Ambraciot

I'm headed to Alaska tomorrow and will be there for 4 nights and 3 days. My current plan is: Arrive and settle in tomorrow night, drive south to Seward/Kenai on Saturday then spend another night in ANC. Drive up to Fairbanks on Sunday and spend the night there. See how much of Denali I can drive on Monday (since it's the shoulder season), then crash at an airport hotel in ANC and head home early Tuesday morning. I'm kind of figuring out the details as I go along and pushing myself because I can. I'm a terrible photographer, but I have a decent DSLR to compensate.

fti

Way too much driving for such a short trip but that is a very common rookie mistake in Alaska. If you want to see the Alaskan roads, your plan is good. If you really want to see Alaska, please drive much less. Pushing yourself to see the Alaska road system really is pointless. Driving to Seward just to drive there and back in one day is one more way to just see the Alaskan roads. And driving 8 hours from Anchorage to Fairbanks, just to turn around and drive to Denali on Monday (to only drive max 29 miles into the park) is a very poor use of your time unfortunately.

My suggestion:

Fri Sep 20 to Anchorage, overnight in Anchorage

Sat Sep 21 drive to Seward - take your time. Very scenic drive along Turnagain Arm. Stop at Wildlife Conservation Center, Girdwood (hand tram?), Begich Boggs Visitor Center, maybe Hope, arrive late afternoon in Seward

Sun Sep 22 take 6 hour Kenai Fjords tour. Afterward you can drive back to Anchorage if desired

Mon Sep 23 use this day to go to Matanuska Glacier (self-guided glacier hike if you rent crampons from REI in Anchorage or pay MICA or Best Glacier Adventures for a tour if they are still offered). Or drive to Talkeetna for the day. Talkeetna option is best if you have good weather so you can see the Mountain at multiple points along the way. Return to Anchorage for early flight on Tuesday.

This way you see a lot of Turnagain Arm including the main sights, plus the pullouts for photo ops. You get to do the Kenai Fjords tour (excellent marine wildlife sighting possibilities). Then you also get to do a glacier hike or take a drive to Talkeetna (Talkeetna is a funky town worthy of a meal and maybe a flightseeing tour if the weather is nice).

Ambraciot

Okay, today was an absolutely terrible day to be driving in or out of Seward, they completely closed 3-5 miles of 9 for every other hour during the middle of the day and only opened one lane during the alternate hours, this resulted in some 90 minute delays with no alternate routes.

Is there a good site to know these kinds of issues will come up?

I think you see a lot more driving around than taking a tour of a tourist trap, especially in states like Alaska and Arizona where the scale of the landscape is one of the main draws.

telel6s

http://511.alaska.gov/alaska511/mappingcomponent/index

Ambraciot

Thanks, if this is accurate it should go in the FAQs sticky when this forum gets one.

fti

Well you can't say you weren't warned about trying to just drive all over the state in a short period of time. Construction delays are very common all over Alaska in the summer. I got caught for about 1/2 hour just a week ago.

Well I don't take tours of tourist traps, so if you do that, it is also your problem. But taking tours vs. just driving around the state is WAY better. Tell me you will see whales, otters, grizzlies, Dalls Sheep, moose, caribou, wolves and more just by driving around the state. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen. I spend days in Denali NP (a shuttle bus more than a formal "tour") and I take the boat tours from Whittier, Seward and Homer when I am there. They are an excellent value for money, and even moreso with 2-for-1 coupons.

Ambraciot

Since I'm back in the lower 48 I thought I'd leave some notes for anyone considering something similar. I absolutely did not encounter any other total highway closures like the one on 9, if anything the other projects I passed in the later 800 miles showed most Alaskan contractors are more efficient than the ones in the lower 48. Normal single lane closures with pilot car operations, no running the stripping and paving crews side by side and completely closing the only road out of town.

I saw a lot along the road between Seward and Fairbanks and took several hundred photos, dozens of which will be shared with one of my classes and a few of which may warrant exhibition. I can't imagine getting a better hands on sense of such a large swath of Alaska in 72 hours by doing anything else. The roads were all of good or great quality including the Park road in Denali up until the gate at mile 29/Tek. The scenary visible from the road, turnouts, scenic overlooks and exits near major features is amazing, the best I've seen since my visit to Easter Island in April outshining what I found driving coast to coast to Hebrides in Scotland, what I found in Doha/the Qatari deserts and my seperate roadtrips through SoCal and the SFO bay area. The multi tone fog/mist and frost glazed flora are lovely touches in late September.

The national parks (Kenai, Denali) and official attractions in Fairbanks were by comparison somewhat less impressive, but still worth visiting if one isn't pressed for time. I liked Seward, it had a very downeast small town New England feel versus Anchorage and Fairbanks which felt more like Phoenix and North Las Vegas frozen over. It snowed a bit in Fairbanks and Denali, but my cheap compact rental car had no issues with the roads. In 72 hours I drove nearly a thousand miles, spent almost exactly $100 on gas and 17-18 hours behind the wheel, I'd do it again in a heartbeat if there is another similar stretch of road.

