RVing in Alaska?

[pma19]

We are now considering renting an RV (30') from Great Alaskan Holiday...Has anyone rented from this company? (feedback and suggestions please) Also, are there places you can park it that you recommend. Our intention is to pick it up in anchorage, make our way to Denali and Mt. McKinley then come back to Anchorage. We are first time RV renters...:eek: (4nights only) Picking up the Milepost today!!!:)

[Sea-Guy]

We RVed out of Anchorage a few years ago, our first. A one-week trip in June down the Kenai Peninsula. Don't recall the outfit, but don't think it was Great Alaskan Holiday. We experienced driving rain almost all week and the front window leaked onto the bed up front. We hear there are a mountains on the Kenai, but we never saw any. It was fun, but dry weather and some sun would have been better. We used Milepost also--great resource--and stayed in campgrounds each night. Just pulled into viewpoints or whatever for lunch in back when it was raining--very handy! TIP: Have an emergency meal ready that you can cook INSIDE on the stove. The good news: once we returned the RV and headed north in a rental car, the weather inland turned crystal clear and Denali was spectacular!

[cjnky]

We rented from GAH 3 years ago, and this year we are renting from them again - except this time we are picking up the RV in Iowa and delivering it to Anchorage. This year all their vehicles will be 2009 or 2010 models, and they keep them in top condition. We rented a smaller one than you are getting, but I think you'll find few parking problems. There are LOTS of RV's travelling up there, and spaces are provided for them. I highly recommend staying at the TEK campground in Denali! It puts you IN the park, and the shuttle ride is lots shorter to go clear to Wonder Lake - but make your reservations SOON to be able to get in. Feel free to send me a pm if I can help you more.

[pma19]

Thanks so much for the helpful tips...forgive me though, I don't know what a pm is?

(new to lingo) Help? lol :)

[cjnky]

Just e-mail cjnky42211@yahoo.com! ;)

[Warrior1]

We rented an RV for 10 days last summer and it was the best trip we have ever taken. We had good experiences at the Talkeetna Camper Park(between Anchorage and Denali) and at Riley Creek in Denali. Talkeetna Camper Park has full hookups, while Riley Creek does not. They were building a nice shower house at Riley Creek, which I'm sure is done now. We didn't rent from Great Holiday, but their campers looked nice that we saw. Fill up your tank in Anchorage(gas was cheapest there) and get groceries in Anchorage as well. We went in June and did not need any reservations, but I'm sure it will be busier later in the summer.

[Budget Queen]

I've rented from Great Alaska Holidays as well. I strongly suggest you purchase all available waivers to make any deductables zero. Many auto policies do not cover RV's and credit cards mostly do not either. Be well insured.

 

It wasn't my favorite trip, but, nice of the many I have taken to Alaska. However, you need to do your homework. You mention heading to Denali and McKinley. Sorry, you don't "head to McKinley". It is rarely viewable. And if a priority to see, I would suggest several days between Talkeetna and interior Denali Park. (you can't view it from the entrance either, or for many miles coming from the south).

 

I suggest you wait on the Milepost, unless you are getting if from your library. Or you get it for a significant discount. The new editions come out in March, (in the past). It is a necessary reference.

 

Your last grocery stop is Wasilla. As well as cheaper gas. Purchase twice the toilet paper you think you'll need. :)

[jaspersmommy]

We rented from GAH 3 years ago, and this year we are renting from them again - except this time we are picking up the RV in Iowa and delivering it to Anchorage. This year all their vehicles will be 2009 or 2010 models, and they keep them in top condition. We rented a smaller one than you are getting, but I think you'll find few parking problems. There are LOTS of RV's travelling up there, and spaces are provided for them. I highly recommend staying at the TEK campground in Denali! It puts you IN the park, and the shuttle ride is lots shorter to go clear to Wonder Lake - but make your reservations SOON to be able to get in. Feel free to send me a pm if I can help you more.

 

 

We too are renting a RV this summer. Do you recommend making reservations now for any campgrounds in which you wish to stay (in Anchorage and in other places?) We will be there as of August 19, so I'm assuming there will still be a lot of people in the campgrounds.

 

If we don't make campground reservations before we go, do you think we'll be OK so long as we pull into campgrounds early each day?

 

Thanks.

[cjnky]

jaspersmommy - Our only reservations were in Denali so we headed there first, and moved at our own pace for the rest of the time. We were there late Aug. and never had a problem wherever we wanted to stop. However, we didn't stay in Anchorage except the night before we turned in the RV, so I don't want to give you an opinion on that.

