The Great Alaskan Road Trip
Our van life journey began like so many others: during the heart of the COVID pandemic. While Christine and I were enamored of international travel, lockdowns and travel restrictions had quite literally grounded the planes. While those restrictions might have been outside our locus of control, we turned our focus to what we could control—and buying a van turned out to be one of those things.
Purchasing a large converted camper van opened up a whole new world of domestic travel! Destinations that were previously too expensive to visit were suddenly unlocked and accessible. Staying deep in the woods and off the grid for extended lengths of time became more comfortable and more accessible as a lifestyle. Instead of simply serving as a getaway from it all, camping became our life, and we couldn't have been happier!
As 2022 approached, we weren't sure what choices would and wouldn't be within our locus of control in the upcoming year. Would international travel reopen fully? Would they show signs of reopening only for the jaws of freedom to snap shut again with the rise of a new strain? It was impossible to say.
We knew one thing: if we were going to have a truly epic adventure, we'd have to plan for it, block it out, and make it happen.
Instead of risking our plans based on the whims of international politics and airlines, we decided to continue leaning into our van life travels this year, even after spending a full 12 months traipsing around the Western USA in our Dodge Promaster. So to create an even bigger adventure, we set our sights on one of the most epic journeys we could imagine: driving to Alaska.
The Great Alaskan Road Trip
While I had personally been to Alaska once previously, I only had the briefest of tastes: getting off of a cruise ship for a couple of shore excursions. Does that really count? I don't think so.
But my brief taste left me wanting more.
Alaska is home to one of Earth's wildest and most majestic landscapes. Towering glacier-covered mountains soar straight from the ocean shore into the sky, their flanks covered in towering forests of pines and firs. Rushing glacier-fed rivers flow down the valleys into the ocean, the thundering rapids providing the spawning grounds for salmon who migrate here annually. Grizzly bears park themselves in the river's current to feed on the migrating salmon. Moose wander the forests and marshland, and wolf packs roam the tundra.
Humanity has scratched in long, sinuous singletrack trails throughout this epic landscape. Some of these trails are manicured and smooth—perfect for a jump-filled rip on the mountain bike. Others are long-distance epics connecting two remote points on the map via a rugged dirt path through the wilderness.
We want to experience this grandeur and this raw wilderness for ourselves. And so, we're going.
As attractive as the final destination of Alaska is, the route that we plan to take up and back is at least as exciting. There are two primary routes to reach Alaska: the ALCAN Highway and the Cassiar Highway, which eventually joins the ALCAN. Both of these routes run past some of the most epic mountain destinations in British Columbia, one of the world's most incredible places to adventure! Then, the highway passes through the remote Yukon Territory, a place that I've wanted to visit ever since reading Jack London's stories as a kid. A portion of the ALCAN also runs through the most attractive parts of Alberta.
Simply put, there are many lifetimes' worth of adventures along this route! And we plan to see... well, not everything, because that's overwhelming. But at least a portion of it.
Not an Original Idea
Are we the only van lifers who've wanted to drive to Alaska? Far from it. Based on the Instagram accounts of van lifers that we follow, it seems like most everybody has plans to get to Alaska this year! After the announcement of the Canadian border opening fully in late 2021, I think many travelers performed the exact same calculus that we did.
Alaska will be an epic excursion, but one that we can reasonably hope to complete, even with the vagaries of the world today. And while it's not an original idea by any means, this trip is our trip—and we'll love it for all of the adventures that it provides!
Over the coming months, I'll be documenting our excursion to the far northern reaches of the continent, the adventures that we embark on, the challenges that we face, and the grandeur of the landscapes that we'll experience. We can't wait, and we hope you'll follow along on this journey!
The content from this journey will be published in a variety of places. For quick updates as we go along, be sure to follow me on Instagram. But for the more in-depth content, be sure to subscribe to the Outside 365 Newsletter for a curated weekly feed of the best articles and guides from the #GreatAlaskanRoadtrip.
