Alaska Trip Report - Aug 05
 

Hi, everyone, we had a fabulous 10 days in Alaska this August (1-10). We mainly stayed in Denali & Seward, and wouldn't have wanted to add any other places. If you zip in and zip out, you miss taking time to experience true Alaska.

We flew into Anchorage and rented from Dollar. They offered us a $30 Diminished Damage Waiver, which covered us for the first $500 for any claims -- essentially covering our insurance deductible. We're glad we took it because we did get a windshield chip. We spent the night at the Fairfield Inn on Marriott points - it was awful. The service was the worst - we were scowled at, they would not give us an extra pillow, etc. Our room was TINY (I took pictures to post on tripadvisor) - smallest hotel room I've ever stayed in when in the US). The actual facility is new and nice looking, and the free breakfast is GREAT. But their air conditioning system has serious problems. We couldn't get it to turn off. We finally got it to go off by turning on the heat - not the best, but at least we weren't being frozen out.

We headed up to Denali the next morning, making lots of short stops along the way to look at views and birds, etc. - but not too long, because we wanted to get to Denali! We actually went right to our lodging first, north of Denali in Healy. We stayed at Denali Lakeside Lodging, in their Tool Shed cabin. It was $120 a night, and it was fantastic. It's right on Lake Otto, the view is stunning, and the cabin is absolutely charming. It's bigger than it looks on their website, and it has everything you need and more (including a washer and dryer). Jan & Rick were so helpful and wonderful - some of our luggage didn't arrive and they were making calls on our behalf, offering us clothes to wear, etc. :-) They have a fabulous, very clean hot tub to use as well. The first night, we stopped at our place, unloaded, and then went back to Denali (about 15 minutes). We toured around in the park to the extent you can in a private vehicle, saw a caribou very upclose in a stream bed, did a few quick walks, and headed back to the cabin. We made dinner in and then took the paddleboat out onto Lake Otto. Just incredible - quiet, peaceful, with the looming mountain ranges right there.

The next day, we got up very early for our 5:30 a.m. Fish Creek shuttle bus tour. It was half empty, and they told us the Wonder Lake bus only had 4 people on it and we could switch to that one (by paying a fee) at Toklat if we wanted. Since it was Aug 3, we thought it would be too buggy. But when we asked, they said, "Absolutely not, our mosquito season is over." So we switched to the Wonder Lake bus and we are so glad we did. We saw so much wildlife (on the Fish Creek portion also, including several bears and cubs close up), and McKinley was out clear as a bell. Going past Fish Creek was stunning. That's where we saw the moose cow and her two calves in the pond, and so many views of McKinley. The first day, we got off the bus at Wonder Lake (no one else did), had lunch, walked around the lake some (there are "social" trails), and easily hopped on the next bus. BTW, not a single mosquito at Wonder Lake (and we didn't have bug spray on). I mentioned this to the second bus driver, and he said, "Um, our mosquito season is always over by August. Why are you surprised?" Then we got off at Eilson (the closed visitor station), and my goodness, the view is just beyond belief. We hiked a number of trails that take you down close to the river, where we saw lots of caribou. Just being out there by ourselves in Denali was so meaningful - the wind, the wildlife, and you. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to take the bus the next day and do lots of hikes on our own.

So the next day we got on the 5:30 am Fish Creek bus (the Wonder Lake was sold out). We got off the bus several times to do hikes on our own. On our longest one, we got off right before Stony Dome (in sight of Fish Creek) and then walked almost the whole way to Toklat - about 7 miles). We walked along side the road but took many side trails and short cuts. The mountain streams, the wildlife (like the artic tern sitting on her nest), the flowers, the smells, the sounds - please get off the bus at Denali and experience it for yourself! I will address this more later.

While walking on our own, we actually ran into a mama bear and her three cubs. We could see them in the distance - my husband estimated they were 300 yards from us -- and we wanted nothing to do with them. So we went up to the road and waited right there for the next bus. We got on the bus, the bear came over with the cubs, we took photos, then when the bear left, we got off the bus and continued on our way.

All told, during those two days in Denali we saw more than 2 dozen grizzlies, 3 wolves (the true highlight of my trip), many caribou, many dall sheep, and three moose.

We ate out only once in the area, at the Black Diamond Grill in Healy, at the recommendation of our lodging hosts. They told us, This is the only place we eat out for a decent meal, in Glitter Gultch everything is such a rip off. We were not expecting a nice restaurant, but it was. The food was so fresh and so yummy. I had salmon and my husband had lamb (he is not a seafood eater). Desserts were incredible - dark chocolate cake with bear claw ice cream. Highly recommend.

