Itinerary

Sunday           
Most flights from the lower 48 arrive in Anchorage in the afternoon or early evening.  Your guide will meet you at the airport and drive to our motor inn.  Welcome dinner for those who arrive by 7.30pm.

Monday          
After a hearty breakfast at a local restaurant we’ll drive north to Denali National Park.  The roadside is lined with pink fireweed and with luck we’ll have clear views of mighty Mt McKinley.  After our restaurant lunch we’ll check into our adorable cabins for a two-night stay.  At 2pm assemble for our whitewater raft trip on the Nenana River. This river flows northward through the heart of the Alaska Range and forms the eastern border of Denali National Park.  We’re outfitted with state of the art dry-suits providing thermal protection from the glacial water. The rapids are rated class III + IV and we paddle 11 miles through this ruggedly beautiful gorge.  We’re back at our cabins by 6pm in time for a hot shower before dinner at a restaurant near our cabins.

Tuesday         
Buses are the only vehicles allowed into Denali National Park and we board ours for an all-day trip to explore the interior.  Our driver is a naturalist guide who interprets the geology, ecology and history of the park as you travel through. For much of this ride we travel along a ridge affording open vistas – often of Mt McKinley again if it’s a clear day.  We’re sure to see moose, grizzly bears and caribou and often we see Dall sheep way up high on the mountains.   We stop often for photos and a good zoom lens is important today.  We’ll also see the Alaska state bird, the brown ptarmigan, which adapts by turning white in the winter.  We’ll pack in a brown bag lunch and at Eielson Visitor Center we’ll take a short walk and find the perfect picnic spot.   Back at the park entrance there will be time to look around the exhibits at the Denali Visitor Center.  This evening we’ll dine at a restaurant in Healy, just north of the Park entrance.

Wednesday    
After breakfast we head back down the George Parks Highway and take a side-trip to the tiny town of Talkeetna at the confluence of three rivers.  Once a miner’s supply center and then a riverboat station its now most renown as the staging area for Denali climbers.  We’ll have a couple of hours here to explore and eat lunch.  A staff member at the small museum gives a wonderfully interactive talk on what’s involved in climbing Denali.  Drive south to Anchorage and visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center.  This excellent museum delivers a complete history of Alaska and features five native villages.  You’ll see artists carving baleen (whalebone), sewing skin boats, athletic demonstrations and dance performances.  Dine at an Anchorage restaurant before returning to the same motor inn where we stayed on our arrival night.

Thursday        
Photo opportunities along Cook Inlet demand several stops on our drive to Seward, a picturesque town nudged up against scenic Resurrection Bay. Walking a blue-ice glacier is an essential Alaskan experience and we’ve chosen to hike Exit Glacier for its stunning views.  Exit glacier was so named because it is the easiest exit to hike out of the massive Harding ice field.  We may see black bears, moose and marmots on the scenic 1.6-mile alpine trail up to the glacier. Our knowledgeable guide identifies the native plants and flowers and uses the landscapes unique features to explain basic glaciology.  We’ll pack a lunch and picnic near the glacier.  Crunching across the ice is a trip highlight and there are an amazing amount of streams and ice-blue waterfalls swirling throughout the glacier.  This is a five-hour expedition and involves an elevation gain of 1000’.  Back in Seward we’ll check into our motel, freshen up and enjoy a relaxing dinner at a favorite local restaurant.  

Friday             
After breakfast we visit the Alaska Sea Life Center – funded in part by money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  This is a combination research, rehabilitation and interpretive center with huge tanks to view the mammals that live in the bay.  It’s especially fun to watch the antics of the seals and puffins up close.  Drive to Cooper Landing where we saddle-up for a two-hour horseback ride.  The trail winds through forest and next to clear mountain streams.   At Kenai Lake we earn spectacular valley views and sometimes get lucky and see wildlife along the way.  After lunch our afternoon drive is to the fishing village of Homer.  Homer is beautiful with its stunning panorama of snow-covered peaks and long spit stretching into Kachemack Bay.  At 5pm we’ll board a water taxi for the trip across to dinner at the Saltry Restaurant.  They serve the finest meal you’ll eat anywhere in Alaska.  There will be time to explore the local art galleries in Halibut Cove before our return to Homer for the evening.

Saturday        
After breakfast we’ll taxi across to our kayaking base to gear up for our half-day trip on the most sheltered kayaking bay in Alaska.  What a treat to see the playful sea otters lying on their backs relaxing in the calm waters.  Bald eagles sit up in the snags that hug the shoreline, ready to swoop down and catch a fish for lunch.  It’s daunting to remember how close we came to losing these national treasures.  If we’re lucky maybe we’ll see an orca or humpback!  After the water taxi has dropped us back in Homer we’ll lunch on the spit.  This afternoon we’ll drive back to Cooper Landing and check into our lodging.  There is a beautiful lake nearby spilling into a fast-flowing river – an enjoyable place if you feel like a stroll.  Enjoy views of this lake from our dinner table this evening.

Sunday           
It’s a short drive to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center at Portage.  Here we see herds of musk ox and elk, likely for the first time on the trip.  Best of all, we see moose up close, black bears climbing trees and grizzly bears playing in muddy pools.  Another short drive takes us through a tunnel to the port of Whittier.  Board our tour boat for a half day cruise on Prince William Sound where you’ll come face to face with tidewater glaciers like Blackstone or Beloit, the closest calving glaciers to Whittier.  We pass abundant waterfalls along the shoreline then head for open waters and islands.  We'll likely find sea otters, Steller sea lions, harbor seals and puffins - even a Dall's porpoise or two.  It’s an hour’s drive back to Anchorage for our farewell dinner.  This tour ends at the airport where most people take red-eye flights back to the lower 48.  If you select a flight home during the following day (Monday) or if you add the Bear Camp extension, you’ll need to arrange accommodation for tonight and airport transportation.  We can help with that.

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