THE 7 BEST ADVENTURES IN ALASKA

We started off our trip with a seven-hour bus tour of Denali National Park, which is the only way to get past the fifteenth-mile marker of the park where private vehicles are asked to park or turn around. Throughout the tour, your guide will ask you to shout “STOP!!!” where they’ll screech to a halt to give you a good look at whatever animal piqued your interest. While we saw moose, caribou, and countless birds on the journey, my favorite part was the info that our guide shared with us. Insight into the biology behind how bears are able to hibernate, what the climate is like up there in the dead of winter, and the history of the park itself helped me to both learn and appreciate more about the gorgeous landscape around me.

We’ve all heard that the best way to get a new perspective is from a birds-eye view, right? Seaplane tours give you such a unique perspective of the landscape around you that you can’t even fathom while you’re on the ground. Guided by the husband and wife duo from Beluga Air, our plane left from Homer, Alaska, and toured us around the islands, volcanoes, and glaciers surrounding the town, and the sights were unlike anything else we saw on the trip.

If there’s one thing to know about me it’s that I’m clumsy — my mom has joked that I can’t even walk down the hallway of our home without getting hurt. So if I can hike on a glacier without sliding off, anyone can! Our guides at Exit Glacier Guides took us hiking about two miles to the edge of Exit Glacier outside of Seward, Alaska. Once there, we strapped on the crampons, harnesses, and helmets provided and made our way up the glacier. While on the glacier, we peered down into crevices and drank pure and fresh glacier water from a stream. Thanks to global climate change, the glacier is now receding at a rate of over 300 feet per year, so be sure to get this experience in while you can.

In Seward, Alaska, also known as the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park, we took a full-day (7-hour) tour led by Major Marine Tours and even got up close to Aialik Glacier, which was an utterly stunning experience in and of itself. On the tour, we saw countless wildlife, including humpback whales, seals, mountain goats, bald eagles, and otters. Our guides even made everyone Glacier Ice Margaritas with some of the glacier ice they found in the bay as we boated along.

Catching the salmon run was an unexpected but awe-inducing part of our trip. We made our way to the Russian River in Cooper Landing, in between the towns of Seward and Homer, and walked down the boardwalk to the falls. I’d recommend telling the parking attendant that you’re going to the falls so they put you in the right parking spot — while watching the salmon swimming upstream was exciting, the real show comes from them attempting to fling their bodies up a fast-moving waterfall. I now have a newfound respect for the velocity at which they thrust their slimy bodies up these rocks to ensure they find a safe and calm place to lay their eggs. Be sure to give yourself a couple of hours for this one because I guarantee you’ll be entranced by the show.

The final stop on our Alaska adventure was fly fishing along the Kenai River, which intersects with the Russian River at Cooper Landing. The team at Troutfitters suited us up with waders, boots, vests, and poles so we were ready to hit the water. We opted for the half-day (four-hour) guided tour as we were already exhausted from the six other activities above, but that gave us plenty of time to learn the ropes and master the perfect cast to catch some trout. Warning: Take note of when you plan to fly fish in Alaska, if it’s close to the end of the Salmon season you’ll find yourself stepping across countless fish carcasses as you wade into the river.