Three Months, 10,000 kms to the Yukon and Northwest Territories

Travel Costs and lessons learned:

Hitting the road for three months in 2022 with soaring fuel prices will come as no surprise as to what our highest cost was for our 10,000 kms (6214 miles) journey. Starting from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to northern B.C. on to Dawson City in the Yukon back down and across to the end of the road north of Whitehorse, Northwest Territories and home.

First Tip: Keep a daily journal, those of you who have been following our trip know I would have been lost if I had not recorded our travels, places visited, campsites, mileage and costs. I spent the summer enjoying our truck camping travels and as you know all winter getting it posted to my blog. So, without those daily journals I would have forgotten lots as there was just too much to take in during a short three-month trip.

Second Tip: Before I forget…TAKE CASH as we get more dependent on that device we seem to have grafted onto our hand and the tap for paying via card, know this: not every place has internet service therefore CASH is once again KING. As a matter of fact, get used to living without that device as unless you’re in a major community it’s useless…you do get used to that and it feels good to disconnect. Instead of checking the cell constantly one has time to look around and enjoy the beauty found everywhere, so learn to live without it.
Without those daily notes of our travels and costs I would really have no idea how much we spent as we paid cash for fuel and campgrounds in many places so no record on the old credit card. That said, here is what we spent on fuel for our Ford F350, 6.2 gasser with our 9.6 Northern Lite Truck camper.

Fuel: $3,898.81 the least expensive was Cold Lake, Alberta at $130.9/litre. The Alberta Government had removed their sales tax on fuel. The most expensive was Muncho Lake, B.C. mile 462 on the Alaskan Highway at $2.50/litre. ($9.46/ US gallon). Prices ranged everywhere in between.

Campgrounds: $741.00 Canadian. We boondocked when possible, from gravel pits, Walmarts, and Travel Centers. Also, we prepaid our Yukon Territorial Campground fees by purchasing a number of camp site passes at local businesses $18 Can. per night, a savings there and very convenient as they can be used at any fantastic UNRESERVED campgrounds over our travels. Yes, no online booking we could stay even over the weekend.
Third Tip: Slow down and enjoy. As much as we enjoyed our travels we crammed too much into only three months. We felt the need to move on so we did not spend as much time exploring an area as we could have, some beautiful lakes, rivers and communities with a lot of rich history in its people and their lifestyles in the north. No regrets at all, one just has to realize Dawson City was just not going to dissapear and Yellowknife NWT would still be there whenever we arrived.
Fourth Tip: Pack less, save weight and fuel. As always we packed more clothes than we needed to be gone a year or more. It’s surprising how little you need, no one will notice you wore the same clothes yesterday. Food, we again packed enough for a year, we hear and read horror stories about the price of food in the north so we packed up before leaving. The Co-op store in Yellowknife had similar prices to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Some things like paper goods a little more expensive, meat and vegetables very comparable. Dawson City was a little higher priced but the General Store there has a fantastic selection of anything you would want, even product you would find at Costco. So shop local and save fuel hauling you local store with you.

Fifth Tip: Avoid campgrounds with online reservations whenever possible unless you like living by the clock and calendar. We do not! Most time when we find an area, especially in popular areas, that we may want to extend our stay, we get booted out on the weekend for the two day weekenders and sometimes have no place to go. Thank you Walmarts. While travelling many small communities have beautiful small campsites. Our travels are not about the destinations as much as the enjoyment of getting there and we do not need the stress of having to be somewhere at a particular date and check in time. Enjoy, throw away the calendar and the watch and let experiencing where ever you are take over.

Sixth Tip: Go for it! Fuel costs will always be high, it will rain, there are some bugs, forest fires will occur and bumpy roads and highway construction guaranteed. Our days here are not guaranteed so if it feels like the right time…just go for it!
I could go on forever, even after doing my research watching other blogs I still had to do it my way, rush, over pack etc. Make it your own experience…Enjoy.

Update:
It’s just not fair it’s April 19th and I write this sitting in our cabin wood fire going and a real blizzard happening outside…it should be spring. New shocks on the trusty Ford, a wax job on the Norhern Lite and we are just about ready for the next adventure. We are preparing our cabin for our cabin sitters who will enjoy our little cabin and lake for 4 months while we are gone. We are going to take up residence in our truck camper and live the next four months wherever we park it. If all works and it’s meant to be we may be extending our travels and spending winter south of the border with a truck camper meet up in February and others living the RV lifestyle enjoying their homes on wheels. By the time you reach my age (73) one realizes plans are only ideas and changes in life happen, if your not flexible then you are going to break, sometimes the detour turns out to be the road you are meant to travel.

You can check our past blogs if travelling the Alaska Highway, Yukon Klondike Highway or to Yellowknife NWT for more details of sights, road conditions etc. And feel free to check back on our next travels still in the planning stages, having said that it will end up just being a general direction. See if I follow my own tips this time.
Safe travels and we hope to see you down the road watch for the studiowest.ca Northern Lite, may the wind always be in your back.
Gerry & Charlotte…