How to Plan a Car Camping Trip with High Fuel Prices
Last year my wife Sadie and I had 16 days to explore Alaska for our honeymoon and one of the most challenging parts was trying to devise a camping plan. We didn’t want a rigid script for the trip but it’s always nice to know you have an idea of what options are available and if they are actually worth visiting. Alos, knowing where you can stop for a bite to eat or buy gas is helpful to keep your stress low and your ability to fully enjoy the trip high.
We are flexible when traveling and love public land dispersed camping but in Alaska, those options are limited. While the State is vast the road systems are not and the opportunities for camping seem best found in campgrounds. For this trip, we used a variety of planning methods including a friend who lived in AK but the tool that we used the most was an app, The Dyrt, which is a camping and travel app that helps take the stress out of planning any road trip.
The Dyrt has a robust database of information on camping information and travel amenities that can be coupled with the trip planning tool to help optimize your trip efficiency while visiting the places on your list. Within The Pro app they provide user-generated information on camping sites (both commercial and public land) as well as amenities and route options along the way. They even have public land maps and a cell service map overlay, way convenient if you need to have a working phone while on the go! Here’s one of our favorite sites in Alaska, Riley Creek Campground. They have a Free 1 Month trial of the Pro version, check it out here! With the pro version you can download maps for offline use as well.
We used The Dyrt to help plan our trip from the Anchorage area (Palmer) to Denali National Park. We knew we wanted to make it to Denali, but wanted a rough idea of route options as well as the amount of fuel we would be using along the way. The Dyrt outlined that for us based on our vehicle information and gave us an idea of what we were diving into. Here is the route with the campgrounds we stayed at if you’d like to check it out!
If you make your way to AK to for a road trip, we highly recommend visiting the small town of Talkeetna. We had been reading a book about a legendary mountain bush plain pilot, Don Sheldon, and got to visit with his son-in-law as well as see his plane that is on the cover of the book about his life. It was incredible & the book is well worth the read! You can find the book on my kit.co page as well as much of the gear we use on our adventures.
I hope this tool helps you to plan out your next trip more efficiently and save a bit of fuel along the way!
More to come on trip planning and all things outdoor adventure in the weeks & months to come. Thanks for the support and as always, let me know if theres any topic you’d be interested in me sharing more about!
-Chase
I am an Idaho residing adventure lover who, along with my wife Sadie, enjoys helping others be more confident in their outdoor and creative pursuits. Most of your know me from my youtube videos and my goal with Road to Ridge is to share additional valuable content that will inspire and inform you as you prepare for your next trip, but in a written format. Thanks for joining me on this journey!
