Day 0: Austin - Preparing for the Journey

Trip Log for 18 May 2012

So much to do in this last week before our trip! Originally, we were going to take three days to drive the Dempster Highway from Dawson City, Yukon Territory, up to the Arctic Circle and the Northwest Territories. Everything I've read (and people I've spoken with who have done this) say you need to take at least one if not two full size spare tires as this road is notorious for flats. Our full size rental car (Chevy Malibu or equivalent) shows that it comes with a donut and after discussions with the Anchorage office for Hertz, we confirmed this.

While waiting to hear back from a manager if there was anything they could do, we starting trying to figure out how we could buy our own spare but as luck would have it, we fly into Anchorage on Saturday night and all the tire and wheel shops are closed on Sundays. All the other towns we'll be going through get their wheels from Anchorage or Whitehorse and require a week or more to special order one. There is also the problem that you don't always get the rental car you reserve so it's risky to get the spare before we know for sure what kind of car we'll get.

We basically decided that driving the Dempster that far at this time would not be the best idea. I've also read that rain can make this road especially treacherous and since we don't have wiggle room in our itinerary, I wouldn't want to get stuck. I think we're going to drive part way up the Dempster, about 45 miles, to Tombstone Territorial Park which is supposed to be just spectacular and spend a day there camping and hiking. The next day (when we would have been at the Arctic Circle), we'll drive part way to Whitehorse and stop near the town of Carmacks, giving us extra time to geocache and sightsee. The third day would be made up by spending a night in Skagway before catching the ferry over to Haines.

I'm excited about these changes because I was concerned that, despite my best intentions to keep the daily driving shorter this trip, we were really moving too fast and had too many tight deadlines with ferries and reservations to enjoy the journey. Now, with a little breathing room, I think we'll get to see other stuff even if it's not in the tundra. The manager at Hertz gave us a free upgrade to an SUV (Toyota RAV 4) that does have a full size spare which is good since we'll be in many remote places anyway.

As with other trips, we won't have Internet access every day, but I do intend to update this site with a trip log and photos along the way.

- Rachele