What an exciting time!
It’s usually late May and early June when the brave early travelers start making their way to the great white north. For these early birds, they often brave the threats of late season snow storms and less than ideal weather on their way up. Early season travel has it’s share of perks, too, in that you get to greet a welcoming Alaska people who’ve been largely hibernating for the winter and early spring seasons. It’s probably a bit aggressive to consider a tent based trek this early, but certainly not outside the realm of possible if you’re properly prepared for the weather.
If you haven’t started your planning and you intend to make the trek this year, the time is definitely now. We find that the planning and preparation aspects can take some time and resources to make it possible, so the earlier you start with the preparations the better off you’ll be. Some of the initial things you want to start thinking about will be the route you’ll take, getting a basic itinerary together, preparing your vehicle, cleaning up your camping gear and other early stuff that you can get done.
If you need to acquire gear, spring time can often provide great sales on tents, sleeping bags, coolers and other items you’ll want to take on your trek. As you acquire gear, make sure you test it in the real world before your livelihood depends on it! Maybe make some plans for a Memorial Day outing or other weekend adventure in the early season to get that gear out and make sure it works for you. It’s a good idea to try and get out when you know it might rain so you can test your ability to sustain wet weather conditions, as this is a likely possibility you’ll run into in any long distance trek like a road trip to Alaska.
We wish you luck in your preparation efforts. Are you heading to AK this year? If so, let us know in the comments!