Part 2: Ham Radio for Emergencies: our equipment and experience

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

For my husband’s volunteer work with Civil Air Patrol, joint service MARS (military association radio system) and SHARES (a program of homeland security), we have quite a bit of copper wiring strung high in the birch and spruce trees of our property, as well as a large log periodic antenna attached about 70 feet up the metal power tower he built at the highest part of our land to hold the wind turbine, solar panels, and satellite dish.

Our location has several advantages for HF radio use.  Obviously, we have no HOA out here in the boonies to put the kibosh on such installations!  We also have little radio frequency interference that plagues urban and suburban transmissions and reception.  Finally, Alaskans are so far from locations in the Lower 48 states, that we can hear many transmissions from the other volunteer locations that closer radio stations cannot.  This may sound counterintuitive.  The gist is that radio waves bounce off the ionosphere, and if two nodes are close, the transmission can “bounce” over those nearby, but will reach remote stations, like ours. This means that Alaska hams confer a benefit to others far away.  For example, if a station wishes to report a wildfire, flood, avalanche, or lost hiker in a location without cell service, the closest other amateur radio operator stations might not receive the message, but a more remote station, like ours, could relay it to those near the epicenter of the problem who can respond.  Then, we can relay a message to the radio operator on site.

As a result of these benefits, several of these national volunteer organizations have been interested to help Alaskans install exceptional communications infrastructure.

Almost every day, my husband checks into a national net populated by over 100 Civil Air Patrol communicators.  Weekly, he checks in with smaller numbers of MARS and SHARES radio volunteers. In the past, his equipment was all analog voice technology, but many organizations are migrating to digital data systems.  This innovation is analogous to sending a text instead of making a cell phone call and, similarly, requires less power and is less prone to transcription errors.  A further advantage is that messages can be sent and received asynchronously and stored until pick up.  The two parties do not have to be on the air at the same time. I might leave a message that my cabin is burning or that I am OK after an earthquake, even if the other party is not available to hear that message at 3 am, but will check their “ïn-box”  when they wake up.

What does an amateur radio club do?

Through the national ARRL organization, radio club members volunteer at local events and search and rescue missions, as well as at expositions for emergency preparedness.  In our vicinity, volunteers man observation posts along parade routes and races for joggers, bikers, skiers, snowmachiners, and dog mushers, especially at points that lack good cell reception.

To practice appropriate radio communications protocols, local clubs schedule regular radio meetings called “nets.” This is a time for people to call into a particular frequency from their radio and location, which could be home, car, or office.  On our local net, the person who volunteers as net controller first asks if there is any emergency message for anyone to share.  Then, he/she announces a backup frequency for anyone who cannot hear or be heard well followed by announcing the theme of that call.  The net control then reads each call sign, followed by a pause to see if the licensee is in attendance.  We respond with two brief comments:  a) if we have any messages to pass along to the group and b) if we “are a theme.”

Examples of themes are whether we are located at a Red Cross or other emergency shelter, are using emergency power, are using a mobile unit (such as in a car), or are logging in through the digital packet data network.   Such themes alert participants to options available during emergencies.

Despite, or perhaps because of our remote location, we are quite active in the group.  My husband often serves as the backup net controller on a different frequency, because he can hear participants on our side of various mountains that the main net controller may not hear.  He then relays those call signs to the net controller.

Note:  One lesson for people new to ham radio is that this form of communication is not an appropriate medium for chit-chat between two friends.  Everyone who has logged in can hear what anyone else is saying, and the expectation is that the radio medium is used for brief, focused, and important transmissions.  If two people desire a private conversation, they can move to a different frequency (or perhaps use a phone).

Why join an amateur radio club?

For us, it was very important to join a local radio club for several reasons.

1. a) Learn, develop, and maintain appropriate communication skills and protocols for radio communications when/where cell phone reception is not available.
2. b) Meet a network of local people interested in emergency communications (even though we live a 20- minute flight to the closest of them). Our local net has about 150 names on the registry.   Several have become close friends and mentors on many aspects of rural life, including animal husbandry, carpentry, cooking, hunting, fishing, weather spotting, and, of course radio troubleshooting.
3. c) Because of his level of activity, my husband has received valuable gifts and bequests of radio equipment over the years, including an expensive ICOM radio, a 1,000-watt linear amplifier, and a mobile HF/VHF radio.
4. d) Emergency contacts. Many amateur radio volunteers are well connected and active in synergistic emergency services, such as search and rescue operations, volunteer fire departments, county or municipal emergency services, Civil Air Patrol, Red Cross, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) and other entities. Through these contacts, we have learned about the preparedness of our local and regional communities.  Also, if we have a question, someone in our network knows whom to call.
5. e) Emergency check-ups. With this emergency orientation, our local radio net friends check on each other after earthquakes and during wildfires, and communicate during nets about upcoming weather or sunspots, that can interfere with radio transmissions.
6. f) SWAP and SHOP