[Flredhead]

We rented an RV for a week in

Anchorage from GAH four years ago. We had one problem when we were coming back into Anchorage after a week on the Kenai peninsular. We called and they were sending someone when my husband managed to get it started. Be careful about filling the tank so that no more gas will go in before returning. We had filled the tank until it registered full but GAH did not consider that full. A week on the Kenai was fun but this was our first RV experience and we confirmed it was not our thing.

[mikefox2hotmail.com]

My wife and I rented a 21' from ABC in Anchorage and drove to Fairbanks, Northpole, Fox, Denali, and back to Anchorage. A 21' was fine for my wife and I for a week. We bought a tour saver coupon book for $100 and saved many times that amount by the time it was all said and done. We are looking forward to doing it again but for a month next time!:D

[daze823]

We are doing a RV trip in Alaska this year, and have reserved through GAH, although I've never used them before so I can't speak to the company itself.

 

We were going to do an Alaskan cruise, but my in-laws are going to a wedding in Anchorage, and are going early to RV, and asked us if we wanted to go with (I reserved our own RV). We are going to have the RV for 9 days, planning on leaving ANC and heading up to Denali for two nights, then head back down to Kenai for the remainder of the days. Will spend at least one day fishing for silvers, and one day on the 6 hour glacier boat tour, and would like to walk on a glacier, but not sure what tour to take for that, any suggestions (preferably not flying, would like it to be as inexpensive as possible).

 

And, to boot, since we are not cruising to alaska, we've decided to take another carribean cruise on the navigator in March... woo hoo

[Budget Queen]

and would like to walk on a glacier, but not sure what tour to take for that, any suggestions (preferably not flying, would like it to be as inexpensive as possible).

 

 

Exit Glacier guides. http://www.exitglacierguides.com/

[daze823]

Budget Queen,

 

Thanks for the tip on exit glacier, that looks great.... My only concern is about how intensive of a walk it is, we are going with my in-laws, and although in pretty good shape, I'm concerned that the 5 hours of walking may be a little tough on them, especially the first 2 miles up hill....

 

Is it a decent pace that most should be able to keep up with, or is it really just for people are pretty phsycially active and used to walking long distance, somewhat tough terrain?

 

Donnie

[Budget Queen]

Budget Queen,

 

Thanks for the tip on exit glacier, that looks great.... My only concern is about how intensive of a walk it is, we are going with my in-laws, and although in pretty good shape, I'm concerned that the 5 hours of walking may be a little tough on them, especially the first 2 miles up hill....

 

Is it a decent pace that most should be able to keep up with, or is it really just for people are pretty phsycially active and used to walking long distance, somewhat tough terrain?

 

Donnie

 

Contact the vendor directly with your concerns. It sounds like this may not be the best option?? Godwin Helicopters are also out of Seward and may be the best choice.

[Rosieo]

We rented an RV last summer and enjoyed it so much more than the cruise! Can't wait to go back and will certainly do an RV again. I loved the fact that I did not have to haul my luggage in and out of hotels every night!! It saved us so much money too. We used the Toursaver book to rent from ABC rentals for our motorhome. I would recommend them. The motor home was in great shape. If you get a chance get down to Homer Spit. I just loved it there!!!!

[daze823]

Rosieo, what do you mean Homer Spit? We are planning on going to Homer, is Homer Spit just another name for it? Also, did you stay at any RV parks that you recommend? We are going to start reserving our spots this week, and if you stayed at any that you really enjoyed, i'd like to know about it...

 

tahnks,

 

Donnie

[cjnky]

Two of our favorite campgrounds were places that didn't take reservations - one being the Homer Spit (part of Homer) and the other being the Seward City CG. Beautiful waterfront views at both. (There are places on the Spit that take reservations, but they didn't look appealing to me) The only place we had reservations was the TEK campground in Denali which was also awesome!

[Rosieo]

Rosieo, what do you mean Homer Spit? We are planning on going to Homer, is Homer Spit just another name for it? Also, did you stay at any RV parks that you recommend? We are going to start reserving our spots this week, and if you stayed at any that you really enjoyed, i'd like to know about it...

 

tahnks,

 

Donnie

 

Homer is the town and Homer Spit is a long strip of land off the mainland. It has some really different shops, beautiful views, wonderful fishing charters, the friendliest people! We stayed here in Homer Spit:

 

http://www.alaskacampgrounds.net/members/HomerSpitCampground/HomerSpitCampground.htm

 

We did make reservations there and it did fill up so I am glad we did. No where else did we need reservations except in Denali.

