Alaska in Late Summer Trip Report
 

We took a trip to Alaska August 28-September 10, and it was an amazing trip. I read a ton of posts here during the planning stages, so I thought I’d share some of our experiences. We are a couple in our mid-30’s, budget travel except for splurges on activities, and Alaska had been a dream of ours for a while now.

We arrived in Anchorage around 3PM and headed for Beluga Point so we could see some scenery, it was so close to the city. We spent that first night at the Econo Lodge, which we don’t recommend, it was cheap but questionable. We went up to Denali first as we didn’t want to risk snow later in September. We stayed at the Denali Park Hotel in Healy for three nights, which has a beautiful location. We took the 11-hour park shuttle, which was almost full, and lucked out with a very funny driver who made the trip a riot. We got to see Denali, three bears, quite a few moose, a herd of caribou and snowshoes. We returned to the drivable portion of the park road every evening to see if we could spot moose as they were rutting and we did, saw about 10 of them total, up close. A few were very far away and we joined others by the side of the road on an impromptu “find the moose” game with binoculars and telescopes. The fall colors in Denali were spectacular. We went to the kennels and got to hold the puppies, and did a hike up to the Mt. Healy overlook which took about 4 hours total with plenty of stops to take pictures of the scenery. It was hard to leave Denali, we fell in love with it and wished we had had more than 3 days. We headed down to Anchorage where we spent another night at the Econo Lodge (what can I say, it was cheap).

The next morning we headed to Whittier for our 26-Glacier cruise. The cruise was amazing, it was not as fast as we expected it to be, we spent plenty of time waiting for a glacier to calve, it only calved little chunks but it was great to have the time to appreciate it so close. The boat was only a third full, so there was a lot of room to take pictures on the deck and almost everyone had a window seat. We drove to Seward after the cruise, the drive was gorgeous so was a good idea to do it during daylight hours. At Seward we stayed at the Stoney Creek Inn, about five miles to town, and this was our favorite lodging during the trip. We had a lovely room, extremely clean, with brand new carpet, most comfortable bed, large window looking out to the woods, and a wonderful breakfast setup with coffee, milk, juice, cereals, muffins and fresh fruit. The fridge was restocked daily. We only spent two nights there unfortunately, would have loved to stay longer.

In Seward we did the Kenai Fjords boat tour. The ride was very smooth, I was bit apprehensive after all I had read about choppy water and seasickness, but it was so smooth we walked around the boat the entire time, hardly returning to our seats. The cruise was also only a third full, so window seats were plentiful. I had lowered my expectations as it was the end of the season and I didn’t want to be disappointed if we didn’t see that much wildlife, whales in particular. We were in luck, however, because our boat got word of an orca pod and headed there, so we saw seven orcas so close to the boat we could almost touch them. It was incredible, we hardly took pictures as we were so in awe that they would come up right to the boat like that. We also saw the sea lions and puffins, but not enough sea otters to make my DH happy. On the way back, the captain said that what was possibly one of the very last humpbacks in the area had been spotted nearby, so we made a u-turn even though we were running a bit late, and we went to the sighting spot. The captain said the whale had gone under within the last 5 minutes, so a breaching would come at any time. And after about 10 minutes of standing in the cold straining our eyes trying to see if anything came out of the water, it did, thankfully on our side of the deck, and with our binoculars we saw the humpback pull its head out of the water and dive in after a wave of its tail. It was breathtaking and unforgettable. After that we were just giddy with all we had seen!

The next day, after a morning visit to Exit Glacier, we drove to Homer. We found the drive quite boring up until we were just a couple of miles away from Homer. Once we could see the incredible setting of the town, we forgot about the boring drive. We stayed three nights at the Ocean Shores Motel on an ocean view room. The room was clean and spacious, with a fridge and sink, and an awesome view. We came to Homer for a bear-watching trip with Emerald Air. We scheduled it for our first day in town so that in case of bad weather we would have two more days to do it. Our first attempt got cancelled due to weather, we got on the plane and had to turn around halfway there. We were disappointed but immediately asked about openings the next two days and they had some. The next day was still cancelled because of weather but then on Sunday the weather broke and we were on our way. The flight was smooth and the views so beautiful! We arrived in the tundra and immediately spotted a sow with cubs in the distance. Because there were nine people in the tour, Chris split the group between those who wanted to hike with her looking for bears and those who wanted to sit and watch a group we had already found. We joined the hiking group, to the chagrin of my DH who was still a bit uncomfortable about getting too close to the bears. It paid off as we came across a bear in the bush that kept popping its head up to check us out, went in the river to fish for a bit, then came down and took a nap. We walked right past it and stopped to watch her sleep about 12 feet away. It was surreal. In all, we saw 11 bears, six of them really close. Chris and Ken’s guidance was impeccable yet fun as they shared stories about their life and their bear trips with us. We felt lucky to have shared the experience with them. That evening we drove to Anchorage to catch our 1AM flight back home. We dreamed about the bears for the next few days, they touched us so much.

