Never having driven to Alaska before, I pictured the Alaska Highway starting right over the border in Canada and going all the way to Alaska. Well, that isn’t true. An Alaska Highway road trip starts in Dawson Creek in British Columbia, Canada and takes you from there to Fairbanks, Alaska.
Below we share our route and a side trip off the Alaska Highway that we highly recommend. On this amazing North America road trip, you will travel through BC and into the Yukon Territory.
Table of Contents
Map of the Alaska Highway
Roads: Be prepared that there is frost heave on many roads and construction on the Alaska Highway somewhere, pretty much all summer. But don’t let this stop you from taking the trip!
Our setup: Family of 6 (Dad, Mom, 15, 13, 13 and 11 year old) in a Keystone Arcadia 248SLRE 5th wheel being towed by a Ford F350.
Animals: Look for bears, moose, bison, stone sheep, deer, and maybe even a lynx.
Here is what we did on our trip on the Alaska Highway to get to Alaska.
Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson
We stopped for the night in Dawson Creek BC – where the Alaska Highway officially starts after leaving Jasper National Park.
- Campground: Mile 0 Campground
- Reservation: No – called on our way there and they had availability.
- Date stayed: June 1st
The campground was fine – nothing fancy but full hookups and laundry, and our Starlink worked here, so it was all good. We headed to the Alaska Highway Sign in the morning and got multiple pictures and videos!
Mile 0 Alaska Highway Sign and Visitor Center
There is plenty of room to pull a trailer/RV into here, and people are always coming and taking pictures.
There is also a visitor center where we got some stickers and checked out the local travel guide brochures.
Drive from Dawson Creek To Fort Nelson
After that, we made sure we were filled up on gas, and we were on our way on the first stretch of the Alaska Highway. Our plan was to get to Fort Nelson today (you could plan a stop at Fort St John, too, if you would like.).
- Road we took: Alaska Highway
- Road condition: Fine. 2 lane highway with a big shoulder. Passing lanes every so often. Not many gas stops – so fill up when you see one.
- Overall: Some 10 and 9% grades but manageable. We did hit wildfire smoke for a good hour.
- Cell: Verizon coverage was on and off. But more on than I thought it would be.
- Animals spotted: We saw 1 Bear and 1 coyote. My sister saw 3 bears. And another driver they talked to saw 7 bears in total.
- Scenery: It was beautiful, but not the Icefield Parkway. You don’t see much of the mountains.
Fort Nelson to Laird Hot Springs
When we arrived in Fort Nelson, we stayed at the Triple G Hideaway campground, which was great! There was a ton of smoke when we were about an hour out of Fort Nelson, so be prepared for that.
- Campground: Triple G Hideaway
- Reservation: No – called on our way there and they had availability.
- Date stayed: June 2nd
When we pulled into Fort Nelson, we stopped first thing to get gas and, from there, headed to the campground.
You just pull in, stop in front of the building, and go in to check-in. They were quick and efficient and got us set up with our site.
After that, I got some loonies – they take US dollars for an even exchange – which the rate is not even right now – but I needed loonies for laundry, so that is what it is. And I did a couple of loads of laundry.
They had multiple washers and dryers. But the dryer did take two cycles to dry the clothes.
After that, we made dinner – they do have a restaurant on-site if you prefer not to cook.
After dinner, we headed in to get the kids ice cream. They were generous scoops in a waffle cone and had 20 different flavors to choose from.
We also explored the gift shops (they have multiple small gift shop huts on the property) before heading in when the mosquitos got too bad to hang out outside.
The next day, we headed out to Laird Hot Springs (we did have a reservation for the campground here. If we didn’t, they have an overflow lot you can boondock at – I believe you do pay for it?).
NOTE: Download your GPS before you leave!
Drive From Fort Nelson To Laird Hot Springs
- Campground: Laird Hot Springs
- Reservation: Yes – months before we went.
- Date stayed: June 3rd
This part of the drive is gorgeous!!! You are entering back into the Rockies, and it is beautiful. But be prepared; it is also like a roller coaster ride of up and down and winding roads.
Stop 1: Tetsa River Lodge
Come hungry and with money when you stop here! Also, don’t miss it. Our downloaded GPS had us driving right past it. There are multiple signs, and you will see the cinnamon roll sign, too.
There is a campground here and spots to just pull over and park. We parked to the right when we pulled in before the campground and headed in to find out about the cinnamon rolls.
She said she only had five left, and with my sister and her family coming up in a few minutes, I grabbed all five! Someone else did come in after that asking for some, and she said her next batch would be done in 37 minutes.
In other words, she is cooking cinnamon rolls all day – so you shouldn’t have a problem getting one, but you may have to wait a few minutes for yours.
She gave us ours, which were still warm, and we headed to the picnic table to enjoy them. They were delicious! We each had half of one and could have easily finished a whole one, even though they were big.
There is also a variety of local meat that her husband prepares that you can buy. We got beef sticks, salami, Canadian bacon, and Italian sausages.
