Trip costs?

[Veebyes]

Even for those who try to do the North in a few weeks or a month there are some fixed costs. Transportation costs won't vary much. The big part is getting there & coming back. Those with time don't add up that much more with their additional side trips.

Based on past experience, both on previous trips to the North & other multi thousand mile, multi month trips I figure about $150 per day without pinching dollars too much.

This covers fuel at $3 gal (will be more in Canada), 10 MPG (we actually do a little batter), 15,000 miles give or take (12,500 pulling trailer). A few $G for things like oil changes, & stuff that goes wrong. CGs at $35PN (Some will be more, most less). Food at about $25PD. A few $G for what we call Mad Money (tours, restaurants & such). Some extras like the ferry to Vancouver island.

Not many can do a trip like this & not think at least a little about costs. It all adds up. Gotta eat wherever you are. Gotta use CGs as well. The fuel & potential repairs are the biggies.

Three trips to AK since 2008 & costs have not gone up much. Maybe we are getting better with experience. We do try to stay out of restaurants & only use private CGs for laundry & sometimes WIFI needs.

Hope to do that $150PD, or less, again next year.

[Veebyes]

Grit dog wrote:

Veebyes wrote:
Vehicle service is a biggie. Preventative maintenance is the best way to go but it can still add up to as much as fuel. Gave my truck a thorough going over last month before going into storage. New bushings, tranny oil & filter change, diff oil change & seal replacement, bunch of other parts worn that one might expect on an 11 year old near 200,000 mile truck, but it drives like new now. No rattles. No clunks.

Might need new batteries when the key gets turned again next spring but other than that it is ready to do another 15,000 mile trip to Alaska.

But that’s not a trip cost per se any more than it is to drive your vehicle anywhere else.
I could say the last trip to the grocery store cost me $700in trip cost because I replaced the unit bearings and u joints on the truck the day before I went to the store.
Then again, I don’t save up a bunch of repairs or maint to complete for right before a big trip. Generally take care of stuff as it’s needed.

In my mind vehicle maintenance is amortised over an annual basis. My truck is not a daily driver. It sits, November to April each winter, in storage. It gets treated more like I maintained my boats. Preventative maintenance. Before starting a big trip where a garage is not in every little town & there are not many towns to begin with, I want everything in top shape.

Almost 200,000 miles & except for once taking on bad fuel the truck has never let us down. The vast majority of those miles have been towing miles.

[Grit_dog]

Veebyes wrote:
Vehicle service is a biggie. Preventative maintenance is the best way to go but it can still add up to as much as fuel. Gave my truck a thorough going over last month before going into storage. New bushings, tranny oil & filter change, diff oil change & seal replacement, bunch of other parts worn that one might expect on an 11 year old near 200,000 mile truck, but it drives like new now. No rattles. No clunks.

Might need new batteries when the key gets turned again next spring but other than that it is ready to do another 15,000 mile trip to Alaska.

But that’s not a trip cost per se any more than it is to drive your vehicle anywhere else.
I could say the last trip to the grocery store cost me $700in trip cost because I replaced the unit bearings and u joints on the truck the day before I went to the store.
Then again, I don’t save up a bunch of repairs or maint to complete for right before a big trip. Generally take care of stuff as it’s needed.

[SailingOn]

81 days, June-September 2017, Austin-Alaska-Austin:
15.7 mpg, 10429 miles, $1850.29 for fuel;
$2167.88 for 5 ferry trips up the coast, Vancouver-Haines;
$1711.94 for campgrounds, many nights dry camping;
$498.99 in restaurants, $947.88 for groceries;
$299 for an oil change and replacing one leaking valve stem;
plus purchases, fun, gifts
total $9003.64, or $111.16 a day.
The Winnie View cut the cost of the ferries about in half compared to truck and 5th wheel, and made getting into National Forest and BLM campsites easy.
I was impressed by how often we found private campgrounds full, expensive, and crowded and nearby NF sites large, treed and near empty.
And yes, we made it through Alaska's gravel roads including the Top of the World Highway without incident, then on a 4 lane divided highway in Canada lost the windshield to a passing truck. Insurance paid for that; don't forget glass coverage!

[Veebyes]

Vehicle service is a biggie. Preventative maintenance is the best way to go but it can still add up to as much as fuel. Gave my truck a thorough going over last month before going into storage. New bushings, tranny oil & filter change, diff oil change & seal replacement, bunch of other parts worn that one might expect on an 11 year old near 200,000 mile truck, but it drives like new now. No rattles. No clunks.

Might need new batteries when the key gets turned again next spring but other than that it is ready to do another 15,000 mile trip to Alaska.

