Top Experiences in Alaska

Net a Fish

Summertime in Alaska means fishing season for most. Although there are many types of fish Alaskans stock their freezers with, salmon is by far the most common. That’s because it’s easy to catch and you don’t have to organize a boat or a plane to fish for it. There are thousands of Alaskan anglers, but en masse, dipnetting is the most popular way to catch salmon. Dipnetting is the act of putting on neoprene waders, walking out until the water is nearly chest high, and holding a large net on a 5- to 10-foot pole in front of you until a salmon swims into it. It doesn’t take long. It hardly seems sporting, but there is something truly amazing about standing in the water of the Kenai alongside thousands of other Alaskans, watching gulls dive, sea otters bob their heads, and salmon leap up into the sky.

Drive the Alcan

When driving the Alaska Highway, or Alcan, you quickly realize that "rural" means something entirely different here. (While we're on the subject, so does "remote"; here the word refers to areas with no road access.) You will drive through regions, villages, and towns that are nearly 1,000 miles from the nearest city. Inhabitants have never seen anything that even slightly resembles a shopping mall or fast-food stand. Gas stations can be 75 to 150 miles apart, and mechanics are rarer than a wolverine sighting. The Alcan is the true Alaska experience. Driving 1,000 miles on a long, potholed stretch of highway can put things into perspective. It is also a great, guaranteed way to glimpse wildlife.

Sleep on a Deserted Island

Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay, the place the father of the national parks system, John Muir, called "unspeakably pure and sublime" in 1879, and it hasn’t changed much. It is considered by many to be 70 miles of the finest sea kayaking in the world. The first 24 square miles comprise the Beardslee Islands, a complex system for kayakers who glide atop flat water between tides, enveloped in silence except for the sound of water slapping paddles, the soft spray from a nearby porpoise, and the howl of a wolf in the distance. And you'll likely be enjoying these sensations with no other travelers nearby. Still, kayaking in this region presents challenges. There is a lively population of moose and bears on the islands, so it is imperative to choose wisely when setting up camp. Most visitors kayak only to the top of the Beardslees, which can take three to five days round-trip.

Safari through the Last Great Wilderness

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is 19.2 million acres of untamed land in the northeastern corner of Alaska. This is where there is still a sense of the unknown, where mountain peaks are unnamed and valleys are yet to be explored. There are no shops and no roads. The only way to get to ANWR is by small bush plane. You can be dropped off by air taxi, or you can arrange a guided group tour. The refuge is a great place to hike, camp, paddle, or climb in solitude. Fewer than 1,000 people visit this region every year, but tours must be booked months, if not a year, in advance. Even Alaskans dream of getting to this place someday.

Bed, Breakfast, and Snowmachine

Everywhere there is snow there seems to be a bitter rivalry between snowmachiners (aka snowmobilers) and skiers. If you're looking to have the perfect snowmachine experience without enmity or opposition, the best way to do it is to find one of the many rural wilderness lodges around Alaska that offer snowmachine rentals and tours. Yentna Station Roadhouse and Alaska Snow Safaris are just two of the many stellar rural establishments that are a day's drive or a short bush flight away. It's a great adrenaline rush to speed over frozen lakes and untouched powder with the wind in your face and a motorized sled beneath you.

Ski under the Stars

There is something about the incongruous number of hours of sunlight and darkness Alaska gets that makes Alaskans yearn to break the rules of time. When you arrive in Alaska you may feel inclined to do the same. In many parts of the state bars stay open 24/7, fishermen sit on the ice all night, and some people ski best when the witching hour strikes. At Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, skiers can take the lift and bite the powder under the stars; on weekends, visitors follow up their nighttime exploits on the slopes in the pub which features live, high-energy, danceable music. This provides a good look at local Alaskan culture, as it caters to tourists and residents alike.

Hike the Chilkoot Trail

In the 1890s, during the gold rush, more than 20,000 stampeders disembarked from their steamships in Skagway, Alaska, and hiked the 35 miles of the Chilkoot Trail, just to get back into a boat and travel the remaining 600 miles to Dawson City (where the gold was). It took approximately three months to hike the trail back then. Their packs were heavy, their shoes were hard, and they had to retrace their steps several times in order to get all of their possessions over the pass. These days, with the help of lighter gear and equipment, hiking history buffs can retrace the stampeders' steps in three to five days.

Glimpse a Calving Glacier

Glaciers are impressive beasts, and Alaska has a lot of them—approximately 100,000, and only 616 of them are named. Some are accessible by helicopter, others you can hike to, and some you can drive right up to. Childs Glacier in Cordova used to be the only calving glacier accessible by car until 2011 when the bridge was washed out. The only way to get there now is by boat, and it's worth the float. Childs Glacier is one of the most active calving glaciers in the world—in the summer icebergs collapse into the river every 15 minutes, igniting 10-foot waves that send salmon onto the shores and into the forest. Be sure to stand on the viewing platform so as not to get thrown around with the fish.

Drink Like an Alaskan

Every state in the nation has a list of attributed symbols: the state bird, flag, flower, song—and in Alaska there is the state drink. It's called the Duck Fart. It is quintessentially Alaskan, as it manages to weed out the meek and shy just by its name alone. It's comprised of Kahlúa, Bailey's Irish Cream, and Crown Royal. No need to be timid when it comes to ordering this drink; locals drink it, too. Once you've had a Duck Fart, you can honestly say you've experienced Alaska like an Alaskan.