I'm back from my trip out west and I'm back to planning my Alaska trip. I was leaning towards August-early Sept 08 cause of what everyone was saying (on my prior post) about the wildlife in Denali. Then I started wondering if the mountain tops and glaciers would be as stunning this time of year since there will probably be more melting. Will the snow capped mountains still have snow in the anchorage/kenai/denali areas? Will the glaciers look different? Is there more sealife in the early summer as opposed to the late summer?

I did decide to do cruise-only and plan the land portion separately. Besides Anchorange, Denali and Kenai, I was thinking of spending some time in the Talkeetna area? Is that a good choice? My priorities are hiking, scenic rafting. I don't care so much about what the town is like, but what outdoor activities and scenery there is near the town. Thanks

The tops of the high mts. will have snow. Lower elevations will be green. Glaciers are unique every day and in constant states of change. You have a good varied list of areas. Should find plenty of great hiking.

Last time I flew into Alaska I had someone sitting beside me on the plane from Florida. He was amazed when we flew over the mountains, "wow! I've never seen mountains before, that's so cool" etc. If you can you might want to consider timing your flight during daylight hours and get a window seat so you can enjoy the spectacular views when arriving in Anchorage. The mountains from the plane are awesome!

Try dogsledding on a glacier in Alyeksa or Seward. Try kayaking near glaciers in Kenai. Seasons very for different types of Salmon runs. But last of June and first part of July Sockey Salmon fishing is very fun and if you stand a very good chance of fishing right next to a bear. Or 15 bears as we did this summer. July,3 catch race down mountain in Seward. Definately ride the train from Anchorage to Seward.

We were in Anchorage, Homer, Seward, Talkeetna and Denali (Healy) from 8/22/07 thru 9/1/07.

In Homer, the mountains across the bay were loaded with snow. Very beautiful. But the mountains en route to Homer along the famous Seward Highway were green with gray caps where the snow had been. The locals said most of the snow is often gone by July. In Seward, the mountains were also without much snow. They would have been far more beautiful with snow, but were still pretty. In Denali, the higher peaks still had snow and McKinley was completely snow covered.

Regarding the sealife, I presume you'll be taking a trip from Seward. That time of year is rather dicey as the waves get bigger when there's inclement weather, which is more the norm then. We went out in a small boat with the Salt Water Lodge people and were unable to get very far due to the rainy conditions. Not much wildlife either. We'll try again if we're ever back. Fortunately, we were on their sightseeing and fishing combo trip so we got to spend a lot of time fishing for silver salmon. We caught some fish and that was fun. We heard from others who were in the larger boats that day that they made it to the glacier but that several on board got sick from the high seas. Ironically, the same Salt Water Lodge tour the day before and after our trip had fantastic weather despite predictions of rain - the forecasts there are notoriously unreliable - and saw the whales, sealife, and calving glacier that we missed.

Talkeetna is a tiny town. Not sure I'd want to spend much time there. You can take a rafting trip there which is offered by several companies, but they all said the rafting trip at Denali was usually better. We were going to do the 6pm Denali rafting trip but the weather was rainy (they had late afternoon thunder showers) and chilly then. Be aware that those companies generally go rain or shine and that you can't cancel at the last minute and get a full refund. We were very glad we passed. We took a great summit flightseeing trip from Talkeetna with Talkeetna Aero Service and highly recommend them.

The Emerald Air people in Homer do a great bear trip to Katmai, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day with them. But again it's rainy season. We were told that our trip was the first one in nearly 2 weeks that did not have constant rain.

The colors in Denali were very impressive though we probably missed peak colors by a couple of days. The school bus "tour" there is rather interesting. Denali is this huge 9 million square mile park but the public is only able to see a tiny, tiny fraction of it via this 90 mile road (one way) that the school bus goes on (at 35 mph). It's better than nothing but compared to every other national park I've been in, there's virtually no access to 99% of the park for ecological concerns. Serious back packers, of course, can see more of the park. We took the school bus all the way to Wonder Lake and had a great time seeing all kinds of wildlife. But if the wildlife hadn't been out and if the colors hadn't been beautiful, I think we'd have been bored. Like most of Alaska, it's the luck of the draw.

The problem with all Alaska trips is trying to figure out when to go. The Seward people told us that they had a total of 3 days of sun during their entire 2006 "season". (For those folks in the tourist trade, they have roughly 90 days of summer to make their money, which is why it was referred to as their "season".) There are pros and cons of going any time, as you know. We lucked out and had mostly sunny weather. We were repeatedly told that was uncommon that time of year. Alaska is a place where the scenery is by far the main attraction so having nice weather is definitely a plus. But you simply can't count on good weather no matter when you go. It's the proverbial crap shoot, unfortunately.

We were there in basicly the same time period. I'd been told that was the rainiest time of year, so I went prepared for that and was amazed at how beautiful the weather was for our whole trip! Our whole cruise portion was GORGEOUS with many people using the ship's pool. During our land tour, we did have several days that started out gloomy/rainy, but go up the road, or wait a few hours and the sun always appeared. You'll see PLENTY of AWESOME scenery whatever the weather!

I agree. Even Alaskans can't predict the weather. We know approximately when it's going to snow (October) and approximately when it's going to stop (April) and can take a wild guess at the "rainy" season - but nothing is completely predictable, especially in the summer. Some summers it rains a lot and we have just a few nice days. Other summers are just beautiful! Sometimes it's chilly, other times it is 'hot'. The weather changes quickly so you're bound to experience different weather conditions on a 2 week vacation. Come open minded and ready for anything and you'll have fun no matter what.

Well, because I procrastinated so much on booking my cruise, I had the worse time getting the sailing and cabin type I wanted so I settled on a very late May sailing. I must look the bright side. Less crowds, probably less kids on the boat, probably more snow capped mountains, possibly drier. I guess I may or may not see any sealife. I won't see any bears. I think I favor sealife over wildlife anyway. The land-portion of my trip (which isn't planned yet) will end in mid-June.

I don't like the idea of driving around myself so I'll probably take the train everywhere. I thought about going to Homer for a day or two, but I don't know how I would get there(no trains right?). Any suggestions?

My loose plan is to visit Talkeetna area for the flight seeing and maybe something else, then take a cruise or two in the Seward area, then spend a few days in Anchorage.

I won't be devastated if I don't see whales as long as the scenery on the cruises is nice. I also would like the most seasick, but safe cruise available cause I like the movement of the boat and don't get sick at all. Any suggestions? I was also thinking about doing the 26 glacier cruise, but I understand that leaves from Whittier. Not sure how to get to the dock since I don't plan to stay in Whittier. Any suggstions? I also want to do a couple of nice guided hikes. Any suggestions for companies/hikes?

By mid-June I would think you would stand a pretty good chance of seeing bears and whales. Just find out where the Salmon run is at that time and you will find bears. The smaller the boat the more likely for rougher waters.