Alaska, The Last Frontier
The state I always imagined visiting via cruise. If I ever go back, maybe I will still try! We went July 28th-Aug 6th. Temps were in the 60’s. We did get a bit of rain and not the kind that only lasts 20 min and then clears up. But we had some gorgeous days too! One of our tour guides described the seasons like this: Spring = June, Summer = July, and Fall = August.
We decided to fly into Anchorage, about a 6 hour direct flight from Minneapolis. The prices for rental cars were insane when we first looked so we ended up trying Turo for the first time and had a great experience. We picked up at the airport and off we went down to Seward which is about a 2 hour drive south of Anchorage.
Like I said we drove, BUT if you have the option to take the train from Anchorage to Seward it totally looks like it’s worth it. The drive was STUNNING. Probably the most beautiful drive I’ve ever been on. So I can only imagine the train with huge windows is even better so your driver can fully soak it in too. If it doesn’t work out to take the train, the drive was still incredible, it’s a similar route.
We spent roughly 2.5 days in the Seward area. You could probably get away with less depending on what you’re doing. We had a rainy day so waited until the next day to do our hikes. Here is how we filled our days in this area:
Day 1 - Hiked Harding Icefield | (Filled up most of the day, left in the morning and got back a little before dinner time)
Day 2 - Major Kenai Boat Tour | (6ish hours, afternoon/evening open) If you hiked Harding Icefield the day before, your legs will thank you for sitting on a boat for 6 hours the next day. Ended the day with dinner and the evening with a short walk/hike to Tonsina Point.
Day 3 - Hiked Ptarmigan Lake trail | This hike is actually a half hour north of Seward. Definitely the most remote hike we did. Most of the trail is overgrown and we saw TONS of bear poop. It made hiking slightly more stressful but so beautiful it was WORTH IT. It’s moderate and about 7ish miles into what feels like an Alaksan jungle through the mountains. Once you reach the lake at the end all the stress goes away because it was absolutely breathtaking. Would absolutely recommend maybe just play music and make noise throughout the hike. We didn’t actually see any bears which shocked me considering how much poop we saw.
Top Recommendations in the Seward Area:
Hiking Exit Glacier/Harding Ice Field
Taking a boat through Kenai Fjords National Park
Dining at the Cookery for dinner, Lone Chicharron Taqueria for lunch, and Le Barn Appetit & Creperie for breakfast. (Also wanted to try Resurrect Art Coffee House, but didn’t make it there)
Evening walk/hike to Tonsina Point | Easy walk/hike to a river. The water is so clear you can see the salmon swimming in it.
Morning walk along the water for sunrise
Unless you’re really into it, I wouldn’t carve out time to shop in Seward, but we had a rainy afternoon so we did.
Where to stay in Seward: We stayed in their little downtown area at The Swan’s Nest. It was quirky yet had great charm so I enjoyed it. They served a hot made to order breakfast every morning which we enjoyed. We liked staying downtown since it’s small enough to walk to eat and walk to the water but really you can stay anywhere in the area and be just fine!
Highly recommend Major Marine Tours of Kenai Fjords. We did the 6 hour tour which we felt was just right. We would have missed the glacier on anything shorter, which was one of our favorite parts. I think 8 hours would have been a touch long. Major tours boats were extremely clean and seemed new and the staff were friendly. They actually served a great lunch for being a sack lunch. (The roast beef was better than the turkey)
That’s it for the Seward area! Would highly recommend spending time there. Some other towns kinda down south are Homer and Soldotna that we didn’t make it to but are popular for some! I wish we maybe would have made the drive and spent less time in the Girdwood area.
About 50 min from Soldoltna is the Skilak Lookout trail which we LOVED. It’s a leg burner at the end but overall not too hard and incredible views. One of those places you just want to relax at the top forever.
We spent the next 3 days of our trip in the Girdwood area which if I did it all over again I’d stop and visit but not spend multiple days there. We got lucky because our Girdwood airbnb had a hot tub. It rained those three days so we didn’t hike a lot and really relaxed in the hottub. With that being said it’s on the drive between Seward and Anchorage so if you need a stop to eat we enjoyed the Hightower Pub and Girdwood Brewing Company which had some food trucks. We also have heard great things and really wanted to hike Mt Alyeska where you hike up and then there’s a tram that takes you down for free. But it was so foggy that day our legs didn’t want to put in the effort for it to be covered with so much fog. Next time!
Next we went up north to the Denali area! We did some small hikes on the way to stretch our legs but nothing crazy I’d recommend. Definitely stop in Talkeetna though!
