Valuable info and appreciated. Thanks.
Starting this trip on Monday. Still needs a little work, and I’m always open to more suggestions that are along the way. I am especially interested in any ghost towns along this route. Also, if you have any recommendations on where to eat or what else to see at these stops, that would be great too. Here is what the trip looks like so far: Dates are all very flexible. I just need to be in Anchorage by May 1st.
Starts in Columbus, GA. March 31st
New Orleans: WWII Museum and French Quarters
Driving through HOUSTON
San Antonio: Natural Bridge Caverns and Alamo
Carlsbad Caverns
Driving through ROSWELL
Bandalier National Monument
Driving through Sante Fe, Albuquerque, Flagstaff
Sedona: Drive the UTV around
Grand Canyon National Park
Driving through Kingman
Hoover Dam
Las Vegas - April 11
Driving through St George, Cedar City, Grand Junction…
Driving through DENVER
Colorado Springs
Driving through Denver; Cheyenne
Crazy Horse Monument
Mt Rushmore
Driving through Rapid City; Sturgis, Sheridan
Yellowstone National Park: Old Faithful
Driving through Butte, Spokane
Seattle – April 25
Driving 97 to Prince George
Driving 16 to 37 to 1 through Whitehorse
Kluane Lake
Most Direct route to Anchorage
Total Mileage is about 7600 mi and 129hrs of driving. Here is a link, though I’m not sure it will work for everyone. Road Trip.
If you’re driving through Houston around mealtime, I recommend a stop at Goode’s BBQ. It’s right on your route (at the Kirby exit off 59).
Or any of the Pappas restaurants.
Living in Northern BC, I should point out that highway 37 from Prince George to Whitehorse can be a pretty rough highway, and right now is pretty much winter driving conditions. Spring driving can actually be worse, as wet compact snow is more dangerous than just regular snow. By April I expect most of the lower sections will be clear, but you will run into ice and snow at higher elevations in the mountains. A good link is www.drivebc.ca which shows current closures and road condition warnings.
Also, expect to pay obscene amounts for gasoline the further away from civilization you are. Last time I went to Whitehorse I saw it at almost double the price in the little towns as compared to the bigger centers. This is partially due to higher freight costs getting it there, and partially because in many places there’s no competition within a 100 km. Be prepared to go slow, as your cell phone will likely not work in many places and hitching a ride to civilization after you ditched your ride on black ice isn’t much fun.
If I was going to make that drive, I would actually add a couple hundred miles on it by backtracking northeast after Seattle over towards Jasper, then head north to Grande Prairie and take Hwy 43 back to BC and follow 97 up to Whitehorse (making sure to stop in Liard Hot Springs on the way). April is a nice time of the year to drive though southern BC, and Jasper National Park is one of the most amazing drives in western Canada. If I was planning on camping outside your original route would be great, but if you’re planning on using hotels and seeing the sights you might find highway 37 between Prince George and Whitehorse lacking. From what I recall from my drive through there a few years back, there’s lots of trees and scenic views, but not a lot else … for hundreds of kms on rough roads. Much as I hate to admit it, Alberta generally does a better job on highway maintenance than BC does, especially in the northern parts.
There’s only one, my friend. Drive north from Kluane across the border. Stop at Tok Junction and gas up (maybe have a bite to eat or a piece of pie at Fast Eddy’s), then head southwest on the Glenn Highway, which takes you right into Anchorage. I would really suggest stopping at the Matanuska Glacier overlook, as it’s a gorgeous view. The Long Rifle Lodge used to have a decent enough lunch, and the view of the glacier from the dining room is worth the stop. I would also remind you to buy a copy of The Milepost before you go, so you know what you’re looking at along the way.
By the way, Highway 97 (also called the Hart Road, or Hart Cutoff) is a slow road, with at least one heart-stopping bridge to cross. I don’t know why you want to take Highway 16 and 37, both of which are going to have very limited facilities. You’d be better off to just take 97, which becomes the Alcan Highway when you hit Dawson Creek. It’s paved and a much better road with full services along the way.
It’s a bit of a detour — instead of heading west on I-90 from Butte you’d head north on I-15 and hang a right at Boulder — but Elkhorn is a pretty decent ghost town. As a bonus added attraction, between Basin and Boulder you could stop at one of the health mines and spend some time breathing the radon-laden air and drinking from / bathing in the radon-infused springs.
(If you were to go this route I’d recommend continuing north on I-15 to Helena and taking US 12 to rejoin I-90 at Garrison rather than backtracking.)
I’m in San Antonio and would love to be y’all’s “tour guide”. I sent you a PM with my contact info.
Thank you! No there is nothing specific about 16 or 37 that made me chose those roads. That’s just what came up in Google Maps as “the way”. I don’t want to drive on any rough roads at all. Especially not with this trailer! I want to drive on the biggest, smoothest, ice-free road that Canada has to offer. I don’t care if it takes me out of the way, as long as I end up in Alaska and don’t have to endure another repeat of my drive through Albania.
I see what the issue was. I made Seattle a point and it just gave me the most direct route from Seattle, which is apparently some rough driving. The only reason I plotted Seattle in the first place was because I thought that’s where the main highway through Canada started.
So… Seattle is off the trip. (Saved me 600 miles!)
Now I am entering Canada from I-15 in Montana and adding Elkhorn and Liard Hot Springs to the trip. Easier driving that way?
Thanks for the help, guys!
Heck, you’ll be going through Lethbridge. Drop me a line if you’d like to stop for a beer (or, since you’re driving, coffee).
