We have revised our trip many times, and here is the latest, but greatest?????
5/31 Arrive Anc- sleep Girdwood
6/1 Drive to Seward, pop around, sleep Seward
6/2 Kenai Fjords Northwest Glacier Trip (thanks BQ) sleep Seward
6/3 Venture to Homer- pop around, sleep Homer
6/4 Emerald Air Bear Day!!!! Sleep Homer
6/5 Free day, Sleep Homer
6/6 Journey to Whittier and Valdeze if Ferry is running
Sleep Valdez Otherwise????
6/7 Travel Area, Sleep Copper Center
6/8 Travel to Wrangell Elais NP Sleep Kennicot
6/9 Pop around Park, Fly out, sleep Copper Center
6/10 Travel to Denal Richardson Hgwy- Denali Hgwy sleep Denali
6/11 Bus into Park.WHICH ONE 6/8/13 hours?
sleep Denali
6/12 Drive to Talkeetna, pop around, Flight Seeing w/Glacier landing night Sleep Talkeetna
6/13 To Anchorage and Late Flight home

Please, comment on overall flow, and what Denali shuttle to use- All the way to Wonder Lake- seems like 13 hours on a bus is a long time?

Our aspirations are Seward/Homer/Wrangell Elais/Denali, and the Glacier Flight. The rest is just getting there. IS the simply too much for our timing?

Thanks in advance.

6/11 Bus into Park.WHICH ONE 6/8/13 hours?

We prefer the 8 hour ride to Eielson and back ...

I think this is a fine itinerary and similar to what we are doing in late August. A word of caution on the Whittier to Valdez ferry. Crossings are limited and that route is not served every day. The 2008 schedule for summer will not be available until mid-February, but a look at the 2007 schedule suggests that on Fridays (June 6 is a Friday in 2008) they run a 2:45 PM ferry that arrives in Whittier at 8:30 PM. If they don't run on Friday this year, you will have to make the drive over to Copper Center. In that case, a stop in Anchorage on the 6th may work well.

I agree in June get your shuttle tickets to Eielson Visitor Center. Mosquitoes in Wonder Lake are horrible especially in June. This is only one place in Alaska where we had a hard time to handle a mosquito problem in June-July. Get your tickets to Eielson Visitor Center at mile 66, is still closed for reconstruction. It is scheduled to be open mid-June but I heard from a friend who is a park ranger it may not be open until much later in the summer.

This is a statement from www.reservedenali.com
"Please note that prior to the opening of the new Eielson Visitor Center all Eielson Shuttle tickets purchased will turn around at Fish Creek at mile 63. The approximate opening for the Eielson Visitor Center will be June 15th but is subject to change."

6/4. You already have your bear watching trip booked, right? If not book it toady since Emerald has already many days fully booked in July and August, don't know about June.

6/9. I suggest instead of staying overnight again in Copper Center drive on Richardson Highway north and stay for one night in Paxson in Denali Highway Cabins or drive on Glenn Highway and stay one night in Sheep Mountain Lodge or Tundra Rose B&B. You may already know about driving a rental car on Denali Highway. Not all agencies allow their cars on unpaved roads specifically Denali Highway. In the beginning of June this road may not be opened or if it is open probably it won't be groomed until later in June/July and after a winter, potholes can be a size of your car or bigger. Personally, I wouldn't want to drive a rental or my own car in early June on Denali Highway.

Your itinerary is very full but doable although you included lots pop arounds(?)

Be aware that the Denali Highway is prohibited by most major car rentals. Hopefully you have an independent with SPECIFIC approval for this drive?? I strongly suggest you also consult your insurance policies, many are void on unpaved roads, or have very limited restrictions. There are NO services, make sure you are self sufficient, being able to change a tire if need be. This drive will take all day, average speed is only 20 mph, slower if raining of had rained recently.

I would suggest, before you finalize anything past Homer, you verify that the ferry is running and book it. You won't be driving Homer to Valdez in a single day.

I wouldn't also spend a day "travel area" Cooper Center, I would delay and spend the time in Valdez, far far more to see and do. Then do the drive in the late afternoon to Cooper Center. Are you spending 2 days in Kennicott??? Hiking?? Otherwise, that is a long time there, unless you are heavy into hiking. Again, I would slide the time back to Valdez. IF you are coming out of Kennicott before the evening, I would travel out of Cooper Center.

As for Denali Park, it depends what shuttle bus for your priority. My min. recommendation is Fish Creek, BUT, purchasing a Wonder Lake ticket, isn't that much more. You could inquire that morning what the bug situation was the day before, and bail out at Fish Creek if reported unbearable.

It is wise to consider a Talkeetna flight when you get there. If canceled, you then have another opportunity for flightseeing the next am.

Be aware that the ski plane glacier landings are mostly snow areas, you may not get near "ice" if it isn't nearby. They planes land for maybe 30 minutes, so no time to wander off too far. I prefer the summit flights, and in your timeframe, there should be climbers.

Great advice from BQ -- take it to the bank. I do think the glacier landings are fun, tho ...

Too bad repete, my post is not up to your expectations. And what's your advice?

