discover ALASKA CATHERINE BODRY GREG BENCHWICK, JIM DUFRESNE
3 DISCOVER ALASKA Anchorage & Around (p51) Boutiques and bistros meld with urban moose and hiking trails in the state s largest city. Juneau & Southeast Alaska (p79) A foggy emerald maze of fishing towns and ferry routes, plus the state s capital. Prince William Sound (p137) A kayaker s delight, the Sound abounds with islands, glaciers and hidden coves. Kenai Peninsula, Katmai & Kodiak (p159) Enjoy an accessible wilderness playground on the Kenai Peninsula or watch bears in Katmai National Park. Denali & the Interior (p201) It s not just the tallest mountain in North America, but also the backcountry surrounding it. Fairbanks & the Bush (p233) Chug along the Chena River, soak in hot springs, or spot your first polar bear.
4 CONTENTS
5 THIS IS ALASKA 10 ALASKA S TOP 25 EXPERIENCES 13 ALASKA S TOP ITINERARIES 31 PLANNING YOUR TRIP 39 ANCHORAGE & AROUND 51 HIGHLIGHTS 54 BEST 56 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 57 DISCOVER ANCHORAGE & AROUND 58 ANCHORAGE 58 Sights 58 Activities 59 Anchorage for Kids 62 Tours 63 Sleeping 65 Eating 67 Drinking 69 Entertainment 69 Shopping 71 Getting There & Away 71 Getting Around 72 SOUTH OF ANCHORAGE 72 Seward Highway 72 Girdwood 73 NORTH OF ANCHORAGE 76 Palmer & Matanuska Valley 76 JUNEAU & SOUTHEAST ALASKA 79 HIGHLIGHTS 82 BEST 86 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 87 JUNEAU & SOUTHEAST ALASKA ITINERARIES 88 DISCOVER JUNEAU & SOUTHEAST ALASKA 90 SOUTHERN PANHANDLE 90 Ketchikan 90 Prince of Wales 95 Wrangell & Around 98 Petersburg 103 NORTHERN PANHANDLE 109 Sitka 109 Tenakee Springs 115 Juneau 116 Around Juneau 124 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve 125 Haines 127 Skagway 130 PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND 137 HIGHLIGHTS 140 BEST 144 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 145 PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND ITINERARIES 146 DISCOVER PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND 148 Valdez 148 Cordova 152 Whittier 156 KENAI PENINSULA, KATMAI & KODIAK ISLAND 159 HIGHLIGHTS 162 BEST 166 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 167 KENAI PENINSULA, KATMAI & KODIAK ISLAND ITINERARIES 168 DISCOVER KENAI PENINSULA, KATMAI & KODIAK ISLAND 170 SEWARD HIGHWAY 170 Turnagain Pass & Around 171 Hope 171 Seward 173 Kenai Fjords National Park 180 STERLING HIGHWAY 182
6 Cooper Landing & Around 182 Homer 182 Seldovia 189 Kachemak Bay State Park 191 KODIAK ISLAND 192 Kodiak 192 ALASKA PENINSULA 198 King Salmon 198 Katmai National Park & Preserve 199 DENALI & THE INTERIOR 201 HIGHLIGHTS 204 BEST 208 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 209 DENALI & THE INTERIOR ITINERARIES 210 DISCOVER DENALI & THE INTERIOR 212 DENALI NATIONAL PARK 212 Sights & Activities 212 Tours 218 Sleeping & Eating 219 Getting There & Around 221 TALKEETNA 223 Sights 223 Tours 223 Sleeping 224 Eating & Drinking 225 Getting There & Around 225 GLENN HIGHWAY 226 Tolsona Creek to Matanuska Glacier 226 Matanuska Glacier to Palmer 228 WRANGELL-ST ELIAS NATIONAL PARK 228 Sights & Activities 228 Tours 231 Sleeping 231 Eating & Drinking 232 Getting There & Around 232 FAIRBANKS & THE BUSH 233 HIGHLIGHTS 236 BEST 238 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 239 FAIRBANKS ITINERARIES 240 DISCOVER FAIRBANKS & THE BUSH 242 FAIRBANKS 242 Sights 242 Activities 244 Tours 245 Sleeping 245 Eating 245 Drinking & Entertainment 246 Getting There & Away 247 Getting Around 247 AROUND FAIRBANKS 247 Chena Hot Springs Road 247 Steese Highway 250 Elliot Highway 250 WESTERN ALASKA 251 Nome 251 Around Nome 255 ARCTIC ALASKA 256 Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve 257 Bettles 258 Barrow 258 ALASKA IN FOCUS 261 ALASKAN WILDLIFE 262 CRUISING IN ALASKA 267 ENVIRONMENT 271 FAMILY TRAVEL 276 HISTORY 280 NATIVE ALASKA 287 OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES 293
7 DIRECTORY & TRANSPORTATION 299 GLOSSARY 320 BEHIND THE SCENES 323 INDEX 326 MAP LEGEND 336 FAIRBANKS & THE BUSH p233 ANCHORAGE & AROUND p51 KENAI PENINSULA, KATMAI & KODIAK ISLAND p159 DENALI & THE INTERIOR p201 PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND p137 JUNEAU & SOUTHEAST ALASKA p79
