a great alternative to the Alcan
is to drive to Steward BC...
see the       funky village of Hyder AK,
then go back to the main highway ..the Cassiar I think..
and take that up to Whitehorse.
Can drop down to Skagway that way too.

it's still 20 hours of driving to Anchorage from there.
oh..
Lake Atlin, in northern BC, accessed from south of Whitehorse.

Can't say about current times, but when I was there in the 90's, via
turbo diesel vanagon ..
it was the emptiest, most pristine place I've ever been that one could
drive to.
I was there in September ..
might see one car on the road every hour, it was that empty and remote.

Always wanted to drive to Inucik.
Been to Dawson city a couple of times ( Green Tortoise trips )

there are various rear  tire swing-away mount systems available.
I almost grabbed one off a Nissan SUV once in a junkyard.
Bit of trouble to engineer properly .

lol..the one I installed for a guy ...to support the weight of the tire,
and undo the latch at the same time, had to cross my arms in front of me
so each hand could do the required task.

Have a great trip !
Scott

On 4/10/2016 1:28 PM, John Rodgers wrote:
> I have driven the Alaska Hiway to ANCHORAGE several time. One time, never
> so much as a low tire, much less a flat. On another trek on the Hiway I
> blew out 5 tires and had to have an uncle living in Anchorage bring me a
> couple up on the Glen Hiway. I might still be there had I not gotten help.
>
> My ambition this year is to drive the ALCAN again, then go over what was
> known as the Ice Road up to the Slope, and also make it to Inuvik in the
> Northwest Territories. Don't know how far I'll get with these plans but
> there it is - this coming summers ambition. I may add the western approach
> - Vancouver - thru the Rockies- to the get to Dawson City, the beginning of
> the ALCAN. Never have driven that, but understand it is beautiful and
> rugged. Definitely a dual spare route from what I understand.
>
> John
> On Apr 10, 2016 17:04, "Stephen Grisanti" <bike2vcu@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> If you are using load rated tires then taking two is not a bad idea.  If
> one is damaged irreparably you'll have your spare spare which, I can assure
> you, would provide tremendous peace of mind over not having it.
> Stephen
>
>      On Sunday, April 10, 2016 3:49 PM, Stuart MacMillan <
> stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
>
>   Yikes!  Are you going so far off into the wilderness that there won't be a
> tire shop or gas station around?  If you are driving the Dalton you can
> definitely take two: http://wpo.st/eRYT1
>
> RMW, Go Westy, and Burley all have very nice rear racks/rack systems.  No
> personal experience.
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> John Rodgers
> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2016 11:20 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Spare tire
>
> Hoping to do ome serious traveling this summer, and from sad experience,
> determined I have need of carrying two spare tires. They will be oversize,
> so the carrier under the van front has to be modified. Waiting on BenT's
> new gadget o fix that. For spare tire #2 I would like to mount it on the
> rear of the van somehere. On a swing out mount, maybe. Anyone with
> experience with rear mounts. Can you refer me to a source or vendor. There
> used to be someone who made mounts, carrier racks, etc, on this list but I
> have forgotten the name.Annyone remember?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
>