My trip to Alaska was the best trip I have ever been on. I planned the entire thing without the use of a guide book or any trip planning sites. If you're looking for a fun and adventurous trip through some of the country's most rugged and diverse terrain then look no further.
Map of Alaska
The path that I took around the state focused on the south-central area. I started out in Anchorage, drove to McCarthy and then Valdez, took a ferry to Whittier, and then drove to Seward and then back to Anchorage. A lot of people go to Alaska on a cruise ship and don't really get to see much of the interior and others go straight up to Talkeetna to see Denali and the big mountains and don't get to see much of the coast and my path combines the best of both worlds.
Zoomed in map of Alaska with route outlined in blue green
Pretty much the only place you can fly into southern Alaska, other than Juneau, is Anchorage. Luckily Anchorage is a great starting point for your Alaska adventure. To follow my loop you're going to want to get a rental car that can be taken onto dirt roads. With your rental car be sure to head out of Anchorage early enough in the morning to give yourself time to get all the way to McCarthy before it is too late in the day. The drive is around eight hours long and the worst part of it will be the drive on the dirt road from Chitina to McCarthy. Eight hours sounds like a lot but there are plenty of beautiful overlooks and things to stop for. Once you reach the base of the Root Glacier just outside of McCarthy the road will end. You'll have to park your car and carry your luggage across a footbridge and get a ride from someone in the town. Someone from wherever you're staying should be able to pick you up. McCarthy and Kennecott are both very small towns but everyone we encountered was very friendly and the restaurants we ate there were delicious and well priced.
Panorama of one of the many views from highway 1 on the way to McCarthy from Anchorage
Most likely you're going to need a guide for a lot of the adventures in and around McCarthy and Kennecott. This is because you won't have a car and you're not going to want to waste all of your energy just walking to the trailhead. There are plenty of options to choose from in the guides department but the people we went with were Kennicott Wilderness Guides. Their prices get cheaper the more people you have in your group so be sure to bring friends. The trips we booked with them were the Donoho Lakes Hike and a Fly-in Hike. The Donoho Lakes hike is a good hike if you're looking for a little bit of everything terrain wise. We got to go out on the glacier, do some scrambling, and classic bush country hiking. The hike is around 11 miles roundtrip and I was pretty sore after so I wouldn't recommend it for the beginner hiker. The fly-in hike is almost a must-do adventure. It is a little more expensive but it allows you to see things that very few people have seen and I think that that is one of the most exciting parts out of hiking in general. Our guide picked The Fosse as our landing spot. The Fosse is an area between the valley walls and the lateral moraine formed by the glacier. The lateral moraine is the debris that the glacier pushes out of the way as it slides downhill. We were allowed to spend all day in this area and we hiked to an overlook where we got to see the whole valley laid out before us and we also hiked to an overlook where we could see some of the largest peaks in the park on display. Neither of these hikes was very hard but some of the hiking was on the very top of the moraine where a fall would mean certain death. The guide plans your day around your hiking skill and they'll make every effort to make sure everything suits you.
Panorama of one of the first of the Donoho Lakes
Panorama from the top of the Kennicott Glacier lateral moraine near The Fosse
Hiking on the top of the moraine. The glacier is on the left and The Fosse is on the right. The ridge is much higher than this picture makes it seem
Panorama of the Atna Peaks with the Kennicott Glacier on the left
The next step in the Alaskan adventure was a long drive down to Valdez. The drive is around six hours long but most of that is on the dirt road from McCarthy. The drive to Valdez was by far the most beautiful drive I have ever been on. I would recommend leaving at about the same time you left from Anchorage to go to McCarthy so you have ample time to take in all that this stretch of highway has to offer. The first noteworthy overlook is at Thompson Pass and the Worthington Glacier. Sadly my pictures of everything in between McCarthy and Valdez are missing. After the glacier and the pass, there are a number of waterfalls that are all very beautiful. In Valdez, there are a couple of cool things you can do. Since it is on the ocean, fishing is definitely an option. In addition to fishing, there are also several glaciers in the area. You can either sea kayak in and around one or go on a glacier hike. Sadly out kayaking experience was not great, not because of the area but because of the guide company so I'm not going to plug them here. After Valdez, you're going to have to take a ferry over to the next town which is Whittier. The ferry kills two birds with one stone; travel and animal watching.
Photo of the cliffs off the Valdez Arm
Whittier is a very small town and there isn't a whole lot that you can do there so I'd recommend that you head over to Seward which is a larger town with more to do. The drive to Seward from Whittier isn't especially scenic but there are certainly a couple of cool overlooks along the way. Seward is a bigger tourist town mostly because many cruise ships stop here. From here you can book a bunch of different scenic cruises and whale watching trips. I did not go on any cruises other than the ferry because my stomach doesn't agree with boats but we did go on a fly-in fishing trip that I would highly recommend. For this trip, we used Alaska West Air. The drive from Seward to their base in Nikiski is about two hours long and you'll have to leave pretty early in the morning but it isn't too bad. The trip that we booked was the Crescent Lake trip. It is totally worth the price as you get to go on a nice long flight, fish, and see a ton of grizzly bears. We originally didn't really want to fish but they offered us equipment at no additional cost and it was awesome. We caught our limit very quickly and were able to ship it all home. I would like to add that if you plan on bringing your fish home then you should make arrangements beforehand so you don't have to pay insane shipping costs. The flight in and out was awesome. The pilot took us a little off course to show us the volcano that towers over the lake and to see all of the sights in the area.
Crescent Lake Grizzly
View from the air (this isn't Crescent Lake)
Crescent Lake from the air
After the bear watching and salmon fishing, our trip was pretty much over. The drive back to Anchorage from Seward is very pretty but it isn't' anything you haven't seen before. Alyeska could be worth a stop if you've got time. When we were there-there was a triathlon going on so our experience probably wasn't as good as it could have been. Hopefully, my first blog post has been informative in your quest for adventure! Be sure to follow my socials below to stay connected to my travels and photography.
