Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE In 1999 I drove the Dalton highway to Deadhorse, Alaska and the equivalent gravel road to the arctic in Canada. I was in a 2WD Ford Explorer and I had 5 flat tires. I carried 4 spares and two 5 gallon Gerry cans of gas with me. The roads are rough on tires...we drove 20-30 MPH the whole way to enjoy the scenery and to not wear the tires out so quickly. Also, the roads are on top of a pile of gravel so the permafrost does not melt. If you get a little close to the edge you either get stuck in soft gravel or you tumble partway down the soft gravel slope, so carry a tow strap.
We drove through Wrangell-St Elias with the truck as well. A few creek crossings were hairy, but doable. The weather can change in an instant, so carry a weather radio with you. Good luck and enjoy the beauty of the place! Charles -----Original Message----- From: Joe Mitchell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 5:07 PM To: Minton, Mark; [email protected] Subject: [Texascavers] RE: Driving in Alaska Mike, You are correct about the condition of the Alaska roads and the rental policy. In fact, when there are wash outs, the road department fills them in with gravel, so it is often hard to avoid. When we took our trip last summer, we planned to drive up the Dalton Highway, 400 miles of a gravel road with few towns along it, and so rented a vehicle from an outfit that equipped the vehicle with extra full size spare tires, a tool kit and a CB radio. We ended up using one of the spares on this road. We also clogged up one of the sensors with mud, causing the check engine light to come on. We still had this vehicle when we drove to Wrangell-St. Elias. The biggest danger on this road is actually old railroad spikes sticking out of the roadbed since the road was built over the old rail line. Although we didn't have any problems here, a full size spare is definitely a good idea. So, the moral of the story is, if you go caving in Alaska, take some one else's car. :-) Evelynn > Evelynn Mitchell said: > > >It is a little more challenging to get into Wrangell -St. Elias >since you have to rent a vehicle that is allowed to drive on gravel >roads, > > That's a funny thing about renting vehicles in AK. When I was >up there back in the '90s with Nancy Weaver, we rented a car and had to >sign a statement saying we would not take it on gravel roads. >Well, if you have ever driven much in Alaska, you know that that is >next to impossible if you leave the city. There are precious few paved >roads in AK to begin with, and those that they do have are frequently >under repair during the few summer months that it is feasible to do >road work. So even the paved roads have long gravel sections or places >where you get shunted off onto smaller gravel roads. We drove all over >the place and took as many gravel roads as paved ones, even getting >stuck once. The car we had was a compact like a Chevy Nova, but we >discovered that the back seat could be laid down and the partition >between trunk and seat removed so that it was, remarkably, long enough >for us to sleep in the car. Since it rained a lot on our trip, we >camped in the car often (always off of gravel roads). We didn't tell >and the rental agency never complained, although I think we did wash >the car before returning it. :-) > >Mark Minton --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Caveats: NONE --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
