Harley Davidson -Ride Planner.
I found this one easy to use if you want to pick your own roads. Google just ends up pissing me off.
Just got done planning an 800 mile trip with this one. Now I need to find a route home.

You can add dealer locations also. Could be helpful on a road trip.
You can name your start and finish, add extra waypoints, and also add notes to your print outs.
Check box to stay off highways. Simple click and drag to pick different roads.
I can never get google to work right for me and it's a pain in the ***.

 

I use the route planner on the HOG website, (you do have to be a member). It is much simpler than the system that came with my GPS, I can print maps and turn by turn, has a feature that will exclude interstates if possible and you can click and drag to any road you want. My whole trip this summer will be done there, so far 3800 miles and that is just from place to place, no side trips or, visiting.

 

Hey scott...there's but 4 roads from Canada into Alaska. The Alaska (Alcan) Highway to access the main state, the Skagway road to access Skagway, the Haines highway to ...you guessed it...Haines.... in the Panhandle, or SouthWest Alaska, then the Top of the World highway from Dawson City to main state Alaska.

OK, OK. Just joshin' with ya.

Now I start my Tourism yak-yak.

There is one more road...the road from Highway 37 that goes to Hyder, Alaska, where you can get Hyderized.

Now, if you want to do a variety of routes within Alaska, then you may want to do a bit of planning. There are a number of great riding roads but you MUST do the Denali Parkway.

Remember to bring warm water-proof gear as in June you can still run into the occasional snow squall and cool night time temps.

If you have a large tank(5gal) you won't have any trouble with fuel stops, but remember to top up at all stations along the Alaska Highway and if you go via Highway 37 through northern BC. The iffy stretches are from Fort Nelson, BC to Watson Lake, Yukon.

Along the Alaska highway......
Fort Nelson is Mile 300...lots of fuel
Toad River is Mile 422...fuel but not sure if open 24 hours
Muncho Lake is Mile 456..fuel but not sure if open 24 hours
Liard River is Mile 496...fuel but not open 24 hours...and last I heard it may have shut down completely.
Coal River is Mile 533 and may have fuel...not open 24 hours
Fireside is just a few miles North and may have fuel, not sure
Contact Creek is Mile 588 but is probably closed
Iron Creek is Mile 596 the cheapest fuel on the Alaska Highway
Lower Post is not right on the highway and has no visitor facilities
Watson Lake is Mile 635 with all Visitor Facilities, fuel, rooms, meals, groceries
Highway 37 Junction is Mile 649 with fuel (expensive last time I fueled there)
Rancheria will be the next possible fuel, about 70 miles North of Watson Lake
Swift River, 100 miles North of Watson Lake will probably be closed
Teslin will be the next fuel at Mile 804, not sure if it is open 24 hours
Next stop will be Jake's Corner at junction of Carcross/Atlin highways Mile 866.
Whitehorse is Mile 918 Capitol of Yukon so it has whatever you will need.

From Whitehorse to Anchorage, Alaska is about 12 hours via Alaska Highway. No problems with fuel if you fuel at Whitehorse, Border City, just a couple miles North of US border station, then Tok and finally Glennallen will be your last fuel stop to gt you to Anchorage.

So..that's the Alaska Highway route to Alaska.

The Haines Highway leaves the Alaska Highway at Haines Junction, 98 miles West of Whitehorse. Fuel up there if you are going to Haines as there are no fuel stops...or anything else for that matter, except for some stunning scenery, until you get into Alaska. That road is one of the best surfaces adn is presently being paved with proper pavement, but is good throughout. Keep your camera handy as there are numerous moose and grizzly bears. The road is about 160 miles long and terminates in Haines, but you can catch the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry system to Skagway, Juneau and other Southern points. I also think it can be used to go to Portage,m Homer and Anchorage, but you will have to check that out on their website. Because it is only 160 miles long, there is no problem in making the return tripo to Haines junction and continuing on up the Alaska highway to Beaver Creek, teh most Westerly community in Canada.

The North Klondike Highway leaves the Alaska highway just a few miles West of Whitehorse and heads North to Dawson City. Fuel at Braeburn Lodge, say Hi to Steve, and buy the largest Cinnamon Bun you will ever see. Eat some and take the rest for a snack along the way. There are a few fuel stops and Dawson City is 300 Miles from Whitehorse. Great scenery throughout. you take the George Black ferry across the yukon River to the Top of the World highway, then you drive on to Tetlin junction where it joins the Alaska highway in Alaska. I have no idea what the fuel services are like on that highway as I have not been over it in many years. I also don't know if it is hard surfaced completely. There may be gravel sections but if you have miles under your belt on dirt bikes, you will have no trouble. Just take it cool and don't sweat it. You're not in a race anyhow. go slow and enjoy the scenery and wildlife opportunities. There are old gold dredges and claims to visit also...if you are into that kind of stuff.

The South Klondike Highway leaves the Alaska highway about 20 miles South of Whitehorse. It goes through the world's smallest desert, Carcross, along the Klondike Gold Rush Trail of '98, then down to the Gulf of Alaska at Skagway. You can catch the Alaska Marine Ferry to Haines or ports south, which in turn joins up with the BC Ferry system at Prince Rupert, BC, traveling to Vancouver Island. This is a gorgeous and relaxing alternative through the Inside Passage.

 

+1

I've been playing with a bunch of different tools for the past few months.

Right now my flavor of the month is MapQuest. It has about the same features as any of the others, but I particularly like it for two reasons. First, I can plan and save a ride on my computer in advance and easily manipulate the rout by simply dragging a part of the rout to a new road. Second, I can log on to MapQuest on my iphone and that ride will be there waiting to be loaded. MapQuest for iphone has GPS voice turn-by-turn. I don’t have to look at a map, I just have to listen.

 

Are those maps stored on the iPhone or are they accessed through the cell system. If they are via the cell system, don't count on it along the Alaska highway. There are very few places where the cell phone system is available until you get closer to Whitehorse. GPS works nearly 100% of the way, except where you get into a couple of canyons. Sirius Sat radio also works most of the way if you want to stay in touch with your tunes.

 

I have great success with Harley's Ride Planner. Easy downloads to the Zumo, easy to use.
Much, much better than Garmin's software.

 

Well, on the iphone app you have to log on to your MapQuest account to pull up the pre-planned trips. Last weekend, I lost cell service for a while, but never lost my map, so I suspect that once it is opened on the phone it ties in to the GPS independently of the cell service.

 

Your cell phone service downloads 'tiles' of maps as needed, so until you run off the last tile its GPS feature will tell where you're at on the map tile....but without an appropriate map tile in the phone the GPS won't be able to help you a bit. GPS does not transmit map data, the satellites transmit signals that let the cell phone antenna and software triangulate your position on your map tile.

There's a few apps that work on android phones that let you download selected map tiles BEFORE you leave cell phone coverage. A true dedicated GPS, with a suitable map library will work better for your purposes.

Having been on the ALCAN with a cell phone, I can attest there are vast areas without cell coverage...hell, at some of the business services on the route you need to use their satellite phones to call home.

 

Plan?

 

Thanks for the education. Good stuff.

Good Old AT&T