We we finished our 3 month summer trip and are thinking about Alaska next year. Any recommendations for books to get to help us prepare? The Milepost I suppose.
Glendale Titanium 29E34TS fifth wheel
2012 Ford F-350 4WD Lariat 6.7L
PullRite OE Series Super5th 18K
Superbumper
The Milepost for history and Mike and Terri Church's "Alaskan Camping" for campgrounds. They have personally been to all of them. That's really all you need. Have fun planning!!
Extremely Happy Full-Timers for 16 years
.... now trying to adjust to 3-season traveling - and it isn't easy!
2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star Diesel Pusher
2004 Jeep Liberty
Once you actually get to Alaska, there are books and magizines that will show hisory, maps, and campgrounds at almost every single gas station and/or gift shop for free. Alaska is really beautiful!
One of the best book stores I have found for northern subject matter interest is Mac's Fireweed Books in Whitehorse. Great book store and the staff there is very knowledgeable IMHO. I tend to spend several hours there each trip.
I like the Dummies series of books and they have one on Alaska, as well as the Frommers series are good. Get on Tim Bell's web site, www.bellsalaska.com and get some of his material, some is free and available at different visitor's centers in the north or you can order them off his web site. Tim Bell is unique, in that he actually grew up at a roadhouse, on the Alaska Highway, owned and operated by his family. His family used to publish a guide to the Alaska Hwy but I haven't seen a copy of it in years. It was one of my favorites, as it only covered the Alaska Hwy area and not every road in the north country. The Milepost has gotten so large, with the addition of so many ads, the inclusion of more and more roads, etc. that I find it harder to use now than in the past when it was smaller and more focused on the Alaska Hwy.
Some of the "guides" and I use that term loosely are written in a manner that to me, suggests someone got all the free literature from the north country they could find and combined it into a guide. Not sure some of those people have ever been to Alaska or not.
I guess I expect guide book writers to go back and review, first hand, any changes they need to make in the next edition of their book. Mike and Terri Church do this prior to putting out a new edition every 3 years, and it shows in the accuracy of their book.
* This post was
edited 08/20/12 02:26pm by joe b. *
joe b.
Stuart Florida
Formerly of Colorado and Alaska
Chevy 3500 DRW Dmax CC - Rockwood 8281 SS 5th Whl & 2008 Lance 845 TC www.pajbcooper.com web site
Alaska Trip 2011 posted
Colo-Utah-Ariz 2012 trip posted
"Without challenge, adventure is impossible".
Two others to suggest - DeLorme's Alaska - http://www.amazon.com/Alaska-Atlas-Gazetteer-DeLorme/dp/0899332897/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345521871&sr=8-1&keywords=delorme+alaska
Also get the Alaska Toursaver coupon book just before you go (they make them for each year) - MUCH shorter link! http://www.toursaver.com/
Just one whalewatching tour out of Seward will more than cover the cost of this book! I'm a cheap Scottish Yankee, but got this and we figured it SAVED us over $350 the year we went. Full of 2-for-1 coupons. Go to their website to see what it covers. The planning is ALMOST as fun as the adventure there itself! ST
Two and a hound in a 2003 Roadtrek 190P and a pair of Limmers... First 50 done, working on the second pass!
Hi, I can only comment on the Milepost. As good as it is, just remember it's a year out of date when you buy the current version, and given today's economy, some of the places it says are open and gives the hours, are actually closed, and some are even the opposite, which is true of most or all travel/guide books.
Overall IMHO a great guide for not only Alaska, but many other things as well.
Can't comment on books to guide you relative to the RV trip.
For a taste of the Alaska that was:
- Alaska's Wolf Man (autobiography ? of Frank Glaser)
- Fair Chase with Alaskan Guides (Waugh/Keim)
- The Last of the Bush Pilots, Arctic Bush Pilot (and others) by Harmon "Bud" Helmericks
- Coming Into the Country (?) by John McPhee (?)
- Alaska: Not for a Woman by Mary Carey (Good glimpse of a slice of older Alaska, bit hard to read all the way through)
- Trails of ______ (Game Warden, Trapper, etc) by Ray Tremblay
- Alaska Sourdough by Slim Williams (quite a bit of puffery here, but interesting nevertheless)
- One Mans Wilderness
- Trapline Twins
- Alaska by James Michener (not bad, not perfect)
- Tisha by Ann Purty (?)
- Two in the Far North, Margaret (?) Murie
- Glacier Pilot (Story of Bob Reeve) by Beth Day
....and many more that I have at the cabin, but not at the computer!
CRL
Displaced Alaskan NO MORE!
My RV is a 1946 PA-12
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