Alaska Wheeling

Does anyone want to come wheeling on future trips?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k6D-C7iiok&feature=share

 

@dcsleeper408

 

I'd like to. I'm planning on going back to Anchorage for a vaca next summer for maybe three weeks.....

 

Nice, if you're serious about wheeling message me a couple weeks before your trip.

 

Not written in stone yet. I was going to go the previous summer but I got sidetracked with a medical issue. I've got a friend who has a lodge just south of Ninilchik and I want to stay there for a bit. He has a boat too. Got to get that fishing in. I didn't do any wheeling when I was up there in 2012. Didn't really know anybody who did and I was pretty busy with work. You guys do some serious wheeling..comes with the territory.

 

Another Alaska event was a great success.

https://youtu.be/4h5bNJYITHc

 

So cool! I'm definitely coming back up. Great rigs. It's great to see some great AK wheeling pics! I never got the chance but I'd take my Tundra up some of your "trails". By the way... you guys prefer lockers or limited slip diffs? I know the answer already but want your opinion here..

 

We're trying to get up there with our vehicles, but everywhere we look they want ~$8k to ship vehicles there and back. If I could find a reasonable method of getting our rigs up there, I totally want to do this. Its been on my bucket list hard the last couple years.

 

Lockers man, that's what I have front/rear on the Tacoma and why I got the T4R Off-road package. LSD was a drug before my time.

 

Driving them is a lot cheaper than that.

 

Is that because you guys don’t want to drive through Canada to get there? Why not just drive?

 

See below.

See below.

Bingo.

It is exactly 72 hrs 1-way to get to Anchorage, AK from my house.

Here is a breakdown, because I’m a nerd:

My experience has told me that I can do about 14-15hrs of driving in a day before I am just wrecked. That is 5.1 days of just driving. My assumption is that I couldn’t sustain that over 5 days straight. So it would probably be pushed to a 6th day at a minimum. Doing some simple math, that’s ~12 days of just driving to get somewhere.

Say I want to stay up there for a couple weeks and drive up and down Alaska to explore the backcountry, that puts me at 28days of vacation required, with 45% of it just driving to and from the destination. With 3,055 miles to travel, plus international borders, sleeping on the road, grabbing a hotel a couple times to shower, food, any mishaps, etc, here is my cost breakdown:

Gas: ~$2,000 round trip
Hotels: x3-4 @$100 = $400
International insurance: $500
Food: ~$600

Gas prices were assumed at $3.50, but my research has showed it can get up to $8/gal depending on remoteness in Canada land. On a 38 gal tank, that’s could be a $240+ fill up. Also hotels were conservative on cost since you want to balance the overall cost vs getting bed bugs... Assuming we could find some and be convenient.

Just in that alone, I am at roughly 3500-4K. Not including any potential mishaps that may occur from the sheer tiredness of driving that far, like getting mauled by a grizzly or hitting a moose. So with the limiting factors that my wife and I can only really take 2 consecutive weeks off at a time and the sheer ridiculousness of the distance it requires to drive there, we are leaning towards shipping.

This is my long ass explanation of saying that it may seem cheaper, but realistically, it may may wash out from the pleasure stand point. Really goes back to what your time is worth. If I can find something more in the $5-6k round trip, then you better believe my truck and 4 other trucks are getting shipped to spend a couple weeks in the back country of Alaska. It really helps that the cost can be offset by just working OT.

 

That was calculated at 12mpg but being generous with cost/fuel on just the pro. Towing my car hauler and the Jeep on top, plus all the crap that goes along with keeping that thing safe and together for that far, I’d say sub 10mpgs with a loaded trailer.

 

I did that trek from Denver to Anchorage...Nov,2011/Aug, 2012. A little over 3 days hauling ass with no layovers and very little sleep. Depending on time of year..... seasonal gas stations can be closed. (Don't ask). I paid upwards of the equivalent of $6.50 per gallon just south of Watson Lake, Yukon at Contact Creek. (I could sooo live there!) If you smoke...you bring your own unless you like paying $11 to $15 per pack with a picture of a diseased lung on it. Bottom line....Fly up to Anchorage. Rent a Jeep. Or buy one and drive it back for Colorado TJ to mod it up!!!!

 

Where the hell are you getting $8/gallon for gas. That can't be summer pricing.

 

Worst case scenario amigo. Maybe in town it’s $5.60, but should I venture of BFE and need gas, I would have rathered budgeted for more and paid less than vice versa.

 

Had another fun trip earlier this summer. First time taking the drone out on a trail, was impressed with how easy it is to fly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvJ4depTvI8&feature=youtu.be

 

This is awesome!!

 

A great drive to go on if you ever come up to visit Alaska can be done in a rental car or motorhome even if you are careful too.
https://youtu.be/ZyMGLZ0w2ec