 

We stayed here in Telkeetna:

http://www.talkeetnacamper.com/

You really don't need reservations there.

 

We did a flightseeing trip in Talkeetna. If you go there be sure to go to Talkeetna Roadhouse for a meal. Great place.

 

Check out this site for reviews:

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Alaska/

 

You will need reservations in Denali, make those early. You will love traveling Alaska by RV, in my opinion there is no other way to do it. I could never be on a tour bus following their agenda. Too many geat places to stop.

[Rosieo]

Here is another link to campground reviews:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Search?q=alaska+campgrounds&geo=&hur=&returnTo=__2F__

 

I am going on a Southern Caribbean cruise in April and really wish I was heading back to Alaska though I wouldn't do a cruise again. Yes, there is some really beautiful scenery but I was disappointed in the touristy ports, jewelry shops just like in the Caribbean. Once I got out of the towns on the cruise I enjoyed it, just not the towns themselves.

[daze823]

so I'm still working on trying to figure out our itenerary for our 10 night RV trip, and the only thing I know so far is we will be flying in to ANC on Thursday night, staying in our RV that night in the RV lot, then leaving ANC around 10am on Friday and head up to Denali... We are thinking of driving straight to Denali Friday and staying there for 2 nights (Is that drive reasonable, it doesn't seem to far, or should we stop in Talkeetna the first night?)... after that we are not sure what we are going to be doing yet, but I've put together a list of things that we will pick from for activities, and then plan our itenerary around them... Below is a list of activities and RV campgrounds, it is long, but I thought maybe someone else could also use the information, plus I'd like to get any comments on any should do activities... obviously we won't be doing all (or even most) but would like to pick out hte best ones... also, the ones that say buy one get one free GAT is a coupon in the Great Alaskan Tour saver book I have..

 

Denali -

 

Teklanika Campground (Mile 29)- in the park (can only drive this far if you stay here, can not move once there, no hookups, camp fires ok), I have seen recommendations for this campground from several people, minimum 3 night stay, but maybe we can buy 3 and only use 2 nights if we stay 2 nights, only about $16 a night.

http://www.reservedenali.com/campgrounds/index.cfm#tc

 

Park Tours - I have a buy one get one free coupon for one of the following tours on the link below, except for the bike ride. GAT

http://www.denaliparkresorts.com/activities/detail.cfm

 

ATV Adventures - we have two 35% off coupons for an ATV adventure from the following company: GAT

http://denaliatv.com/tours.html

 

Talkeetna

 

 

 

Restaurant On the way from Anchorage to Denali, about ½ way inbetween…

 

Talkeetna Roadhouse – as seen on Man vs. Food on tv, sourdough pancakes

http://www.talkeetnaroadhouse.com/

 

River Raft – 2 hour(or 4), along denali national park – buy one get one free $79 GAT

http://talkeetnariverguides.com/trips.html#2HOURTALKEETNA

 

Jet boat tour 2hour, buy one get one free $65 GAT

http://mahaysriverboat.com/denalialaska-mahay.com/mjs.htm

 

Jet boat tour, 3 hours, buy one get one free $110 GAT

http://mahaysriverboat.com/denalialaska-mahay.com/dws.htm

 

Homer

 

Campground - Homer is the town and Homer Spit is a long strip of land off the mainland. It has some really different shops, beautiful views, wonderful fishing charters, the friendliest people! We stayed here in Homer Spit:

http://www.alaskacampgrounds.net/mem...Campground.htm

Campground – have buy one night get one free coupon GAT

http://thedriftwoodinn.com/rvpark.htm

 

Seward

 

Full day halibut fishing charter – have buy one get one free GAT

http://ninilchik.com/content.asp?CAT_ID=1

 

Kayak Bridal Veil Waterfall Paddle and Short Hike 3½ to 4 Hours– have one buy one get one free $65 GAT

http://millerslandingak.com/kayaking_guidedA.htm

 

Kenai Fjords Full-Day National Park Tours 6 hr tour, buy one get one free $139 GAT

http://majormarine.com/alaska-day-cruises/kenai-fjords-fullday-national-park-cruise/

 

Whittier

 

Glacier Cruise – prince William sound – buy one get one free $109 GAT

http://www.princewilliamsound.com/glacier-adventure.html

 

Chickaloon – 2 hrs NE of Anchorage (not on way to Denali)

 

Glacier Walk –

http://www.micaguides.com/reserve.html

 

Soldotna

 

Silver Salmon Fishing – have a buy one get one free GAT

http://rwfishing.com/fishing_alaska_kenai_fishing_rates_and_packages.htm

 

5 hour silver salmon fishing – have buy one get one free GAT

http://home.gci.net/~fishak/information.html

 

 

So if anyone has any comments on any of these tours, please feel free to give your opinion...

