Typically, things that come to our mind about Alaska are - melting glaciers, debates about global warming and free roaming bears...right?
Well, one has to really visit Alaska to appreciate the pristine beauty of this wonderland. For those who can afford it, there are too many things to see and experience in Alaska. For us, we limited ourselves to Denali National Park and Seward area. It was a short tour, yet memorable one.
Mt Denali (or Mt McKenley) is the tallest peak in north america, is a must see place in Alaska. Apart from Denali, we were not sure what else to see. Most of Alaska attractions are remote and not easily accessible. We narrowed down to two choices - travel up north to Fairbanks area and try our luck hunting aurora borealis or visit south towards Seward bay and check some of the national parks around that area. Finally, because of easy flight options to Anchorage, we choose Seward peninsula.
Planning
When I first came to America, Alaska was one of the top 2 must-see places for me. Somehow I was always fascinated by Alaska and always looking for opportunity to visit. Problem is, air tickets are always super-expensive and remoteness of Alaska attractions kept it postponing.Very soon I was relocating permanently out of America and this is last opportunity to visit Alaska!
Luckily, I found an easy and free/cheap way to travel to Alaska - airmiles :). Most airlines require about 25,000 airmiles for travel between *any* two destinations *within* america. That means, air miles points required for travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles is same as for San Francisco to Anchorage :)
I've had enough airmiles accrued from my credit cards and those were enough to get air tickets as well as to book all hotel accommodations for our Alaska trip. In essence it was a free trip to Alaska!
Anchorage
We reached Anchorage by late evening and headed straight to hotel for the night. One thing we didn't realised before was the length of daylight during our visit. Sunset was around midnight and it was really hard for us to adjust to the long day lights! Here is the picture from our hotel around mid-night:
Next day it was about 5hr drive from Anchorage to Denali National Park. Even for that main artrerial highway of Alaska, we could hardly see any towns on the way!. Wasilla (Sarah Palin's hometown) is one among the few small towns is all that we could see during our drive!. By the way, Wasilla is nowhere 'stone's throw' distance from Russia (As Sarah Palin once quoted :)).
By afternoon we reached Healy, which is a small town at the entrance of Denali National Park.
We had our room booked in a small hotel, next to a lake in Healy. There was one thing that *we* city folks hard to believe - there was complete absence of any people in or around our hotel during our entire length of stay! When we arrived there, there wasn't anyone from hotel staff for us to check-in or give room keys. There was a small notice board outside where they left keys and instructions for our stay. There were instructions for us get our breakfast, juices from their fridge and where to leave the keys when we leave...pretty amazing :)
We were not sure if we should take shuttle or drive in our car. We choose to drive our car, which is a mistake! Private vehicles are allowed only first 15 miles (savage river trailhead), after which there is only gravel road.
There was only one viewpoint where we could get a faint view of Mount Denali. Anyway, at-least something to see than nothing :)
Kenai Fjords itself is huge and most of it is wilderness with almost no road access to it. But one of the attraction easily accessible is Exit Glacier near Seward town. It is one of the few glaciers that is road accessible and we can walk up close to it or hike on it.
While we were driving towards Exit Glacier, we could see several milepost stones at few kilometres apart along our road and they had numbers painted on it in increasing order, such as 1950, 1970, 1990 etc. It was a mystery what those numbers mean, only after reaching the glacier we understood what they were!
Those milepost number actually marking about how big was the glacier for that year. For example, at milepost number 1970, the glacier existed up to that location in year 1970. It is sad to see such a massive mass of glacier is disappearing in a span of just few decades! As per their study, in most of the 20th century, Exit Glacier used to retreat at an average 43 feet per year, but in recent year it has retreated more than 180 feet in a year. Perhaps Exit Glacier may not exist beyond our lifetime :(
One phenomenon we immediately notice when we up close to glacier is the sound of creaking and cracking of ice. It is very pleasant to hear and experience!
By the way, Whittier town is a really an interesting place to see. Entire town of Whittier is concentrated into just few building complex :) The housing, school, shopping, groceries etc. of whole of Whittier town is within same building complex! City population is just about 200 or less I guess.
People visit Whittier only for the purpose of embarking on cruise and nothing else I guess. We opted for a short cruise where get up close to glaciers and get to see huge icebergs floating all around. Purely surreal feeling as we cruise along icebergs floating all around.
As we get close to the glacier, our ship captains stops there us to witness cracking and breaking of huge ices off of the glacier and falling into the water. They are massive blocks of ice, falling of each such iceberg creates huge ripple in water. Extraordinary stuff to witness!
Another interesting part of Whittier is that it can be reached by road only through the tunnel. The tunnel is about 4 kilometres and second longest highway tunnel in north america.