Every Saturday morning, the local amateur radio clubs host a “swap and shop” where members request, trade or gift gear.  For example, my husband recently received two 6 volt deep cycle, lead acid batteries (like those in a golf cart) that he will use as backup power for some of his radios.

Other Resources for Skills Development

ReadyOp

A new innovation (about ten years ago) widely used by first responders and other emergency personnel is called ReadyOp.  This is a subscription-based service.  Utilizing smartphones, it connects parties both through the Internet and radio repeater networks.   There are many situations in which the interoperability of both modes is very useful today.  For example, an ambulance might leave a hospital area with cell service and head out to a rural home without it.  Or, first responders descend on a community devastated by a tornado, hurricane, or flood, where cell infrastructure has been destroyed.  Those on-site can utilize radio to call their home base in another region, which relies on a healthy cell network.  A third use can be times when a government entity shuts down cell service in a particular location.  This has occurred several times in recent years, for example, when police detected on social media that hundreds of teens planned a destructive gathering in specified location, they cut the cell signal to/from that area.

Because of the ubiquity of cell phones and attractive and intuitive user interface, ReadyOp has rapidly gained nationwide usage.  This technology may strike young people as a more attractive reason to learn radio communication skills.

EchoLink

According to its website, “EchoLink software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using streaming-audio technology.  The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations, or from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radio’s communications capabilities.  There are more than 350,000 validated users worldwide — in 159 of the world’s 193 nations — with about 6,000 online at any given time.”  This is a free and easy way to develop and practice communications skills with other hams around the US and world.

In summary, walkie-talkies are a convenient aspect of our daily life on five acres and in the surrounding four or so miles of line-of sight transmissions.  Joining local and national radio communications groups has allowed us to practice our emergency communications skills, find a kindred community of supportive individuals alert to broader emergency service skills, and learn about the emergency preparedness of our borough (county) in Alaska, and beyond.

“Out.”

Ham Radio for Emergencies: our equipment and experience

This Part 1 of an article intended for people who have not explored the value of radio communications because they are not sure why or how they should.  Maybe some old amateur radio equipment languishes, dusty and ignored, in a corner of the attic.

My husband and I utilize walkie-talkies as well as local, regional, and national radio communications every week at our remote home in Alaska.  We have gained friends, allies, mentors, equipment, lessons about weather spotting, check-ups after earthquakes and wildfires, resources and emergency contacts through local, regional, and national emergency response organizations.  Our ham radio experience has absolutely enhanced our confidence of continuing self-reliance in a grid-down situation, and informed us about the local and regional plans for emergencies – of whatever cause or form. Because of our location and the quality of our equipment, we are able to provide communications for emergency search and rescue operations occurring far away.

In this article, we outline how and why we use various radios for communication, their benefits, and how we gain and maintain our skills with them.

Getting Started

Anyone can listen to ham radio, but to transmit, one has to earn one of three levels of amateur radio licenses (from the FCC in the U.S.).   The easiest one, called Amateur Technician, is what I had earned.  I studied a free, online guide and then arranged to take an in-person, one-hour test for about $15.  My husband has passed two other, harder exams, so his highest qualification is referred to as an Amateur Extra rating.  Once we pass these exams, we are issued a call sign by the FCC that allows us to transmit on ham radio frequencies.  I have given my call sign to my children in another state far away.  During an emergency when cell phones do not work (perhaps an earthquake up here), they could contact an amateur radio enthusiast who could reach us through local frequencies that work.

Handy Talkies – local

When visiting friends in various cities, I have seen them text each other by cell phone with various messages, like “please pick up eggs on your way home”.  We utilize our handheld radios in similarly benign situations around our acreage, but also for more significant reasons.

Our pair of older, inexpensive Midland (LXT600PA) handheld radios stays plugged in by our kitchen table. They are powered by batteries but recharged by solar, wind, or generator.  With frequent transmissions, they last about 8 hours without recharging.  Occasionally, we leave them in a pocket and forget to plug them back in.  Unused, they last about 24 hours without recharging.