FlyForFun

On our way from Seward to Anchorage on September 16, 2013, we encountered roadwork and delays. We were the first car in line waiting for the pilot car for about twenty minutes. We had a great time talking with a member of the road crew. She even brought us chocolates to help us through our wait. So even road delays in Alaska can be an adventure.

fti

Thanks for the update. However, I would go out on a limb and say that you really didn't see either Kenai Fjords NP or Denali NP hardly at all. You need a 6 hour or longer boat tour to see much of anything in Kenai Fjords NP and you got to Denali after the shuttle buses stopped operating so you only got less than 1/3 of the way into the park, but not even as far as where most of the "action" with scenery and wildlife starts. But glad you enjoyed the road trip.

pogopossum

It's been three months, I guess I had better respond to this thread!

We had a great time. Our first challenge on arrival, and driving into the city, was to identify what we saw first: Subway or Starbucks. Subway won. Cyniscism wins, coming from Seattle.

The first night we had a nice room and excellent service at the Anchorage Marriott. I was amazed at the number of people who work there who came from Minnesota! Service was great and we were amused by a WalMart "Opening" team that was staying at the hotel at the same time (more about that later)

It was obvious that we were there on the bitter :-) end of the tourist season. Everyone was very friendly and amused (especially since we all came from Minnesota). I think we went to a few key tourist restaurants, but I was left unimpressed by any dining in Anchorage - very expensive!! Food,eh,!

We stayed at Alyeska the second night. Wonderful place, the view from up the mountain was incredible. Beautiful room - great place. Affordable at the end of September!

And that is just a hint about the weather...

The next day we drove to Whittier for our glacier cruise. Our original reservation for three hours was cancelled so we were upgraded to the longer trip on the Phillips Cruises. What a deal!! It was the last cruise of the season, the guides and Captain were wonderful. There were only 67 paid passengers on board. What a wonderful trip!

And the weather was perfect! Clear, warm, calm seas, even the Captain couldn't believe it! Once I figure out how to post pix to FT I will - it was exceptional.

And our WalMart team was on board! They seemed a little more interested in selfies than the calving ice... Oh well...

After the cruise we made it back through the tunnel, not willing to be a POW.
Whittier is one of the most fascinating places I have ever been. I had lunch there! Why this place is not one of the top ten places anywhere to go is beyond me.

Back to the Anchorage Marriott - again, wonderful service.

I was more impressed with downtown Olympia, WA, as a capital city than Anchorage - sorry.

Overall, a very nice trip. The drive from Anchorage has a lot of beautiful places to stop, it is a very short trip. The airline approach that we had was a terrific preview of where we were going, YMMV.

Cheers,
Pogopossum

Gardyloo

It's not the capital, Juneau is. You would be impressed by Juneau, especially with a Lemon Creek departure on AS.

One can eat very well in Anchorage, although many of the better places are off the tourist radar.

Kaphias

Yes… too bad they don't do those anymore.

pogopossum

D'oh!!! Of course, I know that. Dummy from the lower 48.


PP

bryanwallace

interested in seeing float planes at lake hood..

sorry if this is a silly question-but do they land and take off all day or are there set timings when you can come and see it?

also is kinkaid park worth visiting-seems interesting..

jackal

All day, although obviously there are ebbs and flows to the traffic. Most seaplane traffic is unscheduled--I don't think there are any scheduled air services with flights that depart at specific times; the closest thing would be some of the air taxi services and/or flightseeing services (Rust's, etc.), but even those are more "on demand" than anything.

Regardless, there's more activity during the day than in the evening or at night, obviously. I'd say morning through early afternoon is when you'll see the most take-offs.

Still, it's the world's busiest seaplane port, so you're guaranteed to see something if you hang out long enough!

Don't forget to drive around the circumference of the lake itself. Once you get on the back side of the lake, you can drive around on roads that double as taxiways for small [wheeled] planes. Nothing like looking in your rear view mirror and seeing a the snout of a Caravan coming up on you...and I don't mean a Dodge Caravan! I always like to show VFR (oops, that's Visiting Friends and Relatives, not Visual Flight Rules) this fun sign:



(Thanks to whoever posted that blog post--that's not me! If you want to see my take on Lake Hood, here's some video I shot from a fairly up-close-and-personal perspective. )

Back behind the lake, there's a gravel landing strip that sees quite a bit of activity, too. Note the tires on many of the planes parked (or landing/taking off) there--they're known as "tundra tires" and are extra big to allow for landing on the softer surfaces out in many Bush communities. Some of these guys can land a plane on tiny sand bars!

Kincaid Park has a lot of ski trails, which double as hiking trains in the summertime. It's also the end point of the Tony Knowles Coastal trail, popular with runners and especially cyclists in the summertime. I wouldn't say it's a must-see in Anchorage, though--I'd much sooner recommend driving up to Glen Alps, the parking lot where the trail up Flattop begins. Great views of the city from the overlook just in front of the parking lot...and if you feel up to it, hike up the trail beginning at the wooden stairs behind the parking lot to the top of the mountain for some truly stunning views! (Plan for 1.5-2.5 hours round-trip, depending on fitness level [although I had a friend who did it every weekend and got it down to 45 minutes ], for the 1.5-mile, 1,300-foot elevation gain.)