Rugged scenery, freedom camping every day and stunning wildlife at every turn — this is what we expected our Alaska Highway road trip to be. Trust us, it did not disappoint. Our final wildlife count was 4 moose, 2 black bears, many elk, lots of bison, 2 eagles, a few deer and lots of squirrels. Even though October made finding waste dump sites and fresh water a lot more difficult, we loved the quiet roads and lack of tourists up north, and we would both do it again in a heartbeat. Here's our itinerary for our two week road trip from Whitehorse to Calgary, driving the Alaska Highway.
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Whitehorse
Our travel day was marred by delays — instead of arriving at 11am, we ended up arriving at 9:30pm. Luckily our Canadream team waited for us and gave us our campervan tour at 10pm. Big shout out to that team; they really helped us get back on track. Our first campsite was the glamorous Walmart car park — close and convenient, since we still had to grocery shop in the morning.
Things to Do in Whitehorse
Visit the S.S. Klondike, walk along the river, and stroll through the streets checking out the old Wild West-looking buildings. Other options: Takhini Hot Springs, Yukon Wildlife Preserve, and the MacBride Museum of Yukon History.
RV necessities: Gas station right by Walmart. Sani dump and fresh water tank both empty and full respectively since this was our starting point.
Whitehorse to Carcross
After walking through Whitehorse and exploring around the S.S. Klondike, we had lunch and hit the road south to Carcross. A long, fairly quiet drive — we passed the beautiful Emerald Lakes, well worth stopping for photos.
![SS Klondike in Whitehorse Canada] (https://m3lhun0naiptyabj.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/posts/klondike.jpg)
Carcross Desert
This is the smallest and coldest desert in the world — and technically not even a real desert. Winds have blown sand over from the adjacent lake, and over time it's grown in size.
RV necessities: Gas station and sani dump at Montana RV Park.
Our goal was to freedom camp this night, so we continued along the Yukon Highway. We ended up at Teslin Lake Government Campground, which was closed for the season. We were exhausted enough to tuck the RV into a corner and stay the night, joined periodically by truckers — and no cops, thankfully. ![Carcross Desert] (https://m3lhun0naiptyabj.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/posts/carcross.jpg)
Teslin Lake to Watson Lake
Fill up with gas at the Teslin Lake station — many pumps along this road close in October. Weather can be unpredictable too; we drove this stretch in snow, and the trip to Watson Lake took about 5 hours due to heavy conditions, mostly a whiteout.
Watson Lake
The Sign Post Forest — see if you can find our Barbados sign — and the Northern Lights Centre are the highlights here.
RV necessities: Due to the weather, we stayed at a proper campsite with fresh water, sani dump facilities and even wifi — the Downtown RV Park.
Watson Lake to Stone Mountain Provincial Park
We woke to blue sky and no more snow. We drove the Alaska Highway to Liard River Hot Springs — a genuinely cute spot for a relaxing swim, though we didn't stay long. Continuing south toward Fort Nelson, the scenery got more and more stunning — snow-covered mountains and blue sky, feeling like we were the only tourists around for miles. This was by far our favourite stretch of road on the whole trip.
We pulled over in Stone Mountain Provincial Park and stayed the night at a rest stop — worth noting that in summer you should stay at a proper campsite instead. The next morning, leaving around 7am, we were greeted by a herd of reindeer.
Watson Lake, Sgin Post Forest
Muncho Lake
Absolutely gorgeous, though slightly overcast when we passed through, so we didn't get to see the famous emerald green colour properly.
RV necessities: Nothing open along this stretch for sani dumps or fresh water — we'd already dumped at Watson Lake, so we were fine overnight. Summit Lake Campground is the only option if you're staying overnight here, though it was closed due to early snow when we came through.
Fuel and Facilities Tip
If you're driving the Alaska Highway outside peak summer, plan your fuel, water and sani dump stops carefully — many facilities close for the season starting in September and October, and you can go significant distances between open options.
Stone Mountain Provincial Park to Dawson Creek
An uneventful drive to Fort Nelson — we could tell we were reaching a bigger town as the roads improved. Fort Nelson is a cute one-street town with everything you need; we stopped for information, road maps and essentials like wine before continuing to Dawson Creek.
Kiskatinaw Bridge and Mile 0
The historic Kiskatinaw Bridge is worth a stop, and Mile 0 — the official start of the Alaska Highway — is a proper milestone marker photo opportunity.
RV necessities: Plenty of gas stations at Dawson Creek near the Mile 0 marker. Sani dump available on the left driving into Fort Nelson, and at our campsite at Mile 0. Fresh water wasn't available at the campsite in October though.
Dawson Creek to Prince George
An uneventful drive through a few towns on the way to Prince George, hoping to find a campsite nearby. We couldn't find anything and the visitor centre had just closed, so we continued driving and found a hidden spot off the highway, tucked into the trees, for the night.
RV necessities: Gas in Prince George, with plenty of RV parks offering sani dump and fresh water as you drive in.
Prince George to Mount Robson National Park
We left our hidden campsite early so no one would see us, and rolled into the small town of McBride just after lunch — an adorable little town. Shout out to the Husky station on the highway, who let us fill up with fresh water and use their sani dump — genuine MVPs.
RV necessities: Gas, sani dump and fresh water all at Husky MacBride.
We parked at Moose Lake in Mount Robson to sleep — a terrible choice, as a train passed roughly every 30 minutes. We ended up leaving in the middle of the night and parking further up the road at a trailhead in the middle of the bush, hopping out with headlamps on, making as much noise as possible so nothing wild came close while we dashed to the back of the camper.
Mount Robson to Jasper National Park
We finally rolled into Jasper a week later, unsurprisingly busy — we later discovered we'd arrived during the Dark Sky Festival, meaning plenty of evening activities. We drove up to Pyramid Lake for our first hike of the stop, then out to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, where we spotted elk (though sadly no grizzly bears). We splurged on a couple of glasses of wine there and pretended, briefly, that we were staying.
RV necessities: Plenty of gas stations in Jasper. Fresh water at Wapiti Campground, the only one open in October.
Icefields Parkway
We split this over two days — driving onto the parkway around 4pm to visit Athabasca Falls and Sunwapta Falls, then finding a hideaway spot for the night. The next morning we continued down to Bow Falls and camped there. Make sure you sani dump completely and fill up with fresh water before starting, since in October all campsites along the route were closed except Wapiti in Jasper.
RV necessities: Gas, sani dump and fresh water all available at Saskatchewan Crossing.
Banff
After the epic drive from way up north, we arrived in Banff feeling a little lost, having to hunt for an actual campsite again in a proper city. Banff was beautiful though — we did the Tunnel Mountain hike and drove to Lake Minnewanka over our two days there. There's plenty more to do in Banff National Park beyond what we managed, but by this point in the trip we were genuinely exhausted and preferred to relax. We visited Lake Louise too, though skipped hiking there given how busy it was.
RV necessities: Plenty of gas in Banff. Sani dump and fresh water at Tunnel Mountain Campsite, where we also stayed.
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Everything to sort before, during and on the road.
Our Top Tip
Use your resources wisely. We didn't shower every night and stayed conscious of usage at every stage of the trip. This was, by far, one of our favourite road trips to date — even with the challenge of finding facilities in October, the complete absence of crowds made it genuinely worth it. Read our full RV rental first-timer's guide for more on how we managed the practicalities of RV life along the way.
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Frequently Asked Questions
We spent two weeks covering it in an RV, including stops for hiking, wildlife spotting and exploring towns along the way. It's a genuinely long route, so two weeks gives you room to actually enjoy it rather than just driving through.
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