Alaska
From our bus tour of Denali National Park
Alaska has always played a beautiful, unknowable, and sometimes dangerous character in American literature, one we have loved meeting in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Dave Eggers’ Heroes of the Frontier, and Jack London’s Call of the Wild. Knowing that Alaska has been a muse as well as a setting for redemption arcs and new starts made her all the more appealing to us. We associate Alaska with a sense of awe and wonder, and that, she gives generously.
However, the vastness and variety of the state means that all visitors must choose what side of Alaska they want to meet. We knew right away that we didn’t want orderly cruise-ship Alaska, yet neither did we quite want the wild and unpredictable backcountry one. We didn’t picture ourselves on a budget trip, nor did we aim for luxury. Thus, we stayed at a combination of Airbnbs (some without electricity or running water) and hotels. We ate at some great restaurants but found it just as enjoyable to do grocery shopping to make our own meals. We decided on a few splurge activities among the many others available. We built in time to just relax and take in the beauty of the state while also feeling that we got out and experienced it too.
While planning, one of my favorite discoveries is that Alaska has 8 national parks, but only 3 of them can be visited by car. We’d planned this trip by deciding to fly into and out of Anchorage so as to easily make it to the two most accessible ones: Kenai Fjords to the south, and Denali to the north.
That is to say that on this 12 day trip, we stuck to what I describe as the “big part” of Alaska, but made good use of our rental car, traveling more than 1200 miles. We focused on depth rather than breadth, so looking back at our route on the map is a humbling reality check of how big the state is and how little ground we actually covered. We left the state simultaneously happy with our itinerary and with a wish list of places to visit next time.
Read about our time in Seward, Kenai Fjords National Park, our cabin at Kenai Lake, Denali National Park, Anchorage, and our favorite stops between Anchorage and Denali on the Parks Highway.
Golden hour in Cantwell, just south of Denali National Park
The tallest peak in the middle, the one that looks like a cloud, is Mt. Denali. We felt lucky to see it this day, as the next four were cloudy and rainy
Salmon fishers on Bird Creek near Anchorage
In Seward
The cabins at Hatcher Pass
Before you go
Tourism in Alaska swells during the summer, so if you plan to travel from June to August (we were there in the end of July), make your reservations as early as you can. Since our unique Airbnbs were a highlight of our trip, I’m thankful that we secured these (and most other accommodations, too) far in advance.
Similarly, reserve your rental car early. We had a mid-size Kia from Hertz. As in most cities, it was much cheaper for us to rent from downtown Anchorage (on K street) than at the airport, and the distance between the two was a cheap Lyft ride; so worth the savings. I was worried that Hertz would put a limitation on the type of roads we could use (I had read about beautiful drives only accessible on gravel) and I’m happy to report that we were given no such restrictions.
Before leaving the Anchorage area, we stopped at our friend Eric’s home to borrow his bear spray and a cooler. If you plan on using (or, in the case of the bear spray, hopefully not using) either of these two items, I suggest securing them in Anchorage (Target and Costco may be good options) before leaving town, at which point opportunities to do so may be fewer and prices will be higher.
Though I don’t think it’s a bad idea to reserve tours and activities early, we realized on arrival that both our Seward boat tour and Denali shuttle bus did still have day-of availability, so these are perhaps less urgent reservations if you’d like to allow for some flexibility in your schedule
At Nancy Lake Recreation Area
At the Anchorage Museum
At Anchorage Brewing Company
The film recreation of the Fairbanks bus used by Chris McCandless and featured in Into the Wild.
McKinley Creekside Cabins outside of Denali