The next morning we had to leave our gorgeous little cabin, and we headed down to Anchorage. We stopped for a long hike at Byers Lake Campground in Denali State Park - about 2 miles I think. So beautiful, so many birds. Lots of reports of bears, glad we didn't see any as we did not have a bus to escape to this time! :-)

We also stopped at the Eagle River Nature Center, which I would encourage EVERYONE to do. They have several short hikes and a loop trail of about 2 miles that goes by the river. They have viewing platforms over ponds and you can watch the beavers and ducks. It's quiet and not many people. Highly recommend. On the way back from Eagle River, we saw our one and only male moose. He was just eating on the side of the road. We turned around, came along side him, snapped several shots, and left him along. He never looked at us so I don't think we bothered him too much. He was truly glorious, with his gleaming velvet on his rack.

That night we stayed in Fairfield Inn (had to because we had booked it free with points). The service was MUCH MUCH better, thank goodness. The room was a normal size room, also. However, the !@#$%^ air conditioning would not shut off at all. We called downstairs, they couldn't do anything for us, so we threw the top comforter on top of the unit and that blocked some of the chill. We tried to eat in downtown Anchorage, but it was about 7 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Went to Moose's Tooth, they didn't have an open parking spot anywhere around, and frankly it looked really run down. So we tried Glacier Brewhouse, the wait was 90 minutes. Saw Orso next door - the menu looked so good, blackberry gorgonzola salad, mmm! But they had a 60 minute wait. So we split a raindeer sausage on the street and went to dinner later at the Sourdough Mining Company. Their corn fritters are excellent, and the meals are not that expensive, but it left us both feeling a little sick (I think from the grease). I was so excited to go to the Wild Berry Store across the street, so you can imagine my dissappointment when they almost nothing in the store related to berries. They had a small display of jams/jellies and some chocolates made with berry centers. Essentially it's a big tourist trap. Bummer, because I wanted berries!

Will continue in another post (in the same thread...).

OK, the next morning we left bright and early for Seward. We made many many stops along the way, including about 2-3 hours in the Portage Glacier area. We actually had lunch at the little lodge there - their halibut sandwich was excellent and very reasonably priced. We checked out the visitor center, then went and did the Byron Glacier trail, a very easy mile walk that allows you to climb onto the snow field at the bottom of the glacier. Great photos! We also did some other short walks - Moose Flats, for example. Make sure that you pull off for the viewing spots on the portage glacier road, they are REALLY worth it. At the Williwaw Campground, there's a wheelchair accessible viewing platform for salmon spawing. The Explorer Glacier pull off is just stunning, the pond at the pull off is the most gorgeous blue.

We did some other short stops (Beluga point, Bird Point, etc.)on the way down to Seward, but again wanted to get to our ldoging. I was worried because we were staying on Lowell Point, which some people had said was very junky and ugly. We got there around 4 p.m. on Saturday and went right out to Lowell Point. The road is bumpy and narrow and dusty. Some drivers take their half out of the middle. When you pull into Lowell Point, we turned left through a campground area to get to our lodging. I was not that impressed. We went into our cabin, the Gatehouse (part of Angel's Rest B&B), feeling grumbly and annoyed. As we walked into the cabin, we were suddenly transfixed by the view. All our annoyance melted away. The view, oh my, the view. The pictures on the Angel's Rest website do not lie, it is actually that beautiful and more. The Gate house is gorgeous inside, a little small (would only sleep 2) but cozy and had everything we needed. After staying 5 days/4 nights in Seward, I would actually say that Lowell Point is a better place to stay than Seward. Seward is not the most charming town. It's sort of ugly, I hate to say. Lowell Point isn't manicured, but it is beautiful. The beach, the wildflowers everywhere (even in August). I actually didn't see many junky vehicles, when I looked for them, I found them, but they were not obvious. And NO trash anywhere to be found, no litter at all. Why not stay where you can walk on the beach, watch the eagles and otters, hear the waves? I went jogging in the morning while hubby went fishing and just couldn't get over the beauty. I do have two small complaints about Angel's Rest. The first is that our grill didn't work (and my husband knows how to work a grill, this thing just didn't work). The second is that we never saw the owners, and only talked to them the day we left. The first night, we needed something from them and left a string of messages. I just think the first night in particular, they should be more available to their guests. They did end up getting us what we needed, but they dropped it by while we were out, so we never did see them. Anyway, this is a small complaint and I would stay here again in a heartbeat. Will post photos on tripadvisor.

