I will be PCSing to Fairbanks in November (depending on if the Army gods don’t mess with me further lol) I was intending on driving up to WA then catching a ferry to AK and drive up through Anchorage to Fairbanks, I was wondering if it’s a good idea to continue with attempting the ferry route, or go through Canada, or just fly (rather not). I have lived in cold areas before (WA and Germany) none were as cold as AK. If I do drive what supplies are recommended to make the trek…? (I have a F150 4X4). Also to anyone’s knowledge are there any gun clubs in the Fairbanks area? I mostly do three gun but I really just love shooting. Any help would be appreciated.

Have you looked at the ferry schedule to ensure that your routing works?
Not touching Canada is hard AND takes an extended trip
Didn't realize you could hit Anchorage on the ferry

What out, you can get lost in Homer.

I'd be surprised if the ferry operated much beyond October to Homer. But I know little about the ferry. Maybe make a phone call or two to verify the operating season terminates at the end of the published schedule.

I drove from NC in January back in 08.
Like somebody else said, get your car winterized before you come up. We took the ALCAN route simply for speed and the AKARNG wouldn't cover the ferry on a PCS. Easiest thing to do is ship your guns with the shipping company (thats what we did minus 1 rifle) or use an FFL. There are number of good FFLs up here too. If you take a rifle through Canada do your research on paying to bring it through. It was like 25 bucks or so.

We brought 2 spare tires and ~10 gallons of fuel along with all kinds of winter/survival gear. I was not going to freeze to death in Canada. I think the passport rules changed since we came up. We just used my mil ID and wife used her dependent ID to get through the borders.

PM me if you have any specific questions. I'm at Fort Greely, but we're up at FWA all the time.

All our Hometown guys are pretty awesome too. Look forward to having you!

Yea, drive up and get your rig winterised at once. F-150 4x4 is perfect.
Novemeber isnt all that bad until you hit the Yukon (Most years). I have driven it in October and November before and both we about the same. Caught a lil snow both times in Canada and in Delta, but the roads hadnt turned to shit yet by then. Bring tire chains just in case and cold weather gear. 2 spare tires are the minumum. Bring a couple gas cans full as well, service stations start closing down for the season in Sept/Oct. Go easy and dont kill your rig on the way up, some people get in a hurry in Canada and work their rigs way too hard trying to get out of it. Take your time so you dont leave yourself in a situation. Get plenty of sleep.

I'm not one to talk though... I did the Columbia, SC to Fairbanks run in 96 hours with my dad (Oct 08) and Fairbanks to Missoula, MT in 42 hours straight (May 09). Snowed on the way up and break-up with 2 blizzards on the way down.

Ferry sucks in the fall, and the routes are limited then as well.

if you have any questions on winterizing you vehicle IM me I have done over 50 of them this past year. like others said take it slow and sometimes it can be pretty rough. I had 2 flat tires and 1 wheel fall off of the hub (uhaul equipment) but any hooo get good stuff. I would look at getting a set of LT blizzacks for the drive. are you going to tow anything behind you?

Wow… I thank all of you for this plethora of information… I will look more into winterizing my truck it may be hard to get it done in TX (where I’m currently stationed) since the coldest it gets here is 38 degrees lol. I will not be towing anything I intend to by a truck cap so I can store extra stuff in my bed to protect them from the elements… I will start investing in more gear for the drive. I’ll be shipping most of my guns I may end up just bringing 3-4 with me only because we have a bug out event in OCT. I’ll look into that ferry from Bellingham, the army should finance it since I’m active duty. I cannot wait to get up there and do some shooting and hunting (im still a novice with the shooting and a noob to hunting). One of my battle buddies will be trying to join me on the drive so I don’t go solo. I look forward to getting up there and enjoying all there is in Alaska.

gonna cause a lot of trouble on the trip lol.

Any more ideas on absolutly necessary equipment/supplies to bring?


Ive heard of folks bringin more than one spare- how legit is this?

Very legit
You will go for hundreds of miles with no services

You will have to enter Canada. Make sure you do your homework about what you can enter with and DO NOT try to get something through under the radar

Camping stoves that use compressed gasses dont work up here very well. think pressurized liquids instead. the propane type have problems when it is cold, as do alot of the non preheated liquid ones. if you drive expect to get stuck in watson lake in canada, that danm town is the only gas for 250 miles in either direction and they know it. gas pumps dont take card, and I swear the guy who runs the gas station also runs the hotel. gas station shuts down at 7 pm, re opened at 9 am. hotel was something like 200 bucks, and im pretty sure that the price went up 100 bucks at 701 pm . So yeah extra gas is important, knowing your gas mileage to a T, and knowing that it will drop by 1 or 2 due to the cold is also important(this can be partialy combatted by putting cardboard to block some of the airflow through the radaitor and keep engine running at optimal temp, you see it on diesels as a factory option to have grill bras to limit air flow, ). extra headlights on bumper are nice for that drive too, helps you avoide the mooses, bears, caribiou, yetis ect ect, just be sure you dont stress your alternator by going crazy. good tires, good tires, good tires, did i mention good tires. At really cold temps which may or may not happen that early in winter rubber loses flex and you can almost guarentee a sudden leak via broken bead if you just romp on the gas with cold tires(-40 ish is where I did it once, 2 at once, was impressive actually). I drove up in April and it was -20 some places, slept in my car(I was poor) in a ECWCS sleeping bag inside a 20 above bag and a head sock, not too bad actually.

This may be the only issue so far.... LOL!


Any roadside camping along the way? Dont feel like payin over $200 for a hotel room....

Have you ever driven on ice & snow without studded tires?