The Cinnamon Rolls were $7 Canadian each, and the meat was more expensive. The Canadian Bacon we got was $21, the meat sticks were $18, and the four sausages were about $32. But everything we had was delicious!!
They also have soup and coffee that you can get here. Plus gas if you need it.
Stop 2: Muncho Lake
For this part of the drive, you drive along a river, and then reach Muncho Lake, which is that unreal blue color water!! They have a few first come first serve campgrounds here – which at about 2 pm looked pretty filled up.
We stopped at a pull-off to grab some pictures before heading out again to our reservations at Laird Hot Springs.
Stop 3: Laird Hot Springs
The campground at Laird Hot Springs was really nice. A massive fence surrounds the whole campground to keep the animals out. This also means it is locked at night. Make sure to check the times so you know when you have to get there!
The campground has no hookups. But from your site, you can walk to the hot springs, and they are gorgeous. Being in the campground makes it very easy to walk over there and visit them multiple times before you leave.
This part of the drive was our favorite so far!! Every turn seemed to get more beautiful!!
- Road we took: Alaska Highway
- Road condition: Fine. 2 lane highway with a big shoulder. Passing lanes every so often. Not many gas stops – so fill up when you see one. Lots of up and down and winding through the mountains. Craig called it a roller coaster!
- Overall: Some 8 and 9% grades but manageable. Some rough gravel and washboard sections by the Tetsa River Lodge for a couple of miles. Other sections where the road had batches of graveling spots – you could go around them in the other lane if there wasn’t traffic coming.
- Cell: No coverage once we left Fort Nelson.
- Animals spotted: We saw 2 Bears, 1 Caribou, 1 Moose, a few deer and 1 lynx on the side of the road that Craig saw.
- Stops made: Tetsa River Lodge, ToadRiver to get gas, Muncho Lake pull-off for pictures.
- Scenery: Was a beautiful drive through the mountains and along rivers and lakes!
Laird Hot Springs – Whitehorse
- Campground: Caribou RV Park
- Reservation: No called on our way there
- Date stayed: June 4th
This was a long drive that originally we thought we would break up but both Craig and Jake said let’s go for it so we drove all day to get to Whitehorse.
It rained almost the whole time – which was good for the area since there have been a lot of wildfires. But not that fun to drive in.
It was another beautiful drive – not as mountainous as the previous day but still beautiful!
Stop: Signpost Forest
We had heard this was another must do on the Alaska Highway! We had bought a piece of wood at Menards before we left and since we were scrambling to get everything ready to go we just grabbed some permanent markers and wrote Crazy Family Adventure 2023 and our names on it.
When we got to the Sign Forest – just off of Hwy 1 it was pouring rain! We grabbed our umbrellas and headed out to check out the signs and find a place to put ours.
Craig had his drill and some screws so we found a spot and added our sign and grabbed a few pictures! Megan and her family did the same and we were on our way.
There were so many signs! It was fun to read all the different ones and see where people were coming from. It was also cool to see how some people used whatever they could – a shoe or a bin top or even a kids training toilet to leave their mark in the sign forest!
There is a gas station right across the street and a big parking lot in 2 different places so parking the RV wasn’t a problem.
You may also want to stop at the George Johnston Museum in Teslin if you have extra time.
- Road we took: Alaska Highway
- Road Condition: Fine. 2 lane highway with a big shoulder. Passing lanes every so often. Not many gas stops – so fill up when you see one. Lots of up and down and winding through the mountains.
- Overall: Same 8 to 9% grades with some spots of gravel – that you could normally go around if no one was in the other lane.
- Scenery: It was a beautiful drive through forests and mountains.
- Cell: No Verizon coverage for most of the time.
- Animals spotted: Multiple bison – there are signs all around warning about them and 2 bears.
Whitehorse to Dawson City
We made a last minute decision to head to Dawson City. We figured when we were here why not! Before going we called to make sure there was somewhere to stay and head off the Alaska Highway to make a stop in Dawson City.
We are so glad we added this stop to our trip. Dawson City is a unique place and is definitely somewhere you should visit at least once in your life!
- Campground: Gold Rush Campground
- Reservation: No, we called a couple days before we headed that way.
- Date stayed: June 5th – June 7th
This was another beautiful drive but there were a lot of potholes and construction that had us driving on a completely dirt road. It was a long drive day from Whitehorse – on Google maps it said 6 hours but it took us closer to 8 hours.
- Road Condition: Questionable. We hit a couple potholes and Craig spent the majority of the drive super focused on not hitting anymore!
- Overall: It was a beautiful and long drive but not an easy drive.
- Stops made: We stopped to get gas and one extra time to go to the bathroom.
- Scenery: Beautiful!! At one point we could see the huge snow covered mountains in the distance past a beautiful green forest.
- Cell: Pretty much no service – once in a while it would work but nothing consistent unless we were passing through one of the small towns.
- Animals spotted: A couple bears including one that stopped on the side of the road and basically looked both ways before crossing the street right in front of us. It was like he knew to look for cars! We also saw a beautifully colored fox.
