we'd pick up sea kayaks, and then kayak in a protected area, before taking a boat back. First, the weather that day was HORRIBLE. Pouring rain, wind, cold, etc. They told us at one point on the boat that if they'd known the water was going to be so rough, they would've cancelled. Second, I was picturing a small cruise-type boat, like the kind we took for the glacier cruise, but no. It was this little metal sea taxi, which was super uncomfortable. The water was so rough that both coming and going, my son basically had a panic attack. He started stripping off all his many layers and had to go sit on the boat deck (which was semi-protected from the wind and waves) to calm down. One man threw up all over the deck. it was awful. The sea kayaking was horrible too b/c we were getting hammered with rain, and all our rain gear was getting soaked. The tour operator gave us waterproof pants and jackets, but they all got soaked through. We were frozen, wet, and miserable. the boat ride home took over 3 hours because they kept having to cut the engines so we wouldn't crash head-first into the waves. By the time we got back, went back to the office to return the rain gear, and then back to our RV, I was sure that at least one of us was going to end up with pneumonia. We had planned to take it easy that night and go out to dinner, but it was still pouring. We all napped, and my kids were so exhausted that we didn't bother to wake them up for dinner. They both slept until 9 am the next morning!!!! Of course, the next day and the several days after that, the weather was gorgeous. It would've been a completely different trip had it not been so rainy and windy. 
- Day 8: After the crazyness of the previous day, we wanted a relaxing day. So we went out to breakfast, then toured the Alaska Sea Life Center. Went out to lunch, walked around downtown Seward, and generally had a much needed lazy day. In the afternoon we drove to Cooper Landing, an area on the Kenai River, and camped at the Princess Cruise Line's lodge/campground. We splurged on that campground but it was worth it. The RV campground was connected by a path to the Princess Lodge, which was fun to walk around. They also had a nice trail down to the Kenai river. That was one of few days/nights that it didn't rain, so we took advantage and played frisbee out in the campground, ate outside, etc. etc. I had hoped that every night could be like that (and not just to reduce the amount of time spent in the RV) but alas, it was a very rainy week. - Day 9: Drove from Cooper Landing to the Alyeska Hotel, where we took the tram up to the top of the ski mountain and then hiked from there. We had booked a tour to hike on the glacier there, but apparently the glacier was unstable so they weren't letting us do that. Our guide was awesome though. He took us everywhere else, and was incredibly knowledgeable about the crazy geography there. We had planned to camp that night on a pullout on the Seward Highway (Beluga Point) but ended up booking a room at the Alyeska Hotel instead and treating ourselves to a night in a real bed, since it was our last night in Alaska. - Day 10: Drove about 20 minutes from the hotel to the Alaksa Wildlife Conservation Center, where they rehab orphaned wildlife. We saw moose, bears, reindeer, bison, lynx, eagles, foxes... Very nice place, and they take great care of the animals. Then we went into a mad rush of packing and cleaning the RV before driving back to Anchorage to drop it off and get to the airport. Flew home through San Francisco, which I do not recommend. It was like taking two cross-country flights. That's all I've got! It was an AWESOME trip. Despite the rain and some of the other (mostly RV-related) setbacks, I would do this trip again in a heartbeat. I'd probably skip Denali though, and spend more time on the kenai penninsula. We kept hearing from other travelers about Homer and how nice it is to visit there, but it was too far a drive for us. Next time. But in any case, I'd say that Alaska is extremely easy to travel in by car, and while it seems like most people think a cruise is the default way to go there, there are so many wonderful things to see and experience on land. And the people were sooooo nice. At one point my son said "Alaskans are so nice! Is it the law here?" LOL!! Spoken like a true Washingtonian.
Thanks again to the PPs for your advice.... now back to work and reality. |