Alaska is one of the most beautiful places in the world, a must-see for everyone when they can.
Alaska is beautiful in summer, and in the cold. There are the beautiful icebergs, the magnificent Denali, the abundant wildlife and the glow of the Aurora. There is no one single time of the year, when all of these are in peak. The right time to view the Aurora Borealis is said to be the mid winter. By winter, Denali National park would be closed for Winter. The fall colors would be long gone. The trick is to strike the balance between the seasons and get the best out of your trip.
If you would like to visit Denali National Park, view the wildlife, get a glimpse of the northern lights, and still have some daylight to do the general sightseeing, and fall foliage, the 1st half of September is the right time to visit. I would say spending at least 4-5 days in Alaska, if not more to have a decent chance to sample the many beauties.
Our trip was in the 1st week of September, and we from SanJose to Anchorage through Seattle. We took a late afternoon flight, and reached Anchorage late in the night, and headed to airport car rentals. The rental car center is slightly off-airport, and you need to access these through a shuttle. We had made reservations through Costo Travel in Enterprise, and it did help us save some time in the long lines. Upon reaching the hotel, we unpacked and called it a night.
Day One
- We took a glacier cruise from Whittier. Cruises we took was Philips cruise’s 26 glacier cruise. (https://www.phillipscruises.com/cruises/26-glacier-cruise.php)
- To reach Whittier, you had to drive through a tunnel, and its only one-car wide and has to allow traffic on both directions, in addition to accommodating the train as well! The traffic direction in the tunnel is reversed every 30 min, with the train running between those two events. Hence, you need to plan well ahead so that you reach the tunnel when the traffic opens in the direction of your travel. If you miss out, you need to wait for an hour for the next opportunity, so have enough buffer.
- The cruise seating is by order of booking i.e the early birds get the window seating, and the late bookings get the inner seats, so plan and try to book early. However, even if you get a inner table, dont lose heart, you can quickly step out to the deck and view from there, as the majority of folks do. It’s a day cruise and you’d enjoy the view of pale blue hue of the glacier at the last spot of the cruise . The crew is friendly and keeps you apprised of any wildlife spotted.
- Watching the glaciers calving and the forces of nature at work is truly awe-inspiring.
- Returned to Anchorage in the evening after the cruise.
Day Two
- The highlight of the 2nd day of our trip was flying over Denali Natl Park and the glacier landing.
- We checked out from our Anchorage hotel and proceeded to Talkeetna.
- We took the Mountain Voyager trip on Talkeetna Air Taxi glacier landing company. (https://www.talkeetnaair.com/flightseeing/mountain-voyager/)
- The trip includes a landing on Sitka glacier, weather permitting. If there is foul weather, its just a fly-by and the extra funds get refunded (which is really great)
- We were lucky enough to land on the day that we took this glacier.
- Sunglasses are a must for this trip. The immense white of the snow all-around reflects the light into your eyes and you will get blinded without those. Please dont forget those.
- The view from top is awesome, and so was landing on the glacier and walking on it. .
- Upon returning from the glacier landing trip, we proceeded to Denali.
- In Denali , we stayed at McKinley Chalet Resort. (https://www.westmarkhotels.com/destinations/denali-hotel/)
- If you get some spare time you can shop in Denali. You could look for some good deals for fur coats.
Additional Notes: On the way to Denali we noticed the fall colors and the lake reflecting the beaut. . Keep an eye out for the same as it is very beautiful. Sharing the address of the same location below.
Location : Near Denali, Alaska
Address : Matanuska-Sustina Bor , Alaska
Equipment : Drone , Tripod, Wide-Angle lens, selfie sticks for photography enthusiasts
Day Three
- We took the Denali National Park tour.
- The only way to visit the depths of Denali National Park is through the park shuttle.
- You can drive yourself up until the 8 mile mark, but there is hardly sufficient and anything worth watching within this.
- McKinley lodge village provides shuttles to reach the Denali park transit center.
- Make sure you get on a shuttle and reach the transit center on time.
- Park shuttle schedules are here: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm. Due to seasonal restriction you’d be able to travel only Eleison visitor center, as part of our trip and time constraints, we went up till Toklat river only.
- You can hike in couple of places. You’d however have to make sure you catch a shuttle on your way back and be aware of shuttle timings.
- The Toklat river runs through the park at our final stop, there’s a small gift center, bathrooms and a few benches to rest.
- You get to see wildlife, but you have to be very observant. We were lucky to have company of some keen observers and were able to spot some wildlife in this trip – we saw bears, caribou, wolves and elk.
- Upon return from the park, proceeded to Fairbanks, and checked in into the hotel.
- Same night, we had booked our Aurora viewing night tour via 1stalaskatours.com .
- If you are going with group and want to do it on your own, you can actually go to some remote location and set a camp with friends. Though you’d have to take some safety precautions if you come across wildlife.
- One advantage I find with these tours is the fact the you get to wait in a warm cottage with restrooms, unless the aurora shows up
- We were fortunate to see aurora the same night. Have a good DSLR with a tripod, and possibly a fast lens at its widest, with a longer shutter duration to get a good shot.
Day Four
- Went to a place called NorthPole which has beautiful Christmas decor all year through. This town is supposed to be the “home” of Santa Claus
- We got a chance to view the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, which delivers oil from Alaska’s frozen north to the navigable ports in its South.
- Left for Anchorage the same day and it was a longest we drove in a single day during our trip.
Day Five
- From Anchorage, we drove to see Mattanuska glacier, which can be reached by foot.
- It is far from the main road, and is owned privately, so plan accordingly.
- It is a moderate hike to reach the glacier front, from the car park, and even longer to reach the center of the glacier. Having landed on the Sitka glacier and walked on enough ice and snow, we did not venture too deep into this one.
- Visited the reindeer farms in Palmer on the same day. where you get to see domesticated reindeer, moose and also pet/feed those animals. A must-do if you have kids.
Car Rentals: We always take full coverage for insurance whenever we rent a car. We don’t like to use our regular insurance on rental cars, however, if you want to use your regular coverage, there are times when rental companies try to sell you unnecessary insurance in-spite of you having enough coverage on your own insurance. We had similar experience with Budget in Las Vegas Airport, but that’s a story for another day.
- Outer Wear:
- It took some time for us to figure out what works best for winters. When we started traveling in winter few years back, we were using two layers of inner wear , sweater, jacket and still shivering.
- By this trip we learnt few things.
- Best Jackets to wear are down jackets. North Face has very good collection of jackets which are worth the investment. You’d have to take care of the wash instructions https://www.outdoorresearch.com/blog/article/how-to-wash-your-down-jacket You could get deals on the same sometimes in amazon too, but on off season colors/style.
- Best footwear would be snowshoes, we got ours in Columbia sportswear.
- If you have plans of hiking in snow, look up for Crampons/Snow Grips in Amazon and get which suits your requirements.
Equipment : We love photography and we carry a lot of camera gear in our vacations and this was no different. We had our usual Canon 5D Mark III and were exploring for lenses for this trip of ours . We take lens for rental from borrowlenses.com, they have very good equipment, and are a great business to work with, and they also provide damage coverage insurance for the rentals for a surcharge. Carry binoculars at-least for this trip to be able to see animals ..
Helpful Tips :
- Check Denali National Park’s closing date for the year before making plans for this trip.