I just wanted to say thank you so much for doing these videos. These videos mean a lot to those of us stuck in the cities dreaming of escaping. You educate us on how to make our dreams of exploration seem like a possibility. Please keep doing what you are doing.
You're very welcome, and thanks for the feedback! Please don't hesitate to ask if there's a topic you want me to cover or a question you have - I want to film videos about what it actually useful!
@@TheRoadChoseMe As long as it is safe for you to do so, i'd love to see some "dead of winter" videos up there in Alaska and the Yukon. I live in Phoenix, Arizona so the frozen north is so fascinating to me. I want so badly to get out of here. I'd also love to see you do a full video series on the Alaska to Argentina drive in the same style of your Africa videos if you decide to do that trek again. No matter what, i'm subscribed and excited to see what you come up with!
Thanks for the suggestions! I will do some winter videos this year, though I'm further south where it won't be so cold. As for Alaksa-Argentina, I'm sure I will do it again at some point, though for now I want to keep exploring new places I've never been before - and yes, I'll be filming them!
I travelled that road to alaska in 2011, and I did go to Hyder AK, not far north from that road where you started on the video, Then right up to Dawson city, cross into Alaska. I was on the Alaska State ferry on the way back. I slept on the beach seats on the deck and I met lots of other people. It was cold late Aug/ early sept, but the heat lamps, sleeping bags kept me easily warm. It was wonderful at night to see the stars/Mountains go by. That Alaska trip was One of my best experiences in my life. Not only did we see bears, mooses, deer, we even saw a wolf eating it prey on the side of the road, one eye on us, the other eye on its prey, elsewhere.
Back in 1978, my dad and I drove to Alaska right after I graduated from high school. Took the Alcan up and the Stewart-Cassiar back down. Back then the S-C was all gravel, and it appeared to be blasted out of solid rock. The roadbed looked to be just solid rock and rougher than a cob.
Fresh out of high school in the late 60s I hitched from Vancouver to Whitehorse to find a job.. worked out of Farro for the summer often getting flown to new fly camp locations in a helicopter.. Talk about spectacular country! Could have gotten a job locally but it was all about the adventure.
Curious about how many miles you have on your Jeep, the maintenance schedule, if you do the work yourself, and about the mileage before you consider a new rig. Your channel is one of my favorites.
Cheers! The Jeep has 185k miles on it now. I filmed some videos about maintenance and tools - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3w4ofqxf51E.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WZqPGCa6uMM.html
Great video Dan. I have driven tow truck, and personal vehicle exploration on highway 37 for 20 years. NEVER assume that these places that "should" have gas will. Expect to go at least 5-600 km between fuel stops. Many will only be open 9-5. Some will be out of fuel for days on end. If I am in Watson Lake, or nearby at the Alaska Highway, Highway 37 junction, assume that you will not get fuel until the Kitwanga Junction with Highway 16 700 km away. How do I know? Well because I have been called out in the middle of the night countless times to recue people that have run out of fuel! Especially with covid, places like Tatogga Lake, are closed. My last trip down, was a nail bitter. Filled with fuel at the Alaska Highway Junction. I had a full tank plus 2 25 litre jerry cans. Dease lake, closed. Iskut, out of order. Tatogga closed due to covid. Bell II, closed. Meziadon, my card wouldn't work. I put the 50 litres in somewhere before Kitwanga. WOW enough rambling. The point is, I left the Juction near Watson at 7:00 PM. Got to Kitwanga at 3:00 am. I saw 2 other vehicles over a 700 km drive. It is REMOTE!! Sorry for the metric. I don't know off the top of my head the American conversion.
We took the Alaska Highway up and Cassiar on the way back, but if/when I do it again we will drive up the Cassiar and return via the Marine Highway. Black bears everywhere!
Dan, given the more remote, less developed nature of Hwy 37, what's cell service like on this run? Yet another enjoyable video. You make these into truly comfortable experiences as well as informative ones. I'm really glad I jumped on board yesterday. Plus...we've missed hearing that Aussie twang from when we lived in Bris. Good on 'ya, Mate.
Haha, Cheers! To be honest I don't know for sure - I still don't have a phone. But I think it's safe to assume there will be many stretches of many hours with zero cell service.
Excellent overview of a helluva trip! I remember all the work you went through building your rig from the start. With your experiences, how would you compare your pop up sleeping system to a roof top tent?
At least 100 times better. Here's the big review ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-r0qsFGlycMk.html And a comparison: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aJGpiximJe0.html
Another good one, Dan. Thanks a million. The ferry is a good idea. I will research that. I think we get a six month visa as NZL. Do you think it is enough time to do the Yukon and Alaska. I was thinking of shipping into Vancouver or San Francisco. Thanks, Ro and Mark. Do some more videos over winter for us. I would love to see the snow over winter. Keep safe and well.