The rechargeable batteries last for about 3 years, so we bought back-up batteries, which lasted another 3 years.  After 6 years, the transmit button (PTT) started sticking, so we bought a new set.   Because of a “one is none and two is one” philosophy, we have a second pair of identical radios in our guest cabin, which get infrequent use. Thus, we have been able to trade out one when another dies, (like when I dropped one in the wood fired hot tub!)

As part of our daily routine, when either of us goes outside, we plop a radio in a pocket.  If I am in the cabin and my husband is in the woods or doing chores outside somewhere, I might ping him about a telephone call, or ask him, on his return, to bring something back from the food shed, power shed, or greenhouse.  We rarely go from one part of the property to another without taking something “there” or bringing something “here,” thus saving thousands of steps per day.

Another benign use of our handy talkies is for visitors in our guest cabin, which is 500 feet from our main cabin.  The most common use is for them to let us know when they are awake and heading downhill for breakfast and coffee!  They may also alert us to elements of nature they see, such as a marten chasing a hare, or a brown bear running after a moose. One friend whispered a late-night sighting of the aurora borealis – in case we were awake, too.

Twice, we even took the devices with us on cruise ships, to avoid their charges for roaming mobile networks when we just wanted to find each other.  This worked very well, but when we left the devices in our carry-on luggage at the airport, TSA confiscated them.

A more important use of these walkie-talkies at our rural home is for safety alerts.  We announce the sighting of a bear or moose and its location, or tell the other that we hear a float plane descending or snowmachines heading our way through the woods.  Living in a very quiet, remote location (only one other couple lives full-time within 10 miles in any direction), such mechanical noises are very distinctive.  In the winter, when the deciduous leaves have fallen, we can hear motors about 4 miles away, depending on wind direction.  We can tell when a snowmachine is curving back and forth along a nearby frozen creek or headed straight along a hard packed trail, or carving recreational circles in powder-soft snow on a nearby frozen lake.

Very High Frequency – Regional Communications

EFJohnson mobile_5300-ES

Our gear:  Portable/Handheld, Kenwood (TH-D72). 

Antenna:  we replaced the standard rubber ducky antenna with a Diamond Antenna (SRH320A) that vastly increased the range and transmission quality.

Base station, Yaesu (FT-8900R, at our main cabin). 

Antenna: This radio uses a standard 2 meter magnetic mounted antenna that rises above the metal roof of our cabin.

Whenever my husband travels to the road system by snowmachine, he always carries his handheld Kenwood with him, often inside his jacket to keep it warm.  (His cell phone works in towns and some rural locations where a cell signal can reach a repeater, but those are few and far between in Alaska).

By radio, we can hear each other for about the first five miles of the 3.5 hour trek from our home to the nearest road, but cannot hear each other beyond that distance, largely because he descends into river valleys.  However, by testing every few miles along the route, we found a high point where I can hear him clearly.  It is about 2/3 of the distance from our home, and 1/3 of the distance to the nearest put-in point to a road (and a lodge where he warms up).   So he always checks in with me there.

We note his departure time from home or the lodge.  Then, I keep the Yaesu base station on during his travels, and note a half hour range within which I anticipate he will call me from that good transmitting location if his travels are uneventful.   If I do not hear from him within 2 more hours, I can contact locals to track him from the town side or I can head out from this side on my snowmachine because I know his departure time and route.  Fortunately, we have never had to search for him.

Another use of this device is available through the Internet site www.APRS.fi.  If you register your ham radio call sign and carry a radio with you, a loved one can track your progress along a map display on the website.  We have done this both when my husband flies our Piper PA-20 float plane and drives the snowmachine.  More commonly, I imagine, people use this service to monitor loved ones, for example, if a relative drives cross-country or hikes into national parks where cell reception could be limited.

Every day but Sunday, my husband participates in scheduled “nets” which are times when a radio group knows to tune into a specific frequency to log in and pass useful messages.  We use our VHF (very high frequency) radio to connect with members of local and regional amateur radio groups and emergency responders including CERT.

High Frequency (HF) – Distant/International

Micom 3F

Our rigs:  ICOM 756ProIII and Micom2ES

Our HF (high frequency) transceivers enable national or long-distance communications through organizations for which my husband volunteers including the Civil Air Patrol, joint military service MARS, and DHS  SHARES.

High-frequency radios require much larger or longer antennae in order to transmit long distance. 

