Alaska 22 Prudhoe Bay on Moto, Alaska by class C

[cbigham]

Hello,
We are headed to Alaska this summer from LA, CA. Have a short 24 ft class C. Part of this trip will be to ride a motorcycle up the haul road to Prudhoe Bay with a buddy who is riding his Africa twin up from LA. He asked I join him so will take a street legal dirt bike with bags for camp gear. I understand the mechanics of how that tour works.

After the Prudhoe run, the family will fly into Fairbanks, begin our tour. Buddy will head home. We will go south to Anchorage area, to some Kenai stuff. Have a friend to visit in Cooper Landing . Mess around there a bit, take the eastern hwy out to Tok and work our way thru Canada.

Questions:
1. Should we bring our Jeep? I can hang a dirtbike off the back. Will this make things easier or are most attractions along major roads?
2. Wife likes to fish. Along the route from Fairbanks to Anchorage, to Kenai to Tok is there anything like a guide, lodge or even rv area where we could do this for a few days? I'd seen Lake Clark has some nice fly in lodges, treat you well, you do pay..but we don't know where to leave our equipment and may bring dog. .so rv based would be best.
3. Any real scenic camps you recommend?
4. Are Canadian campgrounds easy to get in and out with a towed car for the transit? Thanks

Chuck

[cbigham]

Ol'Coot-
Thanks, thats that's a hot tip will check. At dinner she said why don't we all ride the jeep to Prudhoe? My plan was to ride with my bike buddy. Why I asked.. when sitting at the table in the lunch room, IL have something interesting to tell them I did.. not many people go to the Arctic ocean..Will see!

[SideHillSoup]

The App:

ArriveCan App

Always look to the Official Canadian website for info.

Canada Border Services Agency.

Have a fabulous Trip, and see you up there!
Soup.

[Ol_coot]

Oops... all I know is it's a new requirement from the Canadian Gov

[Ol_coot]

Only one person in the vehicle needs to have access to ArriveCan. They will have everyone traveling in vehicle listed with all required info.
And you will need a quarantine plan just encase they perform a random COVID test at border. You will read all about it on the ArriveCan site.

[charlestonsouth]

Ol'Coot -- Do you happen to know the reason for the ArriveCan registration? And does the registration have to be made for each person in the vehicle? These questions are asked assuming that all persons in the vehicle have their valid passports and vaccination records with them.

[Ol_coot]

FYI... Canada border crossing now requires you to register in ArriveCan before arriving at the border. Down load the app to your cell phone to show at border. If not registered, have heard people have been turned back until they were. It is a simple system to use. Don't over think it like I did the first time I opened it.
If you are interested in fishing on your way up to Fairbanks. Just south of Glennallen toward Valdez at Copper Center, would recommend Klutina Salmon Charters. www.klutinasalmoncharters.com
Glenn (owner) will put her onto King Salmon. They run a small RV park right on the Klutina river. Copper river reds start arriving there after 10 June. We have reservations there starting 10 June until 12 July. Then heading to Soldotna. Fish start arriving there around the 15th of July.
Alaska is an amazing state. This will be our 3rd time. Had planned on going back in 2020, but we all know what happened to prevent that. Enjoy your visit.

[PA12DRVR]

Try Fishtale River Guides (Wasilla, Little Su River) for salmon in August...might be before the peak of the run

Regal Air offers day trip fly-outs from Los Anchorage

In reality, the options are too numerous to mention: There are quite a few land-based options in Talkeetna, Wasilla, Soldotna, Cooper Landing, and Kenai...all on the road system and (more or less) accessible with RV's. There are various roadside options along the Glenn from Glennallen to Palmer and there are day-trip lake fly out options also along the Glenn (suggest Copper Valley Air...I believe they base a float plane on Tolsona Lake in the summer).

For salmon, you'll probably have better luck (based on your overall trip time) later on your trip and more towards Anchorage / Kenai Peninsula than in the Interior (Fbks, Tok, Glennallen). Trout that sit in lakes tend to get a bit lethargic during summer, but (depending what the regs bring for this year) should have access to trout, char, dolly fishing in the lakes and streams between Glennallen and Anchorage. If you take the Parks, the roadside (i.e. just stop and drop a line) fishing is not as prevalent, but there are more (Montana Creek, Willow, etc) locations on the Parks where you might have some roadside salmon action...but best bet for salmon is to get a charter (air, boat, or saltwater).

