Alaska 2025

[Ron in BC]

We've stayed there and it's a nice park. Our reason for staying there was to be close to the Northern Lights Wildlife Society in Smithers. They had a show on TV for years and do a great job rescuing animals and returning them to nature. We're a sucker for bear cubs and support them so we were given a tour of the facilities.

In the general area for those on a slightly different schedule or needs:

Fraser Lake, municipal campsite, free.

Burns Lake, municipal campsite, free.

Ron

[brroberts]

We really enjoy the BC and Yukon provincial campgrounds. If you need hookups, you are usually out of luck, but they are typically nice parks. A side trip for some who might be interested in mining and frontier history as well as hiking is Barkersville.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Lawrence A

Well, I'd hardly describe Green Lake as "out (in) the bush",

Lawrence

Lawrence, I can't find 'Green Lake' as an individual campground. It appears to be listed as a group of campgrounds. What am I not seeing? Or did you mean any of these...



"Green Lake Provincial Park is made up of 11 sites: Arrowhead, Black Bear, Blue Spring, Boyd Bay, Buckside Hill, Emerald Bay, Green Lake Islands, Little Arrowhead, Nolan Creek and Sunset View. Six of these sites have developed facilities."

[Jeremy Kessenich]

I have had good luck using Permethrin to treat clothing/gear. If you have never used it you can read about it here. https://www.sawyer.com/product-categ...sect-repellent

There are lots of independent sites that talk about permethrin if you would like to read something other than what a manufacturer says about a product. Just google it.

I have also used picaridin as an on the ski product with good results. It's also available from Sawyer on the link above.

I use it to treat shoes, socks, pants, shorts, shirts, hats, nets, chairs, ect

I haven't used Deet in years only because I don't like the greasy/oily feeling.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Lawrence, I can't find 'Green Lake' as an individual campground. It appears to be listed as a group of campgrounds. What am I not seeing? Or did you mean any of these...



"Green Lake Provincial Park is made up of 11 sites: Arrowhead, Black Bear, Blue Spring, Boyd Bay, Buckside Hill, Emerald Bay, Green Lake Islands, Little Arrowhead, Nolan Creek and Sunset View. Six of these sites have developed facilities."

You're correct and it's a bit of an unusual situation with a park having several separate areas. The main one is the one about mid-lake.

It's a very popular area, within an easy drive of Vancouver and the nice warm Cariboo climate not to mention the warmer water.

Ron

[Lawrence A]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

Lawrence, I can't find 'Green Lake' as an individual campground. It appears to be listed as a group of campgrounds. What am I not seeing? Or did you mean any of these...



"Green Lake Provincial Park is made up of 11 sites: Arrowhead, Black Bear, Blue Spring, Boyd Bay, Buckside Hill, Emerald Bay, Green Lake Islands, Little Arrowhead, Nolan Creek and Sunset View. Six of these sites have developed facilities."

It's the Sunset View campground that has the group campsite. And yes, you have to select Green Lake first under the "All Parks" dropdown list of campgrounds (Not sure where you are starting from in your search. Try starting from https://camping.bcparks.ca/). Doing so brings up a small area map showing three campgrounds. Clicking on the map for Sunset View brings up a detailed map of the campground with individual sites. Unfortunately you have to put in "fake" reservation dates and camping equipment information to make it work.

I didn't send a direct link earlier because the URL is enormous. Here it is just in case you're having no luck otherwise.
https://camping.bcparks.ca/create-bo...4T09:53:42.915

[Ron in BC]

Across the lake is the Flying U ranch. Very popular for city slickers that want a little saddle time.

Further up the road is Lac La Hache Provincial Park. Not nearly as good as Green Lake. There's a highway between the park and the lake.

Every time I drive by there I can't believe that when I was a kid I'd think nothing of leaving Vancouver, in the winter, and drive up to Lac La Hache to ice race and drive back on Sunday night. Sometimes with a slightly dented car. Don't have the energy to do that anymore.

At Williams Lake there's a large visitor center. Well worth stopping and looking inside. A beautiful log structure by the Timer Kings. They allow overnighting in the parking lot.

Lot's of options.

Ron

[Lawrence A]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

Across the lake is the Flying U ranch. Very popular for city slickers that want a little saddle time.