Our equipment:  

• Two 90 foot folded di-pole antennas are oriented east-west.  They can pick up stations several thousand miles away that are north and south of the antenna.
• The third antenna is a long wire powered by a SG-230 antenna tuner (NVIS) connected to a 167 foot long wire strung through the trees about 30 feet off the ground. It is used for  communications to other ham radio operators in-state.
• A large Log Periodic antenna is pointed Southeast, across the Lower 48 states. It is so sensitive that we can hear stations in Puerto Rico – about 5,000 miles away, and Maine – about 3,300 miles away, when other intermediate receivers cannot.

(This concludes Part 1).  

Typhoon Halong Devastates Western Alaska

When the Storm Hit the Tundra

In mid-October 2025, Typhoon Halong’s 70–90 mph winds slammed into the flat, treeless Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, pushing Bering Sea water far upriver and across the tundra. Fifty villages reported damage. The coastal communities of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok were nearly entirely evacuated by the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska National Guard, and flown to Bethel—the only city in the region with a runway long enough to accommodate C-17 military transports.

Kipnuk after

Sadly, the typhoon occurred just one year after Kipnuk received a federal disaster declaration for catastrophic flooding in 2024.

Alaska’s military coordinated the largest airlift in state history, evacuating over 1,500 people. Homes floated off their foundations—some in Kipnuk were carried more than five miles upriver, many still occupied. Roofs were torn away. Boats, snow machines, and ATVs were scattered across the tundra. A barge crashed into Bethel’s only bridge, complicating the rescue of 250 residents who hadn’t evacuated in time. Coffins rose from saturated graves—some never recovered. Infrastructure crumbled: utility poles snapped, boardwalks splintered, and roads collapsed.

Even Bethel, 40 miles inland and home to 6,400 residents, saw significant flooding. Thirty people were displaced, but the most devastating impact was the loss of electricity. Without power, water pumps, sewer systems, and heating systems failed. Roughly 95% of homes lost heat, as most rely on electricity to ignite stove oil, run fuel pumps, and circulate warm air. Fortunately, temperatures hovered around 20°F. Had this occurred in mid-winter, the death toll could have been catastrophic, and infrastructure damage would have soared into the hundreds of millions.

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A Voice in the Storm

Samuel Collyn Symmes, a USAF MARS member and Bethel resident, was the only one of its radio operator within 500 miles. Though never officially activated, he provided critical situation reports (SITREPs) to his commander and fellow operators throughout the emergency.

Samuel Symmes

“Bethel became the central hub for evacuees,” Symmes explained. “Many were sheltered in the National Guard Armory alongside FEMA personnel. About 130 FEMA workers arrived within three days, and over 110 remained a month later.”

Fuel shortages in the villages became a top concern. A local fuel station was destroyed by debris, and emergency supplies had to be flown in—50-gallon drums at a time. The hospital had just two days of backup fuel; the juvenile adult and detention center had seven days for its emergency boilers, which provide heat and hot water.  These needs are normally fulfilled using a waste heat system, just like your car radiator but the radiator is heating the building.  However, in this case all generators fell silent as there were too many faults in the line causing damage to the one and only power source Bethel has.  

The destruction reminded elders of a 1960s tragedy, when Bethel’s power plant burned down during a severe winter storm. Hospital patients reportedly froze to death. Since then, critical infrastructure has been built on slightly higher ground to reduce flood risk.

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When the Phones Went Silent

Phone service failed as towers were damaged and backup batteries lasted only two hours. Generators failed, sparking public outcry—residents could have made cell-to-cell calls locally if power had been maintained. With fiber optic cables down and no cell service, residents turned to what has long connected the region: marine radio.

AM/FM stations failed. NOAA emergency alerts on VHF didn’t transmit. Cell phone alerts were useless. But radio operators stepped up.

Symmes’ communications held strong thanks to careful planning. “My house isn’t on a cement pad,” he said. “Most homes here shift 2–5 degrees a year due to glacial silt and freeze-thaw cycles. Mine is elevated 3.5 feet on pilings driven into bedrock, on high ground which stops the shifting.”

His antenna was mounted on the arctic entry roof—2.5 feet below the main roofline and shielded from prevailing winds. He also maintains a GMRS repeater, with phone patch and a Starlink patch antenna aimed northward across 30–40 miles of open tundra, ensuring minimal interference.  The phone patch was very popular, even having local law enforcement and FEMA stop by to transmit messages on a guest router.  All others were welcomed to use the guest rounter to send messages and VOIP calls to family to let them know they were alive.  

