The Great Alaskan Adventure

Quote: I need to preface this by saying that we are pretty conservative (read "non adventurous") travelers. Generally speaking, I am more so than David . . . although I will take on an adventure or two that is beyond my comfort level. (Read about my last ATV tour on Hawaii’s Big Island and how I "bailed off" my ATV while losing control down a hill.) I bring up the conservative nature of our travel, because as full card carrying AARP members, we are a bit too old to be doing crazy stuff that will put our bodies in harm’s way, even if of our own doing like bailing off a moving vehicle!
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In Alaska, there is so much remoteness and inaccessibility that to fully enjoy all of her beauty and splendor you may have to get outside of your own comfort zone. For many, they only see what they are exposed to from the huge cruise ships that venture through the Inside Passage of SE Alaska. Others will only get the opportunity to traverse the land on four wheels; thereby eliminating all that is only accessible by air or water. If you want to get out to where the wildlife is, well . . . wild . . . you may need to take a small plane in to the remote areas where they live on land or by boat if they are out to sea.

I have friends and family members who for a variety of reasons, medical and otherwise, are not able to fly in small airplanes or tolerate boats on choppy water. For them, their options to see all of Alaska will be greatly reduced. The good news, however, is that there are still hundreds of great activities to experience so there should be no reason to not go to Alaska and take in as much as humanly possible.

Here is a rundown of a general list of activities by mode of transportation for folks to consider as they are planning an Alaskan vacation.

By Land:
Many wildlife viewing opportunities will come just from driving around, year-round. A car is the best ground transportation to enable locating and photographing animals in their natural habitat. You can and will see them just about anywhere, including in the city. Anchorage is famous for the number of urban moose that have made their home within the city limits. A word to the wise: use caution when driving especially during the hours of darkness. Down on the Kenai Peninsula, dozens of moose are killed every year in accidents with vehicles. I saw a car "post moose" out on the Chena Road outside of Fairbanks in 2007. Neither the car nor the moose survived the collision. And if you do see something of interest, please be sure to pull off safely to observe. Do not stop or park where you will impede traffic. You will upset the locals . . . and may get yourself a ticket.

There are a few places around Alaska where you can see glaciers from your car or on land after a short walk from the parking lot. Portage and Byron Glaciers near the Whittier Tunnel; Matanuska Glacier on the Glenn Highway and Worthington Glacier on the Richardson Highway as you approach Valdez are all exceptional viewing options from terra firma.

Some people will opt for the scenic "leave the driving to us" choice of the Alaska Railroad. I have read a lot of great travel reports by people who have done this and thoroughly enjoyed it 100%. I have also read enough to know that the wildlife viewing is a challenge and photography almost non-existent. I think the two most popular train routes are probably Anchorage to Seward and Anchorage to Denali National Park. The cruise industry helps to keep the Alaska Railroad moving as they simply add their rail cars full of cruise passengers onto the train to move people from their port of entry (typically Whittier or Seward) up to the interior. You can take the train up to Fairbanks, but if it’s during the winter, be sure you know the schedule or else you could get yourself stranded for a long, unexpected weekend.

There doesn’t have to be snow on the ground in order to experience dog mushing, although my opinion is that mushing a dog sled over gravel when it’s 50 or 60 degrees outside isn’t much of an experience . . . but I’m admittedly biased. Save the sled dog experience for winter and go support a mushing kennel. Many of the Iditarod kennels have winter tours that are reasonably priced. The tour fees they charge help to keep their kennels in operation and help them to afford this very costly sport. While Willow may arguably be the mushing capital of Alaska, you can find kennels offering sled dog tours throughout the state. You haven’t seen Alaska until you’ve seen it over the rumps of a team of sled dogs!

ATV tours have started to crop up around Alaska including a couple near Denali National Park in Healy. I have no personal experience with ATVing in Alaska nor have I read any detailed trip reports other than people seem to have a good time doing it.

Another man-made machine method of getting around on land is by snow dog, aka snow machine or snow mobile (here in the lower 48). Arctic Cats and other snowmobiles are a great way to get out and enjoy the winter scenery in Alaska. There are several tour operators providing this type of transportation to those who seek high speed adventure. Some popular areas for snowmachining are near Fairbanks; including trails out towards Chena Hot Springs and south on the Richardson past North Pole heading towards Delta Junction. I’m sure there are a lot more, but this is an area where I’ve seen them in abundance.

