Alaska 2022

[NWIP]

Carmacks-Dawson City (220 mi)

Bonanza Gold RV Park is typical for the area and basic with full hookups and some 50a sites. Lots of seasonal workers in the area and they use the park for temporary housing.
T-Mobile-zero
AT&T-fair
Verizon-unknown
Park WiFi is intermittent as they are installing fiber in the area.

Road the last 100 miles is under construction, raising the road and installing new larger culverts, so travel was slow.

Lot’s to do in Dawson City; a visit to Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, Dredge #4 which was built 1912-13 and a ride to top of Dome for pictures.

 

[FLSteve]

@NWIP ... I just saw these posted on FB. Looks like your coach and license plate. Are you guys ok?????

FLSteve

 

[Neal]

I'm sure @NWIP will reply when he can. I have been in touch with him. He and Lisa are okay, the coach has been towed out safely and they are continuing on the journey. Stay tuned for the update when they can, they are obviously very busy with the situation and getting things settled back down.

 

[FLSteve]

Thanks for the quick update @Neal. I feel better now knowing this.

FLSteve

 

[Neal]

Let's respect their situation and not comment further on this thread or speculate until Bill shares the story.

 

[NWIP]

Let me first say I appreciate and understand everyone’s concern for our safety, yes we got out safely without a bruise except maybe my ego

Once off Top of the World Highway you cross into Alaska. Road to the border is wide with soft shoulder’s but easily passable with opposing traffic including fuel trucks and other support vehicles for mining in the area. Once across the border the next 13 miles is freshly (2019) paved road and then you come to the junction of AK-5 which is the Taylor Highway. Heading south takes you to Chicken and on to Tok, AK. Going north goes to Eagle and it is not recommended for RVs or large vehicles.

We travelled the Taylor Highway south toward Chicken as we had done back in 2019. Road is gravel and narrows with areas of soft shoulders and distance to Chicken is approximately 29 miles. We were 12 miles outside of Chicken and had opposing vehicles approaching, in an area of soft shoulder to the right. Although I was at least 3 feet from edge of the graded gravel it started giving way and the coach started sliding to the right as we traveled at 10-15 mph. This picture shows end result and the open driver’s window is how we got safely out.

We were in an area of Alaska with no cell service for another 80 miles however we were traveling with friends with a Satellite phone. This happened on Thursday and ultimately were able to arrange for 2 wreckers to recovery the coach on Friday evening. Lots of daylight and she was upright at 11pm. Amazing only damage was cosmetic from the recovery and we drove the coach to Chicken that night.

Can I recommend taking this route, NO. Will I take it again, no my success rate is only 50%.
We are planning on continuing our trip and will post progress as time permits.

 

[Neemer]

I’m so glad things turned out as they did. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

[AuntieDodo]

Happy to hear you are safe and sound without too much damage.

Shake it off and continue to enjoy your trip.

Satellite phone sure was a good thing to have on board.

 

[B & J T]

Great thread and information, thanks for posting and glad everything turned out okay after that sidestep. Someday we hope to make this trek.

 

[J&JD]

God love ya NWIP’s, keep on truckin!

 

[Magua]

Incredible that there was no damage to the underside of your coach. So glad that you are able to continue your trip. Please keep the info coming

 

[NWIP]

I’m going to try and catch up here a little on our trip.

Dawson City-Chicken-Tok

This route requires taking a ferry across the Yukon River, which is free. I think post #46 gives pretty good description of the road condition and what you might face. Although I didn’t think being in remote area without cell was a big deal, if anything goes amiss communication is paramount. Having a Sat phone available or some means of communication is important.

Chicken Gold Camp is a nice campground, they have limited WiFi available. 30a service is available, potable water and dump station on request.

Tok RV Village
AT&T-Good 3 bars
T-Mobile poor
Verizon-NA
Park WiFi-good but basic
Cable-about 18 channels

This park is very nice for Alaska standards. Two was racks which can be busy. They provide a .10 discount for fuel across the street which equated to $5.94 a gallon. Fast Eddie’s is a great little restaurant close by and Three Bears Outpost and groceries for supplies. Plenty of RV repair facilities, however parts are limited and take awhile to arrive if needed.

 

[NWIP]

Tok-Fairbanks 202 miles

River’s Edge RV Park
AT&T-Good
T-Mobile-No
Verizon-NA
Park WiFi-okay

This park is okay but tight and used by a lot of the caravans, so busy. We only had 30a service, full hookups site.

There is a Costco, Walmart, Fred Myers and Home Depot. Riverboat Discovery cruise is something worth doing with a float plane landing along side.

Other things in the area to see: University of Alaska museum, Pioneer Village which has dry camping in the parking lot for $12 a night, Cookie Jar is great for breakfast.

 

[Jim]

This picture shows end result and the open driver’s window is how we got safely out.

Wow, just wow. Thank god you guys are OK. That must have been one hell of a ride!

 

[NWIP]

Wow, just wow. Thank god you guys are OK. That must have been one hell of a ride!

Yeah our son said well you always wanted a Mountain Aire, what a smart a**

 

[sanda]

I’m going to try and catch up here a little on our trip.

Dawson City-Chicken-Tok

View attachment 13003

This route requires taking a ferry across the Yukon River, which is free. I think post #46 gives pretty good description of the road condition and what you might face. Although I didn’t think being in remote area without cell was a big deal, if anything goes amiss communication is paramount. Having a Sat phone available or some means of communication is important.

Chicken Gold Camp is a nice campground, they have limited WiFi available. 30a service is available, potable water and dump station on request.

Tok RV Village
AT&T-Good 3 bars
T-Mobile poor
Verizon-NA
Park WiFi-good but basic
Cable-about 18 channels

This park is very nice for Alaska standards. Two was racks which can be busy. They provide a .10 discount for fuel across the street which equated to $5.94 a gallon. Fast Eddie’s is a great little restaurant close by and Three Bears Outpost and groceries for supplies. Plenty of RV repair facilities, however parts are limited and take awhile to arrive if needed.

Did you find out how Chicken got its name?

 

[NWIP]

Did you find out how Chicken got its name?

Yes they couldn’t ptarmigan so they just named it Chicken

 

[NWIP]

Fairbanks-Nenana-Denali (113 miles)

We decided to stop in Nenana for a night, just because. Small town which was a railroad stop on the Nenana River. Now it’s claim to fame is the Nenana Ice Classic which they bet on the exact time of ice breakup on the river (day, hour, minute and second). This sets you back $2.50 per guess with over 300k entries last year and pot was over $330k.

Moocher’s was an interesting bar where the floor is about a foot lower in the middle, tables have blocks under legs so your beer doesn’t slide off.

Monderosa Bar and Grill is a great place to eat about 3 miles out of town. Power was out when we got there but beer was cold so we decided to stick it out hoping power would be restored, it was about an hour later. GREAT BURGERS

Continuing on to Denali RV Park which is located about 5 miles north of the Denali National Park entrance. This park is tight but manageable.

30a service full hookup
Park WiFi-limited
T-Mobile-none
AT&T-2 bars
Verizon-NA

Moose hanging out at entrance of park. Took the bus in which only goes 43 miles in has the road is closed beyond. Still worth the trip in but saw no bears.

 

[Neal]

@NWIP do we have any stats on fishing yet? What's the catch to date?

 

[NWIP]

@NWIP do we have any stats on fishing yet? What's the catch to date?

We have been more on a brewery expedition so far, I think the count is around 13 so far .

Salmon have not made it to a lot of the rivers up north although any day. We planned most of the fishing for the Kenai peninsula and start later this week.