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Old 05-04-2018, 03:32 PM   #1
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Milepost magazine

We are in the midst of planning our Alaska trip and have been reviewing the 2016 Milepost we have. Should we spend money on a newer version? How much has changed in a couple years? What date is too early to hit the Canadian border? Thanks in advance.
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Old 05-13-2018, 06:09 PM   #2
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For the $15-$20 bucks to buy the latest issue of Milepost I would go ahead and buy it. You are going to be spending lots and lots of money on fuel to go to AK & back so this is a very minor cost. But to more directly answer your question, no the Milepost doesn't change that much from year to year.

What date is to early? I guess you are going in 2019 or later. We crossed from WA into BC on April 27th in 2016 and good to decent weather all the way up. Others crossed in later May and in June and ran into floods in the Dawson Creek, BC area which washed out roads and another group got caught in a snow storm and got stuck in the snow for a day or two. The details of this weather is in our blog entry here: Down the Road Around the Bend: Start of 2016 Alaska Trip. Hillsboro, OR to Dawson Creek, BC
The weather details are near the bottom of the blog entry.
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Old 11-05-2018, 02:09 PM   #3
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The details of this weather is in our blog entry here: Down the Road Around the Bend: Start of 2016 Alaska Trip. Hillsboro, OR to Dawson Creek, BC
The weather details are near the bottom of the blog entry.
I made the trip up in 1962 and back in 1963 (in a car), so I assume much has changed since then.

Your blog refers to the trip from Hillsboro to Dawson Creek, but do you also have information about the actual Alaska Highway trip. I have been wanting to take an RV back up to Big Delta (where I lived for almost a year) but know nothing of what has happened to the road and cities along it in the last 50+ years. It was a beautiful trip then, with some of the most magnificent scenery I have ever seen in my life, but I have heard that the route has been changed since then and I do not know if you can still see all of the wildlife I saw during the drive. A blog on the drive would be interesting.
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Old 11-05-2018, 05:45 PM   #4
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They have their entire trip documented. At the bottom of each section, click on the “Link back to Alaska blog page” or something of that wording. Very interesting read!
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Old 11-06-2018, 04:27 AM   #5
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As CampingGator wrote, you can follow the entire 4 1/2 month trip, by clicking on the link back to the index page at the bottom of each blog entry.
The roads are all good, suitable for any size rig. You must watch for frost heaves, or you can destroy your suspension by hitting one at 55-60mph. You will find some construction zones which are not fun, muddy & some washboard for 1/2 mile to 5-15 miles. The trip is more enjoyable if you can plan for 150-200 miles a day, or even fewer miles per day.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:18 AM   #6
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As CampingGator wrote, you can follow the entire 4 1/2 month trip, by clicking on the link back to the index page at the bottom of each blog entry.
The roads are all good, suitable for any size rig. You must watch for frost heaves, or you can destroy your suspension by hitting one at 55-60mph. You will find some construction zones which are not fun, muddy & some washboard for 1/2 mile to 5-15 miles. The trip is more enjoyable if you can plan for 150-200 miles a day, or even fewer miles per day.
OK.

The road was all gravel past (I think) milepost 48 out of Dawson Creek when I drove to Alaska, and I drove it in a small Corvair which was packed full with tape on the windows to keep out the dust and headlight protectors to keep the headlights safe. I only drove 250 miles per day, but that seemed like quite a bit as it was 250 miles of constant noise as the gravel hit the underside of the car.

Still, all the dust and dirt and noise did not stop me from marveling at the natural beauty and seeing the wildlife along the drive. It was the most memorable drive of my life, and I would like to do it again, but this time on a paved road.
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Old 11-07-2018, 05:33 AM   #7
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OK.

The road was all gravel past (I think) milepost 48 out of Dawson Creek when I drove to Alaska, and I drove it in a small Corvair which was packed full with tape on the windows to keep out the dust and headlight protectors to keep the headlights safe. I only drove 250 miles per day, but that seemed like quite a bit as it was 250 miles of constant noise as the gravel hit the underside of the car.

Still, all the dust and dirt and noise did not stop me from marveling at the natural beauty and seeing the wildlife along the drive. It was the most memorable drive of my life, and I would like to do it again, but this time on a paved road.
I'm surprised the air cooled engine, mounted in the rear of the car made it w/o overheating from all the dust & mud.

That must have been quite a drive.
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Old 11-07-2018, 03:13 PM   #8
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I'm surprised the air cooled engine, mounted in the rear of the car made it w/o overheating from all the dust & mud.

That must have been quite a drive.
Well, there was dust everywhere. I had sealed the car doors and windows with tape but the inside was still coated with the stuff when I got to Alaska. As I remember I tried to clean the air filter regularly, that being about the limit of my automotive skills, so dust was not really an issue. The real issue was that I bottomed out on some ruts (I was traveling too fast) and snapped off the rod that connected the accelerator peddle to the engine and had to hook up a manual "accelerator" cable. Was able to get that fixed in Fairbanks when I got there.

I traveled in September (both ways as I recall) and did not run into any rain, so there was no mud.

What surprises me most is that I did the entire trip with only about 10 rolls of 36 frame Kodachrome and I use that many images with my digital camera now just birding. It was a trying trip at the time, but a wonderful memory now. Funny how that works.
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