Driving from Haines to Anchorage first week of May (Tok: houses, prices)

[denver2anchorage]

Does anyone know typical driving conditions for the drive from Haines to Anchorage? I'm taking the ferry from Bellingham to Haines and am a little concerned about driving this early in the season by myself. I have a four wheel drive matrix with snow tires but have never driven this route. Is it mountainous? Do you cross into Canada? How long does it normally take this time of year? Any advice or info is greatly appreciated.

[thebushman]

warpt will more than likely give you all the info you need.

[warptman]

Current Road Conditions - Highways and Public Works - Government of Yukon

Alaska Road Traveler Information Service

[ASpilot2be]

The roads should be in pretty good condition. Night now Haines is getting snowed upon, so the pass may have some snow when you go through. But it is nothing to worry about. On a nice day, the drive between Haines and Haines Junction is one of the nicest drives.

[warptman]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/alask...ng-alaska.html

[rotorhead]

Yes...it's snowing here...again. After a week of sunshine and nice weather the snowpack was melting so fast we thought spring had sprung. Guess not...at least not quite yet.

By May most of the snow in town will probably be gone, and much of it in the valley up towards the border as well. There will still be considerable snow in the pass that you will have to cross through on the way up to Haines Junction, but the road should be clear and mostly dry. It IS possible to get snow in almost any month up in the pass, and snow in town is not unknown even through Mothers day, so you never know.

With a 4wd vehicle and good snow tires, the odds of making it through to Anchorage are excellent. Even if you get hit with a heavy late-season snowstorm they are very good about clearing the highway up to the AlCan. The most I'd anticipate even if the weather doesn't cooperate would be a day extra, waiting for the highway crews to finish plowing.

What you shouldn't count on is for the roadhouses along the route to be open. Even in May, you'll see lots of shuttered doors and last years gas prices on the signs with the exception of the largest stops. Plan on getting gas in Tok and Glenallen, but the smaller places will probably be closed. In fact, when we make that drive we usually stop overnight in Tok and split the drive into two days.

[Crossfire600]

Watch for frost heave's! They will get cha quick expecially on icy snow covered roads. They do a pretty good job of marking them when they know were they are.. look for florescent orange stakes along the road and sloooooowwwww dooowwwnn.. some of them are nasty!

[akck]

Figure about 8 hours from Haines to Tok and 6 hours from Tok to Anchorage.

[venrach]

Hi. I don't know the answer to your question but I am doing the same thing. I catch the ferry on the first of May, how about you? I am relocating for a job up there and found that I have to get off and drive when we get to Haines in order to be there on time. I've been looking at road conditions as well.

[rotorhead]

You can get current updates on the status of the Haines Highway on the website of KHNS, the local radio station up here. They don't have it in text form, but if you look for their "podcast" of the days news, the highway conditions are usually included in the "earth, air, and water report". You can also call the border station to get an idea of how the road condions are.