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Old 09-15-2012, 08:15 PM
 
Location: Bethel, Alaska
21,368 posts, read 37,949,319 times
Reputation: 13901

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Stop by Liard River Hot Springs for a nice soak.
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Old 09-15-2012, 08:39 PM
 
4,715 posts, read 10,471,277 times
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I will add emphasis on the fort Nelson to lake Watson trip. Not only did we deal with bison, but we also dealt with moose. They would run across the road in front of us. Neither animal has much on them that will reflect your headlights.

Some of the hotel, has, restaurants give discounts if you stay the night. Even on the fuel....

Liars was awesome I reccomend a stop as well. FWIW, we had no problems with our stuff in northern Canada, not that I reccomend it, but a lot if open vehicles.with stuff in them.
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Old 09-15-2012, 08:49 PM
 
Location: Kasilof, Ak/NCa
339 posts, read 584,478 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlaskaAma View Post
Thank you for the links! I am sure they will prove useful.

As regards driving time, I originally worked out an approximate itinerary of about 10 days, doing 9-10 hours of driving (split between myself & my husband) a day in decent road conditions. He said "I'm not sitting around for 14 hours a day when we could be driving instead." Hence the shorter expected transit time. :-)
The main problem with long hours at this time of year is that a lot of the gas stations, restaurants etc are closed or closing early. Wrong time of year to be driving long hours. Last trip up, with my daughter, we started singing "just around the river bend" from Pocahantis movie because we would see a sign for food, gas restrooms, rooms etc just to get there and find out they were closed. She was pregnant and not happy. We never ran out of gas because I have a policy, especially once I leave the -48, of not letting the tank get below half when travelling. That was late Aug. I've never made the trip during summer so lack of services is the norm for my trips. Hubby may be in a hurry but you really need to convince him to use caution and listen to the voices of experience on this board.
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Old 09-15-2012, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Bethel, Alaska
21,368 posts, read 37,949,319 times
Reputation: 13901
I also recommend not driving Fort Nelson to Watson Lake at night, add caribou and elk to the list on that part of the highway at night. May blind corners, too. This is in the Rocky Mountains and plenty of switchbacks along the route. Good scenery along this part, too.
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Old 09-15-2012, 08:53 PM
 
Location: Bethel, Alaska
21,368 posts, read 37,949,319 times
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http://www.city-data.com/forum/alask...r-w-no-11.html

Read through this.
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Old 09-16-2012, 01:50 PM
 
388 posts, read 303,996 times
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Again, thank you for the links and replies. I think the revised plan will be to squeeze as much distance as we can into the first few days so that we can go a little slower and keep the majority of the driving to the daylight hours once we get up to the Al-Can. As it's only going to be late September and not the dead of winter I am not too worried about weather; I realize there might be some snow but I'm used to driving in it and I am going to invest in some chains just in case. And of course we will have our snacks and blankets!

Thanks again for the tips!
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Old 10-08-2012, 12:34 PM
 
388 posts, read 303,996 times
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Just thought I'd let you all know we arrived safe and sound! We made it from MA to Edmonton, AB in five days, at which point we decided that our poor overloaded car was probably not going to make it through the mountains hauling the trailer (or at least I wasn't going to make it without a nervous breakdown) so we ditched the trailer and shipped our stuff from there. In retrospect it would have been less of a hassle and not much more expensive to make the switch before we crossed into Canada, but hey, that's hindsight for you.

From Edmonton all of our driving was in daylight except for the very first hour on the Al-Can- we wanted to push ahead a little to make sure we had time for the Liard Hot Springs the next day. We saw lots of what I think were caribou, a whole herd of bison, some stone sheep and a black bear, but no moose. We also saw plenty of snow on the trees and beside the road, but didn't have to drive in it at all.

All in all it was a great trip! The scenery was amazing and the hubby quickly came around to the idea of playing it safe and not missing the views. We got to Big Lake after 9 full days and are settling in nicely. Thanks again for all the advice!
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Old 10-08-2012, 01:12 PM
 
4,715 posts, read 10,471,277 times
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Awesome and thanks for the update. Glad it worked out.
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Old 10-08-2012, 01:49 PM
 
Location: Homer ak.
202 posts, read 353,945 times
Reputation: 169
Your last post struck me as very funny. The last time i drove up when I got to Edmonton I spent almost 4 hrs repacking the suburban and trailer. I was soo tongue heavy I took everything i could that was heavy and put it in the front seat. After that laird hot springs was an absolute must stop.
Glad your trip was safe and sound.
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Old 10-08-2012, 02:32 PM
 
482 posts, read 870,519 times
Reputation: 391
Praise God you made it safely!
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