The ALCAN Highway Drive

**Ninja** · 08-04-2011, 01:59 PM

Went for a 2 week road adventure from Washington to Alaska. Over 6,000 miles round trip! There were so much to see, shot over 5,000 pictures but I can't possibly post all of them so I picked some XC pictures that I liked on Picasa Web. You can see them here: https://picasaweb.google.com/taroswo...ILdxaOXhILv7gE

I bought the Thule Atlantic 2100XT and installed the Yokohama Geolander A/T-S tires to prepare for this trip. Both served the purpose very, very well! The Geolander is better than the stock Pirelli in all respect in my opinion, I'd highly recommend it.

Some numbers:

Miles traveled: 6,073
Days: 14
MPG: 25.8
Fuel Cost: $1,300

Car issues:

Passenger side headlight
Driver's side fog light
Ding on the windshield

The road is decent from Seattle, Washington, to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, but past that you'll go through deep dips, gravel, dirt, you name it, it can be challenging. Your XC can handle the road with no problems, but watch out for flying rocks and 1,800 pound moose!

Some pictures:

At Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada

Sunset at Anchor Point, Alaska

At Watson Lake Sign Forest, Yukon Territory, Canada

Route 37, Cariboo, British Columbia, Canada

Bald Eagle taking off, Homer, Alaska

Grizzly, Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada

At a beach in Homer, Alaska

Crossing a small river, Wrangle-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Enjoy the photos!

**Forkster** · 08-04-2011, 02:09 PM

Tried to view your pictures but either you won't allow us to see them or the album doesn't exist...

But some of those pics you've linked here are pretty amazing.

**Ninja** · 08-04-2011, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Forkster

Tried to view your pictures but either you won't allow us to see them or the album doesn't exist...

But some of those pics you've linked here are pretty amazing.

Oops, sorry... try again.

https://picasaweb.google.com/taroswo...ILdxaOXhILv7gE

**ifnt420** · 08-04-2011, 07:41 PM

Very nice photos!!

**Ocean Racer** · 08-04-2011, 08:52 PM

Awesome pics !

**XCovlov70** · 08-04-2011, 11:10 PM

Nice pictures!

**mrslomo** · 08-05-2011, 06:24 AM

You've captured some of the grandeurs of Alaska. What a fantastic drive! Did you return on the AK Marine Highway (aka State Ferry)? Love that horse in your car!

PS My avatar photo was taken at the AK Pipeline, Yukon River, just before the Arctic Circle. : )

**mapper** · 08-05-2011, 07:35 AM

You did it in 2 weeks. Wow, that gives me hope. I keep thinking I'll have to quit my job when I finally decide to drive the Alcan. A trip, incidentally, that is one motivation for my current XC70 search.

Great photos!

**Art** · 08-05-2011, 09:14 AM

Incredible photos Ninja! Loved how you captured that essence of natural wilderness in the entire album.

It reminds me of a pre-XC road trip that we took up to Alaska back in '98. One of the more memorable moments of that trip was loading our car on to an open flat-deck auto train that took us through the tunnel from Portage to Whittier. That tunnel is now open to vehicular traffic.

Thanks for sharing!