Planning a trip to Alaska and want to camp in the Nat. Parks, where there are no hookups. We really don't want to have a generator. Have you had experience with this type of camping? How long were you able to camp without charging batteries? Just looking for folks with experience. Thanks for your help.

We lived in Anchorage before we retired and started full-timing. After that, we have been back up three times, so we are pretty familiar with parks in Alaska and on the way.

Public campgrounds (as opposed to RV parks) in Alaska seldom have ANY hookups, not even a central dump station. Dump stations and fresh water fills, though, are wifely available at gas stations up there.

The public parks in BC and the Yukon sometimes have power hookups.

How long your batteries will last depends on how many and what type of batteries you have and on what electric devices you are running off them. When we lived there we had a little 18' trailer with one 12 volt battery. On a cold night, running the furnace alone was enough to deplete it. We had no other electrical loads except lights and the water pump. No TV, no inverter. I would hook it up to the tow car and charge it for a couple hours, which probably put about half a charge on it.

If I were going up there with the intention of dry camping now, I would carry a generator, and it would be a quiet one like the Honda eu1000, not a cheap contractor's generator that will anger everybody around you. You could sell it after your trip if you really don't want to own one.

In any case, have a great trip. Buy a copy of The MILEPOST, which tells you everything about every rest stop and facility on the way. You should know that once you get to Alaska it is legal to overnight in rest stops as long as you are four feet off the highway and not otherwise blocking traffic.

You also might want to consider a twin electric blanket to run off an inexpensive 400 watt inverter. We use ours crossways across the queen bed and it does a great job of keping us warm. In the morning we can run the propane heater to take the chill off the air to shower. To me keeping the entire coach warm at night is a waste of power. Make sure you have good batteries also. When you have power, charge them with a good battery charger rather than the one that came with your coach.