Hitching Alaska

**payne** · 12-05-2012, 03:33 AM

I plan on hitch-hiking around Alaska for a while. Which highways are the most beautiful? I heard going to Haines will be amazing.
What about the Top Of The World Highway (links to Yukon's Dawson City)?
Mt. McKinley: worth going to?
What about Eagle/Circle's small communities?

Any info on great nature sighting is appreciated.

And if any of you Alaskans want to teach me a few things, I'd really love to go on a small camping/survival/whatever trip with you.

**1stimestar** · 12-05-2012, 04:37 AM

Oh I'd love to discuss this with you as I've done some hitching around here myself. But I'm on my way to bed so will catch you tomorrow. Get a copy of the Milepost though. It'll be the best money you can spend. It's online too, I think milepost.com.

**1stimestar** · 12-05-2012, 02:21 PM

What time of year are you thinking? If you start in June, you can hit Chickenstock in beautiful downtown Chicken, Alaska. If you look back on my blog, you can learn about it there as well as the Taylor Highway. Come in over the Top of the World Highway, hit Chicken and if you want, go up to Eagle and the Yukon River. Then follow the Parks Hwy up to Fairbanks and come visit. I'll give you an insiders view of the area lol. Or you can go south and see Valdez on Prince William Sound. Make sure to go to Kennicot and see the mine there. Look up pictures of it. It's awesome. Then come north again to Fairbanks. From Fairbanks, go south on the Parks Hwy. Yes, visit Denali National Park and see Mt. McKinley. We call it Denali. Spend a couple of days there and take the bus into the park all the way to Wonder Lake. You can't take personal vehicles into the park so save some money for a bus ticket. The Parks Hwy goes all the way down to Anchorage where you can spend a few days. From there, take the Seward Hwy down to Seward. After Seward, make sure to go to Whittier and check out the Whittier tunnel. Look up the history of the tunnel. It's fascinating. If you can swing it, take the Alaska Marine Hwy around the peninsula to Homer.

**1stimestar** · 12-05-2012, 02:23 PM

Oh yea I forget. We use hwy names here, not numbers.

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**payne** · 12-05-2012, 07:22 PM

It is to be noted that I do not like spending much time in cities, unless I am with someone of the area. If I am to go into a city, it's either because there is a special event there (music festivals, etc.), a free campground, or it's a small city enough for me to spend some time camping in the surrounding bush and it'd be short of a walk enough for me to pass by to buy some food and return to my camp-spot now and then.
I love people, but I definitely enjoy my solitude as well. And I definitely do not like "downtowns" and "cement cities". A farming community is always great: I love to work in exchange of shelter and food.
I'm on very low budget when travelling because I do not like working for money. The longer I can stretch my budget, the less I have to work to build it up again. This means that I rarely pay for buses or stuff, I usually only pay for my food and that's it.

What I really want to see from Alaska is its nature. I'd love to hike all the way to Alexander Supertramp's bus, but that's a total of 80 miles of hiking I think, and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that alone yet (I still get anxious at night from hearing sounds around my tent and thinking it's a goddamn bear: do I have to learn to control that fear? I thought it'd go away, but it didn't really diminish even after spending 4-5 months camping alone in the bush.).

How's Prudhoe Bay? Any polar bears?

Kennecott's Mine seems like a nice destination: I read there are some very nice strenuous and mountainous hikes around the town.
Any free hotsprings in Alaska?
What is special about Seward and Anchorage?
Also, I've heard that you can go observe grizzlies from super close in Hyder because they eat so well from the river there that they don't care about human's presence much.
And I will probably go to Skagway: a few people told me it's one of the nicest drives down from Whitehorse. And Carcross supposedly has sand dunes!
North Pole sounds like a funny town to visit. Anything interesting in there? A 24/7 Santa probably.

I am not sure when I will be visiting. It could be March/April, but I'm pretty sure it's still super cold up there at that time, so most probably in July/August/September.

**1stimestar** · 12-06-2012, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by payne

It is to be noted that I do not like spending much time in cities, unless I am with someone of the area. If I am to go into a city, it's either because there is a special event there (music festivals, etc.), a free campground, or it's a small city enough for me to spend some time camping in the surrounding bush and it'd be short of a walk enough for me to pass by to buy some food and return to my camp-spot now and then.
I love people, but I definitely enjoy my solitude as well. And I definitely do not like "downtowns" and "cement cities". A farming community is always great: I love to work in exchange of shelter and food.
I'm on very low budget when travelling because I do not like working for money. The longer I can stretch my budget, the less I have to work to build it up again. This means that I rarely pay for buses or stuff, I usually only pay for my food and that's it.

Ok great, then skip Anchorage, although as the major hub, you may have to go through it depending on your route. As for our other towns, they are not like the same sized towns in the lower 48. Plus, towns like Fairbanks have hostels as well as camping right in town. We don't have farming as you know it other then some individuals in the southern part of the state.

