White Mountain Pass Drive...for the faint of heart?

[smattapup]

Hello all:

 

I'm reading all kinds of great things about driving the White Mountain Pass instead of taking the train, and am getting very tempted to do it this way.

 

One question: my wife gets really queasy driving in mountainous areas. She's fine so long as there is a shoulder on both sides, but hugging the sides of hills is NOT her idea of a good time.

 

Would she enjoy this drive, or are there going to be places where she's going to end up closing her eyes and waiting for it to end?

 

Please advise.

[ladysheri]

My DH & I took the Jeep Excursion up through White Pass in September. I too was a little nervous because I can sometimes get motion sickness. (And had the crackers handy). But actually, it is one of the mildest mountain passes I have ever traversed. The highway is quite well maintained and there are very few curves, and the ones that are there are quite tame. I live in Washington State and I would compare it to Snoqualmie Pass....very easy. And quite beautiful. It is quite a trip up through it--highly recommend it. We went to a town called Carcross and did a little shopping and then got to take the Jeeps offroad up a Mountain (Your wife might not care for that--a little more hairy). But the views were fantastic.

[Budget Queen]

It is the Klondike Highway. The first 20 or so miles have a valley on one side with guard rails, some drop offs and mountain on the other. Once over the pass, it is open flat scenic driving.

[cwestbrook]

I'd like to hear more about the Jeep roads. We enjoy doing that in Colorado.

 

Where did you rent your Jeep?

[smattapup]

Budgetqueenalaska:

 

Thanks for the info. One question, are we talking valley or VALLEY? We visited Mt. St. Helens and I honestly thought I was going to lose her on some of those passes. That was, however, 60 miles of twists and turns.

 

Also, any personal recommendations for Sitka?

[Budget Queen]

Budgetqueenalaska:

 

Thanks for the info. One question, are we talking valley or VALLEY? We visited Mt. St. Helens and I honestly thought I was going to lose her on some of those passes. That was, however, 60 miles of twists and turns.

 

Also, any personal recommendations for Sitka?

 

 

 

I mean VALLEY. There are several miles of drop offs. I have driven up to Johnston's Ridge several times, if that was a problem, then the Klondike Highway will be too in my opinion.

 

 

As for Sitka, it is a great walking city, Sitka Heritage Park, museums, Raptor Center. etc there is an all day transit van for about $7 pp all day. Top here too are the boat tours, and your only opportunity for good puffins looks, if of interest on the Inside Passage.

[Yukon]

smattapup - a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a few thousand words about what the road looks like: http://explorenorth.com/library/roads/sklondike-photos1.html

People from Kansas are hugely impressed by the VALLEY, those from Colorado don't think the valley is any big deal. :D The steep part is only 11 miles long.

 

Murray

[JohnQ]

If you take bomine or dramamine in the morning before you head out, there shouldn't be a problem. My wife needs these for any curvy roads, and she did fine on Klondike last year.

[trcori]

in recent years I've gotten more freaked out by semi-precarious mountain drives. And that does include Mt. St. Helens -- last spring it was on our plan for a NW road trip, but we had to turn around because I could not cope with being able to see all the way down from the road cut into the side of one of the neighboring mountains. The road to Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument later in the trip, which I'd driven all by myself 15 years earlier, almost gave me a heart attack. No idea why. But FWIW I was OK when we drove White Pass two years ago. We were going to do it again during our cruise this past August, but when we got to Skagway, it was a low-cloud, drippy day and neither of us was interested in trying to navigate THAT -- TR

[CaribbeanBound]

Yes, drive it!

 

Rented a van for $75 from Avis which is located very close to the piers. We drove to Carcross, Yukon Territory, Canada (130 miles roundtrip). As it turned out, there’s really nothing in Carcross, but the trip was incredible. (It’s not the destination —– it’s the journey). There was almost no traffic at all. We saw but one bus, a truck, and maybe 2 dozen cars the entire trip. We saw bears, caribou, mountain goats and bald eagles. We saw snow capped mountains and crystal clear lakes, numerous water falls, sweeping valley and mountain views, raging rivers, the White Mountain Pass Train. The kids through snowballs. We got back into town about 2pm and shopped. Many interesting stores. The place was packed with 4 ships in port. Enjoyed an Alaska Amber Ale at the Red Onion Saloon and were driven back to the ship by the folks at Avis. Between 8pm and 10pm that night we saw numerous Humpback whales, including tail slaps, and a breach within 50 yards of the ship.

 

Here's our very detailed Alaska cruise review: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/alaska.html

[mbisson]

Budgetqueenalaska:

 

Thanks for the info. One question, are we talking valley or VALLEY? We visited Mt. St. Helens and I honestly thought I was going to lose her on some of those passes. That was, however, 60 miles of twists and turns.

 

Sorry, but if you guys though the Mt St Helens highway was bad, I wouldn't recommend you venture onto White Pass (the one in Alaska-Our's in WA is really pretty also ;) ). I think you might have trouble with the train as well.

 

jmo

-Monte