Alaska summer 2021

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TXTransplant
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12:13a, 6/17/21
Wrapping up a fantastic trip to Alaska and are about to board a plane back to TX.

I thought I'd start this thread in case anyone else has a trip planned for this summer and has questions. It seems to be a popular destination.

We visited Anchorage, Seward, Talkeetna, and Denali National Park.

There were some logistical challenges, particularly related to meals. If anyone has any questions or needs recommendations, feel free to post here and I will follow up.
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Straight Talk
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3:14p, 6/17/21
AG
Just got back on May 18th. It was a real experience. Highly recommend. Glad you had fun! Lots of driving though!
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Stringfellow Hawke
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9:03p, 6/17/21
AG
Post pics as well as mention logistical challenges.
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TXTransplant
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In reply to Stringfellow Hawke • 9:44p, 6/17/21
Logistical challenges were mostly centered around food - lots of closed restaurants, the ones that were open were under-staffed, long wait times to get in, long wait times to get served (we didn't have a meal that took less than an hour), many places were out of sometimes up to half of their menu items. Even grab and go stores had very limited inventory.

This is even more of a challenge in Alaska because so many of the activities are on a schedule. And if you're doing any travel between locations on buses, a long time may elapse between meals. So, you may have a short window to eat, but if a place is really crowded or out of food, it becomes difficult.

Hotels are also short cleaning staff, so you make have to do late check in/early check out. We got lucky and always received a room right when we checked in, but I know that wasn't the case for some of the people we met along the way.

All my pics are on Instagram. I'll link a few here, and you can check out the rest.

We had two days of near-perfect weather while in Denali National Park. I don't think it gets any better than that.


https://instagr.am/p/CQJwvSsp2DG


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Stringfellow Hawke
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9:48p, 6/17/21
AG
Denali looks absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing pics!

How cool was the moose!!??
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AggieZUUL
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10:17p, 6/17/21
AG
I've been on 27 cruises in my life and it's easy to say that my two Alaskan cruise experiences topped them all.
Flying in a helicopter to a glacier where we could walk around next to deep blue colored pockets of ice was an experience I'll never forget. Beautiful part of the world.


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TXTransplant
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In reply to Stringfellow Hawke • 6:33a, 6/18/21
SaluteTheMarines said:
Denali looks absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing pics!

How cool was the moose!!??


Moose was very cool! That was about our closest animal encounter, except for a friendly harbor seal in Seward. The rest were pretty far away, and we didn't see any bears.
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ol'Porkbelly
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In reply to TXTransplant • 9:20p, 6/18/21
AG
Holy ***** I don't know if you realize how lucky you were to have skies that clear. Basically unheard of. We were in Denali NP for a week and only caught a fleeting glimpse of Denali one day.

That is awesome.
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TXTransplant
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In reply to ol'Porkbelly • 6:49a, 6/19/21
Yeah, I thought we were lucky when we saw the peak in Talkeetna. I had no idea we'd have two more days of almost completely clear skies.
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BSD
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4:09p, 6/19/21
AG
We saw Denali in a plane on the way back to Anchorage from Lake Clark on a beautiful crystal clear morning. We were heading to the park later that day so I called and booked a plane ride around it on our way. By the time we got in the plane it had been covered in clouds again. We saw the top of it from the plane but that was it. Didn't see much of it all in the park.

But hey, at least we saw it earlier that day.
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AgRyan04
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11:07p, 6/19/21
We're going at the end of July

I know there are a handful of you going to Katmai and I just finished reading The Bears of Brooks Falls by Michael Fitz, a former ranger at the park.

It was a super easy and quick read and gave A TON of insight into the history of the area, the park, the individual bears, and then a lot of insight into how/why the salmon run and some of the daily challenges the rangers have.

If you're going, I would HIGHLY recommend it. You could probably read the whole thing while in travel to AK.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1682685101/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1624161803&sr=8-3
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BSD
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In reply to AgRyan04 • 7:28a, 6/20/21
AG
Thanks, I'll go grab that book. There is also a 2021 Katmai roster out: https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/659077

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AgRyan04
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In reply to BSD • 9:18a, 6/20/21
Time to start studying!
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BSD
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In reply to AgRyan04 • 9:50a, 6/20/21
AG
Book ordered. Will be here Friday. And a Mexican cookbook is coming with it, so ... score!!!

Definitely looking forward to Katmai. I've been watching explore.org the last few days but the fish aren't there yet. That's ok with me. Save em up for July so we can get a ton of action.

