Need Help Planning a Trip to Alaska in our 2014 Prius

I know there are a few folks here who have driven their Prius to Alaska and we're planning to do the same later this year. We'll have over 85,000 miles on it when we go, are we asking for trouble? Is there anything in particular we should have serviced before we leave?

I'm having a little difficulty coming up with an itinerary. I know the routes I want to take up and back and what we want to do while in Alaska between Anchorage, Fairbanks, Homer, Seward, etc., but deciding on overnight stops along the way has been troublesome. So far, I've got the tentative itinerary for Peoria AZ to Tok AK included below. One change I'm thinking of making is cutting Dawson Creek and going straight from Hinton to Fort Nelson. The trouble is I'm not if that's too far to try to go in Canada. The distance and time is within our range for the road trips we've been taking, but I'm concerned about the lower speed limit and potential for construction delays.

I've looked though the 2017 edition of Milepost and plan to buy the 2018 edition when it gets released in March. We plan to leave here sometime around mid-June, but we can leave just about any time after that and have no set time to be back. As you can see, I pretty much stuck with Choice Hotels with a few others based on Trip Advisor reviews, but those are not set in stone either.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Day
01 – 9:21 (610mi) to Sleep Inn, Provo UT
02 – 856 (623mi) to Malmstrom AFB MT
03 – 617 (389) to Quality Resort, Canmore AB
04 – 4:40 (238mi) to Quality Inn, Hinton AB
05 – 4:57 (284mi) to Comfort Inn, Dawson Creek BC
06 – 4:52 (281mi) to Woodlands Inn & Suites, Fort Nelson BC
07 – 6:46 (320mi) to A Nice Motel, Watson Lake YT
08 – 5:36 (291mi) to Sundog Retreat, Whitehorse YT
09 - 7:18 (387mi) to Young’s Motel, Tok AK

 

The most recent thread I found was from 2014, so I don't know how accurate road reports are. I know they do repairs that time of year and to expect some delays up to 30 minutes or so when the roads are down to one lane. I haven't made a list of dealers yet, but that's on my list of things to do.

 

I was thinking of taking AK-2 to Dawson and then AK-9 over to Tok, but have kind of decided against because i'm not sure the scenery is different enough to warrant the extra time and mileage. I also don't know when AK-9 opens for the season and like you said, AK-1 is the more traveled route with facilities along the way.

 

I use GasBuddy and plan to top off the tank quite often. I had never heard of Cost2Drive, but I just checked it out and while it shows service stations between here and Montana, it doesn't seem to know about those in Canada. And it's estimated trip cost is way low compared to GasBuddy's estimate, not that I really care about that part of it.

I could be too optimistic, but in Jun-Aug I'm not expecting to have to deal with much snow or temperatures low enough the need an engine heater. In June, the average high in Dawson Creek is 67° (though they do get some rain), 68° in Homer and 71° in Fairbanks. And the Michelin Premier A/S tires are less than 2 years old with plenty of mileage left.

And, yes, we'll have our cellphones with us and our plan includes Canada, not that I expect service the whole way.

 

Absolutely!

 

Doesn't look like too many are interested and maybe others no longer own their Prius, but I thought I'd post what I came up with. It's going to be interesting to see how the Prius does, especially if we hit some roads that need repair. Hopefully, I've got enough time built in so we can take it slow when we need to if we hit bad roads that haven;t been repaired. I still need to figure out what service I need done besides the standard oil/filer change. Maybe another transmission fluid change? Obviously, tire and brake check. Perhaps a new 12v battery?

June/July Trip To Alaska (subject to change)
---------------------------------------------------------
June -----
17 - Sleep Inn, Provo UT
18 - Malmstrom AFB MT
19 - Quality Inn, Whitecourt AB
20 - Woodlands Inns & Suites, Fort Nelson BC
21 - A Nice Motel, Watson Lake YT
22 - Sundog Retreat, Whitehorse YT
23-25 - Eielson AFB AK
26-27 - Denali Park Hotel, Healy AK
28-30 - Elmendorf AFB AK
July -----
01-02 - Land's End Motel, Midship Bay Room, Homer AK
03-05 - Elmendorf AFB AK
06 - Young’s Motel, Tok AK
07 - Sundog Retreat, Whitehorse YT
08 - Arctic Divide, Dease Lake BC
09 - Bulkley Valley Motel, New Hazelton BC
10 - Round-Up Motel, Clinton BC
11 - Fairchild AFB WA
12 - Hill AFB UT
13 - Home

 

Of all the trip reports I've read from people who have driven the AlCan recently (not in RVs) not one mentioned those supplies, so I'm going to have to give that some thought. I do have 15" wheels with Michelin Premier A/S tires. We've driven most of Ontario, to Nova Scotia and to Vancouver. I have no DUIs or reckless driving tickets, so I'm not at all worried about the border. Our passports are good until November, but chances are we'll get them renewed before we leave because we'll need them again next year for sure.

 

I have both a Garmin and the built-in nav, so I should be good. The only time we expect to get off the main road is at Dawson Creek BC to visit the curved wooden bridge just to the east.

I have the routes up and back all mapped out and will follow the 2018 Milepost to see what's along the way, especially stops for gas and food. Given the distances between overnight stops though, there should only 1 stop for gas between each destination, though I plan to get gas as often as practical, even if just a couple of gallons. I still need to go through Gas Buddy to see where gas stations are once we get past Fort Nelson. There are only 2 major towns, Watson Lake and Whitehorse, between there and Tok, so that stretch is the most concerning.

I'd already made a list of all Toyota centers, including Kendall Toyota in both Anchorage and Fairbanks, but thanks for the tip on how to find them quick;y in the nav system.

Even with driving to various locations within Alaska, the whole trip will be under 10,000 miles and I plan to have the car serviced before we leave. I had the transmission fluid changed at 60,000 miles and the engine air filter was changed at 70,000 miles. However, we have 2 more trips before the Alaska trip, so I may also change that. 75% of our mileage is highway miles, but we still have the original 12v battery, so I'll have that checked when I get it serviced. I'm not sure what else to have checked.

Thanks for the links on road conditions, I hadn't thought to look for those yet.

 

We're not going farther north than Fairbanks and driving on gravel roads should be minimal. Even so, your points are appreciated for those times we do find ourselves on gravel.

 

If we could drive our 1999 Pontiac Montana van with over 150,000 miles on it to Seattle and back and to Savannah and back in 2010, I'm sure your Prius will do just fine.