[thedavidzoo]

This past summer we traveled from VA to AK, 63 days, 13,300 miles, 4 adult sized humans.
Almost $6400 averaged out to $102 per day. Mostly boondocking, we stay away from restaurants & commercial campgrounds. Includes a ferry ride, US tolls and $570 in tours/entrance/bus fees.
$3200 in diesel
$1500 groceries
$500 in state/provincial/nat'l campgrounds (would have been lower but we weren't as aggressive with boondocking on first 1/4 of trip).
No vehicle maintenance, that was a whopper service when we got back home...
It can be as "cheap" or $$$$ as you feel comfortable.

[lakeside013104]

We traveled from Northern Maine to Alaska and back starting early May and returning in July. 13,000 miles driven, two oil changes, no flats, no broken windshield, no vehicle damage. Highest price paid for diesel in the US was in Pennsylvania ($3.85 per gallon). Highest price paid in Canada was on Alaska Hwy in the Yukon ($6.49 US per gallon).

Total expenses for entire trip was around $12,000. We did not want for anything. Ate good, slept perfectly. That figure included three Alaskan fishing charters at $378 each. The biggest expense was fuel, then campgrounds, then the cost of shipping 146 pounds of Alaskan halibut and salmon filets home. We brought home 40# of fish in the freezer, ate 20#s of fish while there and gave away about 100#s of fish to other fisherman who were not so successful.

Driving to Alaska and back and spending several months in the last frontier is certainly a memorable event. We even drove to the entrance of the Kilchers Homestead in Homer. What a beautiful place Alaska is and getting there via Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise was a bonus for sure.

I shared with our blog followers so many amazing pictures of scenery and wildlife. Anyone who enjoys nature and likes being in beautiful and natural outdoor settings needs to drive to Alaska. Priceless!

Lakeside

[Veebyes]

We bought the toursaver for the 2008 trip. Really worthwhile back then. Didn't get it for 2011 & 2014 trips. The book does not seem to be what it used to be for customer value. Wonder if the vendors are giving a smaller discount but have not raised the rack rate of services over the years?

[fanrgs]

Good to see Major Marine back in the TourSaver, but $50 off of a 7.5-hour tour is not nearly the "2 for 1" savings that we used to get from them. The 2 for 1 savings paid the cost of the book by itself.

[2gypsies1]

fanrgs wrote:
We have always relied on the TourSaver to cut tour costs when we are in Alaska, but our favorite--Major Marine--no longer has coupons for their Kenai Fjords tours.

Major Marine is still listed for Kenai Fjords:

https://www.toursaver.com/deal/dealview/action/list/?SGLSESSID=p7pndffdpd6tf23cee3hhgoum1&/1/

[fanrgs]

Veebyes wrote:
After a few years of not being part of it I see K2 Aviation has an offer in the tour saver book. Just one tour & it is 20% off, not a 2 for 1, but it is a great tour with the glacier landing.

We have always relied on the TourSaver to cut tour costs when we are in Alaska, but our favorite--Major Marine--no longer has coupons for their Kenai Fjords tours. The book is still a worthwhile investment, but now you have to really want to do the tours/charters that are available in the book to get your money's worth.

Best advice is to buy it on-line before your trip to be able to use it in places like Skagway, but it is also available at select grocery stores in the larger cities. You can get more info about it or purchase it HERE.

[Veebyes]

After a few years of not being part of it I see K2 Aviation has an offer in the tour saver book. Just one tour & it is 20% off, not a 2 for 1, but it is a great tour with the glacier landing.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

petrel wrote:
We took our family of six up to AK in the summer of '16. We found that boon docking, avoiding restaurants, and staying out of gift shops seemed to be the best way to keep costs down, without limiting our enjoyment of the area.

Fishing charters, plane charters, and tours tend to jack up the overall cost, but we could not reconcile traveling that far and not seeing everything we could.

X2 🙂

We boondock a lot when travelling through BC, Yukon and up to Alaska. Rarely eat out except to "try" which usually means "share" something you just can't miss or an area is known for so to speak.

Like you we wouldn't not allow funds/budget, within reason, to do things that we really wanted to when in any area we might not get the chance to do again. To us that would be a false economy on our part.

[petrel]

We took our family of six up to AK in the summer of '16. We found that boon docking, avoiding restaurants, and staying out of gift shops seemed to be the best way to keep costs down, without limiting our enjoyment of the area.

Fishing charters, plane charters, and tours tend to jack up the overall cost, but we could not reconcile traveling that far and not seeing everything we could.

[Dennis12]

You will be surprised what you save using a Walmart a couple nights of travel. Get on gas buddy and watch your fuel cost.