Alaska Trip Report
Oct 11th, 2004, 09:09 AM
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Alaska Trip Report
Given all the help and advice I received from this site, I thought it only fair to provide a brief trip report on our recent Alaska trip:
Fri 27 Aug: flew into Anchorage late Friday night and stayed at the City Garden Bed & Breakfast. Very big and comfortable room with view of Mt McKinley. The host Jerry was very Amiable and provided a great home cooked breakfast the next morning all for a very reasonable price.
Sat 28 Aug: Drove from Anchorage to Denali National Park, via Hatcher Pass. Stopped at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer along the way, which was worthwhile to see the huge vegetables. Hatcher Pass was full of vibrant colours (not sure if it was the time of year or its always like this). Stayed the night at the Perches Resort. Dinner at the Perches Restaurant was OK, nothing to write home about, but the staff was friendly.
Sun 29 Aug: 6.30 am bus into Denali National Park, saw Moose, 13 Grizzlies, Caribou, Dahl Sheep. All very worthwhile. Unfortunately the smoke from the fires north of Fairbanks reduced the visibity and therefore we were unable to really appreciate the wider scenery of the park. The smell from the smoke also put us off hopping off the bus and doing some hiking. After exiting the park we drove to Talkeetna and spent the night at Swiss Alaska Inn. This place despite being a bit pricey for what it is, did provide us with a very comfortable night's sleep. Dinner was at the West Rib Cafe which was basically a no thrills pub meal.
Mon 30 Aug: Early start with a hearty breakfast at The Roadhouse - (tip: don't order the big breakfast you won't finish it! Quick drive down to the start of the Seward Highway and stopped at all the lookouts along the way (Bird Point being a highlight). Lunch in Girdwood before hiking up Mt Alyeska. The view from the top is very rewarding and the tram back down is even better! Saw the Bore Tide coming in along the Turnagain Arm which was interesting but more of an anti-climax than anything else. The rest of the drive down to Seward was very spectacular. Stayed the night at A Swan Nest Inn, which was reasonably priced but I probably wouldn't stay there again. Dinner at Ray's Waterfront was everything these message boards had cracked it up to be. Had to walk dinner off with a walk up to Exit Glacier which was worthwhile
Tues 31, Aug: Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise to Alaiak Glacier. With the Toursaver Coupon, this was worth every dollar. Saw humpack whales, Dahl dolphins, Puffins, Otters and plenty of calving at Aliak Glacier. Dinner was at Fox Island as part of the day trip. Accommodation was at A Swann Nest Inn (unfortunately we had pre booked two nights).
Weds 1 Sept: Lunch at Trail Lake Lodge, Moose Pass, which was very good. From there we did the Russian River hike and saw thousands of red salmon spawning. Well worth it if you've never seen anything like it before. From here we dropped our rental car back in Anchorage and took our transfer to Whittier for our cruise to Vancouver (see trip report under Cruise to be posted shortly).
Thanks once again to everyone that helped put the above itinerary together.
Fri 27 Aug: flew into Anchorage late Friday night and stayed at the City Garden Bed & Breakfast. Very big and comfortable room with view of Mt McKinley. The host Jerry was very Amiable and provided a great home cooked breakfast the next morning all for a very reasonable price.
Sat 28 Aug: Drove from Anchorage to Denali National Park, via Hatcher Pass. Stopped at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer along the way, which was worthwhile to see the huge vegetables. Hatcher Pass was full of vibrant colours (not sure if it was the time of year or its always like this). Stayed the night at the Perches Resort. Dinner at the Perches Restaurant was OK, nothing to write home about, but the staff was friendly.
Sun 29 Aug: 6.30 am bus into Denali National Park, saw Moose, 13 Grizzlies, Caribou, Dahl Sheep. All very worthwhile. Unfortunately the smoke from the fires north of Fairbanks reduced the visibity and therefore we were unable to really appreciate the wider scenery of the park. The smell from the smoke also put us off hopping off the bus and doing some hiking. After exiting the park we drove to Talkeetna and spent the night at Swiss Alaska Inn. This place despite being a bit pricey for what it is, did provide us with a very comfortable night's sleep. Dinner was at the West Rib Cafe which was basically a no thrills pub meal.
