I have one of those "dumb flatlander" questions for you guys from AK. Is there a way to drive from the lower 48 to Ketchikan? The only time I have been to Alaska, was a post high school road trip in 1977, and I don't remember a whole lot about it (there was a considerable amount of alchohol involved),except a lot of road construction, and a very impressive amout of bugs.
Thanks.

DGK

The only way in is by air or boat.

YOU CAN take your vehicle, just have to use the intercoastal ferry system. You can hop on and off uo and down the inside passage. Just need to make reservations for "das boot"

HI,

I hope those who live there might fill me in too. I have look into this a great deal. I will move there in a few years from what I've seen I could drive to Seattle and then go on a barge to Ketchikan. I would drive my truck from the east to Seattle and the truck would go onto barge. Thanks,Kev

The website for the Alaska Marine Highway System is

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/schedres/tariffs/index.html

You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view it any details.

There are a few places in SE Alaska that you can drive to but Ketchikan is not one of them.

Actually, you want to drive to Bellingham and put your vehicle on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. You get on Friday afternoon and get off in Ketchikan Sunday morning. Maybe. Assuming the tides, currents, winds and mechanical operations of the boat all run according to plan. Ketchikan is a community of about 13,000 with 45 miles of paved roads. Or you can take the Interisland Ferry to Prince of Wales Island and drive around on about 1700 miles of roads. When you're done with that, you can get back on the AMHS and go to Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, or (once a month) to Yakutat. If you're craving sea-borne adventure, you can arrange to board the Kennicott and take you and your vehicle to Valdez or Seward -- where you strike an actual road system that will take you all over the parts of Alaska that are reachable by road. Which, actually, isn't all that much of it. None of these trips will be inexpensive, by the way. Nor are they brief.

All you have to remember is -- there are no problems in Alaska that can't be resolved with enough time and money. Just make sure you come with enough of both.

HI,

MULEDEER, thanks for the information. I will move to Alaska to live in a few years and will live in the SE.The town of Bellingham how far from seattle?, if you do not mind how much for a price tag from Bellingham to POW. Thanks,Kev

Kev,

Not be mean, but you really need to check out the link to the Ferry System provided above.

There are too many variables in the prices to give you a quote. Dates traveled, and size of vehicle are the main items that cause the fee to change.

Kev,

Bellingham is a couple of hours north of Seattle. muledeer said it all, it's an adventure, been here for 29 years now, just came to visit. With all that said there is another way to do it and that is to drive to Skagway at the upper end of Lynn canal and take the ferry south. If you like road trips. You won't have much driving time anywhere once you get to SE.

thanks for the info guys, guess I'll be flying