A Swiss' first time in Alaska

[vb-images]

Hey there,

 

I'm new in here and hope that you can help me with some good ideas on where to go or what to do on my first trip to

Alaska.

 

Here is my trip:

 

Aug 24: Switzerland - Seattle

 

Aug 25: Seattle

 

Aug 26: Seattle

 

Aug 27: Seattle - Vancouver

 

Aug 28: Vancouver

 

Aug 29: Vancouver - Inside Passage cruise (7 days) to Seward

 

Sep 5: Seward - Anchorage (picking up a car)

 

Sep 11: Anchorage - Switzerland

 

So, it's an almost 3 week trip.

 

My goals are to take nice nature pictures (such as the reflecting Mount Kinley in a near lake), bears and orca whales.

 

Any cool suggestions?

 

Looking forward to your comments.

 

Viktor<div></div>

[Jerry_]

You will "meet" autumn colors in parts of the interior.

 

 

 

Please check the State of Alaska web site (do a Google search) for information, and lodging if you need it.

 

 

 

Some areas require a float-plane ride to get to, if you have the budget for that. Alaska has three (or four) paved roads. The rest is for "jeeps."

 

 

 

There was a post here on Photo Net a few days earlier, you may check that out as well.

 

 

 

Travel safe!

[ctbruce]

Anytime you travel in the interior you will have a chance to see wildlife. I have traveled from Anchorage to Tok several times and each time I have seen wolfs, caribou, foxes and deer. Not to mention the landscapes along the way are breath taking. I would also recommend that if you stop in Ketchikan on your cruise you should visit the two totem pole parks on the island. They are a wonderful collection of the native artwork. Have fun and take it all in because there isn't another place on earth like Alaska.

[markus maurer]

Hi Viktor, best wishes for your adventure and: gueti Reis!

[andrew_cary]

Here are a couple of suggestions for your Alaska trip.

 

Denali is often covered by cloud, I was there for 3 days and never saw the mountain itself (nevertheless it is

still worth it), and as we drove away everything cleared and we got some.great views. You cannot drive a personal

(rental) car into the Denali back country, but have to ride in a bus. The drivers of all the buses (both the

guided ones and the regular ones) stop for wild life and the narration on the the regular bus was in my opinion

quite adequate.

 

The Kenai Pennisula (Seward is on the south side of this) is actually very beautiful- in some ways more

photogenic then Denali. The Brown bears are much larger in Kenai then in Denali (more food to eat) and I saw more

moose there then in or on the way to Denali.

 

If possible take a day cruise on a small (20m) motor vessel tour of either the Kenai Fjords or the Prince William

sound area (from Seward or Whittier respectively). These get you MUCH closer to wildlife and glaciers then you

can get on the cruise ships and are well worth it. One of the ones I went one was narrated by a University of

Alaska researcher who knew most of the Killer whales by name (he had the identification book to prove it too!)

You can probably arrange it as around trip from Anchorage. I liked it so much we did it twice.

 

Most cruise ships on a 7 day cruise will stop in Skagway and Ketchikan and/or Juneau, Unfortunately Skagway and

Ketchikan are small towns that the cruise ships have filled with cruise ship shopping. Look for the locally

owned shops id you can for something different. Ketchikan has an area called Creek Street which is interesting.

There are locally owned businesses - just ask. All these ports offer similar excursions at dockside to those

offered by the cruise lines- they are usually cheaper and often provided by the same people. Just make sure they

know you are on a cruise ship leaving at xxx o'clock so they can get you back in time. Juneau and Sitka are not

as 'cruisy' because they are respectively the state capital and a college town. Juneau has the 'Red Dog' Saloon -

an institution since the Klondike gold rush in 1899.

 

In Ketchikan I really recommend a float plane ride into the Mist Fjords National Monument. In Juneau there is a

dog sledding on a glacier /helicopter tour combo that my wife really liked (I was chasing photos and didn't go).

 

Have fun. I'll be up there at the end of September....

[lightsmith1]

Alaska is the biggest state in the USA, and even if it was cut in half it make up the two largest states. The distances are too great to cover in one trip or even 5-6 trips. Better to focus on a particular area. Favorite parts of mine are the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Valley.

 

Easy to forget that minutes from the city of Anchorage there is the Chugach State Park, which is the 3rd largest state park in the USA at more than half a million acres.

 

Easy to get anything you need in Anchorage so don't worry about forgetting some essential and with the collapse of the US Dollar under the present administration, the prices are cheap for someone coming from Europe.