Further up the road is Lac La Hache Provincial Park. Not nearly as good as Green Lake. There's a highway between the park and the lake.

Every time I drive by there I can't believe that when I was a kid I'd think nothing of leaving Vancouver, in the winter, and drive up to Lac La Hache to ice race and drive back on Sunday night. Sometimes with a slightly dented car. Don't have the energy to do that anymore.

At Williams Lake there's a large visitor center. Well worth stopping and looking inside. A beautiful log structure by the Timer Kings. They allow overnighting in the parking lot.

Lot's of options.

Ron

Ha! Ron, we've probably driven past each other on hwy 97 sometime over the past 50 years or so. Helped my best buddy build a cabin on Young Lake which is east of 70 mile, starting in the early 1970's. Have a brother who lives at Lac des Roches off Hwy 24. Lived in PG myself for 4 yrs and 4 mos (long enough) in the early 80's. Another brother has lived in Smithers for about 30 years and yet another lived in Whitehorse for a while (yeah, a lot of brothers!). Drove up from Vancouver to one or the other of those places almost every year in all that time. The stories one could tell, eh?

On to the topic at hand, though. Donna's expedition looks to be leaving from Osoyoos, assuming another Escape Rally in 2025. In other words, leaving in late May. Elevation at Osoyoos is roughly 900 ft. Elevation at Clinton almost 3000 ft (900 m) and Green Lake or anywhere N of Clinton will be higher yet. Depending on the weather at the time, could still be kinda chilly overnight up in that area. But that could be true of almost anywhere in the north past Clinton at that time of year.

Flying U: Yes. Have ridden horses there too, although many years ago now.

Lac La Hache provincial park: Stayed there last year after the Rally. Certainly meets Donna's criteria of right on the hwy (with associated traffic noise). Hard to find a sunny site for anyone hoping to benefit from their solar panels, though.

Williams Lake Tourist Visitor Centre: Second the recommendation. Fair bit of parking there, but might be challenge if a lot of rigs show up at the same time.
The one in Whitehorse is also very good.

Lawrence

[Donna D.]

Folks are trying to be helpful and I appreciate it, truly. But it's important that I define what I'm trying to accomplish with this itinerary/trip.

I believe there are two types of RVers. Travelers and campers. Travelers use their RVs like B&Bs, sleep, eat and use their 'facilities.' They don't spend time sitting in a lawn chair in their campsite. They're out and about, taking tours, visiting museums and generally checking out everything in the 'local' area. Campers are destination people. Really like beautiful campsites, build campfires (if possible), have mats and lots of lawn chairs. They rarely leave the general area.

Group, this itinerary/trip is for travelers. I want to SEE Alaska and by way The Yukon and British Columbia too. That's why I mentioned I'd like campgrounds to be 'close' to the traveled highway. I'm hoping people will share what they want to 'see.' The Milepost has some great stuff, but I can't put items on the itinerary, if I don't know the things people are interested in. Anyone want to catch a round trip flight from Anchorage to Utqiagvik (Barrow)? It would take two days, one up and one back... so a hotel overnight too. But, you'd get to dip your feet in the Arctic Ocean!!

IF you're a camper, you may want to rethink your interest in this trip.

[Donna D.]

Stuff like this.... in Chetwynd, which is west of Dawson Creek "walk around to see all the wood carvings!!" So for ME, this will possibly be a lunch stop on the way home...


From The Milepost "Chainsaw sculptures. Chetwynd's collection of carvings always stops traffic. Approximately 12 new sculptures are on display each year along Highway 97. These will eventually join the more than 150 carvings displayed throughout town. Chetwynd's slogan is "Community Carved by Success."

[Ron in BC]

I think that's an important distinction to make early on. It's been obvious over the years that a lot of folks are more campers, which is great if that's their lifestyle. But being a traveler is more tiring than camping in one spot for several days or weeks. To cover long distances you're on the road, if not every day, very close to it for some types of travelling.

There are so many things of interest along the way and they sort of provide a coffee break. And then it's back on the road again.

Yes, things like the wood carvings are great to see and there are many other things of interest along the way also.

One thing that I should mention is that we're hard core world wide travelers and have been for 40 years. While we have researched many items for our proposed travels I have to say that some of our most memorable events were ones that were unplanned. The wonderful thing about traveling is that you meet folks from all over the world and sometimes, a comment here, a comment there points you into experiences that you hadn't planned for. That's why we view travels as an adventure.

