The Great Alaska Adventure

After check in you will meet your guide for an orientation and overview of the upcoming adventure. There are a number of exciting optional activities available on this trip, such as whale watching tours, flightseeing with glacier landing, sea kayaking, and more. You are welcome to ask your tour guide for more information on those activities.

Sit back and enjoy the spectacular views rolling by as you head northbound to Talkeetna. This small frontier town, with a population of roughly 400, is the starting point for many Mount Denali ascent attempts. Magnificent views of Mt Denali provide a glimpse of what can be experienced on one of the available glacier flights (optional). Time will be allowed for browsing local shops and for some local Alaskan cuisine.

After Talkeetna, continue north until you reach Denali National Park, where you‘ll make a short stop before heading to dinner and checking into your hotel.

Without a doubt this is one of the highlights of Alaska! In the morning you will go on a Denali wildlife tour (included). A park owned shuttle bus takes you deep into one of the most scenic landscapes in North America. Besides stunning views of Mt McKinley, a variety of wildlife such as grizzly bears, caribou, moose, and wolves can often be spotted.

For those interested in whitewater rafting, there is an optional tour available on the Nenana River at 6:30 pm. Keep in mind it's bright here until almost 11pm or 12am in the summer so darkness will not be a factor.

After breakfast, leave southbound towards other scenic and historic highlights. The first scheduled stop will be in the dog-mushing town and once almost Alaska state capital of Willow. The town hosts several sled dog races each year, including the Iditarod, an endurance race of over 1100 miles from Anchorage to Nome. You‘ll visit an active dog kennel to experience a presentation about Alaska‘s state sport and take a guided dog-powered ride with a genuine dog team and experienced dog musher.

In the afternoon you‘ll continue south to the Mat-Su Valley. Once completely glaciated, the area encompasses thousands of rivers, lakes, and streams and is home to a great variety of wildlife and only about 30,000 people.

In the morning you’ll depart east on the Glenn Hwy, a WWII era road cut through a rugged mountain backdrop with the occasional moose crossing. The 1.5-hour drive is stellar—you travel from the mouth of the Matanuska River to its source, the Matanuska Glacier. When you arrive, check in and gear up for an unforgettable hiking experience on Alaska’s and America’s largest roadside glacier. It’ll be a short and easy hike tailored to the fitness of the group, and any who can’t hike or prefer not to are welcome to relax and sightsee.

After everyone is back on thawed ground the group will enjoy a picnic lunch in the area overlooking the glacier. Before heading back towards civilization, you’ll stop at Hatcher Pass in the Talkeetna Mountains. The historic Independence Mine on top of the pass is a great place to get a sense of what life must have been like back then.

In the morning you’ll head to the adorable coastal town of Seward. The views of the snow-capped Chugach and Kenai Mountains that seemingly rise directly from the sea are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the highlights of the day. The first scheduled stop will be at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The property, which has the likeness to a big farm, offers some big photo potential. Grizzlies, black bears, wood bison, and muskox are just a few of the animals that live here.

After lunch and your arrival in Seward, you’ll travel on a small dirt road out to the community of Lowell Point. Spawning salmon, bald eagles, majestic rainforest groves and spectacular glacier views are amongst your experiences on a short hike down to Tosina Beach.

Today is a free day for optional activities. Spend time in Seward’s downtown with its museums, shopping opportunities, and great restaurants, has a lot to offer, or take a boat trip into Kenai Fjord National Park (optional). With a 10:30am check in, this is Alaska‘s premier marine life viewing location, where humpbacks, sea otters, Steller’s sea lions, seals, orcas and hundreds of seabird species come to feed and breed each summer. Additionally, the trip gets up close and personal with one of two or both tidewater glaciers in Aailak Bay before returning to Seward in the afternoon.

If human powered transportation is preferred, you can rent sea kayaks in town or we can organize a professionally guided kayak trip for any skill level to various places in Resurrection Bay and the surrounding area. At Bear Glacier, for instance, you can kayak among icebergs and at the face of the largest glacier in the national park arriving and departing either by helicopter or jet boat.

In the morning you’ll return to Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The first scheduled stop is the former Gold Rush and present ski resort town of Girdwood, where you’ll take a tram ride to the top of Mt. Alyeska and have lunch at the top. The view is splendid with the Chugach Mountains on one side and Turnagain Arm and Fjords on the other.

Then with what time you have remaining you‘ll continue to Anchorage. If you are staying in Anchorage or Alaska for additional days your guide can give you advice and recommendations on what to do.