Few people get to experience the beauty that the 49th state has to offer. For those who do, many of them don’t get to explore beyond the cruise ship ports. In fact, “The Last Frontier” has 6,640 miles of shoreline, but multiply that by times 100 and that is how many square miles (665,884 to be exact) make up the great state of Alaska. Now I’m your girl if you want to gaze at mountains that descend into the sea (cruise ships are amazing for catching the most beautiful views en route of those!) but the beauty of Alaska is in the slowing down and appreciating the awe-inspiring wilderness surrounding you every step of the way. While I do love the lumberjacks and totems in Ketchikan, the whale watching in Juneau and the gravity defying White Pass & Yukon Route Railway in Skagway, some of the most immersive and amazing experiences are beyond the round-trip route that many make out of Vancouver and Seattle. If a cruise ship is your preferred method of travel, may I suggest a sailing that begins or ends in Whittier or Seward? That’s where you start to see the Alaska that few others are lucky enough to experience. This is where your adventure begins.
Seward
Named after Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward who arranged for the purchase of the area we know now as Alaska for a whopping $7.2 million from Russia. It was founded in 1903 as the ocean terminus of what we now know as the Alaska Railroad. Being the state’s only ice-free deep-water port with rail, highway, and airport transportation leading to Alaska’s interior and other major population centers it has flourished as a commercial and tourist destination.
Resurrection Bay stretches out from the Seward port into a world of possibilities for your visit. Set off with Major Marine Tours for a day on the waters of the Kenai Fjords National Park to spot humpback whales, orcas, puffins and sea lions on your way to get up close and personal with one of the many glaciers in the park and hear the roar of the ice breaking as it falls into the ocean before your eyes.
Schedule a dog sled ride with Ididaride Tours, founded by a three-time Iditarod championship family, as you take a tour of their compound and meet the very dogs that take on the Iditarod Race every year. In fact, Seward is the start of the National Iditarod Historic Trail which started as the 2,300-mile route that used to carry mail and supplies into Alaska’s interior during the gold rush.
If gorgeous hikes are on your agenda, you can visit the only part of the Kenai Fjords National Park accessible by car, Exit Glacier, which has different hikes of various lengths and difficulties with beautiful views of the glacier and valley surrounding it. Should you be around town on the 4th of July, Seward’s famous Mt. Marathon Race has runners trying their luck to be the fastest back into town after summiting the mountain overlooking the area. According to legend it was started because of a bet claiming to be able to race up and down the mountain in less than an hour (that time it wasn’t, accomplished in 1 hour and 2 minutes). Outside of the holiday, many people hike up the iconic mountain for a unique vantage point from which to appreciate the natural beauty surrounding Seward.
For those interested in marine life and research, a visit to the Alaska Sea Life Center will enhance your understanding of the species who call Alaska home as well as support the research they conduct in conjunction with the University of Alaska and governmental agencies worldwide to study the marine ecosystems of Alaska.
Whittier
If your cruise begins or ends in Whittier, you have a chance to get out and enjoy Prince William Sound. There are several hikes nearby ranging from easy to difficult, but the family-friendly Portage Pass Trail, the easiest way to see the Portage Glacier on foot, is a fan favorite. For the more primitive traveler, here is a chance to venture into the wilderness to utilize one of the US Forest Service’s cabins that are scattered throughout the area, many only accessible by water taxi from town. The top attraction in Whittier is the 26 Glacier Cruise by Phillips Cruises and Tours. Travel over 150 miles of the Prince William Sound while keeping an eye out for the local population of otters, seals, whales and birds and see 26 glaciers in only one cruise!
Alaska Railroad
On some vacations the transportation is a way to get from point A to point B. On a trip to Alaska, the transportation IS the destination. Stretching from Fairbanks in the north to Whittier and Seward in the south, the 101-year-old Alaska Railroad connects some of Alaska’s largest cities and takes its passengers on a jaw-dropping journey through the Alaskan wilderness. All the 6-hour day tours from the various tour companies in Seward are designed specifically to allow you the chance to arrive in the morning via train or take the evening train back to Anchorage (they know their audience, making it easy for day trippers and other visitors utilizing the rails!) so enjoy your day in Seward knowing your adventure has just begun, no matter which direction you are traveling in!
The trains are equipped with both dining and viewing platforms, with Adventure Class boasting large picture windows to admire the scenery and a dining car to fuel your journey with delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner options and Gold Star Service carriages outfitted with glass domed cars, dedicated viewing platforms in each car, and table service meals, included in your ticket, downstairs on white tablecloths where you can watch the wilderness pass you by while enjoying delicious Alaskan fare.