Local hams, though few in number, joined the effort to relay shelter locations. “We gathered info from every source and relayed it over HAM radio to different parts of town to be transmitted by VHF marine radio so people could ask questions, network, and get updates,” Symmes said. “Only two residents in the disaster us used it, but there was traffic on the Alaska Emergency Frequency—5.1675 MHz USB—available to all Alaskans.”

Western Alaska residents being airlifted to Anchorage on a Alaska National Guard C17 October 2025

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Lessons from the Edge

Western Alaska has never had reliable cell service. Communities here have long relied on radio and that resilience paid off during Typhoon Halong.  It’s not uncommon to walk into a house and see a Marine Radio hanging under the kitchen cupboards.

“Urban areas might not have the skills or equipment to communicate when the grid goes down,” Symmes noted. “Out here, we’ve had to be self-reliant for decades.”

He encourages others to prepare: “Build your plan. Add to your supplies over time. I can’t stress propane enough—it doesn’t go bad or need stabilizers. I keep enough for 30 days and 500Ah of battery storage. We were without power for 90 hours, but we stayed warm, cooked, ran water, and got updates from Nome’s AM station. VHF, UHF, and HF radio stayed strong and got the message out.”

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When the grid goes dark, it’s not the loudest voice that leads—it’s the one still transmitting.

Mrs. Alaska’s life in a fly-in only location in the bush of Alaska is depicted in a book available on Amazon:

Log Cabin Reflections.  Lots of photos and self-effacing anecdotes organized by season. 

Dead of Winter: Plants' version of Sleep

The term, “Dead of Winter” sounds negative, doesn’t it?  Maybe even dire?

How about the synonym, Fall, for Autumn?

We are not going anywhere!

Actually, the cold season is as necessary and beneficial to plants as nightly sleep is to humans.  It is a period of rest and rejuvenation. Metabolic shifts in both plants and animals during this rest phase reduce the needs for energy and food, protect cell structure and health in several ways, and prepare us both for the next day or season.

I have studied permaculture, the chemical properties of medicinal plants, and basic botany.  But until I started writing this article about animal sleep and plant dormancy, I did not realize how much animals and plants have in common.  

HORMONAL IMPACTS

Did you know that plants have hormones?  Yes.  Just as human growth and sleep periods are managed by hormones, plant growth and dormancy are similarly regulated.

For humans, melatonin is triggered by darkness and we tend to sleep better in a temperature cooler than the day.  Because it is an anti-oxidant, melatonin helps with cellular repair, reduces inflammation, and facilitates DNA maintenance.   It stimulates our immune system, especially by boosting white blood cell count.  No wonder a good night’s sleep is important to health!

Harvesting sap for the nutrients.

Similarly, in plants, when the hours of daylight decrease, temperatures drop and the plants receive less water, abscisic acid triggers several seasonal changes that protect the plants.  Its most obvious effect is that deciduous trees and plants shed their leaves in autumn.  This relieves the energy engaged during the summer to photosynthesize for growth because there is less light available.  

A less obvious effect is that perennial plants shut their stomata to slow transpiration in response to abscisic acid. This means that less water moves through the plant, and the cells shrink.  Otherwise, fully saturated cells would freeze, expand, and burst.  It also prevents seeds from germinating until temperature and light increase. Abscisic acid allows plants to rest after a vigorous growing season.    

When deciduous trees, plants, and larches (the only conifer that sheds its needles) drop their leaves (and needles), they blanket the ground around their trunks with plant material.  This forms a welcome, shallow, insulating layer that has the additional benefit of degrading under the winter snow to enrich the soil.   This is why raking up leaves in fall is a make-work project that does not need to be done.  In fact, many organic gardeners ask friends for the leaves they choose to rake up so the gardeners can mulch their perennials and gardens.

Just as sleep helps us fight inflammation and cellular damage, winter cold causes weeds and pests to die or go dormant for a season, reducing those stresses on plants.

Obviously, nutritional needs decline during mammalian sleep as well as plant dormancy.  This is because our metabolisms slow down: we do not need to expend as much energy, so we require less fuel.  Hibernating bears, for example, can shed 1/3 of their weight during hibernation as they live off their fat stores.  Similarly, plants need no water or fertilizer during the winter.

