Have been in Denali in May, June, August, and September. Agree with the others - August and early fall is beautiful! The leaves are turning and the animals are out. June things are beginning to green up about a long winter and short spring. The days are long in June, summer's longest day is near the end of June. August days are still pretty long but we begin "losing" daylight the end of June. Either way, you'll have a nice time! Have fun. I can't recommend a specific flightseeing tour.

katolb90, I apologize for asking question right here but they are Alaskan questions.
Bill_H, not only your photos are fabulous but your answers are what I had been looking for a long time. At this point we could adjust our itinerary and go to Pribilof for 4 or 5 nights in the beginning of August.

So late August early Sept is a good time to see sealife as well? Is there more or less glacier calving at this time?

<b>we could adjust our itinerary and go to Pribilof for 4 or 5 nights in the beginning of August.</b>

210, we were there July 21 - 28 for the photos on our site and the birds were rapidly finishing nesting. Another week would probably be OK but next year we're going earlier in July.

You can email the tour company and ask what to expect in August. Also I have the email address of Gavin, the guide in the photo on my site, who answers email Q's about when to go. I don't want to post his private email but send me a note and I'll forward it to you and you can ask him what to expect in early Aug.

Katolb90, I don't know about the glacier calving and sealife viewings in August. I would think both are good but just don't know.

Bill

katolb90, any time is great for glaciers. I see many people traveling solo in Alaska, I wouldn't hesitate to do it on my own if I needed to.

Bill_H, you are not easy to find. Can you send this info to my yahoo address? &lt;ladigue1&gt; I appreciate all your help. From a bird list I see there are plenty of species to see in August and some of them just arriving at that time. I also want to take zillion pictures of animals.

<b>Bill_H, you are not easy to find.</b>
http://www.hiltonphotography.net/ala...htm#tuftdetail and scroll down half a page, there's a mailto link with my email ...

<b>Can you send this info to my yahoo address?</b>

I'll give it a shot ...

<b>From a bird list I see there are plenty of species to see in August and some of them just arriving at that time</b>

What happens is St. Paul is a migrant stopover so you'll see lengthy bird lists from several years cumulative trips, but this often means sighting a few uncommon species in any given week. The big numbers of approachable birds are the 2 million or so that nest on the cliffs and they are gone by the end of summer once the chicks fledge.

Here's a page from a Wings tour listing species found at one time in Sept (over several years time) but you won't see most of them and many of the ones you see will be very distant, too far for photography. A serious birder is happy to find a new bird, even at 200 yards, but for photography you need to be closer :) ... http://wingsbirds.com/birdLists/birdlist/185 ... the &quot;Gavin&quot; mentioned on the site is the naturalist whose email address I can give you, you can ask him what to expect in August.

Bill

Thank you Bill

Just some information on sea birds. They are usually gone, especially puffins by the first week of Sept, with a few around into the second week.

Thank you BudgetQueen. Can you recall places where you see the most species of birds during your many trips to Alaska?

Kenai Fjords boat tours, longer the better, for sea birds.

Thank you BudgetQueen. Do you recommend a specific company for the longest and best Kenai Fjords tour?

katolb90 - sorry I'm so late responding to your question!! Check out http://www.islandwings.com Michelle is absolutely an AWESOME pilot and gives an unforgetable tour!!

210 - we were in Denali 8/22-8/24, and the fall colors were AWESOME!! I envy all of you going this year - I can NOT wait to go back!

Hey BudgetQueen

You mention flying on cargo planes in Alaska. Tell us about that???

SS

I was in Alaska in June 2006, traveling alone...

Out of Homer, I took an air service called Emerald Air over to Katmai National Park. Its run by a wonderful husband and wife team. 6 hour hike in the park, bears everywhere.... we stayed by the coast as the salmon were not spawning in the river yet.... once in a life time experience.

Also I did the Kenai Fjords Nat park trip out of Seward. Do the &quot;Captains Choice&quot; tour, smaller boat, about 20 people, caters to the crowds viewing desires :whales, birds, glaciers.... wonderful!

Do you recommend a specific company for the longest and best Kenai Fjords tour?



Yes, Alaska Heritage to Northwestern Fjords. www.kenaifjords.com

You mention flying on cargo planes in Alaska. Tell us about that???

Out of Ketchikan, Taquan does mail and cargo runs, but I have gone with Warbelows the most, out of Fairbanks. Probably my most scenic flightseeing in all of Alaska, for me, was on a run to Anaktuvik Pass. This surpassed, McKinley summit, glacier helicopter landings, Misty Fjords etc etc in my experience of many many Alaska flightseeing trips. :)

You can get on some interesting flights with a lot of operators, if they have seats. All of Alaska is scenic. :)

Lots of great info on this thread, and I didn't even have to ask! Thanks. I'm just starting to think about an Alaska trip for Aug 2009 with our 3 generation family of 9. Our group includes active parents in their late 60's, 2 other couples and 3 kids that'll be ages 9 - 15.

We haven't ruled out a cruise/tour, but the land portion is what holds more appeal to us.

Other activities near Denali that are fun include White Water Rafting at the Nenana River. Can take a rough ride or a more easy one that avoids the rapids. We had a great time.

Bathrooms in Denali. I don't recall there being a bathroom break every single hour but there were sufficient rests/breaks.

Bears - all depends. We've seen bears from the buses but also saw bears when hiking. The closest we came to a bear was probably too close - about 15 - 20 yards away. He ignored us and went about his business. We respected his space.

I like the Denali buses but it's not for everyone. It's a long trip in a less than Greyhound type of atmosphere (hard seats) but in my humble opinion, worth it.

Last but not least, there are some cabins right outside of Denali that I preferred over the hotels. The cabins allowed us to barbeque outside at night and sit under the stars in the outdoor hot tub. More rustic but more fun, at least for me.

amdc - can you tell us the name of the cabins? We might tent camp, but if we don't, I would love being somewhere with an outdoor hot tub!

Thanks.