# canada to alaska



## carol

has anyone hitchhiked from canada to alaska before? i really want to go to alaska this summer, and i can't find any cheap bus ride or trains that go to alaska. any tips help guys!


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## iamwhatiam

carol said:


> has anyone hitchhiked from canada to alaska before? i really want to go to alaska this summer, and i can't find any cheap bus ride or trains that go to alaska. any tips help guys!



My first time hitchhiking was through BC over a decade ago. I bought a greyhound ticket from Vancouver across the border to Bellingham, Wa if I remember correctly. I think it's harder as an American citizen to hitchhike IN to Canada. The border crossing agents tend to frown upon traveling kids with backpacks coming over the border without much money to show in their bank account.

If I were you, and you have your heart set on hitchhiking through Canada - I would buy a greyhound ticket just to get across the border to the next town. Helps if you have a return ticket to show, bank statement showing you have sufficient funds for traveling, and proof (or pretend) that you are staying with a friend or family member while visiting there to be granted entry. Perhaps others could expound on that, who've done it more recently.
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That being said. Hitchhiking through BC/Yukon and Alaska is extremely easy to get rides. Altho, as a woman I'd be VERY CAREFUL doing it alone. Google the Highway of Tears....a stretch of highway in BC that has seen numerous cases of women hitchhikers going missing and/or being found murdered.

Sometimes you can find cheaper flight deals on Alaska Air's website to and from Seattle/Bellingham and Anchorage or Ketchikan. You can also take the ferry (Alaska Marine Highway) from Bellingham all the way to Whittier and then hitchhike from there. (Fares DOUBLE in price for the summer season, so if you're gonna take the ferry take it before the cutoff date. I think it's around April that it changes in price. Also - a good tip - you don't need to pay the whole fare from Bellingham to Whittier. I've paid just the fare from Bellingham to Ketchikan (the cheapest one) and then you just stay on after they leave port. No one really checks your ticket to make sure you paid the full fare. As long as you are just camping out on the deck and keep low key, don't get in trouble....you should be fine doing it. That's what I did last time I took that route. You just can't get on and off at each port when they stop, obviously. Have fun!


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## carol

iamwhatiam said:


> My first time hitchhiking was through BC over a decade ago. I bought a greyhound ticket from Vancouver across the border to Bellingham, Wa if I remember correctly. I think it's harder as an American citizen to hitchhike IN to Canada. The border crossing agents tend to frown upon traveling kids with backpacks coming over the border without much money to show in their bank account.
> 
> If I were you, and you have your heart set on hitchhiking through Canada - I would buy a greyhound ticket just to get across the border to the next town. Helps if you have a return ticket to show, bank statement showing you have sufficient funds for traveling, and proof (or pretend) that you are staying with a friend or family member while visiting there to be granted entry. Perhaps others could expound on that, who've done it more recently.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> That being said. Hitchhiking through BC/Yukon and Alaska is extremely easy to get rides. Altho, as a woman I'd be VERY CAREFUL doing it alone. Google the Highway of Tears....a stretch of highway in BC that has seen numerous cases of women hitchhikers going missing and/or being found murdered.
> 
> Sometimes you can find cheaper flight deals on Alaska Air's website to and from Seattle/Bellingham and Anchorage or Ketchikan. You can also take the ferry (Alaska Marine Highway) from Bellingham all the way to Whittier and then hitchhike from there. (Fares DOUBLE in price for the summer season, so if you're gonna take the ferry take it before the cutoff date. I think it's around April that it changes in price. Also - a good tip - you don't need to pay the whole fare from Bellingham to Whittier. I've paid just the fare from Bellingham to Ketchikan (the cheapest one) and then you just stay on after they leave port. No one really checks your ticket to make sure you paid the full fare. As long as you are just camping out on the deck and keep low key, don't get in trouble....you should be fine doing it. That's what I did last time I took that route. You just can't get on and off at each port when they stop, obviously. Have fun!



Thanks for the info! I was trying to look to grey hound tickets from NYC but I can't find any buses from here that go to Canada. I'll definitely take a look at the air tickets. While you were in Canada did you find any cheap hostels or any good spots outdoors to sleep or camp? Yea I'm most likely going to be traveling with a friend.


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## Deleted member 11392

carol said:


> While you were in Canada did you find any cheap hostels or any good spots outdoors to sleep or camp?



In northern BC and the Yukon, you can camp ANYWHERE. It's extremely isolated. There's nothing but open country, forests, river banks, huge fields, clean bridges, even the abandoned building here and there.

There's campgrounds all over the place, too. Most of them are honor system for paying.

If you are sleeping outside, you will need to have a tent or at least a mosquito net. Unless you are a Buddhist monk and can tolerate hundreds of mosquitoes on you. Or wait till fall when there are none.

Read up on bear safety if you are sleeping outside. Everywhere is bear country in the north. Not something to dismiss


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## Koala

Megabus has suuuuper cheap bus tix into Canada. You can go straight from NYC to Toronto and if you book in advance, I reckon you could get that fare for $20-$25. Don't know if you're looking to enter Canada on the east coast, but if you are, I'd say Megabus is the way to go!

They onl book a few months in advance at a time, and fares can be weird like one day it's $75 and switch to the next day and it's $10 so do a lot of looking if your departure date is flexible.


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## carol

Koala said:


> Megabus has suuuuper cheap bus tix into Canada. You can go straight from NYC to Toronto and if you book in advance, I reckon you could get that fare for $20-$25. Don't know if you're looking to enter Canada on the east coast, but if you are, I'd say Megabus is the way to go!
> 
> They onl book a few months in advance at a time, and fares can be weird like one day it's $75 and switch to the next day and it's $10 so do a lot of looking if your departure date is flexible.



Nice! I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!


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## outlawloose

I hitched from SF to Fairbanks AK in less than 2 weeks - it was sick. Natives in BC and the Yukon are very friendly to hitchhikers. I did it in winter and sleeping in the snow sucks, but survived. If solo bring a knife of course just like anywhere but its unlikely you'll ever think to worry about it.
Canadian border security can suck my dick - I've been fully searched half a dozen times entering Canada, even riding Bolt Bus. But if you don't have any prior convictions, you're not carrying drugs, and have a valid reason/ excuse to be in Canada (I'm visiting my sister for her wedding) than just go along with their searches with a sarcastic smile on your face. 
It's all worth it.


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## outlawloose

My roaddog Daniel made this vid recap from our alaska trip - Im the blackfaced hobo with the doge. Being winter it was the toughest adventure I ever did, but I hear even summer has it's own set of challenges so be prepared!


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## todd

its a longggg empty road through Canada you might want to look at the Alaska waterway on the coast? I too have always wanted to goto Alaska


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## carol

outlawloose said:


> My roaddog Daniel made this vid recap from our alaska trip - Im the blackfaced hobo with the doge. Being winter it was the toughest adventure I ever did, but I hear even summer has it's own set of challenges so be prepared!




Looks amazing! Wish I was in the video lol. Where did u guys take the freight train to? 


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## outlawloose

Only rode two trains on that trip – Kamloops to Jasper then later Prince George to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. No freights run in the Yukon or into Alaska.
P.G. to P.R. follows the Skeena River to the Pacific and is such a powerful ride – one of my favourite subdivisions ever.


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