What I really want to see from Alaska is its nature. I'd love to hike all the way to Alexander Supertramp's bus, but that's a total of 80 miles of hiking I think, and I'm not sure I'm ready to do that alone yet (I still get anxious at night from hearing sounds around my tent and thinking it's a goddamn bear: do I have to learn to control that fear? I thought it'd go away, but it didn't really diminish even after spending 4-5 months camping alone in the bush.).

Yep, good call on not trying to go all the way to "The Bus". People are still dying pretty regularly getting there. Unless you are experienced in crossing major rivers, don't do it. You should also take a bear awerness class. You can get them for free at the Denali Wilderness Center. You SHOULD be afraid of bears. You need to know how to safely camp in areas that there are bears. A healthy level of fear can keep your senses alert and you need that up here.

How's Prudhoe Bay? Any polar bears?

Prudhoe Bay is not open to the public. I mean, you can get on a tour that goes to the ocean there. It's expensive, must be booked in advance due to the required security clearance, and is in general a PITA. All the area is owned by the oil companies.

Kennecott's Mine seems like a nice destination: I read there are some very nice strenuous and mountainous hikes around the town.

Yes, it's an awesome area.

Any free hotsprings in Alaska?

Yes but you can't get there on foot. Chena Hot Springs is 60 miles from Fairbanks and costs $10. That's the easiest one to get to. The other ones are off the road system.

What is special about Seward and Anchorage?

Seward is just beautiful but so are many other places in Alaska. They do have the Sea Life Center there though. Nothing special about Anchorage. The rest of us call it Los Anchorage or North Seattle, and many of us avoid it like the plague.

Also, I've heard that you can go observe grizzlies from super close in Hyder because they eat so well from the river there that they don't care about human's presence much.
And I will probably go to Skagway: a few people told me it's one of the nicest drives down from Whitehorse. And Carcross supposedly has sand dunes!

I've never been to Hyder. It's way far south. But I am sure it is simply gorgeous. There are a lot of places you can observe grizzlies eating salmon if you come during spawning season. Skagway is very historical. I'd love to visit it myself sometime.

North Pole sounds like a funny town to visit. Anything interesting in there? A 24/7 Santa probably.

If you come up this far you might like a visit to Santa Claus House. It's very commercial but kind of fun for a short visit. Yes they have a huge Santa next to the road as well as actual, real live reindeer for you to see through the fence. They have a website if you want to look it up. It's also fun to send your post cards from there as they get an actual North Pole post mark.

I am not sure when I will be visiting. It could be March/April, but I'm pretty sure it's still super cold up there at that time, so most probably in July/August/September.

March is still winter here. April is the beginning of spring as far as temps go but we still have snow on the ground. April and May is what some call spring, but we call Breakup. It's cold, wet, and muddy. Not anything you'd have fun camping in and many of our rivers are still frozen up. June is nice, July is warmer, August is beautiful with the fall colors. By September, we normally have had our first little snows up here in the Interior but if you are comeing later in the season, you can save the southern part of the state for that time period.

**payne** · 12-06-2012, 03:39 AM

Thank you for all your insight.

What do you guys do when you're camping in wilderness ? Do you actually surround your tent with a rope and a bunch of noisy stuff or just don't mind at all?
I usually just hang the food about 50 meters away, and pitch my tent for the night. I eat at the spot I hang the food.
I also do not do laundry very often, and do not have very many clothes with me when travelling. I have the habit of using my pants as rags. Could the accumulated smell on my pants attract bears? (I do not bother hanging my clothes or anything, I usually just sleep with them).
And should I hang my small cooking stove and pots?

**1stimestar** · 12-06-2012, 04:20 AM

Well where I back pack there aren't many trees but is what I do is cook in one spot, then move on. Then put my food and pack 100 feet from where I am sleeping. Leave your pants there too. You don't want anything that smells in your tent. I use sweats as camp pants and then put them in a plastic bag when they are in my pack. Sometimes I use a bear resistant food container. You can get these to use for free if you are in Denali and also several other places. I know the Public Lands Information Center here in Fairbanks used to loan them out but they have since moved into our new Morris Thompson Cultural Center and I haven't went there and asked them yet. Just keep everything that smells out of your tent. Bears WILL come in. In the places that have trees, yes hang stuff from them. I normally stack my stuff up so as to make sound when/if they are knocked over. That at least would wake me up. Look online for some bear safety videos. Alaska's Fish and Game may have some. Some people have a little solar powered electric fence they use but you probably don't want to do that. Research the areas you plan to pack through before you go! Really, we have people every year that are attacked and regularly killed by grizzlies.

**payne** · 12-06-2012, 04:25 PM

Should I consider myself lucky to have never encountered a bear due to my negligences?
And to what point are bears actually looking for "trouble"? Don't they ever consider that they might get hurt by trying to get that food from a human? Basically, if they smell the odour of a human, will they think twice before entering the tent?

**1stimestar** · 12-10-2012, 10:12 PM

It really depends Payne. You just can not rely on them behaving according to how they "normally" behave. Sure, NORMALLY they don't bother humans. But sometimes they do, with no rhyme or reason. But they are super curious about any type of smell.