Talkeetna - I feel like you get the small Alaskan town vibes here. It’s a super short detour off the drive to Denali and a great stop to stretch your legs, walk through some shops, get some food and a coffee for the road!
DENALI NATIONAL PARK:
Denali is really cool. The sad part is in 2021, the one road they have going to the second half off the park gave out leaving no access to the rest and probably the best part of the park. Denali is huge. 6 million acres huge. You can technically only see the first 15 miles of the park in your own car. For anything farther than that, you’ll have to get reservations for the bus system. Right now with the road closure the buses only go to mile 43 of the total 92 miles. Things you’ll miss are Wonder Lake, Eielson center, Thorofare Ridge Trail etc. Some of the best views of the mountain. With Denali being the second tallest mountain in the world, you’d think you could see it from anywhere but the Alaska range acts as a barrier for cold, moist air going north from the gulf of Alaska resulting in the mountain being covered 70% of the time.
Protips for Denali National Park:
1. I got my family up at the butt crack of dawn for the earliest time slot because I thought we’d see more wildlife in the morning. Our bus driver said time actually doesn’t make a difference and that you’ll see the same amount of wildlife at any part of the day. So my advice is to go at a later time. We were so tired we accidently fell asleep for some of it.
2. My dad asked if he should bring binoculars and I laughed thinking nobody uses those anymore and how great camera zooms are these days. I ate my words pretty quick into the park. Almost all of Denali is untouched and tons and tons of wildlife reside there. We saw large grizzlies but they were forever away and had me wishing I would have packed the binoculars.
How the bus system works: You can technically get on and off the bus at any time and grab another bus as they come. We were advised to make it all the way to the end and then if you wanted to get off, do it on the way back. It’s harder to do going out since the buses are pretty full on the way out. We didn’t do any hikes in Denali actually. There were a couple we had saved, but the coolest ones seemed to be past mile 43. The bus driver told one too many bear stories for me to want to venture out at that point.
Last thing you’ll notice there are multiple types of buses. The transit bus is what we did and to mile 43 and back was about 4 hours round trip. Those are technically not narrated but our driver was amazing and shared a lot of info on the way! The narrated bus tours are much more costly and drive the exact same route but do offer more of “tour.”
Recommendations you can do in Denali without a bus ticket:
Hike Emerald Lake | Easy quick walk down to a clear lake at the entrance of the park
Visit the Sled Dog Kennels | They offer 3 tours a day, one in the morning and two in the afternoon. Make sure to confirm times. I’d say it's worth it. It’s right there and they do a brief sled dog demonstration that was interesting. They also have puppies so I mean that was basically even worth it in itself!
Drive to mile 15 in your own vehicle | We did this early one morning when we had the best chance of seeing Denali and we made it! We also saw some moose too.
Final thoughts on Denali: If I had to do it again, I'd wait until the full park was open. Wonder Lake looks absolutely incredible and the closer the road, the closer you can get views of the stunning Denali. Since we were so close in the area I’m still glad we went. But if Denali is highest on your list for Alaska, I’d wait until it’s fully open again!
Where to stay: Healy is probably the closest town and where we did our grocery shopping. We stayed in an airbnb about 20 min north of the park entrance. I think anywhere within what you’re comfortable driving to is totally fine. There’s really not a place you have to stay.
Where to eat: I’m still crushed because the one place I was SO excited to eat at was closed the day we were able to go to it. Moose-AKa’s is a Serbian restaurant in the area and currently ranks #28 on Yelps top places to eat in the nation and the top 1% of Trip Advisors restaurants in the world. I’m still mourning missing out on it. Check which days they are closed first if you decide to go.
49th State Brewing | Brewery type food but hit the spot after a long day!
Other places you can view Denali outside of the park:
Viewpoint North - Pull up spot right off the highway. You park and walk up
Viewpoint South- Pull up spot right off the highway. You park and walk up
Curry Ridge Trail - Denali was covered that day and we still really enjoyed our hike. I can’t imagine what it would be like had Denali not been covered. Very beautiful and not a strenuous hike. Totally worth it!
Overall Alaska TIPS:
Start planning early! We don’t plan many trips very far out but thankfully we did this one. For our late July/early Aug trip we booked our flights and lodging in February and I’d say that was pushing it. We basically booked the last place to stay in Seward it seemed like!
Must haves to pack:
Can’t fly with bear spray but buy it when you get there (Fred Meyer carries it or other grocery stores. Some of the places we stayed offered it for use too.)
Bug spray
Rain jackets
Layers (it was cool but then once you started hiking, 60 and sunny felt very warm. I was cold on the boat tour though and wore a winter hat and gloves)
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