Bump to get advice. Kind of a last minute trip to Alaska in late July. We can fly into Fairbanks or Anchorage. The wish list for the 23 yr old (and older adults) inlcudes bears and hiking. Denali area if possible. Suggestions for an itinerary? Budget is pretty flexible. Any help is truly appreciated. Planning a 10 day trip in an area that large is a little overwhelming.

In 2018 we took a sea plane from Soldatna to some lake JUST outside of Lake Clark.....they did two tours - one that was a bear watching tour and one that was a fishing/bear watching tour.

We did the bear tour and it was 3 or 4 hours of watching bears....it was amazing. We just set up where a stream coming out of Lake Clark came into the lake we were in....saw 12 or 13 bears come stalk all the salmon gathering about to try to climb that stream.

My brother in law, cousin in law and uncle in law did the fishing one....they fished for 3 hours and Bear watched for an hour.

Tour was through Talon Air Service.

For hiking....the entire state is gorgeous....just buy bear spray. We hiked around Denali but didn't get into the backcountry.

Did you do Crescent Lake or Big River Lake?

We stayed at Redoubt Mountain Lodge on Crescent Lake and it is one of my favorite memories.

I believe it was Big River Lake

Nice. That whole area is beautiful.

As for the question, a day trip to Brooks Falls or Lake Clark will be an easy way for "guaranteed" bear sightings. We did Denali in 2020 and didn't see a single bear on the way to Backcountry Lodge. On the drive back we saw a few but they weren't close like you get down south. At Crescent Lake, we had to reel in our lines, hop in the boat, and wait for the bears to pass before we went back to shore to fish. They were pretty dang close. And at Brooks they are literally just a few feet away.

bloom said:

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Bump to get advice. Kind of a last minute trip to Alaska in late July. We can fly into Fairbanks or Anchorage. The wish list for the 23 yr old (and older adults) inlcudes bears and hiking. Denali area if possible. Suggestions for an itinerary? Budget is pretty flexible. Any help is truly appreciated. Planning a 10 day trip in an area that large is a little overwhelming.

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Seconding this bump!