I'm going to try and keep this blog post to as few words as possible. There are many great trip reports out there that will help you with the logistics of a trip, so I wanted to provide something different. This is a more visual report on the things we did. So many times I see people on the forum that have no clue what it is they want to do and instead focus on how many days they are staying where. We didn't come here to see Alaska, we came here to do Alaska. To adventurers like us where we eat and stay are just minor details. Go big or stay home is our motto. I am someone that is visually motivated, so some of these photos may help others choose on what they want to do or what they don't want to do.
Day 1 - Hatcher Pass & The Drive to Valdez
You probably won't find "The April Bowl" on the top of any list of world famous hikes, but it's near the top of mine. This was an incredible first impression of Alaska.
The drive to Valdez was by far the most scenic and enjoyable drive of the trip. If we would have stopped every time we seen a good photo location, we would have never made it there.
Day 2 - Columbia Glacier Cruise aboard the LuLu Belle - Valdez, AK
There is some confusion on the tripadvisor forums on whether or not the Columbia Glacier cruises out of Valdez gets you close enough to the glacier face to see "calving" I'm here to report that the LuLu Belle does and it is spectacular.
Day 2 Part 2 - Solomon Gultch Hatchery - Valdez, AK
Most people coming to Alaska want to see wildlife and you are almost guaranteed to see it at the hatchery during July when the salmon are running and it's FREE. At high tide sealions feast on the salmon and at low tide there is a great chance of bears. Bald Eagles are also seen here very often.
Day 3 - Valdez Glacier trek and kayak with Anadyr Adventures - Valdez, AK
Pretty cool trek with neat scenery. Pretty cool photo opps. A little tame for my taste, but perfect for families.
Day 3 Part 2 - Worthington Glacier - on the way out of Valdez, AK
Day 4 - Matanuska Adventure Trek - W/ NOVA Glacier Guides.
There are several guides and companies that can get you on the magnificent Matanuska Glacier to get the glacier walk experience, but if you want more than just a photo opp and want to get away from the crowds, I highly suggest the Adventure trek by NOVA. There was only 4 of us and I never felt like I was on a structured tour. We kind of went where we wanted to go as long as it was safe. I got to fly my drone, do some climbing and some exploring.
Day 5 - Exit Glacier Ice Climbing w/ Exit Glacier Guides - Seward, AK
WOW! There are many companies that like to throw the word "adventure" around, but this tour is legit. It is certainly no country for old men or kids or anyone this is not in great physical condition. I ran bleachers for months preparing myself for this day and it certainly paid off. My wife did not go on this tour and I'm glad; she would not have made it. We did the first 2 miles of the Harding Icefield Trail in 1 hour 15 minutes, so not many stops for air. This incredible experience was worth every step. If you think climbing a glacier may be a top highlight of your trip don't hesitate in booking both Matanuska and Exit glacier climbing...they are both vastly different experiences; but Exit Glacier is on a whole different level of extreme.
Day 5 Part 2 - An unexpected Bear Encounter - Bear Lake Road - Seward, AK
On our way back to Bear Lake B&B my wife urged me to pull over so that she could smoke (she felt it was rude to do it on their property) so I just happened to unknowingly pull over at a creek where salmon run. As soon as we stepped out of the car we heard vicious growling. It was cubs fighting over a salmon about 50 yards away. I was excited! I reached into the car to grab my zoom lens and capture the moment, assuming that Mama bear was probably a little ways behind them. Wrong. As I was setting the focus on my camera I noticed out of the corner of my eye, mama bear about 30 yards away. She stared into my camera and then continued eating her fish. Incredible experience, but I don't care to be that close again. At nearly the same time we noticed the bear a bald eagle swooped in and landed on a branch about 10 feet from our car.
Day 6 - Portage Pass, Whittier, Ak
Our second day in Seward was supposed to be the first day of our overnight Kayaking and camping trip to the Kenai Fjords to see Aialik and Pederson glaciers, but due to katabatic winds the company we were using "Kayak Adventures Worldwide" gave us the option to pull out of the tour because they said there was a good chance that we would not get to paddle at all during the trip. We decided not to chance it. That's a lot of money to spend on a ferry ride. Now we had 2 days to fill and no reservations for anywhere to stay for the night. We decided to drive to Whittier and see if they had any Kayak trips going out to Blackstone Glacier and if they didn't we would hike Portage Pass (which we originally planned for the last day) Whittier was having the same problem with winds, so we hiked. A very photographic hike once you get past the uphill section. We didn't go all the way to the lake because we had a long drive to Homer ahead of us, but I would have liked to.
Day 7 - Kayaking at Kachemak Bay State Park with St. Augustine's Sea Kayaking - Homer, Alaska
Since our overnight had to be cancelled due to winds I was able to book a full day trip with St. Augustine's Sea Kayaking out of Kachemak Bay State Park (Across the bay from Homer) We were lucky to find a hotel room in Homer so we showed up a day early to be able to do this trip. We had a really great time. This was probably my wife's favorite day of the trip. We seen 4 whales, 10 or more bald eagles, puffins, harbor seals, and otters. The trip includes a 30 minute water taxi ride across the bay, tidepooling if the tide is right and a short but scenic hike where you eat lunch (bring your own) on top of a cliff overlooking the bay. For $150 a person you really cant beat the value. Bummed we missed our overnight, but this was a great alternative.