BH Thanks- I have really enjoyed your posts and photography.
MileKing- Thanks as well for your advice re dealing with the ferry. I find in maddening that the schedule ill not be posted till Feb, but then again I live in New Jersey- the I want it now state!
Way North-Got it on Denali, I will keep following the updates on reservedenali.com.
Our Bear trip is booked, and I really appreciate your advice on the Denali Hgway- I know it was gravel, but???
Pop around= free time. Last thing we want is every hour booked, need some flexibility.
BQ- Thanks as always for your frankness, I am leaving the whole Valdez, Cooper Center,Wrangel a bit open, once again don't want to be to planned, need time to seize opportunity!,
BQ and Repete-Also thanks for words on glacier vs summit landing.

QUESTION: Opinion on reserving all Hotels in advance????? I would love not to, and only reserve beginning and end.....Thoughts?

I really appreciate the input, this is daunting otherwise.

Way North,

Sorry. Didn't mean to slight you, Way North!

I was just giving a little luv to the royalty -- who BTW is a huge star in the new Fodors that arrived today (Thanks, editors!)

Your recs are fine, especially the insider ranger stuff. On another board (non0-travel)I visit you can give (and take) "karma" on posts. I'd certainly give you some for that.

Wow marleyzoemom, you're bringing back lots of memories from my trip last year. Basically the same route with the addition of 2 nights in Soldotna to fish, and an overnight in Lake Clarke to see bears. We flew into Anchorage May 24th and back out on June 10th. I know what you mean about hating to plan everything and I've done plenty of traveling by the seat of my pants in several countries but I did make most of my reservations ahead of time. Called a Valdez B&B in January & they were already totally booked for the beginning of June so that was my wake-up call. Also (trying to reserve in February) I couldn't get the McKinley flight for the day I wanted in June so I had to rearrange some of my lodging. You possibly would spend hours a day looking for somewhere to stay. RV allows a more spontaneous trip.

Yes, it is doable with planning. You should be good for a ferry from Whittier to Valdez on that Friday. The ferry does not run on Saturdays that early. The fast ferry (2 hours 45 minutes) ran on Sundays early June last year. There are rumors that there will be cuts on the marine hwy this year to save money. Last year, the fast ferry was less that 25% capacity the day we went from Whittier to Valdez. Also, Viking Travel is licensed by the state of AK to reserve on the ferries. They do not charge extra and you can set up the reservation with them and they will make it for you on the first day the system opens. Works very well, they seem to get everyone what they want. If you want info on them let me know.

We flew into McCarthy from Chitna to visit Wrangell-St Elias. We stayed in Kennicott at the Lodge for 2 nights and did a glacier hike. Really cool thing to do. They are restoring the Kenicott Mine and that is very interesting, with walking tours. Also, some really good hiking. Not crowded that time of year, actually hasn't really become a big tourist attraction because of the extra effort to get there. That was my second favorite place during our trip.

What to do about lodging because of ferry schedule, etc? Find places with liberal booking policies and adjust as needed. I had to shorten our Homer stay because of the ferry, shortened our Denali visit to 3 nights instead of 4, and cut out Fairbanks on this trip because I decided to go to Valdez and Wrangell-St Elias NP. I'm glad I did. The drive from Valdez up thru Thompson Pass to the Worthington Glacier had waterfalls and snow covered mountains and almost made me cry. It is classified as one of the most scenic in the world and I agree.

I have a very long report (the 1st 15 days) on Trip Advisor if you're interested. Great trip, one of my favorites of my wanderings.

We did the Wonder Lake bus. Would probably do that one again though it was a long day. Many snoozers on the return.

Anything else I can help with, let me know.

Whoops, accidently said ferry to Valdez does not run on Saturdays in early June, meant to saw we took the fast ferry on Saturday because no ferries ran on Sunday until after the middle of the month.

Something else to think about marleyzoemom, the ride from Homer to Whittier is pretty long, at least 4 hours, often longer. Plus you have to allow time for staging at the tunnel until it's your turn and also at the ferry terminal lot. What we did was leave Homer at 7p.m. and stayed at the Sunrise Inn in Cooper

this darn laptop....stayed at Cooper Landing (not fancy but convenient. Had breakfast at their restaurant, left at 8a.m, drove the 50-some miles back to the Whittier turnoff, spent an hour at the Begich Boggs visitor center by Portage Glacier including going for a walk and then drove to the staging area for the tunnel. Southbound lane is open on the halfhour. We got there about 10:15a.m. for the 10:30 crossing and were assigned a lane. The ferry was scheduled for 12:30 p.m. departure so we walked around a bit, watched some kayakers, and went into a few gift shops. They opened the vehicle staging lot about 11:15 so I moved the car and was assigned a lane. You have to check in at the marine terminal then walked back to the shops since we had about 45 minutes to go. All in all, went very smoothly. Just a little look see of getting to ferry and some time references.

What a great forum... we used this to plan Costa Rica, Hawaii, I can quite imagine what I would do without it!
Central Pa, you have been very helpful. Good to know someone who actually did almost the same trip.
A few questions-
Wrangel St. Elais was your second favorite, what was your first?
If we took the fast ferry Saturday to Valdez, how would you then arrange the 4 nights before we head to Denali?
So many questions..., thanks!

Wrangell-St ELIAS National Park is great for backpacking