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Boat:
This is a great way to get out and see AND experience Alaska first hand. By boat can be anything from the small single person kayak to the super huge cruise ships . . . and all sizes in between. People who are the outdoorsy types seem to gravitate towards the kayaking especially on those tours featuring the glaciers that are accessible from inlet bays. On this trip we did four boat tours . . . two by airboat (Mahay’s Three River Tour and the Knik Glacier Tour), one by paddlewheeler (Riverboat Discovery) and the last by catamaran (Kenai Fjords National Parks Tour). All were comfortable and did not seem to be too hard on those who may have a tendency for seasickness.

On the other hand, we have done other tours by boat here in Alaska on smaller watercraft that for those with a weak tummy might have resulted in some fish chumming. The tours out of Whittier in the Prince William Sound come to mind as well as any fishing boat out on the open seas. (Have you ever seen Deadliest Catch? The upchucking happens to even the most seasoned of fishermen in the Alaskan waters!) Smaller fishing boats that troll the river system are generally pretty calm and shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Glaciers, birding and wildlife are the primary reasons to go out on a boat if you’re not fishing. Some of the bear viewing tours utilize floating pontoon type boats or combine fishing with bear viewing in more traditional river boats. To see whales and other marine wildlife like otters and stellar sea lions, you will more than likely need to be out on the water to see them.


Air:
Well unless you drove in or arrived via cruise ship, you were treated to the gorgeous snowcapped mountains as you crossed over from Canada into Alaskan airspace. Some of my most favorite photos on past trips were taken from my arriving airplane at some 25-30k feet. Many visitors and locals alike make the most of the largest number of planes per capita of anywhere in the United States when exploring Alaska.

There are wheeled planes, like the one that took us from Soldotna to Lake Clark National Park, and pontoon water craft that will land on lakes throughout the wilderness. You can also find small aircraft that are able to land on glaciers and snow covered mountains thanks to their ski-style landing gear. For those who have altitude sickness issues, you should discuss things with the tour operator or your transportation coordinator before booking. Of course, you should also have some degree of comfort in flying in a small four to ten seater plane as well.

All remote access bear viewing locations, including Katmai National Park and the world famous Brook’s Falls will require a fly-in. Some tour operators offer day trips in, while other vacationers will opt for those providing overnight arrangements. Lots of hunters and fishermen also utilize air-taxis for their transportation into the lodges that become their home away from home.


I don’t know how to classify zipline and aerial tram tours . . . they are sorta like land tours, but you do go up in the air. There are opportunities to see more of Alaska via these types of transportation options as tour operators expand their offerings.

So as you can see, there are many vantage points from which you can view and enjoy Alaska's beauty. Be adventurous and try them all!
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Quote: For our Great Alaskan Adventure, planning started more than two years in advance of our trip. This was essential for many reasons, not the least of which was the tight coordination necessary to make the RV arrangements work out. Additionally, once dates were set, we were ready to await the availability for frequent flier tickets on Delta . . . right in the middle of their program consolidation with Northwest Airlines. ACK – that was not fun!
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Once the RV arrangements were set and the airline tickets "purchased" ($10 + 42,500 miles each for first class out and coach return), the next task would be to frame out the itinerary based on the activities we wished to do and the places we wanted to see. Putting these things together is like working an intricate jigsaw puzzle because Alaska is so vast in size and activities.

For David . . . fishing. For me . . . bears, bears and more bears! Of course, I also wanted to see glaciers, wildlife and the beautiful landscapes that my photojournalist friends have shared with me for more than three years. Yes, this was as much about photography as seeing and doing! David even bought a new camcorder just for this trip.

As we were putting together our list of things to see, we also had to figure out HOW we wanted to see them . . . on the ground, by boat, by plane? So many options . . . never enough money. Because the options in Alaska are really plentiful and relatively affordable, we were able to plan for a little bit of everything on this trip.

Trip Advisor is one of the best interactive travel sites out there. While I do love IgoUgo and have been fortunate to have my contributions recognized here, it is helpful to have the two-way dialogue regarding trip planning that Trip Advisor facilitates. The T/A advisors (known as "Destination Experts") for Alaska are some of the best in the entire Trip Advisor family. They are knowledgeable and patient, providing expert advice that could easily be sold on the open market for $50/hour. I only hope that our forums here at IgoUgo are able to continue to grow and develop into the invaluable resource that T/A is.

With planning comes choices, many of which you will need to hard-wire into your itinerary. This is important to understand as so many of the activities and attractions in Alaska are very limited in order to maintain the pristine aspects of the natural beauty and the balance of wildlife with tourism. Bear viewing activities are an example of something you will need to think about, plan and most likely make a commitment in advance with a significant deposit or payment in full in advance.