Back to logistics...well probably make grocery store runs if the restaurant scene is bad. I'm still hoping my three different car rentals are good to go. It's too late to go back and make it one long rental. Nothing is available.
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aglaohfour
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3:07p, 6/21/21
AG
Would love to hear what you found to do in Talkeetna. We're heading up to Anchorage tomorrow. Sunday we're taking the train to Talkeetna and then a flight tour around Denali, but it looks like we'll have about a 3 hour window in Talkeetna after the flight and before the return train.
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BSD
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In reply to aglaohfour • 3:08p, 6/21/21
AG
aglaohfour said:
Would love to hear what you found to do in Talkeetna. We're heading up to Anchorage tomorrow. Sunday we're taking the train to Talkeetna and then a flight tour around Denali, but it looks like we'll have about a 3 hour window in Talkeetna after the flight and before the return train.


The brewery in Talkeetna was fun.
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TXTransplant
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In reply to aglaohfour • 4:21p, 6/21/21
aglaohfour said:
Would love to hear what you found to do in Talkeetna. We're heading up to Anchorage tomorrow. Sunday we're taking the train to Talkeetna and then a flight tour around Denali, but it looks like we'll have about a 3 hour window in Talkeetna after the flight and before the return train.


With just three hours, you're not going to be able to do much more than wander around downtown. The brewery is good, and there is a good coffee shop and food truck.

We did a float tour on the Talkeetna River and zip lining, but you won't have time for that.

If skies are clear, you can go up to the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and have a drink and enjoy the view of Denali. They have a great one (when you can see it).
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mel99
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10:10a, 6/22/21
AG
Thanks for your post. I need recommendations on an itinerary. I want to plan a last minute trip for three (husband, 6 year old son, and myself). We definitely want to hit Denali. Looking for 1-2 weeks (end of July).

For what it's worth, my husband and I have done an Alaskan cruise before.

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Mathguy64
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In reply to mel99 • 11:25a, 6/22/21
AG
I would suggest you see if you can even get a rental car first. We did ours 5 months ago and even then prices and availability were high on one end and short on the other. Other in the various groups were finding it hard to even get one since then. Hotels in ANC were hard to find 3 months ago. We are in and out of ANC 3 different times and had to get reservations at 3 different places.
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TXTransplant
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In reply to mel99 • 12:10p, 6/22/21
Contact Pursuits Alaska. If you can't get a rental car, they can still get you around by bus and train. They can also help you plan an itinerary. But transportation is going to dictate what you can and can't do, just because of travel logistics.

We heard over and over again that they are expecting this to be their busiest summer ever - and that's without cruise ship tourism!
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to TXTransplant • 6:53p, 6/22/21
AG
So glad to hear you had a great trip! That is a beautiful pic of Denali. I am able to make out Denali from my office window in Anchorage on a clear day. Out of the 5 times we have headed up to Talkeetna or Denali NP itself since we lived here it has only been clear enough to see the peak once.

We are on our 2nd round of guests for the summer. We have had great luck with wild life so far. We saw bears at a safe distance with both groups and then have a mom moose and 2 calves who regularly appear in our front yard that everyone got to snap pictures with. The first group got to feel the 6.0 earthquake memorial day weekend...although I'm not sure that was on their bucket list.
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to mel99 • 7:05p, 6/22/21
AG
Mel

This is itinerary we have worked for friends with kids in early elementary. This is all if you are able to get a car and self guide without depending on trains and buses...I recommend:

~3 days based in Anchorage:
  • Day Trip to Eklutna Lake, Thunderbird Falls, South Fork Falls about an hour north. Gorgeous glacier fed lake with kayaks and mountain bikes for rent. Family friendly, easy hiking and biking
  • Day Trip to willow and do sled dog experience with an iditarod team. Our 5 & 7 year olds did this with cousins 2 weeks ago and loved it. If interested let me know and I can email you more specific info
  • Day Trip Matanuska glacier hike - can do this guided or unguided
  • Day Trip to Girdwood area, Wildlife Conservation center and a few family friendly hikes we do in that area and portage.

~3 days on Kenai Peninsula - Seward is the easier drive, Homer has a little more to see and do.

  • Cruises out of whittier or seward are great for family, i prefer the whittier ones. The calving glaciers in addition to wildlife, seward are just the wildlife. Both are beautiful.
  • Interested in fishing? See if you can book a charter. Halibut/rockfish out of seward or whittier or river fishing for Sockeye. If you go river, drift boat is more tolerable than waders if you wanted to bring a kiddo. I have taken an 8 year old for sockeye on drift boat and it went great.
  • Exit glacier is easy family friendly hike
  • Marine center aquarium is good

~3 days Denali
  • Several easy hikes around visitor center
  • They are offering limited passes to drive further into the park than usual this year. Our friends in late july got some, not sure if still available. This is really nice with young kids as you aren't beholden to bus schedule.
  • We did an ATV tour around the edge of the park. With older kids I would probably be more likely to do rafting or something more aggressive...but with young kids it was a fun way to cover more ground and see more.

Let me know if you want more details on anything!