Mon 30 Aug: Early start with a hearty breakfast at The Roadhouse - (tip: don't order the big breakfast you won't finish it! Quick drive down to the start of the Seward Highway and stopped at all the lookouts along the way (Bird Point being a highlight). Lunch in Girdwood before hiking up Mt Alyeska. The view from the top is very rewarding and the tram back down is even better! Saw the Bore Tide coming in along the Turnagain Arm which was interesting but more of an anti-climax than anything else. The rest of the drive down to Seward was very spectacular. Stayed the night at A Swan Nest Inn, which was reasonably priced but I probably wouldn't stay there again. Dinner at Ray's Waterfront was everything these message boards had cracked it up to be. Had to walk dinner off with a walk up to Exit Glacier which was worthwhile
Tues 31, Aug: Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise to Alaiak Glacier. With the Toursaver Coupon, this was worth every dollar. Saw humpack whales, Dahl dolphins, Puffins, Otters and plenty of calving at Aliak Glacier. Dinner was at Fox Island as part of the day trip. Accommodation was at A Swann Nest Inn (unfortunately we had pre booked two nights).
Weds 1 Sept: Lunch at Trail Lake Lodge, Moose Pass, which was very good. From there we did the Russian River hike and saw thousands of red salmon spawning. Well worth it if you've never seen anything like it before. From here we dropped our rental car back in Anchorage and took our transfer to Whittier for our cruise to Vancouver (see trip report under Cruise to be posted shortly).
Thanks once again to everyone that helped put the above itinerary together.
Oct 25th, 2004, 04:16 AM
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Hi Alines..thanks for the info. When you drove to Denali via Hatcher Pass, did you drive on the unpaved part of the pass road? With a rental car, I thought that was not allowed. What rental agency did you use and did they ask you if you would be doing any gravel-road driving?
Was the State Fair crowded? We will be going in 2005 about the same time.
Was the State Fair crowded? We will be going in 2005 about the same time.
Oct 25th, 2004, 05:06 AM
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Glad you had a great trip. Questions about your drive from Talkeenta to Seward. Where is Bird Point? How long did it take to drive from Talkeenta to Seward, with stopping at highlights along the way.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Oct 25th, 2004, 09:09 AM
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Beckydoodle, I think we used Dollar rentals and they didn't mention that we couldn't drive on unsealed roads. The unsealed portion of the Hatcher pass was about 40 miles long and was relatively smooth, albeit steep in parts. If you have driven on unsealed roads a lot, you won't find the road a problem. If you haven't driven on them, then you might want to give it a miss. We arrived at the State Fair when it opened (10am) and stayed until around lunch. By the time we left it was getting pretty crowded so I'd advise if you want to avoid the crowds arrive early.
Sandy49: We left Talkeetna around 9am and arrived in Anchorage around 11am. It took us a while to pass through Anchorage (the main road goes through the center of the city with many traffic lights in between), however once on the other side the traffic was easy flowing. From memory, Bird Point is around about 30-45 minutes south of Anchorage. You could easily drive from Anchorage to Seward in less than 3 hours, however to do so you would miss a lot of the beautiful scenery along the way. Our trip didn't have us arriving in Seward until around 6 or 7 in the evening as we took a detour to Girdwood to hike up Mt Alyeska (even if you don't hike it, the tram ride is worth it for the views at the top) and then a detour back up to Bird Point to see the Bore Tide coming in (it was supposed to be at its highest or close to it on the day we were there, but as mentioned earlier, we found it to be a bit of an anti climax).
Sandy49: We left Talkeetna around 9am and arrived in Anchorage around 11am. It took us a while to pass through Anchorage (the main road goes through the center of the city with many traffic lights in between), however once on the other side the traffic was easy flowing. From memory, Bird Point is around about 30-45 minutes south of Anchorage. You could easily drive from Anchorage to Seward in less than 3 hours, however to do so you would miss a lot of the beautiful scenery along the way. Our trip didn't have us arriving in Seward until around 6 or 7 in the evening as we took a detour to Girdwood to hike up Mt Alyeska (even if you don't hike it, the tram ride is worth it for the views at the top) and then a detour back up to Bird Point to see the Bore Tide coming in (it was supposed to be at its highest or close to it on the day we were there, but as mentioned earlier, we found it to be a bit of an anti climax).
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