Flightseeing and wildlife cruises also require some forward planning, especially if you are planning to utilize one of the many discount coupons available through the Alaska Tour Savers or Northern Lights coupon books. At $100 and $50 respectively, these "entertainment type" books will more than pay for themselves on just one use. You should check out their websites in advance, however, to calculate the best value for what you are planning to do. This is especially important since several of the activity and tour operators participate in both . . . and yet some of the more premium (read "costly") activities only participate in one. For our trip, we were able to do well with the $50 Northern Lights book. The final count on our savings thanks to the Northern Lights book was $754.

A word to the wise is to be sure to buy your book early. There were a lot of people scrambling by the end of July and early August because the books were sold out. If your trip is late in the season, it is possible to pick up a used one on eBay but personally, I would not leave that to chance especially given the number of activities we planned using the Northern Lights book.

If your travel plans include hotel and/or rental cars, you will be best served to book those reservations as soon as you know your dates. Once we had our flights, I knew we would need a car and one night in a hotel on each end of our vacation while in Fairbanks. I booked both through AARP. I got a compact car for $19/night ($46 total for two days) and a decent room at the Comfort Inn for $72 +tax in October when rates are in the "off peak" mode. By the time our trip had arrived, the going rate on the car was $80/night and the hotel room was $189/night.

Reminds me of our trip back in 2006 when our four day rental in Anchorage was less than the single day rate by the time we traveled. BOOK EARLY and check rates often. Sometimes they do go down further and unless you’ve pre-bought your reservations (which are typically non-refundable), you have nothing to lose.

With the amount of monetary outlay we had in advance of the trip, mostly with prepaids and deposits, this was the first vacation that I’ve ever purchased travel insurance for. Given the current economy and the risk of employment in today’s world, I opted for a plan that included employment issues so that we’d be fully protected. Shopping with www.insuremytrip.com, I found a great plan with TravelGuard for about $157 to protect the $2,000 investment we had made. The policy was purchased at the time that the deposits and advance payments were made, roughly 10 months in advance of the trip.

Do not underestimate the amount of time and attention to itinerary planning will need. For me, at times during the months leading up to our trip, it became an obsession of tweaks and improvements. Every time I read someone’s trip report or blog from their Alaskan adventure, I wanted to see how I could include "just one more thing" into the schedule. With about five weeks to go until our trip, I think the tweaking was done . . . and all that was left to do was get on a plane!
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Quote: When I first approached my dear hubby on the idea of RVing Alaska, I’m pretty sure he thought I was nuts. While my family had a small "tow type" trailer and we did some camping while I was a kid . . . and later in my early adult life I enjoyed camping in my conversion van . . . I had never really done RVing. And for David, roughing it to him was driving cross country on his motorcycle with a bedroll and sleeping out under the stars in Colorado somewhere. RVing for us painted vivid visions of Robin Williams and his family in the RV they affectionately called "the rolling turd." Yes folks, David & Von’s Great Alaskan Adventure was going to be in a 29’ Winnebago that we hoped we would not turn into a crappy vacation (no pun intended). The RV was later nicknamed "The Beast" by my TripAdvisor friend Pete.
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A bit about how we orchestrated this RV adventure . . .

Initially I had thought that given the number of B&B operators in Alaska and the number of people I knew living in Alaska who vacation to Hawaii, maybe I could put together a "house swap" of sorts, offering up our timeshare on Waikiki for a week in their B&B. I was shooting for a week up around Fairbanks or Denali and another week down on the Kenai Peninsula. I placed an ad on Craig’s List in hopes of landing a lead or two. Holy smokes, I had nearly 25 responses; all of which seemed feasible. Some folks were even willing to do the full in-house stay in their homes. One family had a cabin they were willing to let us use . . . another suggested their in-law suite . . . and then it happened. A family from Fairbanks suggested that while they didn’t have a B&B to offer, they did have a 2006 29’ Winnebago Outlook that slept eight. Sleeps eight!?!?! It was just the two of us, but the offer seemed legit and almost too good to be true.

After several e-mails back and forth over the course of nearly six months, I was comfortable enough to trust this arrangement would work out and more importantly, happen. I will admit, there was a time when I did start to worry just a bit especially after all of our plans were tied to RV camping. What would happen if the RV suddenly became unavailable? What if they changed their mind or decided they didn’t want to go to Hawaii anymore? What if it was all a thoughtless hoax? In June I did look into what renting an RV would cost us should this plan fall through at the last minute. With the sticker shock of nearly $4,000 I had to cross my fingers and pray nothing would change the course of our plans.