 

SNOW 

Readers who live in consistently warm weather may not think of snow as an insulator, but it certainly is.  The crystalline form of snow forms air pockets. Envision a snow bank as structured like insulating panels of polystyrene foam.  At a temperature of 32∞F, this bank protects the roots and lower trunk of perennial plants and trees from temperatures that plummet far below that threshold.  Where I live, in Alaska, at USDA zone 3b, winters always drop to 20-30∞– below 0, and occasionally, lower still.  Those plants certainly benefit from snow’s 50∞ degree protection! It is common for people to shovel snow toward their buildings under the eaves, to protect the plant roots along the building and to form a snow berm “wall” to keep the cold wind from whipping under an elevated home.

Snow everywhere

 Most young trees, like willow, birch, and alder, are so flexible and whippy that they bow down to the ground under the snow weight, thus being totally insulated, like a babe in swaddling clothes.  As these trees age, they get stouter, with thicker bark, and are better able to withstand the brutal cold winters.  

Thus, snow is for plants what a mound of quilts and comforters is to me. I, too, sleep in a cool room, with a cold nose but warmth below.  

Without snow, or above it, vertical frost cracks can form in trees.  They sound like gun shots!  We hear a few every winter.  Southern and western facing tree trunks warm during the day.  At night, the temperature plummets.  The warm (exterior) bark shrinks, but the inner, cool center does not, so the bark on the warm side and the wood right below it crack… loudly!  This seems to be especially evident in older trees rather than young ones. 

 

GERMINATION

Just as many animals, like moose and deer, mate in autumn to bear young in early spring, a number of cold weather plants can actually be planted in the fall, before soil freezes, in order to take advantage of early spring thaw, leafing out through shallow snow.  Another set of plant hormones, called gibberellins, triggers the temperature cue for germination, which varies. Among leafy plants, spinach and lettuce are two that can sprout very early.  Root vegetables like garlic, onion, beets, are well acclimated to autumn planting for early spring leafing.  In my very snowy climate, however, many of these fall- planted seeds can rot in  the snow melt.  So, I often winter-sow these seeds in containers and leave them outside all winter, putting them in a sunny spot in February/March for transplantation when the snow recedes and the gardens dry up a bit. Most plants, though, germinate at higher temperatures.

  

TRICKY WEATHER

Just as people can wake up in the middle of the night due to some sound or dream, and start their day at, say, 3 am, only to crash early the next day, so, too, plants can inopportunely “awaken”.   An unexpected warmth spell (up here, perhaps caused by a strong Chinook weather system that can raise the temperature by a huge margin) can trigger spring behaviors.  Leaves sprout, flowers form, only to be killed by the next dash of low temperatures.  The vicissitudes of weather are particularly detrimental to domesticated plants.  Local wild ones have had more generations to adapt.  

Recognizing these similarities between humans and plants gives me greater sense of affinity with them.  Although our deep snows and cold temperatures can challenge me, I now view them as beneficial to the boreal forest that surrounds me.  Maybe in addition to familial terms like Mother Nature, I will start thinking of additional relationships, like Brother Tree and Sister Flower. 

 

Author:  Laura Emerson lives off-grid with her husband in the Alaska bush – population 4 – a 20 minute flight from the nearest road.  Curious about such a life?  See Log Cabin Reflections on Amazon for $5. Lots of pictures and anecdotes, arranged by season.  

Advice for a Winter Camping Trip on the Alcan Highway

Before we planned our winter RV trip up and down the Alcan Highway, we availed ourselves of blogs and videos of other travelers.  They were very helpful in many ways.  HOWEVER, since there are so few detailed reports of travel in the winter, I hope that our experience (which was very positive) will help fill that void.

Based on our experience, I have penned three related articles.

This article provides comments about weather, road conditions, fuel, communications, supplies, and prices.  A second article outlines our itinerary and describes where we camped.  A third focuses on the travel aspects of bringing a dog in an RV across national borders and for 65 days.

I welcome your comments beneath this blog or write me through my email, listed on my home page.

WEATHER:

Temperatures:

The lowest daytime temperature (on March 1) was 0 F in the Copper River Valley.  Temperatures were below freezing both night and day except for a balmy 42 F at Liard Hot Springs in Yukon (with snowy berms around each campsite).     Heading north in late April, we awoke to temperatures 28 – 34 F many mornings.  Temperatures rose quickly on sunny days, to a high of 61 near Chetwynd, but most days were overcast and topped out in the mid- 40’s.

