Category: USA

We planned the road trip for quite sometime, but it was only this year that we were able to pull it off. The initial plan was very ambitious (we skipped some destinations shown in red on overview map) as there are so many places one would want to see across six provinces/teritories (ON, MB, SK, AB, BC, YT) and eight states (IL, WI, MN, WA, ID, MT, ND, AK). We were in Alaska 40 of the 103 days. We crossed US-Canada border 8 times. The interactive map shows places where we stayed O/N, more often in areas explored in-depth.

The plan was to drive between major destinations and camp in our car or tent most of the time (campgrounds and wild camping), stay in motels/hotels/cabins from time to time. Altogether we stayed in 76 different destinations. We drove 13000 miles with only several longer driving days (longest was 660 miles on return to Chicago from Fargo). We hiked/walked more than 300 km.

We like our converted Subaru and it works well for two as transportation (normal, small car) and camper (even if minimalistic). Roof cargo box lowers fuel efficiency on highways, but streamlines daily packing and “day-night-day” switch. Subaru life took some practicing and adjustments.

We traveled 26800 miles during ☞ 6 long road trips, plus some shorter trips. We drove more often on unpaved not so good, bumpy and dusty roads which accelerated wear on mechanical systems. It all cought-up with us on this long trip. We had problems with breaks (fixed in Kenora) and tires (fixed in Fairbanks), and ran into first signs of worn suspension-bearings (diagnosed in Surrey, fixed in Chicago after the trip). Rotated tires in Bellingham. Luckily, we were able to fix unexpected car mechanical problems on the go, but wasted energy and precious time (~4 days).

Piotr spent quite a bit of time designing, building and testing our Subaru minimalistic camper which made the road trips possible.

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It was wide range of scenery and activities. Mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, fjords, temperate rain forest and old tree stands, sand dunes, badlands, Pacific coast. Dinosaurs. Wildlife watching (salmon, bears, orcas, whales…). Driving through areas destroyed by wildfires, some recently. Historical towns and sites from gold rush era. Changing views along highways. Changing weather. In retrospect, our schedule was very interesting travel-wise, but also very intense with little time to rest.

We managed only one short backcountry hike/camping from Kennecott to Root Glacier, disappointing as we were prepared for more. But we did many day-walks/hikes. Memorable several hours on Root Glacier, long day on Harding Icefield Trail and long, but relaxing hike to Kinney Lake and beyond. Two off-trail “wild” hikes: one on slopes of Cathedral Mountain in Denali NP and one exploring petrified forest in badlands of Theodore Roosevelt NP. Kayaking half of Eklutna Lake. Walking along rivers to watch salmon. Exploring gold rush history. Add sightseeing fly-over from McCarthy to Mt Blackburn in Wrangell-St Elias NP, and two ship cruises: from Seward to Northwestern Glacier and from Valdez to Columbia Glacier. Just to name some highlights.

Even with last minute daily planning, we did not have any problems, other than a couple of times, finding places to overnight. There were many campgrounds with good locations and layouts. Most had no running water, flush toilets or showers. We were sometimes surprised by dilapidated infrastructure and poor maintenance. Some automated fee collection stations were technologically top notch. We found very good old-fashioned campgrounds too. We stayed at established campgrounds most of the time (61 nights/42 destinations). Wild car-camping was fine (11 nights/11 destinations). Weather (rain), tight schedule, restocking and laundry, car repairs and long driving was a factor: renting a place to stay overnight was then the only viable/comfortable option (30 nights/23 destinations). Found many excellent and some interesting ones, not always expensive.

We experienced two travel health problems, but both resolved quickly.

Main expenses: gasoline $1980 ($2.80 to $6 per gallon), three ferries $200, rental overnight accommodations $3600 (average $120 per night), paid campgrounds $1060 (average $19 per night), tickets (airplane/ship excursions, mountain gondolas, museums etc.) $2120. Plus we camped 17 nights for free. Total $8970 = $88 per day. Spending on food and drinks was no more than at home. Car repairs and maintenance totaled $2180, but were not directly related to this trip other than by added mileage.

Highligts…