Southeast Alaska Marine Highway - Towns to visit

B

BRAZO

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This summer I'll be driving our View motorhome (no CD22 as we have it stored Blaine, WA) from Wisconsin to Fairbanks, AK. The family will fly into Fairbanks and we'll spend 3 weeks getting down to Juneau. The family will fly home and I'll take 2 weeks to get the motorhome to Vancouver and the family will fly back in (then the San Juan's via our CD22 for a few weeks).

I'm planning to take the Alaska Marine Highway ferry (w/motorhome aboard) from Juneau to Prince Rupert. Does anyone have stops along the way that they would recommend? I'm thinking Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, and Prince Rupert - any of these not worthy of a stop? Any others that I should stop at?

Thanks for your help.

P.S. - maybe take the CD22 from Blaine, WA to Southeast Alaska next year - this will give me an idea of what I'm looking at to get that done.
 
Hi Robert, while we've never been to Prince Rupert on the Marine Ferry System, we have been to Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan on a couple of occasions. Each of the communities, while tied to the fishing and/or lumber industries, are quite different when you visit them. We did not have an RV with us nor did we off-load our vehicle to spend a day or so at each community and board another Alaska Marine Ferry boat to continue our trip. We did, however, when docking times permitted, arrange to have a ride in a taxi or tour operated vehicle to tour as much of the communities as possible given the sometimes short in-port times. It was great having folks with local knowledge to answer our sometimes dumb questions. More importantly, the opportunity to meet and talk with local people that live in the communities year round, was priceless. My wife and I really enjoyed each community and hope we can visit them again. If you're looking for "Big" in any of it's forms, you will be disappointed. If you're looking for wonderful people and scenic beauty, you'll love each community and will want to visit them again. Just my thoughts, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. I hope you enjoy your trip, Jim
 
Some questions;


Will you be able to unload at low tides? I suggest you carefully read the Alaska Marine Highway website about load/unload at low tides. Ketchikan has 20 foot plus tides.
Does the View motorhome have enough ground clearance? It looks low to the ground in the website photos.

How do you plan on getting from Fairbanks to Juneau? Juneau does not have a road connection to anywhere else.

Most SE towns have limited roads and parking. Have you investigated RV parks for each town?
 
Larry H":1w8txhjm said:
Some questions;
Click to expand...



RE: Will you be able to unload at low tides? I suggest you carefully read the Alaska Marine Highway website about load/unload at low tides. Ketchikan has 20 foot plus tides. Does the View motorhome have enough ground clearance? It looks low to the ground in the website photos.

===> The View has pretty good ground clearance but I'll checkout their website. There also is a Winnebago View - Alaska travels website, so I'll see what they have to say.

RE: How do you plan on getting from Fairbanks to Juneau? Juneau does not have a road connection to anywhere else.

===> We will take the ferry from Haines to Juneau.


RE: Most SE towns have limited roads and parking. Have you investigated RV parks for each town?

===> Yes, I was able to find National Forest campgrounds at each location - (Sitka has a marina with RV parking).


Thanks for your questions - I'll check out the low tide issue.
 
When we did the RV trip, we only did the ferry from Haines to Skagway, and then the road back down. No problem with a 38 foot diesel pusher getting on and off the ferry. The ramps come down, and often 18 wheeler tractors will off load at some of the ports, from what we have observed. We also crossed the Yukon on the Ferry to take the "top of the World Highway" to Fairbanks from Dawson City. We dry camped (there are campgrounds there now) outside of Denali waiting for a permit. We got one week, and extended that another week when in the park campground. You take the bus thru the park--no private vehicles, after you get to the campground.

In our 5 boat trips to AK, we have enjoyed Sitka the most. But we took a week at each of the ports you have mentioned. Juneau can have traffic jams, down town when all of the cruise ships are in town, but lots to see there. Petersburg and Wrangell are pretty much one street towns--certainly worth a few days. There seems to be some local gathering going on, and good to go to those to get some local flavor. Do you have other transport than the RV--for instance we took off road motor bikes (Honda Trail 90's) with us on the RV to AK--that way we could leave the RV parked and tour the area. On the other hand, we could easily walk from the marinas thru most of the towns, except Juneau--and there we took public transportation. We were also in Haines for the AK state Fair, and that was a lot of fun.

Enjoy--its a great trip.
 
If you can take a side trip from Ketchikan to Hollis on a local ferry you can then spend a week or so traveling the roads on Prince of Wales Island. There are about 750 miles of forest roads that get you to Craig, Klawock, Thorne Bay, Kaasan, and all the way up to the caves at El Capitan.

Tom
 
As a very regular AMHS passenger I can offer the following advice:

You'll regret missing any stops (each of those towns is worth spending a day or two in) , but it IS VERY IMPORTANT to make sure you'll be able to get your motorhome on/off the ramp. It is best to plan ahead for drive on/offs, as the crew will put your motorhome in a different spot on the car deck. don't assume you will be able to unload if you decide to get off the ferry "on a whim."

However, you can also separate yourself from your motorhome, which may be more convenient, although you would then have to stay in hotels, hostels, etc. It may be worthwhile to do so. All you need to do is send the motorhome on "unaccompanied" and make arrangements for someone to meet the ferry and drive it off. You may want to send it down the "road" one port and meet up with it, or you may decide to just send it all the way, and meet up with it at the end of your trip. There are agencies that you can hire to do this at most ports, and AMHS should be able to refer you to someone. This is usually pretty reasonable in terms of cost. If there is nobody you can contract to drive your motorhome off, then the ferry crew are allowed to do this for you, but they are not allowed to compete with a private person/company if available.

Anyway, the short story is that you can certainly get you and your mobile home to the end of the journey without too much hassle, and make all the stops you would like, but you may have to send the motorhome on without you if tides aren't cooperative.
 
bring a bicycle with you in case you do decide to separate from your RV. You can get around any of those towns by bike pretty well, even Juneau.

BUT, don't forget your rain gear!!!! Especially on a bike. Also a large fender over each wheels is a godsend in the northern rainforest. If its not raining, the ground is probably still going to be wet (and muddy), and the fenders will save you a lot of laundry related hassle.
 
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