Chris
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TXTransplant
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In reply to AnchorageAg • 7:13p, 6/22/21
We did the ATV tour in Denali and the Matanuska Glacier hike. I would highly recommend both.

I would also recommend a guided glacier hike. 1) they give you spikes to put on your shoes which makes the hike a lot easier and 2) they give you ample warning about where to step. There is a lot of quicksand-like mud, and there are what look like "puddles" on the glacier that are actually so deep that if you stepped in, you would go in over your head. Falling in a wet, cold glacier crevice would definitely put a damper on the trip.

If logistics become an issue, I could have very easily spent a week in the Seward area and had a great time. There are so many outdoor activities/adventures that we just did not have time to do. The scenery is also gorgeous. The day we did the glacier cruise, the weather was bad. I would have liked to have the opportunity to do it again with better visibility.
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mel99
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In reply to AnchorageAg • 8:05p, 6/22/21
AG
Thank you!
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to aglaohfour • 11:21p, 6/22/21
AG
You will love the flying tour of Denali.

The deck of the brewery is a good suggestion. The ranger station is cool, that is where folks that are crazy enough to climb Denali check in so there is some interesting stuff around that. There is a short scenic trail along the river just west of town, my son likes to chunk sticks and rocks in the river. There are a couple of beautiful lake trails south of town (pic below from the fall). They are ~2.5 miles south of the main strip so a little more hassle to get to on foot with a tight window.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ph9KyQW
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aglaohfour
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4:57p, 6/23/21
AG
Just a heads up for anyone heading to Anchorage - last night we arrived at 7pm and didn't leave the airport with our rental car (that I'd reserved in January) until 9:45pm. There were only maybe 10 people ahead of us in line at the rental check in counter, but the three employees were moving at a truly shocking pace. I'd mentally prepared for it to take a while, but I'd be lying if I said we weren't all tired and cranky by the time we left lol.

Anyway, we woke up at 5am thanks to not-very-effective blackout shades so we've done quite a bit already today and it's been lovely so far.
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BSD
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In reply to aglaohfour • 5:52p, 6/23/21
AG
But the car was there, right? You weren't waiting on a car, just slow employees?

Which rental car company was it?
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aglaohfour
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In reply to BSD • 6:07p, 6/23/21
AG
The car was there all along, to my knowledge. There were about 30 cars in the rental garage when we left.

We rented through Enterprise. There is a joint Alamo/National/Enterprise counter (all employees were rotating through assisting people from each company's queue). It was the strangest rental experience we've ever had.
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Mathguy64
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10:37p, 6/23/21
AG
It's going to be a long 15 days until July 8. I'm not quite to the point of losing sleep but I can't say I'm not a little edgy right now about flights and cars.
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to Mathguy64 • 2:00p, 6/28/21
AG
Our group that arrived Saturday had set up their rental at the Enterprise mid-town location instead of the airport. It was completely painless and the opposite of most everyone else's rental car experiences of late. They had the car ready with no wait when we arrived and had a couple of alternatives and upgrades they let us choose from. I'm guessing it is tough for you to switch from aiport to mid-town...but if you could the ~$15 uber from ANC to mid-town might be worth it.
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Mathguy64
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In reply to AnchorageAg • 2:21p, 6/28/21
AG
I have had this reservation for months. No way I'm changing it. I can't chance it
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sklipes
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2:44p, 6/28/21
What I have done in the past is use hotel shuttle from airport to hotel & return to airport using the same shuttle later on in the day to pick up rental. You bypass the long lines of people that all arrive at the same time to pick up your rental.

This was all before rental car shortages though.
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to aglaohfour • 5:21p, 7/1/21
AG
agla, any report back on your trip? Hope the rest went better than the rental experience. Weather has been hit or miss the last week.

We are headed to Homer this weekend and then Katmai for a couple of days next week. I'll post a few pictures after.
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aglaohfour
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In reply to AnchorageAg • 7:26p, 7/1/21
AG
We're still here, but it's been a really wonderful experience so far. Taking an overnight flight tomorrow, on which I will almost certainly not be able to sleep, so will put together a report with pics and stuff.

I will say that the weather has been outstanding from my perspective. I'm a native Texan, but have known my entire life that I should live in a cold and rainy climate. So the mix of gorgeous sunny but cool days with some days of rain and fog has been wonderful for me. Even my kid noticed - on the Kenai cruise we did I stood on the deck alone in the pouring rain and wind for 30 minutes watching humpbacks and when I came back inside and asked if my makeup looked crazy (it did) she said "mom, I've never seen you look so beautiful and happy." So yeah, it's been delightful and I'm very sad to leave tomorrow.
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AnchorageAg
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In reply to aglaohfour • 6:45p, 7/3/21
AG
Awesome, happy you had a great trip!
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