Snow:

This was a low snow year for Southcentral Alaska (the latitude of Anchorage) as well as Yukon Territory, British Columbia, and Alberta, Canada, through which we traveled to cross the border into Montana, USA.  For people not from this part of the country, though, let me clarify.  We routinely have 4 – 8 feet of snow on the ground in my part of Alaska and Yukon.  On this trip, where I walked into the snow off the road, it was 18 inches to 2 feet deep. Snow berms around parking lots were 3 – 4 feet high.  Naturally, both were higher and deeper in the higher elevations and receded to brown grass with patches of snow at the southern end of the route, around Dawson Creek and Ft Nelson.   

We did not encounter any icy conditions the whole way.  We did drive through short blizzards in steep terrain near Banff (beyond the Alcan).

Road condition:  We drove with studded tires.  The Alcan was well plowed, including frequent rest stops with dumpsters (sometimes locked) and pit toilet bathrooms (often locked) for the season.  Yukon Territory had the most frequent of these rest stops, often occupied by long haul trucks.  Roads were very good EXCEPT for two hours of infamous washboard conditions on either side of the Alaska/Canada border, but primarily on the Canadian side.  GO SLOW!  Here the road is laid over bogs that were considered the most challenging section of construction back in 1942 when soldiers worked in arduous conditions for 10 months to build this road.    (I definitely recommend that anyone read the history of this engineering feat.)

WILD ANIMALS

One of the treats of driving the Alcan is seeing lots of wild mammals.  We saw wild horses, bears (in late April), and lots of bison, sheep, and caribou on either side of the road.  We saw one dead bison, but no road kill and no vehicular accidents with animals.   A logical piece of advice is to avoid driving this dark, remote, and animal-traveled highway at night.

SEASONAL DIFFERENCES = CLOSED CAMPGROUNDS: 

The winter season makes a big difference in where you can spend the night. MOST campgrounds, public and private, are CLOSED from sometime in October to sometime in May.  Of these, some are gated and locked.  Others may be accessed by long, narrow dirt roads that are simply not plowed and therefore inappropriately deep for campers and camping vehicles.  This means that travelers should be prepared to dry camp (not plug into someone else’s power supply) in winter.  Campgrounds and day use parking lots that service winter sports, like cross country skiing and snowmachining, were more likely than others to be open and plowed.  In April, campgrounds that offer boat docks tend to open earlier (‘as soon as the snow is gone”) than those that do not.

Similarly, many of the highway adjacent motels are closed for the season (usually Oct – May), and with them, their gas pumps, water hoses, and dump sites.  We passed a lot of derelict motels and lodges that were moldering away.  Call ahead if you wish to sleep in a commercial bed. Even in northern cities with winter-open RV camps, dumpsites and water hoses were usually turned off until the temperatures warm up.  This means that travelers should be prepared to drive hundreds of km (through Canada) without outside sources of gasoline or water.  I think the longest stretch we noticed was 300 km.  We traveled with an extra 5 gallons of diesel and 10 gallons of water (We did not fill our camper’s water tank until the coldest temperatures were above 25 degrees.).   Note:  Milepost may identify motels, restaurants, and gas stations that DO EXIST but are NOT OPEN half the year.

FUEL PRICES:

Fuel prices vary dramatically.  Canada charged MUCH more for gas and diesel than the USA.  Probably 3x as much.  The most we paid along the Alcan was C$2.09 per LITER at Pink Mountain.  US prices close to the border were about $3.60/GALLON.  Chevron was routinely the MOST expensive in any locale. In our part of Alaska, the price of Diesel was $3.22/gallon.  In parts of Montana and Wyoming, $2.99/gallon during that same trip.  California charged over $6/gal.

MPG:  Hauling a camper takes a toll on mileage, naturally.  We averaged 12 mpg with the camper vs. 17 mpg without it. 

The currency exchange rate benefited Americans, which took some of the sting out of their diesel price.  Some supermarket, wine, and beer prices were lower than the US.  Noticeably: eggs were half the price.  I guess they did not cull their flocks during the USA’s reaction to bird flu. 

I highly recommend loading the apps Gas Buddy and/or Gas Guru before departure.  With them, you can search for gas prices by your current location or for a target location.  Recent price confirmation is time stamped.  Prices routinely vary by up to $.50/gallon in the US and less per liter in Canada, within the space of 2 miles on/off the highway.  For a 10,000 mile trip, these savings added up to expenditures on purchases we valued more.   

Propane prices varied widely, too.  The most common price range was $21 – 28/20 lb tank.  To help the propane last longer, turn your water heater on only in advance of doing dishes or taking a shower and then turn it off right afterward.  For us, this took about 20 minutes.

