re: The Dalton Highway

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It looks like the Klondike Highway and the Haines Highway converge at almost the same point on the south side. Does it make sense to drive the KH from north to south and then the HH from south to north back into Alaska?

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The golden circle, a lot of people do it. Pretty popular route for tourists. It's a very popular biking route

The Klondike runs from the Alaska Hwy near Whitehorse YT to Skagway Alaska. The Haines Highway runs from Haines Junction YT to Haines Ak.



Haines and Skagway are 13 Miles by air, but 350 Miles by road. You can take a ferry between the two as well. Some fantastic trails in both towns too. Brown bears are often seen in Dyea, near Skagway (head of the Chilkoot Trail) and at the State Park north of the Ferry Terminal in Haines.

Whitehorse is a kickass little city, also has some hot springs north of town.

Not bad at all. Border guards can be cranky bastards but they generally move you through quickly. The border into the USA at Skagway is busier than into the US at Haines. A lot of folks from Whitehorse go to Skagway.

If you like History, Skagway is awesome


If you are into the outdoors, Haines is heaven



Juneau and Glacier bay are relatively close. Juneau has over 280 miles of hiking trails, not counting backcountry

Hiking in Juneau

These trails really aren't backcountry btw:

Yes.

Going to the sun is a bit more unique because Alaska is overwhelmingly wilderness and doesn't have many high elevation roadways through wilderness areas. To see the most spectacular takes either aircraft, watercraft or a bit of hiking.

The brooks range is similar. But you're gonna have to get off the road a bit

The most spectacular trip ve experienced was acting the Alask-Tatshenshini from near the Haines Hwy to the Gulf of Alaska. 10 days of the most incredible scenery.

You're not going to find much in the lower 48 comparable to the places in AK.

Couple of questions, Roger.

1.Day #1 I am getting up early and driving the Seward Highway starting in Anchorage. What are the most spectacular spots in this area? I don't mind long, grueling hikes and drives as long as the scenery justifies the time and effort. Any particular sights you think will blow me away, let me know.

2. The road to McCarthy that you mentioned. I have read that this is a 62 mile gravel road and a lot of rental companies don't allow their cars on it. Can you tell me about the condition of the road?

What do you think of the Harding Icefield?

What can you tell me about Kluane?

Well, okay. I am currently at the Seattle airport and heading home from my Alaska trip.

Here’s a summary:

Day 1: Drove the Seward Highway from Anchorage and hiked to the Harding Icefield. I also made my way down to the base of Exit Glacier below the observation points.

I thought the SH was good and the view of both Exit Glacier and the Harding Icefield from above was pretty incredible.

Day 2: Drove from Anchorage to Glennallen and then Glennallen to Valdez. I thought the southbound stretch from Glennallen to Valdez on the Richardson Highway offered the best road views I saw all week.

Day 3: Went to Wrangell-St. Elias and drove the McCarthy all the way. The road itself isn’t really that scenic. There’s a lake / river view early on that’s good. I liked the bridge over the gorge. Other than that there a few decent spots but nothing that’s just incredible. I did like the Kennecott Mill and hiking to the glacier.

Day 4: Drove from Glennallen to Tok to Delta Junction to Glennallen and then up to Fairbanks.

I wasn’t very impressed with the Tok Cutoff and there was a lot of road work on it. The Richardson between DJ and GA is good but not as good as the southern portion.

Day 5: Spent most of this day chilling in Fairbanks and finding a way to get on the infamous Dalton Highway.

Day 6: I ended up renting a U-Haul pickup for the Dalton. I left at probably 7:30 AM and returned shortly before 7:00 PM.

I drove up to the Arctic Circle sign. I can’t speak for anything north of that point but the road isn’t really THAT bad. I have seen worse. It’s just that (if you do the whole thing) it’s over 800 miles without much help around should you run into a problem you can’t handle. If the average stretch of the Dalton were a 5 mile road to your camp house or favorite tree stand you wouldn’t think anything of it. But the distance and remoteness changes the game.

Day 5: Drove south Anchorage and made some stops along the Parks Hwy. to look at / take pics of Denali. I went there on a previous trip, so I didn’t go into the park beyond the areas the Parks Hwy. cuts into it.