BARROW p258 Barrow Icy, intriguing and utterly unlike any part of the USA you ve ever visited ARCTIC OCEAN RUSSIA Point Hope Arc tic C G th N ins nta ou Noatak M National ird Preserve Ba ircl e Brook s ins Kotzebue Kotzebue Sound Seward Peninsula L NOME r p251 DENALI NATIONAL PARK 58ºN im p212 Great wildlife watching, hiking and backpacking, plus North America s highest peak D N & Yu An atavistic berg on the Bering Sea with wildlife aplenty and three great road trips w ok ge an River ar k las sk Ku A Nunavik Kuskokwim Bay St George KATMAI NATIONAL PARK Bristol Bay p199 Watch giant brown bears snag salmon in midair at Brooks Fall ka las P Unimak nds n Isla leutia A Fort Glenn King Cove False Pass Unalaska/ Dutch Harbor 172ºW 168ºW 00-prelims-contents-alask1.indd 8 Ra ng e Kodiak Kodiak Sand Point Shumagin s KODIAK ISLAND Nikolski K E Port Lions a Chignik Cold Bay Katmai National Park & Preserve sul n eni A 54ºN tia n King Salmon Hagemeister eu Pribilof s Cape Newerham Al St Paul Iliamna Lake Dillingham Sh e St liko ra f it BERING SEA St ern Int Nome St Lawrence at Ri ve ate ld a ion Bering Land Bridge National Preserve ine n N B M ott dic En ko 62º ta oun Co Inl ok et 66ºN p192 Brown bears don t come any bigger (1500lb) than here 164ºW 160ºW 156ºW 1 3/11/2010 10:05:40 AM
GATES OF THE ARCTIC p257 NATIONAL PARK ELEVATION Adventure into the rugged and imposing Brooks Range for portraits of nature in the raw 4000ft Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ins nta ou M th mi ps 11 ns Range Hwy Dalton s 120 miles Northwest Territories Visit the true wild in this roadless, trailless, vast and wondrous national park CANADA Riv y Circle Livengood e Hw k es Wh ite Ste Yu t Hwy o Chena Mount Elli Fairbanks 6 ains Hot Springs Manley Hot 2 A l a Springs Nenana ska 3 Delta Denali 5 Hwy Junction National Park Alask a Ran Talkeetna Ge o Par rge Hw ks y. Cantwell Talkeetna Mountains y w ge 8 1 son Richardwy H & Preserve Mt McKinley (20320ft) n H Glen Palmer Valdez Wasilla GLACIER BAY NATIONAL p125 PARK & PRESERVE Glaciers calving, seals swimming and humpback whales breaching Eagle Boundary JUNEAU Tok 2 k f To tof Cu Wr ge ll Glennallen Mou nta Kennicott Skagway 7 Yakutat GULF OF ALASKA JUNEAU Pelican Sitka Petersburg Kupreanof Wrangell Al ex Prince Misty Fiords an de of Wales National ra Monument rc hi Ketchikan pe lag o $ p111 See 18 totems in a rainforest setting along the park s Totem Trail - SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK PACIFIC OCEAN British Columbia Admiralty p51 Urban moose, downtown fishing and excellent dining ak Atlin Haines Glacier Bay Bay National Park & Preserve ANCHORAGE Watson Lake Glacier Homer Seldovia Kennedy Entrance WHITEHORSE Haines Junction Cordova Kenai Peninsula p116 From mountain peaks to glaciers, the best day-hiking in Alaska Carmacks an ins McCarthy Wrangell-St Elias Anchorage Chugach Mountains National Park Kenai & Preserve Soldotna Bering Glacier Seward ircle ic C Arct Yukon Territory on Ste r Hw ling y 200 km 0 er 11 let 0 0 Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge Bettles ge 2000ft WRANGELL-ST ELIAS p228 NATIONAL PARK ili Ph Highway Secondary Tertiary Unsealed 8000ft Prudhoe Bay Gates of the Arctic National Park LEGEND 12000ft Dixon Entrance MISTY FIORDS NATIONAL p96 MONUMENT Kayak beneath the towering granite walls and leaping waterfalls of this magnificent fjord 152ºW 148ºW 00-prelims-contents-alask1.indd 9 144ºW 140ºW 136ºW 132ºW 3/11/2010 10:05:44 AM
10 THIS IS ALASKA Alaska is where human beings stand on an equal footing with nature. Nowhere else in the USA is there such an undeveloped, unpopulated and untrampled place. There are mountains, glaciers and rivers in other parts of North America, but few are on the same scale as those in Alaska. This state has 17 of the country s 20 highest peaks, and 5000 glaciers, including one larger than Switzerland. In Alaska, there are king crabs that measure 3ft from claw to claw, brown bears that stand more than 12ft tall, farmers who grow 125lb cabbages and glaciers that discharge icebergs the size of small houses. Because of its size Alaska is more than twice the size of the next-largest state, Texas it s better to pick one or two regions to visit on a shorter vacation than try to fly around the entire state in two weeks. In the Interior, you ll find massive glacial rivers and North America s highest mountain, while in Southeast Alaska things feel a bit
11 more snug. Here, the US s largest national forest, the Tongass, cradles fishing towns and stretches across islands and fjords, with the Alaska Marine Highway weaving through it all. Anchorage provides museums, excellent restaurants and good local hiking, while the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound offer kayaking and opportunities to spot both marine and land animals. In the Bush and the Southwest you ll learn Alaska offers more outdoor activities than most people do in a lifetime what wide open spaces really means, as the mostly roadless regions are impossibly remote and wild. Alaska offers more outdoor activities than most people can do in a lifetime, from climbing mountains to rafting rivers. And if spotting a grizzly bear, catching a wild salmon, kayaking a fjord, walking on a glacier, or simply spinning down a scenic highway is your thing, you ve chosen the right destination.