Hi Ro and Mark, For sure 6 months is plenty of time. Remember things will be snowy and frozen in early May, and again by mid October... so you really only have 5 months anyway without snow and ice. Cheers!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Yes, we would like to be gone by mid September. The temperature dropped last time in the 3rd week of September. I need to get some work done on the camper in Melbourne to get it more winterized, before we ship. The ferry is a good idea. I had not thought about that, so thank god. Have a good weekend. Love Ro
Thanks for sharing your experience about the options going up north and back, just love your wild camping in such a isolated wilderness. Seems it costs you food and fuel only for the trip? What a crises getting stuck just before dark?
Exactly right, it only costs fuel and food - and you'd spend money on food even if you stayed home, so really it's only fuel. And yes, I was super stressed when I got stuck at dark! She was in DEEP.
The Ferry fare might cost the same as the fuel for driving if you’re one person walking on the ferry versus a gas guzzler on the Alcan. Bit to take compact car from Bellingham to Haines is usually around US$2,500 while Seattle past Haines Junction to Tok cost CAN$70 = US$52 for EV charging.
Hi! I've got a question that I think you know how to answer quite well. I am looking at driving through Central Asia and the middle east in a couple of years and am wondering, how do you decide which areas are completely not safe to travel and which areas are still fine. I would love to drive through Afghanistan for instance but that seems very unlikely. What is your advice on this? Thank you so much for inspiring me, you've shaped my future plans like no other!
Hi Robert, It's a great question, and I'll do a video on it soon for sure. The short answer is you have you seek out people that have done and are doing what you want to do. Talk to people that are there right now, or have been very recently. They will have the best, most up to date information about what's possible, what the safety was like, if people were welcoming, if they would go back or recommend it to you. For example checkout these guys, they absolutely LOVED Afghanistan recently - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V_AkYTSXZL8.html Real people who are really doing it will tell you the straight information you need. It's the best way (and in my opinion ONLY way to get the actual honest information)
This is fantastic - would not even have known about the marine highway. But more importantly... what happened?!?! You said you were going to show us how you got stuck and then it cut! Was that just a tease for next time? :)
Going into the NWT is not about Yellowknife at all...its about the waterfalls, the camping opportunity, the people out in the small villages. Sure, use Yellowknife to do laundry, re-provision and generally take a day off but stay out. go in via Hay River, come out via the Liard Trail, make sure you take the spur roads into Fort Liard, etc.
I have been on the Stuart cassia probly 30 times over 25 years, but this year with covid 19 i wasn't allowed in the country. How did you managed to get into the country, being from Australia. That's what I would like to know.
I did this highway last year in September on my way up to the Yukon(took Alaska Hwy on the way back), only extra thing I would suggest is taking the 37B offshoot hwy to Stewart, the mountains and the Great Bear Glacier are some of the most stunning I've seen on the whole ride of this highway, it is worth the detour.
Considering winter is just around the corner and you can't go South to warmer climates due to the virus what are your plans? I hear a lot of Canadian full time RVers are stuck in Canada and not prepared for spending winter there.
Loving the series, very informative! Can you show a map of all these routes together? Like show where you would go up the Alaska Highway and back down route 37? I guess I get confused between where the Alaska Highway, Dempster, Dalton, and now 37 is without looking at it on a map. Thanks and safe travels!
Learned something new today. BTW-do you have a satellite communication device such as InReach of some such? If no, why not? And if yes, what do you have and why you chose that particular one? TIA.
No, there is no way to go east-west once you get far north, there simply are no roads. The most Northerly crossing goes from Dawson City, Yukon over to Tok, AK (which is south of Fairbanks.)
Hello Dan! As always great video. I enjoy your videos. Quick questions related to tires as I’m researching to replace my original tires on my jeep wrangler JK Rubicon. What model, size, and brand you currently use? Thanks for sharing your experience and please stay safe! Cheers!
Hi Carlos, thanks for the feedback! I'm currently running Yokohama Geolandar X-AT tires in 275/70R17 Load Range E. They've been excellent for everything I've asked of them, I highly recommend them!
We plan to take the Cassiar Highway on our next visit to Alaska. Three years ago we took the Alaska Marine Highway from Skagway to Juneau ,to Prince Rupert. That cost was about $1,200. To go all the way to Bellingham Washington was about $1,800 more. We spent $165 on gas to go from Prince Rupert to Washington State. So we saved $1635 driving that leg of our trip ,instead of taking the ferry. However the ferry was Definitely worth the cost ,cruising the inside passage.!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Yes it was peak, July. From Skagway to Juneau was an express ferry, no room. From Juneau to Prince Rupert was about two days on the ferry, one night, and yes we did have a cabin. Fare was two people with a 15 foot car. I just did a search for sailings this fall. Cheapest for two people ,with a 15 foot car, no cabin, Skagway to Bellingham is $ 2,719.00 for late November.
Wow, that's astronomically higher in price than when I used to take it back in 2011-2015. Maybe this year is so much higher because of limited sailings with covid?
@@TheRoadChoseMe Could be. Maybe if you booked it further in advance it would be less. We went in 2017 and booked seven months in advance. Like I said it was expensive but absolutely worth it.