In all, the trip was a big success, we did not regret it one bit that we didn’t go earlier in the summer. There were no crowds on the boats or on the roads, the weather was only chilly not cold, we had one day and a half of rain while in Homer, otherwise we had sun and clouds and highs in the 60’s. The lodging was cheaper because it was low season in the places we stayed at, and the Denali fall colors were peaking. It was perfect.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long post!

Enjoyed your report. Especially about the places to stay. Travel brochures tend to overhype places. We're thinking about going in a couple of years, but it's never too early to plan.

I'm jealous. My wife and I hoped to go to Alsaka this year for our 25th anniversary but have put it off due to job changes. Hope to go in a couple years. Have tenetively targeted very end of Aug - first week of Sept when kids are in school. Have been waiting for a post from someone who went in late summer - early fall. Thanks for the inspiring review. May I ask how much you budgeted? Did you rent a car?

Stevesmoker, Hope you and your wife can make it up there soon.

Yes, we rented a car. The total budget for our trip was roughly $4,000, without plane tickets. Lodging was $1,000, an average of $100 per night. Activities, including the two day cruises, the Denali shuttle and the bear-watching trip were about $1,800, that was our big expense. The car was $650. Food, gas and incidentals were about $600.

Travelgram, thanks for your reply and enjoy your planning!

Great report! We had nearly the identical itinerary only in reverse. We were there 8/22/07 thru 09/01/07. Emerald Air is a great trip with 2 special people. The Denali colors were indeed beautiful. It's a gorgeous state.

Great trip report! It wasn't too long. Great information.

I've read a lot of posts where people take a land/cruise package. Any reason why you opted to not do a cruise? Is there anything you wish you had time to see, but just couldn't fit in?

Great Report! It's a dream vacation for us too and your trip sounds wonderful. Thank you for posting.

Excellent report, thanks for the details. We have wanted to go to Alaska, but didn't really want to do the long cruise. Also, we like to go places when they are less crowded. Will save this for future reference.

travelgram, we love to take pictures (took over 2,000 in Alaska) and video and a cruise doesn't give us the flexibility we need for that.

As for things we wish we had done, driving the Denali Highway was the one thing we really wish we could have. It was not so much a matter of time but of not being able to drive the rental car on the highway.

Thanks everyone for reading and for your comments!

Great report. Sept. can be hit and miss and it sounds like you were the Red Sox....

I would also be interested to know why you did not go on a cruise. I am in the initial stages of looking at an Alaska trip and am overwhelmed with all the choices. I guess I don't have a grasp on travelling in Alaska yet. Your trip sounds like a good start for discussion.

kwren, your inquiry and angst is normal. I think you'd be well advised to do 2 things. First, do a search here on that topic and you'll likely find other threads addressing this issue. I know I did when I was in the formative stages of figuring out how and where to go and what to see. Second, post a separate thread to cover any remaining questions you might have.

Real quick, we did the land only tour because of cost and time limitations. There are basically 3 options for seeing Alaska. One is cruise only. Not my style. Two is land only. More my style. Three is a combo of the first 2 and, if you have the time and money, this can be the best way to see the majority of the State. Alaska is a state where the scenery is by far the main attraction. But there's a heck of a lot to see in addition to the coastal areas. IMHO, you will get a much better feel for the beauty of the state if you spend time driving it (very easily done) and stopping along the way. After our 11 day trip, I spoke with some folks who cruised only and, in comparing trips, they were very impressed with all we were able to see AND do. But different strokes for different folks.

kwren, DH and I have never taken a cruise. We prefer to travel independently, driving and stopping in places that are interesting to us, planning when we want to be somewhere and for how long. As I mentioned before, documenting our travels via photos and video is important to us, and for that we need the flexibility of a car and being in charge of our own schedule.

Another factor is that we usually travel in the low season, not only because it's cheaper but also because it's less crowded. Cruises can crowd a place really quickly. By driving in Alaska at the time we did we had many occasions when it was just us looking at a glacier, or at wildlife in Denali, or the only car on the road from Witthier to Seward. We could take our time and enjoy nature in silence and solitude.

And that's why we drove instead of cruising.

Thanks for the comments. Once we find out where our son is going to college next year, we'll be able to plan the budget!!!

It does sound wonderful to drive - I love scenery. i'm starting to take notes on all that I am reading here on Fodors. Thanks for posting to answer my questions.