Ron

[mel99203]

Thank you Donna for all your work on this. Thank you also to all of those who have posted suggestions and information. I am a bit overwhelmed by all that is posted so far. Using Donna's differentiation, I would like to join the caravan to Alaska as a traveler and expect to use the information for camping in Western Canada on other trips. (I had hoped to get to Canada by now, but life events have intervened.) I will be watching this thread.

[brroberts]

We are travelers more than campers, but we travel slow, and stop for built in rest and chore days. We tend to base somewhere for several days and day trip. For an Alaska trip like this, we would want at least 12 weeks. It’s a beautiful place, so take time to savor the journey.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

But being a traveler is more tiring than camping in one spot for several days or weeks. To cover long distances you're on the road, if not every day, very close to it for some types of travelling.

If it helps, I'm shooting for no fewer than two days per stop (a couple that are 3-4 days) and around 250 miles or five hours driving time per day. We must plan on some 'service' stops.... like laundry! I've been reading about RVing Laundry Wars. Laudy I'll be looking for several campgrounds that have a 24 hour laundry room and I'll wash my clothes at 3am....

[Donna D.]

I hope this helps visually of what I'm envisioning. The red pins are the route to Alaska (starting in Osoyoos) and campgrounds/stops. The yellow pins are the heading home campgrounds/stops and the blue pins are possible tours.

This is merely a draft!

[Donna D.]

Well, that's really hard to see/read. How about these:


British Columbia


The Yukon


Alaska

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

If it helps, I'm shooting for no fewer than two days per stop (a couple that are 3-4 days) and around 250 miles or five hours driving time per day. We must plan on some 'service' stops.... like laundry! I've been reading about RVing Laundry Wars. Laudy I'll be looking for several campgrounds that have a 24 hour laundry room and I'll wash my clothes at 3am....

Well that certainly builds in the ability to catch up to a schedule if the unexpected happens, like a road closure or bridge washout.

On Hwy. 37 I notice that you're not staying at Boya Lake. In my opinion Boya Lake is hands down the most scenic spot on the highway. Certainly anyone with a kayak would want to stay there. Campsites are nice.

There's a couple of signs along the way that are pretty good for information. Notice how many rest stops there are. One of them has a hidden access to just about the most perfect lakeside campsite possible. But I'll keep that as my little secret spot.

Ron

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

On Hwy. 37 I notice that you're not staying at Boya Lake. In my opinion Boya Lake is hands down the most scenic spot on the highway. Certainly anyone with a kayak would want to stay there. Campsites are nice.

It's on the itinerary:


.......


Iskut, BC
Red Goat Lodge: Red Goat Lodge - Cabins, Rooms, Campground (First come, first served $30)
Kinaskan Lake Park (30 miles south of Iskut, BC) PP: https://bcparks.ca/kinaskan-lake-park/ - first come, first served, $20

Boya Lake Provincial Park (67 miles south of Watson Lake) PP: https://bcparks.ca/ta-chila-park-aka-boya-lake-park/ - reserve up to four months before your desired arrival date $20

Watson Lake, YT
------------

[Donna D.]

I posted on one of the Alaska bound Facebook groups, asking about surprisingly amazing tours or attractions people came across. These are two. This one is in Girdwood, which is between Anchorage and Portage: Alyseka Aerial Tram: https://www.alyeskaresort.com/alyeska-aerial-tram/


And this one is in Whitehorse, Yukon. I guess there's an RV campground close by. So, I'll check it out further for the trip home: Miles Canyon Suspension Bridge: https://www.yukonsuspensionbridge.com/

[camp4528]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

And this one is in Whitehorse, Yukon. I guess there's an RV campground close by. So, I'll check it out further for the trip home: Miles Canyon Suspension Bridge: https://www.yukonsuspensionbridge.com/

There are lots of very cool walking and biking trails in Whitehorse. Miles Canyon including the suspension bridge, the fish ladder (imagine those fish swim from there to the arctic ocean) and power dan, grey mountain. The downtown waterfront area is lovely as is the ss Klondike. McBride museum is worth a visit. If your pockets are deep eat at the Wayfarer oyster house.