The Ultimate
Driving Guide to Alaska
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The Guidepost - 2007
by Morris Communications
Who must have this book: Anyone who is driving
the Al-Can or who is planning to spend months RVing through
Alaska.
Who should have this book: Anyone who will
be driving in Alaska
ISBN: 1892154218
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The
Milepost is a unique resource for a very unique destination. I always
wondered why someone didn’t make a similar guide for another
area until I realized there are no other areas like the Alaskan road
system.
If you are not familiar with the Milepost, it is a guidebook that
marks every roadside feature on every major road and highway in Alaska,
the Yukon and all major roads leading toward Alaska. And when I say
that it has every roadside feature, I mean every roadside feature.
The Milepost notes every campground, gas station, restaurant, store,
fishing spot, pull-off, interesting geological formation, wildlife
viewing area, and literally even marks bumps in the road. There truly
isn’t anything like it anywhere else.
If you are planning on driving the Al-Can to or from the lower 48
or taking an extended RV trip through the state, you need to get a
copy of this book. If you are planning a weeklong driving tour of
the state, you should really consider getting a copy.
There are a couple of caveats about the book. It is huge, both in
physical size and scope. It is the size and weight of a phone book
and does not pack well if you have limited luggage space. Also, because
it covers such a large area, you may find yourself only referring
to a small section of he book. It is often difficult to find what
you are looking for quickly so I usually mark the highways I will
be traveling with post-it notes and highlight the features I want
to find while I am on the road.
Also, when you start driving around the state, you quickly realize
that mile markers themselves are actually quite rare in Alaska. So
you may need to find listed landmarks to tell what mile marker you
are at. But in a area that also lack signs of any kind, it is nice
to know what’s down the road, especially if you have hungry
kids or your gas gauge is on E.
Overview
The book contents are pretty straight forward. There
is just a brief section about how to use the book and a few pages
about planning a trip to Alaska and then it is all road logs. Each
highway has its own “chapter” which lists every feature
along the highway.
Much of the Milepost is filled with paid advertising, and even some
of the descriptions in the road logs are written by the owners of
the businesses being described. This should be noted when reading
the descriptions of attractions and facilities but the information
is still very valuable.
Much of the value comes from the annual updates the writing staff
puts together. This ensures that all of the information is as up to
date as possible. I tend to get a new copy every few years which seems
to keep everything reasonably up to date.
Author
The Milepost is published by Morris Communications.
It is written by a whole group of people from staff writers to business
owners who can write their own business descriptions as paid advertisements.
Along with the Milepost, Morris Communications publishes numerous
Alaskan books including, The Alaska Wilderness Guide, Alaska
A to Z, The Milepost Souvenir Logbook and numerous Alaskan
cook books.
Other books by the Author
