We have three-four months for 12k-mile road trip across central and western Canada, and all the way north to Alaska (our longest so far). The trip will take us across six provinces (ON, MB, SK, AB, BC, YT) and eight states (IL, WI, MN, WA, ID, MT, ND, AK). We are looking at some 20 major parks as our main destinations. Many very popular, but still of great interest as it is our first trip in this direction. We cannot see them all, but will make final decisions on the go. Same goes for camp sites, guest houses/motels, trails and alternate roads.
We have made quite a few improvements to our ☞ Subaru camper to make it more streamlined and comfortable on longer trip. We will gear-up for a couple of short multi-day hikes. So it will be a combination of car camping, tenting and from time to time resting under a roof. Packing the right stuff is critical. Minimalist is the description – it all worked quite well on our prior long road trips.
To get started we are looking for the first 3-4 overnight spots: in central Wisconsin (near Eau Claire), north Minnesota (Superior National Forest/Voyager National Park area) and after crossing the border in Internationl Falls somewhere along Trans Canada Hwy near the border between Ontario and Manitoba. The first leg of the trip is 1800 miles from Chicago past Calgary to Canadian Rockies.
We plan to publish short posts on-the-go on our companion Facebook page: ☞ The Wandering Spot and full report on our website after we come back.
Considering these main destinations
| Day | Main destination | |||||
| June | 1 | Chicago | IL | |||
| Banff | AB | |||||
| Kootenay | BC | |||||
| Yoho | BC | |||||
| Jasper | AB | |||||
| Glacier | BC | |||||
| Kluane | YT | |||||
| Denali | AK | |||||
| Chugach | AK | |||||
| Wrangell St Elias | AK | |||||
| Kenai | AK | |||||
| Glacier Bay | AK | |||||
| Wells Gray | BC | |||||
| Garibaldi | BC | |||||
| Vancouver Island | BC | |||||
| Olympic | WA | |||||
| North Cascades | WA | |||||
| Waterton-Glacier | AB/MT | |||||
| Theodore Roosevelt | ND | |||||
| September | 100 | Chicago | IL |
Looks like an ambitious road trip. I will be following your journey, as I have many of the same National Parks I want to visit. Let me know when you will be in Vancouver. We can meetup for coffee.
Yes, it is ambitious plan maximum. We are already refining it looking at ferries, for example. We will have to eliminate or swap some destinations. There is so much to see. Multi-day hikes is another variable as we are not sure how many we will be able to reasonably tackle.