How long to Alaska?

[craigatcsi]

I've again, been thinking about a m/c trip to Alaska.

I figured on riding to Alaska, then shipping the bike back. - Is this cheating?

I CAN take 4 weeks off work, but would rather take 3.

Do you think a person could travel from Omaha to Washington, then up the coast to Alaska in 3 weeks?

I haven't looked at a map yet to figure out the path. I have a cousin in N.E. Washington that I would like to stop and see for a day on the way up.

craigr

[ctraylor]

I would figure that to be about a week up and a week back with a week to do some site-seeing. 3 weeks should be plenty of time. We had one Canadian come from that area to the Hub meet in Harrison, AR and drove it in a week and took his time.

[AKRefugee]

That's about 3900 miles. At 450 miles a day that is a 9 day trip from Omaha to Seattle to Anchorage. Depending on when you go you can expect a lot of motorhomes and trailers on the Alcan. This will slow your trip at times. In addition you will be wanting to stop often just to catch your breath from the beauty, especially in Upper British Colombia. If you are going to ship your bike back check with Alaska Airlines. You can get a good rate shipping it from Anchorage as standby freight. You would have to meet it in Seattle and based on the loads you may have to wait two or three days in Seattle for the bike, they can usually give you a good indication when it will ship when you drop it off. Last time I checked it was about $800 USD for the shipping. I would not plan this trip after end of August as the temps can get quite cold starting in Early September and I have run into snow several times in mid September especially between Tok and Anchorage.

[rstd_mn]

I figured on riding to Alaska, then shipping the bike back. - Is this cheating?

 

 

I have been thinking about a trip to Alaska for a few years now. I considered

riding to Alaska then ship my bike back. Rejected the idea as it would be a

big expensive hassle. Plus the worry of my bike getting damaged, etc.

 

Started thinking about a "Disposable" Bike. Buy a older, used, good running bike

to ride to Alaska. Then just before flying home, go to a dealer and see what they

will give you for the bike. Figure if I invest $4,000.00 in a bike (purchase and

repairs) and end up selling it for $2,000.00 or less, what the heck. If a dealer

would take it on consignment, that would be even better. One could always

"Donate" the bike to a charity in Alaska and take a nice healthy tax deduction.

 

Just did a quick Ebay search for some of the bikes I would consider comfortable

enough to ride to Alaska:

 

1993 BMW K-Series K1100 LT

2003 Ducati Sport Touring Ducati ST4s

1982 Honda GL 500 Silver Wing (the smallest I would consider)

1982 Honda CB 900

1996 Honda ST 1100

99 HONDA SHADOW ACE TOURER 1100 WITH HARLEY FAIRING

 

 

Then there are always the older Goldwings, Ventures and Voyagers.

 

 

Bruce T.

Edited August 13, 2010 by rstd_mn
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[Gary N.]

I left from home on the sixth of June and I'm still not back. Wouldn't even think about doing this trip in three weeks but then I don't have a job to worry about. We spent a month in Alaska once we got there and really didn't do it justice.

[Bummer]

...

I figured on riding to Alaska, then shipping the bike back. - Is this cheating?

...

 

Yes, it is.

 

But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. If that's the only way you can do it in the time available, I say go for it.

[skzoid]

The Alaska Marine Highway (ferry) takes about 3 days from Bellingham, WA to Whittier, AK (just south of Anchorage). It might be faster than the Alcan but you're going to miss out on a lot of the reasons you want to take this trip. Work hard now, save a lot of money, sell needlesss stuff, hoard your childrens inheritance - and come spend some quality time...

[craigatcsi]

Since my original post, my wife has brought up possibly going straight North from Omaha, NE into Canada, then working our way across diagonally towards Alaska. This way we get to see more than just the Western side.

The other thing she mentioned is that she is worried about there not being a lot of roads to travel once we are up there. The map dosent show many.

Are there alot of Paved roads? We don't do gravel / dirt.

craigr

[CaptainJoe]

skzoid,

"The Alaska Marine Highway (ferry) takes about 3 days from Bellingham, WA to Whittier, AK (just south of Anchorage). It might be faster than the Alcan but you're going to miss out on a lot of the reasons you want to take this trip. Work hard now, save a lot of money, sell needlesss stuff, hoard your childrens inheritance - and come spend some quality time... "

That sounds like the perfect solution. Take the ferry one way and the bike the other.You could make the decision based on the weather. How much lead time (if any) do you have to give for the ferry?

[Gary N.]

Since my original post, my wife has brought up possibly going straight North from Omaha, NE into Canada, then working our way across diagonally towards Alaska. This way we get to see more than just the Western side.

 

The other thing she mentioned is that she is worried about there not being a lot of roads to travel once we are up there. The map dosent show many.

 

Are there alot of Paved roads? We don't do gravel / dirt.

 

craigr

 

There are lots of paved roads. We did over 5000 miles from Edmonton to Prince Rupert, then ferry to Juneau and Haines, then all over Alaska, and back through Yukon, BC and Alberta. All but 100 miles on paved roads. There's always construction somewhere and you won't avoid it. The only gravel road we did was the Top of the World Hwy. which was about 100 miles of gravel. I was advised to only do that road if it was dry so that's what we did. It was a little rough on the Alaska side but much better in the Yukon. I'd do it again in a heart beat. We took a tour bus up the Dalton Hwy. to the Arctic circle because that was gravel and I was nervous about driving the bike up there. But after doing the Top of the World Hwy. I don't thing the Dalton, at least as far as we went on it, would have been any harder to do. The RSV isn't the perfect machine for those roads but it worked.

There are miles of roads to travel that you won't really pick out on the map but once you get there and start talking to people you learn about them.