[SideHillSoup]

There are places to fish beside the Hwy all the way through BC and the Yukon. What you need is the correct fishing licence, and follow the regulations for the waterway you are fishing in. There are also guided fishing trips and fly in fly out lodges along the way as well.

Guided fishing Skeena River BC

BC fishing regs

Yukon Fishing info

Depending on the Salmon run there is river fishing long portions of Hwy 16 east of Prince George. We have watched them fishing many times over the years.
Again the correct license and knowing the regulations for the water way you are fishing in, is a must.

Have fun on your adventure.
Soup.

[cbigham]

Thanks for the tips.
The various actors in this play had a discussion last night. Two things for sure are on the itinerary: Haul Road and Tombstone Territorial Park near Dawson, Canada. I will bring the motorhome with the jeep on back, plated dirt bike hanging from hitch rack. (Been all over, WY,ID, WA,NV,AZ etc this way, no worries) Hope to arrive in Fairbanks on or about 21 June. I'm told weather for the Haul Road is best chance of no or little rain is from last 2 weeks June thru first week July. Rest of the party (Just us bikers initially) will arrive about 1 July. We have then 6 weeks to tour, and get back to LA to resume our duties at our various salt mines..

I like the idea of a fly out lodge experience for the wife's fishing desires, but if there's a place to catch trout, salmon, etc (fresh water best for her - sea sick easy) with a guide service on the main roads we can drive the motorhome on, would be great, thanks

[obgraham]

The haul road and the Dempster are two of the greatest adventures in driving I've had. Rain and mud stopped me from finishing the Haul Road, but it was a great adventure. Overnighted at Wiseman.
Last time I was up there the Dempster only went to Inuvik, not Tuk. But I recommend anyone going that far hire a small plane and pilot to see Tuk. Up and back in the same day is just fine.
However, now I see you can drive the whole way.

[PA12DRVR]

To the OP's Q's 1 - 3

- Would strongly suggest bringing the Jeep if that is do-able with other considerations: hanging a dirt bike off the back of a Jeep would be hard on it for the long drive up.
- Lots of places to fish on your anticipated route. Although interior AK is not as crowded for salmon as other places, it's also not as good: I'd suggest focusing on lakes and streams (trout, char, dolly varden, burbot, etc) except when you're in Los Anchorage or Kenai: there are several flyout options available from Anchorage (a few in Kenai as well), but there are multiple drive / boat options from Anchorage or the Kenai Peninsula generally. Depending on the time of year, I'd suggest dropping the coin and taking the time for a combo charter from Seward or Whittier. (Combo halibut, salmon, possibly rockfish). If you don't want to pay charter boat prices, there are several day trips for salmon and trout that are based in Wasilla / Willow / Talkeetna general areas.
- Not a campsite specifically, but if you're setup is up to it, drive the Denali Highway from Cantwell to Paxson or vice-versa. Spectacular scenery, but a bit of a rough road.

The haul road itself should be a scenic trip...although I've not taken it for decades. Got lucky on the long-ago last trip and left Fairbanks in what might pass for twilight....went North far enough / fast enough that it never got dark until I returned to Los Anchorage a month or so later. There's usually a period of 6- 8 weeks of no sunset up North, but it was interesting to be on the front end of that phenomenon.

[Johnny_G1]

All kinds of vehicles go up and down the Dempster Hwy but it is good gravel all the way, would do it again, had the mh and the 5th wheel over the road a few times and no regrets.

[cbigham]

Grit Dog THanks for the tips... I want a couple safe places to fish for momma, as we know about momma being happy ...

We are enduro, dirt bikers from SOCAL, do the western mountains, desert rides, Baja.. quite a change up there!

[Grit_dog]

Sounds like a dream trip.
Lot's of places to fish, and I only know a few. Salmon runs also dictate when some rivers are good fishing.
Plenty of pull offs to camp with the RV easily, although the Jeep/dual sport combo in tow would be the ultimate setup, imo.