With the plans set in motion for a camping vacation, the first detail to be confirmed was our camping arrangements for Denali National Park. By far, the most recommended option there, time permitting is the Teklanika Campground which is located roughly 29 miles inside the park. While there is a three night minimum stay required, the real value here is the option of purchasing the "TEK Pass" for their shuttle system at a huge savings. Our three night stay and two TEK Passes came to $135 including the mandatory $20/vehicle park admission fee.

The National Park Service reservations system for Denali didn’t open until 12/1/09, but you can bet I was on the phone with them that first day to secure our reservations. With Denali being the start of our vacation, I knew that if we missed the dates we needed, our entire trip would be turned on its ear making Denali the last thing we did before leaving Alaska. Being concerned about the possibility of an early fall snow, we really wanted to do the camping in Denali first . . . at the end of August.

The other camping that we did along the way included an assortment of facilities from essentially parking lot "camping" to very nice resort type camps with full hook-ups and on-premise showers. The more primitive camping at Denali was a good way to get familiar with our vehicle and later appreciate the resort amenities when we had them. For a fishing camp, Alaskan Angler RV Resort in Ninilchik was exceptional. We had full hook-ups, satellite TV and WiFi all at our campsite.

For times in between, we did come prepared with an assortment of home entertainment options including DVDs and several movies stored on a 32gig thumb drive.

As for the camping itself, I decided that since neither of us had slept in a camper and the thought of doing so for more than two weeks straight was a scary proposition, I did plan for some nicer lodging along the way to break up sleeping in the RV. That was a good game plan as it seemed to make the "roughing it" not quite so rough. Our two breaks were compliments of the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge (our fifth night in Alaska) and the Seward Windsong Lodge (nights 12 & 13). They were well timed and outstanding choices!

Driving a 29’ long vehicle was the challenge I was most concerned with and the one that kept David up at nights over for the week prior to our trip. The RV was nicknamed "The Beast" prior to our leaving the lower 48 for a reason! I had all the confidence in the world in him however, since after all, he did survive two weeks in the UK driving on the opposite side of the road back a couple of years ago.

Reassured that driving in Denali National Park would not include those sheer cliffs we remembered from our 2006 shuttle bus trip deep inside the park, he was better. But driving something that large isn’t without added precaution. Turning corners was interesting, especially in order to avoid taking out the corner with the queen sized bed at the backend of the RV. And navigating the narrow two lane roads throughout the Alaska frontier added bonus thrills. Climbing and traversing the mountain ranges from Fairbanks to Anchorage; Anchorage to Glennallen and Glennallen to Fairbanks was exciting for many reasons, not the least of which was the rush of the height and the views surrounding us. Unfortunately we did have lousy weather between Palmer and Glennallen, with long hanging clouds, fog and rain.

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There are also a couple of special laws that affect driving such a vehicle there as well. SLOW VEHICLES STAY RIGHT when there are more than two lanes going in your direction is critical. The "five vehicle log jam" is a fun one! If you are impeding traffic and there are five or more vehicles slowed up behind you, you are required to take the next pullout to let them all pass you. Fortunately, we found the roads to be pretty wide open with little traffic throughout our journey. I understand that the locals don’t care much for the tourist season and all of the RVs that clog up their scenic byways. But hey, we’re doing the best we can and as safely as we can do it.

At the end of our two weeks with the RV we had the usual clean-up necessary before returning the motorhome to its owner. After washing the linens, dumping the dump stuff, draining the water lines and filling up the tanks that needed replenishing . . . we were set. I think the entire process took up about two hours that Sunday morning.

Some have asked about RVing in Alaska and how we did with gas and mileage. In total, we drove "the beast" 1,431 miles and used 177 gallons of gas. Our total gas bill for the trip in the RV (excluding the rental car for three days) was $628.50 or $3.55/gallon. The high was in Cantwell ($4.259) and low of $3.259 in Talkeetna. Had we only known we could have made it that far, we could have saved about $25! We found gas to be around $3.40 +/- in and around Anchorage (including Palmer and Wasilla) and around $3.70 down on the Kenai Peninsula. We paid $3.529 at the Safeway in Fairbanks but also enjoyed our final tank at $.10 off thanks to our Safeway card and a large initial grocery shopping trip to get us started. As for propane, we went through about 3/4's of a tank or $50 worth.