What did we do in Seward for 5 days/4 nights? We had a total blast. I will post the rest tomorrow (my fingers are cramping up)!

What a wonderful trip report! Looked up the lodge you stayed at in Seward (Angel ?) and found out they only have room for 2. We'll have to save that for the far future! You've inspired me to look for interesting lodging rather than do the RV thing. We are not RVers. Can't wait to hear about Lowell Point!

Birder, thanks for the trip report! My wife & I are heading in the same direction 8/27....Can't wait!! Do you know if they fixed the grill at the Gatehouse cabin? Planned on using it to Grill fish and enjoy the evening view. Thanks for contributing to our excitement.

Just a note for ayone reading this post who may stay at the Anchorage Fairfield Inn in the future. The A/C is easy to turn on and off or to adjust the temperature but the method is not obvious and apparently the desk clerks have never been briefed on it.

There are two components to the system: the unit mounted on the lower wall does the actual cooling and has controls on it that look they should work. They don't. The controls are on the thermostat mounted higher on another wall. You use the thermostat to set the desired temperature and the little sliding switch on the side to turn air conditioning on or off.

I'm going to be there again tonight and I'll print a copy of this thread for the manager. Maybe they can train their desk staff so others don't suffer the same inconvience you did.

dwoodon - about the Fairfield Inn - I'm sorry, but we DID know about the temperature control on the wall. When we called down to the front desk the first time, that's the first thing they told us - ignore the actual air conditioning unit, you have to adjust it on the wall. The first night, the air would NOT go off when we adjusted it on the wall. But when we put it on heat, the heat would come on. The second night we stayed there, we adjusted it on the wall and NOTHING would get the air to shut off. We turned it off, we turned it on auto, we turned it on heat, we turned the gauge very high so it would be like 90 degrees in the room - NOTHING.

So unfortunately this is not a simple matter of re-educating the desk staff.

Sorry - I did not realize you had gone through that gyration. It worked fine for me both nights last week in two different rooms. Maybe there was just a problem with the unit in your room. I guess I won't print this thread out and give it to them after all.

I also had a little problem with the hotel tonight. When I got here and got my luggage from their storage room, it turned out a pipe had leaked behind the storage area and had soaked one of my bags. No permanent damage but I'm now waiting for the dryer.

Oh no, I hope you're not waiting too long - we washed some clothes there and put the dryer on medium. It didn't dry most of the clothes, and since someone else was waiting to use it, I didn't feel I could use it again. So we spread the clothes out all over the room - due to the frigid air, all but my jeans dried overnight. :-)

OK, I'm finally going to finish this trip report!

Our first night in Seward, after checking in, we went into town, walked around by the waterfront, were amazed by the view of Resurrection Bay with the fog coming in, and then went to Safeway. Since the last place we shopped was a little grocery/liquor store in Healy, it was nice to be in the Safeway, where they were even handing out free samples! We bought a steak for the grill, and lots of other food for our stay since we tend to eat in (and with the view at our cabin, why eat anywhere else?!). We got back to the cabin, and the grill didn't work. My husband moved it totally out of the wind behind the cabin and still couldn't get it to stay lit. So, he cooked them on the gas range. It actually turned out fine because he could get it to a high enough heat to sear the steaks - but it was a bummer that the grill didn't work. Afterward, we went to find the start of the Cain's Head Trail. This is a trail along the coast that can only be hiked during low tide. It's 5 miles, and since their tides change every 6 hours, you either have to have a boat pick you up or wait another 6 hours while the tide changes again. It was getting late but we wanted to find the trail head and walk it a little. We found that you actually have quite a bit of climbing to do to start because you can't walk the beach in the beginning due to rugged cliffs. After hiking about an hour, we turned back (just because it was getting late). The forest was extremely pretty and we saw stellar jays, my first time if you can believe it!