The tunnel is one lane wide, shares both rail and road. At each end of the tunnel, there are large fans pumping air into the tunnel to maintain airflow inside the tunnel. A engineering marvel to create and maintain such long road tunnels!
With this, we are pretty much done with our Alaska trip. We had a night stay over at Girdwood resort and back to Anchorage next morning for our flight back home.
Finally, here is the addition to our magnet collection :)
By afternoon we reached Healy, which is a small town at the entrance of Denali National Park.
We had our room booked in a small hotel, next to a lake in Healy. There was one thing that *we* city folks hard to believe - there was complete absence of any people in or around our hotel during our entire length of stay! When we arrived there, there wasn't anyone from hotel staff for us to check-in or give room keys. There was a small notice board outside where they left keys and instructions for our stay. There were instructions for us get our breakfast, juices from their fridge and where to leave the keys when we leave...pretty amazing :)
Denali National Park
Exploring Denali is quite easy. There is just one road from the entrance to all the way deep inside the park. There is a shuttle bus service along this road and one can hop-in our out at any point. But the problem is, this bus service is seasonal. When we were there, the bus service was only until halfway of the road stretch.We were not sure if we should take shuttle or drive in our car. We choose to drive our car, which is a mistake! Private vehicles are allowed only first 15 miles (savage river trailhead), after which there is only gravel road.
There was only one viewpoint where we could get a faint view of Mount Denali. Anyway, at-least something to see than nothing :)
Kenai Fjords National Park
Next day, it was our drive back to Seaward peninsula region. Once we crossed Anchorage, drive along Seward highway is the most rewarding one. Each of photographs taken worthy of wallpaper! Even during summer, most of the mountains were snow capped.Kenai Fjords itself is huge and most of it is wilderness with almost no road access to it. But one of the attraction easily accessible is Exit Glacier near Seward town. It is one of the few glaciers that is road accessible and we can walk up close to it or hike on it.
While we were driving towards Exit Glacier, we could see several milepost stones at few kilometres apart along our road and they had numbers painted on it in increasing order, such as 1950, 1970, 1990 etc. It was a mystery what those numbers mean, only after reaching the glacier we understood what they were!
Those milepost number actually marking about how big was the glacier for that year. For example, at milepost number 1970, the glacier existed up to that location in year 1970. It is sad to see such a massive mass of glacier is disappearing in a span of just few decades! As per their study, in most of the 20th century, Exit Glacier used to retreat at an average 43 feet per year, but in recent year it has retreated more than 180 feet in a year. Perhaps Exit Glacier may not exist beyond our lifetime :(
One phenomenon we immediately notice when we up close to glacier is the sound of creaking and cracking of ice. It is very pleasant to hear and experience!
Prince William Sound Cruise
Next day, we reserved our time for visiting Whittier town and cruise along Prince William Sound. For those who don't know, 'Price William Sound' is a name for region of pacific ocean (actually a bay) around Seward peninsula of Alaska :)By the way, Whittier town is a really an interesting place to see. Entire town of Whittier is concentrated into just few building complex :) The housing, school, shopping, groceries etc. of whole of Whittier town is within same building complex! City population is just about 200 or less I guess.
People visit Whittier only for the purpose of embarking on cruise and nothing else I guess. We opted for a short cruise where get up close to glaciers and get to see huge icebergs floating all around. Purely surreal feeling as we cruise along icebergs floating all around.
As we get close to the glacier, our ship captains stops there us to witness cracking and breaking of huge ices off of the glacier and falling into the water. They are massive blocks of ice, falling of each such iceberg creates huge ripple in water. Extraordinary stuff to witness!
Another interesting part of Whittier is that it can be reached by road only through the tunnel. The tunnel is about 4 kilometres and second longest highway tunnel in north america.
The tunnel is one lane wide, shares both rail and road. At each end of the tunnel, there are large fans pumping air into the tunnel to maintain airflow inside the tunnel. A engineering marvel to create and maintain such long road tunnels!
With this, we are pretty much done with our Alaska trip. We had a night stay over at Girdwood resort and back to Anchorage next morning for our flight back home.
Alaska Tips
- Denali is perhaps must see place in Alaska. Make sure to take shuttle bus that goes all the way deep inside, upto the base of Denali mountain.
- If visiting in winter, aurora borealis is must see phenomenon. You need to visit northern part of Alaska though
- Air tickets are always expensive. Try with airmiles (accured from your credit cards), which tend to be lot cheaper way to get there.
- Alaska is clean, you get sense of freshness all around. If you need a place from our routine work, Alaska is a place to retreat yourself!
- Alaska is huge, you may not get single source of tips for Alaska! Depending on area of Alaska you are visiting, you can narrow down your planning.
Finally, here is the addition to our magnet collection :)