Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Alaska Trip June 2021

I recently returned from 10 days in Alaska on a birding tour, including the Kenai Peninsula, Denali, the Denali Highway, and Nome.

My comments on lodgings and restaurants are here:

https://www.fodors.com/community/uni...021-a-1698281/

I booked this as a tour including lodging and transportation, so didn't have to deal with car rentals. The agency I used was Partnership for International Birding.

We took the Denali Bus (as far as Eielson Visitor Center) and the Kenai Fjords boat to Northwestern Glacier. Overall weather was excellent. Mosquitos were not unbearable with appropriate use of DEET.

I was really surprised at HOW CLOSE Denali's entrance is to Anchorage. Many of the so-called expert posters on Fodor's make it sound like it would be an exhausing drive there, but it is about 4 hours to the resorts outside of the park (Denali Perch). Nor were we exhausted by taking the all-day bus ride with an excellent driver (normally a guide). The only one of the "big five" animals that we missed seeing were wolves. Two or three nights would be fine. We continued onward from Cantwell to drive the Denali Highway (gravel) with gorgeous scenery, east to the Richardson Highway. From there to Delta and "The Hub of Alaska" and then from Glennallen back to Anchorage.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e0a51e81e8.jpg
Moose with twins outside our lodge at Denali Perch