The next day was our Kenai Fjords Northwestern Fjords tour. We got there a little early (with extra food, binoculars, and cameras in tow), and ended up being first in line. I asked the guy on the boat, Where's the best place to sit. He said, on a beautiful day like today, on the top. So we went to the top and got great seats, although you don't stay in your seats very much. Our trip was only 2/3 full so there was plenty of space and no one fighting over seats (as I've heard can happen). Breakfast is a Del Monte fruit cup and a small cinnamon roll. Coffee and tea are free, sodas were $1.50. Apples were free all day. Lunch was a subway turkey sandwich and turkey soup. For a 9.5 hour trip, I'd recommend you bring additional food, although they did have snacks on sale. The crew was great, extremely friendly. We saw lots of wildlife: mountain goats, sea lions, sea otters, dall porpoises that played around the boat, and all the birds you could imagine. We were disappointed not to see any whales, but we knew it wasn't a whale watching cruise. The highlight was that a large portion (larger than a house) of the Northwestern glacier fell off when we where there. The sound of the calving, let alone the sight, is tremendous and can only be experienced in person. The only problem with this cruise is it is REALLY long. We had a lot of fog so for about 3 hours we didn't see anything except fog. It was, I'm embarrassed to say, boring. A very easy way to fix this would be to bring a good book. If I had had a good book, I would have been very happy.

We got back that night and did not feel like cooking. We looked at Ray's but it was packed, with people standing outside. We didn't want to wait, so we went downtown and found everything full of smoke - UGH. So we went back to Ray's, which was still full, and noticed Chinooks right next door. We went in and were AMAZED. Very nice, upscale decor, great music, HUGE windows - one per table - with a spectacular view of the waterfront. And NO smoking! So we happily went in and were amazed at the prices - very reasonable - cheaper than the smoke-filled places in downtown that didn't have a view. I've never had king crab so I had it, and it was fabulous. Service was marvelous, ambiance was great, we just loved it. My husband wasn't that hungry so he had an appetizer of fried clams and they were SO fresh, I couldn't believe it. We each had cobbler for dessert - I had blackberry and my husband had chocolate. The blackberries were Alaskan - but frozen from the previous year. At least they were honest!

The next day, we had planned on doing the Caine's Head Trail, but we had to wait to make it fit with the tides. But we ended up deciding against it - the night before, my husband had seen all the fish come in at the small boat harbor, and he wanted to fish. I was delighted! He is a freshwater fisherman (catch & release only), so we loaded up his gear, and headed up the highway toward Anchorage. Just a few miles up, we stopped at the USFS Grayling Lake trail. We didn't have our Milepost with us (big mistake) so we didn't know how far we'd have to walk. We started the trail and it was pretty spooky - looked like prime bear habitat and the trail was not well used. We talked loudly the whole way, but after about a mile climbing, we turned around, since we had no idea how far the lake was. Next stop was Ptmarigan Creek - beautiful rushing creek - my husband caught several small Dolly Varden. We noticed the trail head said "Ptmargin Lake" and we wondered how far it was to the lake. These USFS trails have no info, so you've got to the get the info before you leave, we found out! After this stop, we ended up slowly making our way to Russian River (which was on our list of to-dos) - doing many pull outs along the way. Russian River is really better for salmon this time of year, which my husband wasn't equipped for, but he had a great time wading the river, which was not crowded at all - we only saw a few other fishermen. It was very relaxing. We went to the Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing for lunch - only the bar was open, so we sat outside and enjoyed a halibut sandwich and burger. Very very nice. On the way back, we stopped at several creeks full of salmon. They would come right up to my husband. He wasn't fishing for them but really enjoyed it. We did a short hike at Tern Lake - really really beautiful. Ended up heading home, didn't get back to the cabin until about 9 p.m., made dinner, took a walk on the beach. Fabulous day - we really enjoyed it.

The next day, we had looked at the Milepost and found out that the Grayling Lake trail was 1.6 miles. (Another trail we had started down, Carter Lake, was 5 miles!) We found a few good places to try, all within 20 miles of Seward, and head out bright and early. We did some great hikes - the best was to Vagt Lake. It's an easy 1.5 mile trail to a small, stunning lake with a waterfall that feeds into it and a stream that leads out of it. It's stocked with rainbow trout, as well. We were the only people there - it felt like true Alaskan wilderness. I slowly walked around the lake taking photos and birding while my husband fished. He had great luck in the stream leading out of the creek with Dolly Varden - all small but good fighters. Of course, catch & release. The hike to the lake was beautiful as well. We just talked very loudly the whole way and had no bear problems. We got back early, around 3 p.m., and were hungry. We went to Chinooks again (it was so good, how could we not?) and had a late lunch. I had the wild salmon grilled sandwich and it was outstanding - the tartar sauce had fresh dill and chunks of relish - mmm! We went over to the small boat harbor, watched them display the fish, went over to the few tourist shops and got a few tshirts for family. (The Breeze Inn shop had the best prices - really nice tshirts for $9!) We went home, walked the beach, and my husband noticed the salmon in the stream that leads up the waterfall (if you go to Lowell Point, you'll see this huge rushing waterfall right at the road). He also found a big fishing lure there tangled up in some fishing line some idiot had left there (we always collect the fishing line people leave behind). So he ran back, got his rod, put the new lure on it - and caught a big silver salmon. (I forgot to say, he did buy a license!)

