You can get a sense of the vastness of the land by going on your own backcountry trek. Denali is a good place for it — the national park covers 6 million acres and has relatively few established trails. The state is also full of whitewater, and Denali is one of the easiest places to access it. The north-flowing, glacier-fed Nenana parallels the Parks Highway by the national park entrance, and operators typically float two trips on it: the mellow, scenic McKinley Run, and the faster Canyon Run, which includes several class III and IV rapids.
The Alaska Range defines the topography of the state, a crescent spine that curves from the southeastern border with Canada, up to just south of Fairbanks, and back down to the sea at the mouth of Cook Inlet. The section most people know and visit, though, is the area surrounding Denali, North American’s tallest peak at 20,320ft, and its two sidekicks, Foraker (17,400ft) and Hunter (13,965ft). A handful of companies run “flightseeing” tours out of Talkeetna, K2 Aviation being the biggest. It’s also possible to fly in from the Denali area. Whoever you fly with, sign up for a glacier landing for the full effect (with K2: $385/person, 2hrs).
Fishing is another hugely popular on-the-water activity in the state. There are salmon in the rivers, trout in the lakes, and monster halibut and cod out at sea.
Seldovia, popular with locals for tide pooling, boardwalk strolls, is a seaside community. Built up on the water, it’s a cocktail of wild, secluded, and quaint. Catching good views of volcanos Illiamna and Redoubt is a given and it’s exciting to watch when they let off steam. Seldovia’s equally fantastic for families or solo travelers in summer — there’s lots of opportunity to catch Dolly Varden, Outside Beach is the picnic hot spot, and traversing the Otterbahn trail to get there is a must.
Where Hubbard Glacier meets the sea, its 6-mile-wide face calves huge blocks of ice.
There are endless opportunities for shorter hikes in southcentral and interior Alaska as well. Regardless of how long you’re on the trail, we recommend going with a guide. With a company like Alaska Nature Guides, you’ll be led by a legit local, someone who blazed their own trail and made a home in the bush. Their insights about the land, its history, its flora and fauna, will add layers of meaning to a hike you won’t get otherwise.
This is a good half-day or overnight hike to Portage Pass, Portage Lake, and an overlook of Portage Glacier. Portage Pass is a beautiful spot in its own right, and this hike is also the easiest way to get a good view of the face of Portage Glacier.
Southeast Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park is a named UNESCO World Heritage Site. Glacier Bay is unusual among national parks in that most of its visitors arrive by sea. Full-size cruise ships poke their noses in on their way to or from nearby Juneau, tour boats run day trips to the park, private pleasure boats come and go as they please — and a fair number of visitors arrive via kayak, either on unsupported solo trips or on shorter guided excursions.
Fairbanks is the northernmost metropolitan area in the United States, located less than 120 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The land is rugged and beautiful. With less than four hours of sunlight during the shortest days of the year, the sunsets seem to last all day.
To get to Wood-Tikchik State Park air taxi from Dillingham or charter boat via Aleknagik Village is the price of admission for roughing it in one of the 1.6 million acres that form America’s largest state park. Among all five Pacific salmon varieties, anglers can also expect rainbow trout, arctic char, and Dolly Varden. The park is especially popular with kayakers, canoers, rafters and pretty much anyone with a thing for floating boats. Awesome wildlife viewing is a given when surrounded by this much untamed Alaskan wilderness, though, there’s no telling what kind or around which corner. Wood-Tikchik State Park is best left for the experienced outdoors person or with a knowledgeable guide. 