Here are some ideas/suggestions for the New Mexico leg of the trip:
When you leave Carlsbad, instead of driving through Roswell, you could turn west on Hwy. 82 at Artesia. You’ll gain altitude and go through some beautiful mountainous country as you head towards Alamogordo. In Cloudcroft, turn south on the Sunspot Highway to visit the National Solar Observatory, as well as Apache Point Observatory.
At Alamogordo you’ll be back in the desert. White Sands National Monument is 15 miles to the south. In Alamogordo is the New Mexico Museum of Space History. When you’re ready to move on, head north on Hwy. 54 to Carrizozo. 30 miles north of Alamogordo is Three Rivers Petroglyph Site which has a very impressive display of ancient rock art.
If you must visit Roswell (a lot of people say “I want to go to Roswell!” then after they’ve been there they say “Well, that was a letdown”) don’t bother with the UFO Museum. More interesting (to me, anyway) is the Roswell Museum & Art Center. They have a section devoted to Robert Goddard (he lived in Roswell in the 1930s) with a recreation of his lab, including lots of original equipment, rocket parts, etc.
When you leave Roswell don’t go north on Hwy. 285, it’s featureless and boring. Instead go west on Hwy. 380. Like Hwy. 82 out of Artesia, it gains altitude and you end up in some very scenic country. The tiny town of Lincoln (home of the Lincoln County Wars) is well worth a stop. Most of the buildings date back to the Billy The Kid days.
Whether you go through Lincoln or Alamogordo you’ll end up in Carrizozo. There’s a great little burger stand just west of the intersection of 380 and 54 on the south side of the road. The proprietor is an elderly gentleman who is a former Army paratrooper (he was even a Golden Knight). They serve a very good green chile cheeseburger. About 5 miles west of town is Valley Of Fires, an extensive lava flow with a nice paved trail.
Continue west on 380. If you come through on April 5 you could stop at the Trinity Site- it’s the one day of the year that it’s open to the public (they don’t open in October any more). Maybe I’ll see you there! Just before you hit I-25 you pass through San Antonio which has two bars- the Owl Cafe and the Buckhorn (they’re right across the street from each other). Both have won “Best Green Chile Cheeseburger in New Mexico” awards. I’ve eaten at the Owl Cafe; I thought it was good but not great. Haven’t tried the Buckhorn.
Well, this is getting long and I’m tired of typing so I’ll post this and add more later.
The road into Elkhorn might still potentially be a bit gnarly in April. I can’t specifically remember what the road is like to that one (ghost towns all kind of run together after a while), but it might be worth calling or shooting an e-mail to the park manager at some point.
One other more off-beat suggestion: if you happen to be spending a night near Great Falls, and especially if it’s Wendsday through Saturday, the O’Haire Motor Inn has a really frikkin’ sweet Tiki bar with mermaids swimming in the glass-walled pool and an octogenarian playing show tunes on an electric organ. It’s usually pretty reasonable and not a bad place to stay in general: O’Haire Motor Inn
I have a Can Am Commander in the trailer. Since that is a part of the trip where I go out and back, I can leave the Tahoe and trailer at a truck stop on the interstate and drive the commander if it’s rough. Thanks for the heads up!
Crap! I think I am just going to miss it. I can see myself rushing through everything else just to get there in time. I would love to see that.
Good plan. I didn’t want to put you off if you were intent on seeing some wilder country, but those two roads are way off the beaten path. If you continue on the road you’re now considering, it will take you through Calgary and Edmonton, where you’d hook up with Highway 43 to Grand Prairie and Dawson Creek (well, 16 briefly, then 43). At Dawson, it changes to 97 heading north. Then you just stay on 97 until it magically changes into Highway 1 just before Watson Lake. While the road through Canada is paved, it can be rough and frost-heaved, so keep your speed down hauling that trailer, especially farther north.
You could still do the Seattle thing, but then take the highway up through Kamloops, PG and and onward on 97.
If you want to see some ghost towns, here is an interactive map of New Mexico. Click on a county then click on a town name with a blue dot.
Most of the towns listed are not true ghost towns- that is, completely abandoned with nothing but empty buildings. Most of them have at least a few residents. The site even includes Lincoln, which is almost completely restored and has quite a few permanent residents.
I just have to say that sounds like an absolutely kick-ass itinerary.
More ideas/suggestions for New Mexico:
If you do decide to take 285 north from Roswell, you might consider heading west when you reach I-40, to Hwy. 14 (the Turquoise Trail) on the east side of the Sandia Mountains. It goes through some beautiful country and several interesting small towns- some of which are listed on the Ghost Town website I linked to earlier. Madrid is one; it’s a former mining town that has embraced the tourist trade and has lots of shops, art galleries and eateries. Hwy. 14 is much more interesting than Hwy. 285 (which I think you should avoid).
The Plaza in Santa Fe is fun (but touristy)- besides all the art galleries, there are two different rock/mineral/fossil shops that I enjoy visiting; they’re both just a block or so off the Plaza. Just south of the Plaza is Del Charro, a good place to eat (and reasonably priced). Another good restaurant in Santa Fe is Tomasita’s.
I’ve heard good things about the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos but haven’t been there.
In Albuquerque, you might enjoy the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. In addition to the indoor exhibits they have a 5 acre lot with a B-52, a B-29 and several other planes, missiles, etc.
For good food in Albuquerque there’s Sadie’s (the original one on 4th St.) or Monica’s near Old Town.
I would love to do a long road trip like you’re doing- maybe someday!
If you do decide to try to make it to the Trinity Site, be aware that they stop letting people in at 2 pm. If you’re already there you can stay until 3:30 pm but the Stallion Gate (the only entrance) closes at 2.