We had an amazing two weeks in Alaska. Our original plan was to go on a cruise, then to add on some extra days in Denali. When our cruise was cancelled because of Covid, I adjusted and made a total land adventure trip focusing on three areas: Denali, Kenai Peninsula, and Juneau. My wife. daughter, and I loved everything about Alaska, just what we needed! This was such an amazing experience that truly recharged our souls. Everything was outstanding—- the guides, lodges, outdoor beauty, people, and food. The dates for our trip were June 17-30, 2021. We packed our luggage to enjoy the outdoors regardless of weather which ranged from intense sun to misty rain. In Denali, the temperatures were mid to low 40’s with high in the 60’s. Kenai and Juneau temps were low 50’s to low 70’s. We rented a car to move from Anchorage to Denali then back south to the Kenai Peninsula, which allowed us to stop when we saw amazing things and simply to just take everything in more slowly. After our time in the Kenai Peninsula, we went back to Anchorage and flew on to Juneau. The sun set around 12:30am and rose around 3:30ish, so it was never really dark, we went to bed when it was light, and woke up when it was light.
Here was our Agenda
Day 1: Flew into Anchorage and spent night in Anchorage
Day 2: Drove to Denali National Park and stayed at Grand Denali Lodge (238 Parks Hwy, Denali National Park and Preserve, AK): Enjoyed a great dinner at The Overlook a restaurant in the crows with amazing Denali views.
Day 3: We did jeep tour up the Denali Highway with Denali Jeep Excursions. This was a great way to see the landscape. Every party had their own jeep, we all looked like a ‘train of skittles’ driving up the road. Our guide that day was Jeff, most entertaining and full of great knowledge about the area. Later that day, we went on a beautiful hike to Horseshoe Lake in Denali National Park. That evening, my wife and daughter visited four time Iditarod race winner Jeff King’s training facility where they snuggled with husky puppies and learned many details about how Jeff raises, trains, and competes with his extraordinary dogs. Husky Homestead.
Day 4: Spent more time hiking in Denali, very clear day and we could see Denali as we drove around. Our hike was the Savage River Trail. After our hike we drove to the Soldatna AK in the Kenai Peninsula to start our fishing adventure. I worked with Alaskan Fishing Adventure to plan our two days of fishing, and we stayed at Trophy Lodge where Alec and Theresa were most helpful.
Day 5: Flyout Fishing trip. We left the lodge at 5am, drove to High Adventure Air about 15 minutes from our lodge. Phil was the pilot that flew us out, about 30 minutes across the Cook Inlet to Big River Lake. Derek was an amazing guide; we all caught our limit of three sockeye salmon. Derek then took us to watch the eagles and look for bear while he filleted the fish and grilled some fresh catch. Just amazing!
Day 6: Fishing on the Kisilof River with our guide Cory. The day started with an early 4:30am drive out to meet Cory and the boat. We were on the river by 5am and found an amazing spot. Cory taught us to fish for Sockeye Salmon using the ‘Flossing Technique.’ We landed all our fish by 9am and enjoyed a nice float down the river viewing eagles and other wildlife. I cannot say enough good things about Cory as he was kind, patient, and a most excellent teacher on the river. He was a joy to hang out with for the day, and I look forward to a time we can go back and fish with him again. His website can be found at corysalaskafishing.com. We processed all our fish at Custom Seafoods, 54lbs of Salmon cut to 1lb filets and had 20 lbs of smoked. They shipped priority overnight to us when we returned home.
Day 7: A relaxing day driving back to Anchorage, spending the morning at the Soldatna craft fair and enjoying a beautiful drive back through the Kenai.
Day 8: Flew to Juneau and stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton walked around town and had dinner at Tracy’s King Crab Shack where we enjoyed a 3lb king crab bucket, WOW! Just amazing, and yes, we ate their multiple times.
Day 9: Started wet and raining, but undeterred, we went on our hike at the Gold Creek Flume Trail and enjoyed some hot chocolate afterwords. Later in that day we drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier visitors center and hiked around.
Day 10: We went back to Mendenhall Glacier and enjoyed a great hike, the East Glacier Loop Trail. We met Mark and his six month old golden lab Daisy along the trail. Mark was training for an IronMan and Daisy was so fun and playful. We met up with Mark and Daisy on their second lap, and he invited us to continue the conversation at Forbidden Peak Brewery with a beautiful view of a marina, where we shared more stories and some good drinks, a true gift to meet Mark and hear his Alaska story.
Day 11 : My daughter and I enjoyed hiking on the Mendenhall Glacier. We met up with NorthStar Trekking where they geared us up with climbing boots, pants, parkas, and small backpack. After a scenic helicopter ride over the mountains, we landed on the glacier, where we were given crampons for our boots and an ice axe. The guides were great, leading us through a maze of glacier hills, teaching us the difference between an ice bridge and snow bridge. We navigated through the blue ice and melt water streams to settle into a location for some climbing. They setup two belay stations, one had a nice slope to it, the other was a solid vertical ice wall. The guides were patient with us all, giving us time and encouragement as we reached the top of the climb before repelling down. We then hiked back to the landing spot at our extraction point. Later that afternoon we went back to Mendenhall and hiked nugget falls trail to see a huge waterfall.
Day 12: We spent the day with Adventure Bound Alaska on the Tracy Arm Fjord tour. This was a 9 hour boat trip traveling to the Tracy Arm Fjord, which was a most magnificent site. We experienced a glacier calving multiple times, beautiful blue ice and indescribable sounds of the breaking away, as well as the 100+ beautiful seals on their individual flotation devices which were small icebergs, some alone and others with pups. On our return, we saw much more wildlife—- mountain goats, brown bear, and the most hilarious sea lions putting on quite the show!
Day 13: This was our last day in Juneau before we flew back. We spent time hiking the Gold Creek Flume trail, photographing bald eagles in the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge, and shopping for special Alaska souvenirs.
Day 14: Fly back home, stopping in Ketchikan en route to Seattle where surprisingly from our vantage point in the sky, we could see great schools of whales! Amazing!