I cannot speak highly enough about the experience of traveling and seeing Alaska by RV. Many on Trip Advisor suggest it, especially if your interests are varied and you have some time to explore. For us, our trip was pretty much planned out for every day. We didn’t leave a lot for the winds to blow us. In fact, the flexibility worked to our disadvantage as some mornings, we were just not too motivated to get an early start. The result was several attractions and areas left for future exploration on another Alaskan vacation. For some, having an RV is a great option when weather turns bad in one area of the state. All you have to do is drive out from under and follow the sun. In any event, there is a lot of flexibility in traveling by RV and we are very thankful for the opportunity given to us by the family who did the swap with us!
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Quote: Not including this journal, the Great Alaskan Adventure has given opportunity for me to write and share seven journals containing 30 reviews and five stories/tips, along with over 200 photos from around this great state. When read individually or as a grouped collection, I hope I’ve presented a nice summary of the various activities and experiences we have enjoyed.
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For those unfamiliar with Alaska, however, it is very possible that you would not really understand how this trip fit together like that jigsaw puzzle I describe in the "Planning Your Dream Adventure" entry in this journal. Unless you have driven it, it is difficult to really understand the vastness of Alaska especially when looking at the simplistic four main highway map of the state.

During our trip we logged over 1,400 miles by RV over 14 days. We left Fairbanks on a gloomy, cold and rainy Saturday afternoon and returned two weeks later on a Friday that was sunny and still summer-like. Oh my what a difference a couple of weeks would make. Our route took us on what was basically a big loop circuit around the state with a branching off at the bottom of the loop known as the Kenai Peninsula . . . and there we did both forks of the branch. But other than that, we really did just traverse the main highway system . . . heck even their number system is about as basic as it gets: Hwy 3 (Parks Hwy) to Hwy 1 (Glenn Hwy) to Hwy 4 (The Richardson) to Hwy 2 (Richardson Hwy north of Delta Junction). Even today as I look at the map and consider the distances without the benefit of the map’s scale, "the loop" looks so small in the vastness of a state that is largely unreachable by automobile. I am willing to guess that the amount of land contained within this loop is probably larger than several of the US States in the lower 48.

For those interested in our actual route, here is the day by day itinerary of our Great Alaskan Adventure:

Day 1 Arrived in Fairbanks
Day 2 Drove Fairbanks to Denali National Park with a stop in Nenana
Day 3 – 4 Stayed inside Denali National Park
Day 5 Drove Denali National Park to Talkeetna
Day 6 Drove Talkeetna to Palmer
Day 7 Drove Palmer to Ninilchik with stops on the way along the Turnagain Arm
Day 8 Stayed put in Ninilchik (camping)
Day 9 Drove Ninilchik to Soldotna (our shortest one-day drive – 40 miles) with a stop at the old Russian Church
Day 10 Stayed put in Soldotna (camping)
Day 11 Drove Soldotna to Seward with stops at the Russian River and Copper Landing
Day 12 Stayed put in Seward (hotel)
Day 13 Began the long drive to Fairbanks (over 460 miles); stopped in Glennallen (305 miles for the day; our longest single day drive)
Day 14 Continued the drive from Glennallen to Fairbanks with many stops for the most beautiful scenery imaginable
Day 15 – 16 Camped in Fairbanks
Day 17 Flight home from Fairbanks

Keep in mind, there are still parts of Alaska that I have yet to explore myself, including SE Alaska also known as the inside passage to the cruiseline crowd. From what I can tell from the trip reports of others, there is a whole other world over there with opportunity to spend significant amounts of time (and money) enjoying "the other" Alaska.


Future Alaska Adventures:

For me, this was my fifth Alaskan vacation . . . and our second together. David will only venture here in the summer, so he’s missed some of my winter escapades in Fairbanks and Anchorage. He will also miss my upcoming March trip to Anchorage for the start of the "Greatest Race on Earth" . . . the Iditarod.

With as much as we’ve been able to see and do over the past four years, I still have a rather full bucket list of more in Alaska to experience. In no particular order, I present to you more of Alaska for the future.

1) An Alaskan cruise of the inside passage and the towns and ports of SE Alaska. Towns like Sitka, Ketchikan and the capitol city of Juneau all have their own unique charm and presence.

2) More bear viewing in remote places like Anan Creek, Kodiak Island and Brooks Falls will round out my experiences in the national parks of Denali and Lake Clark.

3) I cannot speak of bears without mentioning Ursus Maritimus . . . polar bears . . . so one day I would love to venture north of the Arctic Circle to perhaps Barrow.

4) Nome is where the Iditarod Race ends after a trek that traverses more than 1,000 miles. To be there to celebrate the finish would be awesome!

5) Hop scotching Alaska’s waterways via their very efficient ferry system would be a wonderful adventure.

I’m certain that as more of my travel "friends" come back from their own Alaskan adventures, my list will continue to grow. For now, however, I close this adventure journal with fond memories of many experiences that up until now, were mere visions from a television show or perhaps photos shared by other Alaskan adventurers!
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