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Look, by no means am I an expert, but as they say; one of the best ways to learn is by doing.
Traveling up through Northern Canada and Alaska by Van is something that I had always dreamed of doing and this year that dream finally came true for me.
I was about to start heading North from San Diego back to Canada when a buddy of mine sent me a message that sparked this entire trip. Am I ever glad he sent that message!
I think we got lucky here but it was just the way things worked out. We took our Alaskan Road Trip during May and June and in my opinion, this was the perfect time of year to take this trip.
During these months, most families haven’t started their summer vacations yet, leaving a lot of the roads and popular tourist destinations less populated. As our trip started to come to an end in early July, we noticed a drastic change in the number of cars, RVs, and motorcycles on the road.
So I would highly recommend if you have the flexibility to take this road trip before the summer chaos ensues, that is, if you plan on going during the warmer months.
After completing this road trip, I know I’ll 100% be heading back to Alaska during the winter and experience all that it has to offer while blanketed in snow.
I was never interested in mountain biking, before this road trip. I didn’t understand the appeal of it… Not one bit… In saying that, I come from a part of the country that is 100% flat and the type of mountain biking that gets people all excited doesn’t exist where I am from.
As we started our northern vanlife trip to Alaska in Vancouver Canada, we decided that getting a mountain bike was probably a good idea. Little did we know that over the course of the trip we would fall in love with the sport.
Over the course of the 2 months, we did over 300km on the bikes and got to experience some of the best mountain biking Northern Canada and Alaska has to offer.
By having the mountain bikes on this trip, it forced us to slow down and really take everything in. If you don’t have some sort of hobby on these types of trips, it’s really easy to just pound on the miles every day, just to see how far you can drive… Traveling Alaska like that is just flat out wrong.
If you do any sort of research before this trip, somewhere in your reading you will come across someone telling you how bad the bugs are. They aren’t lying.
Where I come from, the mosquitos are notoriously bad. Some people even joke about the mosquito being a provincial bird! I hate to admit it, but the bugs in Alaska and Northern BC were just as bad as back home, if not worse.
If you have the right gear, they don’t need to wreck your trip.
Some quick items I recommend getting are:
I’ve got another article that goes into greater detail on each of these items, along with other items you should definitely consider when traveling to Alaska.
After talking to many people that have taken this trip, one of the biggest regrets they have is not allocating enough time to properly explore the area. They feel as though they were in a rush and didn’t have enough time to see and do everything they wanted.
I know time is often a limiting factor for many people, and often unavoidable, so all I would say is to give this trip as much time as you possibly can… I promise you won’t regret it.
This one isn’t a must but it is certainly a recommendation from my experience.
Most people know me as someone who typically likes to travel alone (with Ellie, of course). On this road trip, things were a little different and I was able to share it with one of my best friends. It was one of those adventures that I’m glad I had someone to share it with. Long days were spent together, lots of stories told, and many experiences that I will never forget.
A lot of the Boyscout purists will probably jump all over me for this one, but I was glad that at the end of each day I was able to quickly and easily get a fire started. The only reason I was able to do that was because I was prepared.
It rained a lot during my time in Alaska and Northern BC. Without the proper tools to get a fire started, we probably wouldn’t have had a fire most nights.
Don’t be a hero. Bring a fire starter.
One of my favorite things about this trip is going back and looking at all the amazing photos we took.
It’s hard to take a bad photo in Alaska! The landscape is unbelievable and around every corner is a new vista that is worthy of a photo or two.
But you know what?
My favorite photos are the cheesy tourist photos we took along the way. You know the photos that you typically make fun of people for taking and continue driving by without thinking twice?
This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip and these are the photos you are going to want to look back on years down the road. So put your pride away! Grab the tripod, and snap off a selfie or two… You will not regret it!
Whenever I travel, I highly recommend talking to locals and getting the inside scoop. Sure you can learn most things from a travel book or by scouring the internet. In this day and age, our access to information is so easily accessible that I think most people often forget to, “just ask”.
Locals often have some hidden gems that you would never have found yourself.
I had always heard about the fact that as you get further and further north, the sun never sets. This is one of those things that’s hard to believe until you experience it yourself.
So if you can line up your Northern Vanlife Alaska Trip with Solstice and experience 24-hour daylight, I can tell you from experience that it’s pretty cool.
I mean how many people can say they played golf in Dawson City and teed off at 9 pm?
Well, those are my tips for Alaska by Van. I learned so much on this trip and had the experience of a lifetime.
Something about this trip always seemed quite daunting to me. Even though I always wanted to make it happen, I always seemed to find an excuse for not going.
I hope you get to experience Alaska for yourself someday. Don’t be afraid to ask me any questions!
Happy Travels ✌️
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If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been dreaming of the day that your tires cross over the northern border from the Yukon in Canada to the ever sought after Alaskan wilderness.
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Let’s break down some of the unexpected costs that you might not think of when traveling to Alaska.
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If you’re anything like I was, you’ve probably asked yourself this question a million times while researching your upcoming van conversion project.
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