Leaving a convention in Tulsa in late June and going to Alaska. What's the best route. and any tips? Time is not a factor.

 

Funny you should bring this up. I am hoping and planning as we speak for a journey to Alaska in June 2010 with a possible postponment of no later the June 2011 needing the time to save money and purchase camping gear and other appropriate and necessary traveling gear. There doesn't seem to be an "as the crow flys" direct route. There are a number of options to consider, including taking ferries out of Bellingham.WA. (Ferrys are expensive) and what you would like to see on the way.

It looks like the way for you to go to get the full monty is to consider heading for the ALCAN hwy which goes into Alaska via Canada. Being as you are coming from Tulsa you may want to look into getting on I-35North to I-135north to I-70W to catching I-25North in Denver and ride it to I-90 West. stay on I-90W and Catch I-15North in Butte,MT into Canada. In Canada it turns into rt 4 North. Take rt 4North to rt 3 West in Lethbridge and follow rt 3west to Ft McLeod where you pick up rt 2 north and into Calgary. Take rt 1 west out of Calgary which turns into rt 93. Take rt 93 all the way to Jasper then onto rt 16 west , follow rt 16 west to Prince George and catch rt 97 there and rt 97 will take you to Dawson Creek and the start of the 1500 mile ALCAN hwy. You can also take a less scenic and more direct route to Dawson/ALCAN Hwy by staying on route 2 North all the way to Edmonton and taking rts 16 to rt 43 and albeit a lot of zig zagging it looks like rt 43 west takes you right to Dawson creek(start of the ALCAN Hwy) There are literally any number of ways to chose from. By taking I-25 north to I-90 west you run through the Custers Last stand and other National Land marks.

There are plenty of good books on the subject and which I have 2.

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Alaska-H...2881123&sr=1-1

and had a hard time chasing this one down but got it:

http://www.amazon.com/Alaska-Motorcy...2881222&sr=1-1

 

I did this trip last June/July from Michigan. 9000+ in 30 days. rode the most direct route across canada, manitoba, saskatchawan, Alberta, BC,YT Alaska to the Arctic circle. the Alaskan Hwy. can be a challenge, lots of frost heaves, road construction, plan on a lot of 'DIRT' roads. Awesome trip. buy a 'Milepost' and study it well.
Btw- I did this trip on a KLR650. it can be done on a HD, but plan to OFF it when you get back, as it will be trashed. there are lots of side trips to do. Chicken to Dawson city, cassiar Hwy, Icefield Prkwy thru BC, Radium Hot Springs, Glacier NP . . . . the list could go on,on,on.

WD

 

If you plan on coming into Canada get over to BC and you won't regret it. Manatoba and Sask. are pretty flat and boring. Roads are not very good in Sask from what I hear. Alberta however as you get close to BC you go through the Rockies which is nothing less than majestic. If you want a straight route through BC get to Vancouver BC and hit the #1 east to hope and take a left and go up through the Fraser Canyon, Follow the old gold rush trail to the north. They don't call it Beatifull British Columbia for nothing. The Williams Lake Stampede is the 3-4-5-6 of July.

 

"...it can be done on a HD, but plan to OFF it when you get back, as it will be trashed..."

A quote from a portion of Willie D's post - I definitely do not agree with what was posted...!! Sure, we hit mud, lots of it but we ended up riding that Sportster over 175,000 miles from end of '99 through '07...

In 2003 we rode our '98 Sportster, 2 up, from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida via the ferry out of Bellingham, Washington into Haines, Alaska where we then rode into Fairbanks, Alaska to attend a HOG Rally...

Rode back into the states through Montana and back to Florida...

Last year, 2008, we crossed into Canada out of upper NY State, 2 up on our '07 Heritage Softail... We hit so much bad weather: cold, rain and a little hail... Got outside of Whitehorse YT when we decided to head back home where it was warm... Lesson: Never forget your warmer clothes no matter how hot it is where you are leaving from...

Check out our site: http://triglide.multiply.com under 'blogs' are our writeups for 2008 - most likely the 2003's are there too...

On same site check our 'photos': First page has album 'Tour 2008' 49 pictures - has numerous pics through Canada; Alcan Highway, Animals alongside the highway; etc...

Pages 2 and 3 of 'photo' has Alaska pictures - 3 different albums - our trip in 2003 - what an experience and know I didn't label all the pics...

Enjoy your trip...

 

On a Sportster ???? WOW !!!

 

did the trip in 07 on a lowered fat boy if you are going to ride up the dempster hwy be carful of the mud it sticks to the from cyl and hardens had to stop 3 times to clean the fins out took the top of the world hwy not to bad but all garvel on the US side
you should buy the milepost book very help full
the ride took me 18 days & i when 10000 miles
becareful of animals there are plenty
have a good ride its a fun one

 

As some one said get the book "MILEPOST" Two of my son's and I are going this June. I got the book and planned our route. The book lists the services at each town and the services that are there. Also what activities are there. I understand from a rider that did it in 08 that some of the service stations listed on the map have closed. I have the 08 edition.

One thing that I noticed that all the towns through Canada and into Alaska of any size had HD dealers.

My one son is going on his 06 Street Bob and I,m going on a Buell Ulysses XB that I bought for the trip. The other son is considering a BMW. I told him that if he breaks down, we won't have time to wait for him!

Be prepared to be hit with rocks that the heavy trucks kick up on the under repair parts of the Alcan Highway. Some riders tape up their bikes. That's one reason that I am not taking the FXSTC.

 

We went from Alberta to the east coast through Canada and back home through the USA. We passed through Mount Rushmore country then over to Devil's tower then over to the road to sun in Glacier National Park. If you haven't traveled through that part of the country you should. Coming through Alberta head north and make your way up to Banff, then take highway 93 (the ice fields parkway) to Jasper. You will go past the Columbia ice fields and through some mountains that you won't soon forget. From Jasper you can head up highway 40 N. and make your way through northern BC. the Yukon and off to Alaska. It's all paved but for short stretch(that was a couple of years back we went to the Yukon) was nice driving and scenery. If you do take that route contact me before you leave you go right past my place, stop and say hello. However you go you'll be going through some awesome country, have a good ride!!!!

 

watch out for the bridges in the Yukon they are open steel grated to slow and it throws you all over the place to fast glad i never found out for me right speed was about 45 mph