The next day was our last - our day to leave Alaska (a 10 p.m. flight). I went jogging and he went fishing again (and caught another big salmon). Then we went to the sealife center, which was really nice. Make sure you do their survey on the way out, you get a free gift at the gift store! We stopped at exit glacier, and it was fabulous. VERY worth the time. We did the three easy trails: overlook, glacier, and nature walk. This is as close to a glacier you'll come, don't miss it. We really enjoyed it. Then we headed up the road to make our way to Anchorage. We did lots of little pull offs, and got into Anchorage around 1 p.m. We were hungry so went to eat. The menu at Orso really caught our eye, so we went in there. The meal was one of the best I'd ever had, and definitely the best meal of the trip. I had halibut encrusted with banana, coconut and almonds, with a orange-pomegranate dipping sauce. I didn't want the fries that came with it, so they offered me a salad - I had the blackberry gorgonzola. I honestly don't remember what my husband had, I was so enthralled with my meal! Dessert was fabulous - I had a blood orange custard with lots of fresh berries (alas, not Alaskan, they were honest). We left very very happy. We walked on the coastal trail, we stopped at REI (I had to!), we ran around and had fun, and showed up at the airport at the appropriate time. How sad to have to leave! But we really felt relaxed and refreshed and as though we had seen at least some of "true" Alaskan wilderness on our own.

I will post a "lessons learned" in a separate thread shortly.....

GREAT report - thanks !!! we'll be there in mid-September - will use your suggestions for restaurants

Wonderful informative trip report. We were in Seward for only two nights and definately want to return and I will certainly use your report for guidance.
We stayed in town at a B&B and I would really have enjoyed staying in Lowell Point and walking the beach etc.
Thanks for sharing.

topping ...

Thanks birder for pointing out your trip report to me. Very helpful info for my upcoming trip!

Birder,
Loved your trip report! We will be in Alaska this August, around the same time as you, and have similar interests. Can you let me know how you packed (clothes-wise) for the trip? Is it just a "bring everything" situation? We will be tent camping, and so will need warm clothes for at night as well. But hiking during the afternoon probably gets pretty warm...

Yes, it definitely gets warm during the day. We did layers. First, we brought almost all wicking clothing (clothing that moves the sweat from you to the air). Lots of places sell wicking clothing - I have alot of Columbia, Royal Robbin, Nike. Here's a good example of a nice wicking tshirt from Lands End and it's a great price: http://tinyurl.com/ob2kt

Anyway, so we'd wear a short sleeve shirt and have a long sleeve shirt on top of that. When it got hot, we just took the long sleeve shirt off. I also love fleece for Alaska b/c it's very warm but it's lightweight and it does wick sweat as well. I brought a lightweight rain slicker but didn't need it. (Actually, not true, I wore it while on the Fjords cruise to cut the wind.)

We wore mainly shorts but my husband brought a couple of "convertible" hiking pants (the kind that you can zip the bottoms off of) - and I had a few pairs of capris. For me, if my upper body is warm, it's OK to be wearing shorts.

This worked really well. During the hottest part of the day, we'd have shorts and a wicking tshirt on. During the coldest part of the trip (by the glaciers on the Northwestern Fjords cruise), I was wearing a tshirt, my shorts, a long sleeve shirt, my zip-up fleece jacket, and my rain slicker. I found it plenty warm.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions! I wish I was going to Alaska this year -- instead, I'll be going to Japan for a month (OK, that's not so bad! :-) )

I know I'm almost a year later ... but here are the photos from my trip report:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...p;conn_speed=1

Just in time for my research!
You have some wonderful pictures!
Thanks for sharing (better late than never!)

Birder:

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures. They were wonderful! What size zoom lens did you have?

Lynda

Thank you! The credit goes to my husband, who took all the photos -- except for those that are of him fishing, of course, and the ones around Vagt Lake. He's actually away with the camera - I will ask him when I talk with him tomorrow!

Great photos birder - thanks for sharing them with us.