I left on 5/2/2005, intending to return about 7/2/2005. I had to return quickly 2 weeks early for a family situation, but by that time, I was in Alberta anyway. I left early to avoid the biggest crowds, and 'most' of the mosquitos. That plan mostly worked: it was not crowded anywhere until well after I started home -- about 6/13. And I didn't see a mosquito until about 6/10. Unfortunately, my plan also missed most of the salmon and bears.
I made two reservations: the ferry from Homer to Kodiak, and Teklanika campground in Denali. I didn't need either one. Other than the two reservations, I had no particular schedule. I wanted to see Kodiak, Denali, and Deadhorse, and as much of Alaska as possible by road.
I camped every night, frequently at spots off the road. I went to a real campground -with showers- every 3 or 4 days.
I took a 4 hour cruise from Seward to see glaciers and marine wildlife, and a 'bear viewing' flight from Kodiak to the Katmai Preserve. The flight was in a float plan, and we landed near bears twice. 'Near' means about 100 yards from the beach. The bears were digging clams on the beach, since no salmon were running yet.

1997 GMC 1500 4x4 Z71 short bed (had since new), stock except for 6 used E load range tires, and a junkyard tailgate and extra wheel. The tailgate was because I left it down for the entire trip to accommodate the camper below. 6 tires because I took two spares - in the extended cab instead of one under the truck. I only needed one as it turned out.
I had no trouble at all carrying my camper (below) with this truck. I got a 1.5 in rear spring sag, no side-to-side sway whatsoever, and moderate reduction in acceleration and braking. I was well within my truck's spring, axle, wheel, and tire ratings. Maybe 200 over GVWR, or 400 under depending on what one reads My mileage on the trip was 15.2, and I normally get over 17 -18.

2001 Four Wheel camper, 'Grandby' 8-foot model, bought used. It had a sink, stove, 12 gallon water tank, water pump, 3-way refrigerator, propane tank, and a portapotti. I added a factory furnace,  new cushion foam,  an internal battery system - and a good cleaning. The internal battery was 2 6-V golf cart batteries (borrowed from one of my golf carts) connected to my truck alternator by 6 gage wire, a circuit breaker, and a solenoid. Camper dry weight, without batteries but with half full propane tank: 960 lbs. by certified scale. Loaded for the trip: ~ 1350 lbs (including the 2nd spare).

A Canon A70 digital camera, with a add-on 2.5x telephoto, and 2 256M compact flash cartridges. Max telephoto was 7.5 optical, and ~24X digital.

A Garmin Etrex Legend GPS, with computer connection data cable.

An old Twinhead laptop (233Mhz, 64mbyte RAM, 1.3MB hard disk - I said old.).  Also, an external Iomega CD-RW drive. Software: W98SE, Garmin MapSource, Canon photo download. I made a 5-sided, padded, wood case for the laptop, and seat-belted it into the passenger seat. The case also somewhat shielded the screen from the sun. I ran the MapSource software while driving, and recorded a real-time track. The detailed maps were also very useful. I also used the laptop to download pictures from the camera, and occasionally saved the GPS track and pictures to a CD.

A 400W power inverter to run the laptop and CD-RW. (I know it's inefficient, but it was cheap)

A 4 slot NiMH AA battery charger, and 12 AA NiMH batteries for the camera and GPS.

Also, a 12-volt AC battery charger (never used), drinking water fill hose, drain hose, drain bucket, and a folding shovel.

Savage 20 gage pump shotgun, loaded (when hiking in Alaska only - not Denali) with 2 - 3 inch #2 shot, followed by 4 - 2.75 inch rifled slugs.

I took this, because that's what I had, on the 0.01% (or less) chance that I would stumble upon a angry bear -- which I didn't. The only time I fired it was at a dead, 6 inch diameter pine tree from about 40 feet; a slug makes a large exit hole.
There was no problem at all taking it through Canada, since the Canadian permit only cost $25 and I had it all filled out (except for signature, per instructions). Before leaving, I read advice to register firearms with U.S. Customs before crossing the border -- but the customs person in western Washington said it wasn't necessary. However, when crossing back into Montana, they wanted the Customs registration. They let me in without it -- after checking me, and the gun, in (various?) records.

I had one blowout on the Dalton 'Goat Trail' Highway, while driving about 25 mph. Otherwise, no equipment problems at all.

I was at at Denali for 5 days, and it rained every day. All day a couple of days.
The only brown bear I saw in Alaska, other than on the cruise or flight was on the Taylor highway, less than a mile from crossing into Canada on the way home -- and this bear ran across the road and was heading for Canada!