Dawson City – Tok
- Campground: Tok RV Village Campground
- Reservation: No called a couple days before we headed that way.
- Date stayed: June 7th – June 9th
This was a fun one and a bit nerve wrecking! The trip starts by taking the ferry across the Yukon River in Dawson City. The ferry is part of the Canada Highway Department so it is free and runs 24 hours a day. And yes RV’s can go on it!
What we didn’t realize is that we would be waiting in line for over an hour to get on the ferry. Due to the amount of people trying to cross at about 11:30 and the size of the ferry. It was taking 2 maybe 3 RV’s over at a time. Plus there were regular cars and work trucks that needed to get across.
By the time we got across and Megan and Jake did it had been 2 hours. With that we took off on our adventure on the Top Of The World Highway from Dawson City to Tok.
During this trip we would also be crossing the border back into the US and into Alaska! This meant we had to be sure to get to the border crossing while it was open.
We assumed we would have plenty of time before we had the 2 hour wait. But it still seemed like it would be fine so off we went.
The Top Of The World highway has a sign right before you get on it that says: Road is not maintained – travel at your own risk. Well there you go.
We knew going into it what to expect and it was just that. There were no guardrails or shoulder and we were way up in the mountains. Basically driving on the side of the mountain with our RV. Even with a car it would be a bit scary but with an RV it was even more so!
We took our time and Craig did a great job navigating the roads and the grades – the grades weren’t labeled and I think we hit a few that were at least 10% and on gravel. There is also a large climb right before you reach the border crossing.
The views pretty much the whole time are unreal. You are basically on top of the mountain just looking out over miles and miles of mountains and forest.
We made it to the border crossing and it was a quick passport check and a few questions and we were on our way. There was no wait and everything was really easy.
1st Part Of The Tip: Top Of The World Highway
Road Conditions: The road was paved for a while and became not paved. As mentioned above no guardrails or shoulder on the road. There were a lot of dips and bumps and pot holes along the way. But the views were unreal!!
Overall: If you are prepared, know what you are getting into and feel confident in your ability to drive your RV you can do it. Note: I would 100% not recommend in snow or heavy rain.
- Stops made: We stopped to take in the view and for bathroom breaks a few times.
- Scenery: Beautiful!! You really do feel like you are on top of the world!
- Cell: I forgot to note this but I am going to assume we may have gotten a little bit of service here and there since we were so high up and it was wide open space all around us.
- Animals spotted: None – besides birds.
Stop: Welcome To Alaska Sign
There is room to pull over with your RV to take a picture by the Welcome To Alaska Sign. Just don’t miss it or it will be hard to turn around!
2 Part Of The Trip: Top Of The World Highway To Tok
Right past the border crossing is the Welcome To Alaska sign so we stopped there to grab some pictures. Don’t miss it! We made it to Alaska!
On the way we stopped at the community of Chicken Alaska – but the gas was all locked up and no one came out so we just took a quick bathroom break and kept going.
We had about 77 miles to go to get to Tok. The road continued to be paved in most spots with lots of dips and pot holes.
We did see 2 large caribou standing right in the middle of the road. The trip to Tok took us more out of the mountains and lower. Which I was totally OK with!
Arriving In Tok
Once we arrived in Tok everything looked OK with the RV after that crazy highway. All we noticed on first glance was one of the curtains fell off.
After further inspection:
- A beer exploded in the outside fridge.
- A pipe under the sink came loose – which we didn’t realize until running the water for a while. So that meant water got on the floor.
- Craig noticed the tires had hit the underside of the RV a few times.
- Plus there were a lot of knicks in the sheet metal he had installed above the tires.
- The rig was dusty and a lot of dust got into the RV.
- Overall nothing too bad and we were able to fix everything.
We spent 2 relaxing nights in Tok before moving on.
Tok To Fairbanks
- Campground: Rivers Edge RV Park & Campground
- Reservation: Booked months ahead of time – but ended up changing our reservation to less time – but be sure to do this by the time they tell you to.
- Date stayed: June 9th – June 11th
This was a pretty drive that started looking like we would drive straight into the mountains. From there it was a variety of mountain views and forest roads.
The roads were decent, with a few sketchy spots – that were normally marked. You will drive on the Richardson Highway between Delta Junction, Alaska, and Fairbanks on this route.
We stopped at the North Pole on our way in! This is a must-do when driving the Alaska Highway.
The Rivers Edge RV Park was just OK, and Fairbanks is a big city. We originally thought we would want to be here longer to put our RV back together. But in the end, we wanted to get out of Fairbanks as fast as we could to get out of the city and more into what we thought Alaska would be!
We did it! We drove the Alaska Highway and made it to Alaska! Sticker on the RV: We survived the Alaska Highway!
One stop we did not make on our trip was the Kluane National Park – if you have more time, we have heard it is amazing and that you don’t want to miss Kluane Lake.
Stay tuned for more content coming on visiting Alaska plus our post on driving home on the Cassiar Highway.
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She loves being outside and exploring new places which is all made better when doing it with family and friends!
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