@theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

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unemployable
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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by unemployable »

I do believe flying into Canada as opposed to the US is a better option for OP, just to avoid the land border crossings. Look into destinations other than Vancouver as well, such as Calgary or Edmonton, which probably don't have as much of an implicit "tourist tax" embedded in things such as rental cars and lodging.

With three people it sounds like car sleeping is out, but pitching a tent should still be viable. (Car sleeping/camping has some highly efficacious web-of-goals applications, which belong in another thread.) It is an acquired skill, however, in terms of finding good spots, getting comfortable sleeping, dealing with bad weather and the like. It is not a bad idea to practice it closer to home. Miami's a tough place to do this but perhaps you can find open camping in the Everglades. North Florida is far easier, and I have car-slept there.

People use "camping" as a blanket term that covers both developed and primitive camping.

Primitive camping, also called backcountry camping or dispersed camping*, is basically pulling over at a bare spot or hiking into to a bare spot. Here in the states it is a substantial part of my lifestyle. In the US you can typically camp on the same spot on BLM or USFS land up to 14 days. National Park Service units tend to be more regulated and require permits and reservations.

In Canada the equivalent is called "crown land", which sounds like Charles III has the right to rouse you at 4 am to kick you off, but functionally it's the same as USFS.

Developed camping includes government-run sites and commercial campgrounds, which charge by the night. Commercial campgrounds will almost always have showers and often have other amenities such as lounges with wifi and even pools. The most expensive ones, including KOAs, have rates that rival the cheapest hotels and are marketed as vacation destinations in and of themselves. I used to occasionally use these but now I either rough it in the car or spring for a hotel.

From winter snowpack stats it looks like the Canadian Rockies will be at risk for wildfires this summer but further towards the Pacific coast will be safer. Already central Canada has had some fires, with the smoke blowing down to the US Plains and Rockies. You can't really predict fires though, certainly not right now for September, so the best course of action is to have backup plans. Resiliency.

You may want to start reading various road-travel related subreddits such as r/vandwellers and r/urbancarliving.

* Even when doing it in a car. The Feds define "camping" based on where you are, not where your vehicle is. Car-sleeping is considered camping.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by Western Red Cedar »

unemployable wrote:
Fri May 26, 2023 12:36 pm
Here in the states it is a substantial part of my lifestyle. In the US you can typically camp on the same spot on BLM or USFS land up to 14 days. National Park Service units tend to be more regulated and require permits and reservations.
Have you run into any issues with authorities checking in on you? I know there are regulations on the books limiting stays on public land to 14 days in the same location, and these are heavily discussed among vanlifers, but I rarely see rangers or other people checking in on backcountry campers outside of national parks.

I also don't typically stay for more than 4-5 days at one spot. Just curious about your experience with this issue.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by unemployable »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Fri May 26, 2023 12:46 pm
Have you run into any issues with authorities checking in on you?
Only issue I had was a couple weeks ago in fact, on my drive back to Colorado from the east. I had identified what I thought was a secluded area within the property of an NPS unit. Apparently a ranger was watching me go back there because within a couple minutes I had a couple of ranger cars approach me. They ran my ID and told me to go somewhere else. I did not tell them I was planning to sleep there, but they implied it was a popular make-out spot.

So I'm more averse than ever to sleeping in NPS units, although I won't say never again.

Otherwise, nothing. Outside of a handful of VERY popular spots such as Long's Peak and the Maroon Bells the USFS doesn't have the staff and budget to go around at 3 am knocking on car doors. Usually people are caught by the 14-day limit by going WAY over, like a month or more. Not that I encourage exceeding it, as it's why the spots are available in the first place. Still, my longest backpacking trip is four nights and I rarely car-sleep in the same spot for more than two or three straight nights — but I will stagger among multiple spots.

I do avoid popular 14er trailheads in Colorado as it's common for people to pull in early for a pre-dawn start. Usually there's a suitable spot a few hundred feet away.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by unemployable »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Fri May 26, 2023 11:39 am
I've noticed for trips like these, and a lot of travel generally, there tends to be a correlation between expenses and available time. The more time you have, the cheaper and more creative one can make the trip.
Yeah, this was one reason I suggested doing a Canada-only trip. Nowadays I greatly prefer not to be forced into doing long drives and would rather see a few things deliberately than a lot of things quickly. I still do them, over 1100 miles in a day a times, as long as I have some flexibility. But this is supposed to be a fun trip.

I'm not sure why OP is getting hung up on renting a car in the US and taking it into Canada. The first page of Google tells me all the major agencies allow it although some may want you to tell them first. Most US car insurance automatically covers Canada as well. The one time I picked up a rental car at the Anchorage airport I was told I wasn't allowed to take it into Mexico. From the Anchorage airport. I was doubled over laughing. The agent did tell me someone had once driven a car from there to Florida and back though.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by unemployable »

TopHatFox wrote:
Fri May 26, 2023 11:22 am
I think I'll get one of those blow-up camping mats cause the regular matts suck to sleep on.
Air mattresses. They run around $10-15 nowadays for a twin, which is the largest size that will fit into most SUVs. My experience is their life expectancy is around a dozen nights regardless of brand. The inflating/deflating/folding/unfolding cycles seem to cause a lot of wear, as opposed to leaving one inflated in a bedroom, the same way a car engine is happier running at 80 mph for an hour than crawling around a forest of suburban traffic lights. Finding the hole(s) and duct-taping them might give you an extra night but you still want to pick a new one up at Walmart the next day.

Still that works out to about a buck a night.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by theanimal »

Thermarest or equivalent backpacking air mattresses will last for hundreds to thousands of nights and can be repaired easily. I'm not so sure about the longevity of the super light ones like the NeoAir and Neoair xlite though. If you are using one frequently, I would recommend those over the disposable Wal-Mart version. They can also be used for non-car camping options like trips into the backcountry. There are plenty of options available on eBay and can be found for as low as around $20 if you look for military surplus air mattresses.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by unemployable »

I do have a Thermarest, but use it only on backpacking trips.

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Re: @theanimal (or others), best way to roadtrip/see Alaska & Western Canada?

Post by Jean »

National park in Canada sucks when compared to US ones, they are more expensive, they have more anoying rules, they have less availaible to option to visit them while respecting the rules, their campsite are parking lots.

Considering Thermarest, I have different experiences. I still use one that my parents bought 25 years ago, I repaired it once with Vapor barier tape.
I had one I had to throw away, because it was loosing air trough an unfindable leak (maybe at the vent).
My gf uses one her parents bought 30 years ago, she usually needs to reinflate it once every night.

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