[Rosieo]

We loved the Roadhouse in Talkeetna and Talkeetna is a nice place towalk around.

 

Campground - Homer is the town and Homer Spit is a long strip of land off the mainland. It has some really different shops, beautiful views, wonderful fishing charters, the friendliest people! We stayed here in Homer Spit:

http://www.alaskacampgrounds.net/mem...Campground.htm

 

We stayed at this campground and really liked it.

[greatam]

 

So if anyone has any comments on any of these tours, please feel free to give your opinion...

 

There are at least 4, but I think there are now 5 campgrounds on the Homer Spit. 1-the cheapest-City owned, dry camping-$15.00 per night, right on the water, first come, first served

 

2. The most expensive-right next to the "fishing hole"-full hookups, showers, laundry, free internet, free cable TV, all the goodies-$78.00 per night

 

3, 4, 5-three more campgrounds wedged in between these two-average price about $40-45 per night. One by the Mariner Statue, one around the corner from the Mariner Statue (between the Statue and the ferry dock) and one at Land's End.

 

Don't know when you plan on this adventure, BUT the silver salmon arrive about August 15 until about Sept 20. Any other time of the year and you won't be catching silvers. You sure don't need a paid excursion to go silver salmon fishing. You can fish free in the fishing hole in Homer, you can fish at Deep Creek just north of Homer (there are two campgrounds at Deept Creek). You generally bank fish for silvers. You just need a license, a ride to the river or walk to the fishing hole, some bait and good luck.

 

We are in Homer every year from about Labor Day to 15th-20th of September for our fish shipping business. DH is a HARD CORE fishing nut. He hires this guy-Gary-the first day we are there to get the "lay of the land"-what the fish are biting on, where they are biting, etc. etc. Otherwise, he just fishes wherever. http://silverfinguides.com/

 

You can rent poles at the sporting goods/bait store on the Spit across the street from the Fishing Hole. You can buy boots there really cheap (like $15.00 for good knee high boots). They have all kinds of bait, hooks, lures and plenty of free advice.

 

For a really special halibut fishing trip (and usually enough to feed two for the entire year)-

http://www.alaskacoastalmarine.com/overnight_fishing_trips.htm

 

I HATE to fish. But I do this overnight trip EVERY year. We usually come home with about 200 pounds of frozen halibut which we bring home on the plane. We can each catch 4 halibut (the chicken halibut-35-50 pounds- are the best eating). Park your RV for the night in the cheapest city lot about noon, wander down and get on the boat at 4, and return the next morning with all your fish. Coal Point fish processing in Homer will keep your fish until you are ready to leave. It is MUCH cheaper to take your fish home on the plane as your luggage than to ship it home. Even the third bag charge is cheaper than FedEX shipping.

 

You are looking at too many PAID fishing excursions. You can fish for free all over Alaska. And while Soldotna has very, very good King and Red salmon fishing (the Kenai River), the area is pretty poor for silvers.

[Rosieo]

daze823 my husband did the fishing charter you mentioned in Soldotna.

 

Silver Salmon Fishing – have a buy one get one free GAT

http://rwfishing.com/fishing_alaska_kenai_fishing_rates_and_packages.ht m

 

Unfortunately they didn't catch anything. They had bad luck that day. He did enjoy it and so did my son. The crew said the last few weeks before we were there was not very good at all. My husband said he felt they were a good charter and would use them again. I stayed back with the RV. I walked around and took pictures and relaxed. A quick storm blew through so I was glad I was at the camper and not on the boat.

[Assateague Island Princes]

Greatam - question for you if you don't mind. We will be on the May 31st sailing of HAL's Amsterdam and one of our stops is Homer. Any good fishing there the first couple of weeks of June? We were intriqued by the idea of renting some fishing gear and forging off on our own, not a charter, to do some shore or stream fishing, if possible. We're there from 10AM to 6PM, and have no other plans than to walk around the Spit, do some beach combing, going to the Oceans and Islands (or is it in reverse??) center, and some museums, maybe renting a bike. But no specific excursions. My DH enjoys fishing, but isn't iterested in going out on a charter - after all, he says "if we're IN Homer, we're going to SEE Homer." Thats his story and he's sticking to it;)! Any advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanx! AIP