COMMUNICATIONS:

Telephony and Internet: Because of the remoteness and the mountainous terrain as well as the absence of open visitors’ centers and motels, internet and telephone may not work for hours at a time or at your selected stop for the night. We had Verizon as our telephone provider and we newly bought Starlink for this trip.  Both worked some of the time.  Neither was consistently reliable along this route.  

Starlink:  We had a tough time getting Starlink up and going because of limited technical support by the company.  BE PATIENT.  We thought that by plugging in and connecting through WiFI, all would work immediately.  No.  It sometimes took up to 30 minutes for the satellite to sync.  Starlink is not kidding when it says you need access to open skies.  Trees impede service.  We learned to move farther away from the trees and camper.  Some people report that Starlink does not work in a moving vehicle.  We disagree.  Over the course of thousands of active driving miles, Starlink worked, sometimes.  We have connected Starlink to our cigarette lighter in the truck and left it pointing out the window all night long.  It sips power and did not drain the battery.  In long stretches of Nevada desert, we pointed the antenna out through the window which gave us intermittent Internet as we drove.  You might want to test a different antenna configuration than we had.  We just pointed it out the front truck window. 

If we set up Google Mapping in a place with internet, it correctly showed our location and movement even along routes that lacked Internet, but I could not START a search or map a change out of cell or internet range.  So it is prudent to plan your route in advance and print or save any maps, distances, and target resources.  It is also wise to tell someone to expect to hear from you every other day or so.  If not, suggest a follow up plan.  On my first leg (south from Alaska) I texted my sons each day and let us know where we left and where we were headed, as well as info about our truck and camper.  I gave them the number of the Mounties in Yukon and BC.  On our route back, I wrote them only occasionally, because I felt more confident and familiar with the route and where we could stop.   

 

With these caveats and observations, I can say that we enjoyed a wonderful trip, from Alaska to Dawson Creek during the first half of March, and then back north in the second half of April, with an alternate route part of the way back north that we found more attractive than the Alcan all the way.  (See Itinerary article link). 

Vehicle performance:

Our truck, a 2005 Dodge RAM 350 dually, exceeded expectations on this trip.  We suffered no damage, not even a ding to the windshield.  But that is likely because we drove hours a time without seeing another vehicle and we crawled slowly over washboard asphalt.  Why go fast when there is no one to help you and you can’t call them from there anyway?

Camper performance:

We bought our 2019 Adventurer camper a few days before our trip.  We drove it around town and camped in a friend’s driveway two nights to get the hang of it before departing. 

Our 2019 Adventurer is labeled as a four season camper, but I am not sure what that means, since it loses heat very quickly after we turn off the heater.  En route, we discovered that if we plugged into shore power one night, we could boondock with heat the next two nights.  However, the third night the heat conked out.  We found an expensive midway spot to plug into a heater one night, but spent some cold nights under a heavy quilt on either side of that until we got to Whitehorse, YT, where the Dodge service center noticed that the camper dealership had not connected the camper’s batteries to the truck’s generator to charge while driving and one fuse was burned out. 

DUMPING:

Rvdumpsites.com was very helpful in finding dumpsites en route.  In addition to these, we found that private RV campgrounds often allowed dumping for a modest fee, like $10, but less often in winter.

For the first two weeks of our trip, we relied on 2 – 5 gallon jugs of water rather than filling our camper’s tanks in below freezing temperatures.  

We have never flushed toilet paper down the toilet.  We also throw it in a trash can. 

Our camper does have a functional shower, but the tank fills after two people shower twice plus gray water from the sink.  So when we could, we showered outside the camper. 

Advice:  If you have not previously camped in your vehicle/camper, take a short sample camping trip before a long one through remote (and therefore, expensive, locations).  Measure how long a propane tank, fresh, gray, and black water tank lasts.  Check your MPG. 

Twice we were slow to find a dump station and had some gray water sloshing around in the sink and bathroom floor, but that was our mistake. 

The only damage we sustained was to the roof window above the bed.  The plastic housing cracked, loosening it at high speeds, which, of course, cracked it some more.  Fortunately, no rain penetrated, but it will need to be replaced.  Since we never climbed up on the roof before departing, we do not know if there was a thin crack at the time.  Lesson learned.  We DID scrape some branches on a few early campsites, but I can’t see how damaging those could be. 

This was a wonderful trip and I look forward to repeating it in different seasons.