Alaska/Canada weather - Start trip end of July or end of August?!
 

Hello all,

My boyfriend and I will be riding from Alaska to Argentina this year on 2 Honda C90's over about 12-18 months. We were going to fly to Anchorage on the 27th July (which is the earliest date we can go due to prior commitments) then ride up to Prudhoe Bay but there is an event we would like to attend in England mid August, if we go it would mean flying to Anchorage on the 20th August instead.

The deciding factor on when to go is basically the weather! We would like to go to the event but don't want to stitch ourselves up weather wise by leaving later!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Many Thanks

Rach & Ed

Rach/Ed

Sounds fantastic. Best of luck with the venture. I was in Alaska in 2010 and arrived in late July. I spent three weeks there. It was awesome and lovely and warm. My advice would be that you need to have left Alaska by the end of August and I wouldn't be heading to Prudhoe after August. (You might be fine but Alaskan weather is to be respected)

Arriving in Alaska on 20th August would (in my opinion) give you two weeks of good weather and then you'd need to leave, although of course you might get snow free warm weather in Alaska in early September you might not.

You need to weigh up how important this thing is in the UK in August. My experience of travelling and meeting travellers is that many don't give themselves enough time to see the sights and experience things and they rush through. I worry that if you arrive in Alaska on 20th August you'll not have enough time to experience the wonders of Alaska, Yukon and BC. Remember it'll take you a week to get down from Alaksa to south BC and there are things to stop off and look at along the way.

I'd go on 27th July and have a month in the amazing place. You won't regret it.

You could try contacting Phil and Motorcycle Rentals, Tours and Self-Guided Adventures | MotoQuest He lives in Alaska and runs a bike shop (There's free camping next to his shop - run by the Harley shop next door!!) Ask him about the weather in early September - tell him I sent you (Dom) I bought my bike off him in 2010.

If you need some reading material for your trip I wrote a book about my trip - - Gone Riding - | Motorcycling and Volunteering across two continents :innocent: and send me a message if you have any other questions which you think I might be able to help with.

The other reason for going early is you could make it down to Nakusp for 21st August and the HUBB meeting http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/events/canwest-2014 I did that and it was great to meet up with people three weeks into my trip.

Dom

I agree with lonesome George. You could run into snow anytime in late September.

Hi Dom,

Thank you so much for replying, extremely helpful advice which has definitely helped us make a decision!

The event in August is the Adventure Travel Film Festival and Ed's film is being premiered there. It would have been great to have made it but we've both decided after reading this and several others wise words that it's not worth spoiling the first part of our trip! I definitely don't want to be rushing through, I've been saving and planning to do this for too long to rush it! I'd hate to leave later and then be faced with terrible weather and the prospect of not being able to get up to Prudhoe, we'd only kick ourselves for it so end of July it is!

It would be great to get to a HUBB meet over there if we could make it in time. I went to the one at Donnington last year and loved it, looking forward to going again this year!

I'm always eager for more adventure related reading material, I see you're going to be at the Ace Café on the 23rd so I'll pick up a copy in person then :)

Thanks again you've been really helpful it's very much appreciated.

Look forward to meeting you

Rach

Rach

Please make yourself know to me at the Ace cafe and we can have a long chat. (I'll also be a Donnington)

By mid to late August the days at that latitude have become noticeably shorter. Less daylight and chillier evenings, clear air though and fewer mosquitoes.

Weather stats
 

Hi Rach and Ed...although I don't have personal experience in that part of the world at that time of the year, I tend to agree with all of the above...definitely shoulder season that far north. You might want to check out this site: Intellicast - Local Weather Forecast, Reports and Maps
which will give you some stats on average temps, record temps, etc. I picked Fairbanks as a bit of an in-between spot. Here's a cool site for Deadhorse as well (https://weatherspark.com/averages/33...-United-States). If you're on Vancouver Island anytime during your travels, give me a shout if you need a place to stay!