Day 8 - The Journey to Brooks Falls at Katmai National Park with Bald Mountain Air
I'm pretty sure that this is the most exciting place I have ever been. We had perfect weather and great visibility the entire day. We felt very fortunate because the Bald Mountain Air tour the day before was cancelled due to winds. In all we seen 9 or 10 bears. Not exactly a heavy day for bears, but the Salmon were jumping great and Brooks Falls most popular bear "Ottis" was in his office. He probably caught close to 20 fish while we were there. I would love to come back here and camp for about 3 nights.
Day 9 - Float fishing on the Kenai River with Alaska Angling - Cooper Landing, AK
On this day we had planned to drive from Homer back to Seward to hike the Harding Icefield trail, but after seeing how tired my wife was while hiking up Portage Pass and by having already done the first two miles of the Harding Icefield on my way to Exit Glacier, I knew there was no way she would make it. We booked a half day float and fish at the last minute in Cooper Landing. It's not as relaxing as it sounds because we were constantly changing from fly fishing to reel fishing. Our guide did a good job, but tt was a little fast paced for my liking. We did catch some trout and the people we were with caught a big salmon. It was a perfect weather day on a beautiful river. Next time we will try Halibut fishing when we have better time to prepare and pick the best charter possible.
Day 10 - Kenai Fjords Bear Glacier SUP with Liquid Adventures - Seward, AK
With an 8pm flight we could have taken it easy, slept in, maybe hit a view souvenir shops and made an easy drive from Seward to Anchorage...but why do that when you can have one more incredible adventure? SUP at Bear Glacier was awesome! We had originally planned to hike Portage Pass on this day, but since things got turned around and we had already done the hike we were lucky to be able to book this trip on the day before. This was an activity I really wanted to do, but picked the overnight kayaking instead. I'm really glad I got to do this. I would really like to camp in this location and explore it some more. These Ice bergs were even bigger than the ones we seen on the Columbia Glacier Cruise. This was also our very first time to stand up paddle. I also learned that taking pics and video with gloves on a paddle board in near freezing waters is a new level of difficulty.
The best places we stayed:
1. Bear Lake B&B
2. Land's End Resort - Homer Spit
3. VRBO Nelchina, AK - Schooner Lake - (45 minute drive to Matanuska Glacier)
Favorite Guided Tours
- Exit Glacier Guides Ice Climbing
- Brooks Falls w/Bald Mountain Air
- Matanuska Adventure Trek w/ NOVA
- Bear Glacier SUP w/Liquid Adventures
- Columbia Glacier Tour - LuLu Belle
- Kachemak Bay Kayaking W/ St Augustines
- Valdez Glacier Kayaking w/ Anadyr
- Float Fishing w/ Alaska Angling
Notes
- The high was in the 70's every single day we were in Alaska and we did not encounter any rain in 10 days.
- We did not stay in any lodging more than 2 nights.
- We usually ate 2 meals a day and some breakfasts were provided by lodging. Spent many lunches eating beef jerky, granola bars, and trailmix from home.
- Every guide we had was excellent. You could tell they loved their jobs and were very excited about the days activities.
- Alaskans have a lot of state pride and many of them did not grow up there; they moved there by choice. You will encounter many of them on vacation just like you are. They will even be taking lots of pictures just like tourists.They will talk your ear off, but you will probably enjoy their stories. I know I did.
Next Trip to Alaska
- Aialik & Pederson Glacier Kayaking
- Brooks Falls camping
- Halibut Fishing Charter
- Denali Flight Seeing out of Talkeetna
- Kenai Fjords Cruise
- Blackstone Glacier Kayaking/SUP
- Wrangell St. Elias/ Root Glacier
- Columbia Glacier Flight seeing - VS Helicopters
- Bear Glacier camping
- Winner Creek hand tram
- Alyeska ski lift
Advice
- Before you decide what part of Alaska and how many nights decide what it is you want to do. Three nights in Seward probably doesn't make much sense for someone who doesn't want to fish, day cruise, or hike.
- You can't over plan. I planned for a year and everything went like clock work (except for a cancellation that I was prepared for)
- Have a tentative back-up plan if something gets cancelled due to weather. Being in Alaska costs too much to let a cancellation lead to a wasted day.
- Don't take forum advice as gospel. Everyone has their own likes and opinions.
- Alaska is so great that nothing is a "Must See" plan your trip around what YOU want to do. Denali is near the top of many peoples list for Alaska, but it doesn't appeal to me very much. I havent seen many photos that just "wow" me and I'm a very visually stimulated person, so I skipped it. Still had the best 10 day vacation of my life and a more memorable wildlife encounter than 99% of the people that go to Denali. It's also illegal to fly drones in National Parks, so another reason to knock it off my list and a good example of how something could effect me negatively but have no effect on others. If fishing is a high priority for you, spend multiple days fishing.
- If you are a photo or video enthusiast bring your absolute best gear. If you don't own high end gear, rent it! I rented a $2,000 lens for my camera that was worth every penny of the $275 rental at borrowlenses.com.
- If you want to escape the high lodging prices of Anchorage you can stay in Palmer, Alaska for around $100 a night. You will be only 30 miles from Hatcher Pass when you wake up in the morning.
- If you cant find the info you are looking for on tripadvisor try facebook. For example if you want to find out about the "winner creek hand tram" type it in a facebook search and instead of clicking on a page just hit search and it will bring up posts made by people on facebook that dont have their posts set to private. You can get a lot of updated info about places this way.