One popular route is traveling from Fairbanks to Denali, Denali to Anchorage, and Anchorage to the coast at Seward or Whittier. Linking these trips together allows you to see much of Alaska’s interior without needing to rent a car. Although car rentals are an option which allows you to make more stops and see sites on the way, letting the conductor focus on the driving and getting a chance to focus on the surrounding beauty for yourself is much more pleasant. The amount of time you spend on the rails might build some bonds with your group as well as the friendly train staff, many which are high school students completing an internship in tourism for the summer.
Anchorage
Unfortunately, Anchorage is less exciting than the wilderness that surrounds it, but it is a necessary stop traveling between Seward and Denali, making a quick overnight stop in one of the downtown hotels so you can rise with the sun to continue your journey the next day. Should you have time during your visit to spend some quality time here, you can learn more about the city and the state of Alaska as a whole in the Anchorage Museum or rent a bike and follow the shores of Cook Inlet for the 11-mile Tony Knowles Coastal Trail which starts downtown and offers great wildlife viewing and views of the mountains near and far. You may sometimes even get a tiny glimpse of Denali which is over 130 miles away!
Denali
The hopes of seeing Denali, “The Tall One” as named by the indigenous people, draws over 600,000 people into the interior of Alaska every year, yet only about 30% get to view the mountain in all its glory due to it being so high that it creates its own weather obscuring itself behind clouds for most visitors.
The easiest way to tour the park is to take a bus tour with a trained naturalist on the park road keeping an eye out for wildlife such as bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep, foxes and wolves along your path. Since the rock slide a few years ago halted any passage of the park road beyond mile 43 while they construct a more secure method of continuing deeper into the heart of the park, the best tour to take is the Tundra Wilderness Tour which makes it all the way there before making its way back to the park entrance. On this tour, your guide will be on the lookout for the elusive mountain as well as wildlife while you ascend to great heights where it is possible to experience rain, snow, fog and sunshine (I can personally attest!) all in one trip. You will be telling your friends and family about this VERY slow, over five-hour bus tour for years to come.
If you are lucky enough to have more than one full day in the area, there are many more ways to enjoy the nature surrounding you! You can drive your own car to mile marker 15 inside the park if you should want to hike nearby, or you could hop on the “non-narrated” transit bus which stops at various points along the road if you wanted to find epic hikes farther into the park.
An ATV tour is also a great way to cover more ground, and Denali ATV Adventures can take you on nearby trails to reach breathtaking views of the Alaska Range, Otto Lake, and Healy Valley. You can also gauge your adventure level and either choose to take a scenic float or get your blood pumping on some Class III+ rapids while traveling down the Nenana River. Booking a trip for some flightseeing is one of the best ways to get up close and personal with the mountain, especially since the better viewpoints along the park road aren’t accessible at the moment. You can watch the weather change before your very eyes as you take in the grandeur of the massive mountains below you. When you are done with the day’s adventures, combine your evening entertainment and meal for a dinner show that is both a bit hilarious and a bit historical such as Cabin Nite at the Denali Park Village.
Fairbanks
Fairbanks is the northern terminus of the Denali Star route of the Alaska Railroad. Join the locals during the Midnight Sun Season to float the Chena River, go on a hike on nearby trails, or even catch the Alaska Goldpanners baseball team’s historic Solstice Game that starts at 10:30pm! Hop on the Riverboat Discovery to take an historic tour that guides you along the Chena River to learn more about Fairbanks’ history, dog mushing, bush pilots, and Alaska Native culture. Travel through time on a stroll through Pioneer Park where this open-air historical park helps you understand what life was like long ago with exhibits dedicated to the gold rush, industry, and transportation. A more unique world-famous museum is the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum where you can marvel at the vintage fashions and still-operable antique cars housed inside. With the gold rush on your mind, head to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska to see the state’s largest public display of gold and learn about 5 distinct regions of Alaska through the natural and cultural exhibits. Meet some reindeer at the Running Reindeer Ranch on a walk through the woods alongside the reindeer as you learn more about them as well as the environment in which they flourish, topped off with a generous helping of their delicious cookies!
I hope you will be able to enjoy a trip into the interior of Alaska as I have. I have already started a list of things I must do for my next trip!
Katherine's Next Trip! 
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