Alaska is an idea as much as it is a destination. It’s the idea of untamed wilderness and rugged beauty. It epitomizes the last American frontier and gives meaning to the terms adventure, exploration, and discovery. And once you go there, it’s part of you forever; a sweet boreal dream that stays with you in your waking hours. Come to the land of grizzlies and salmon, glaciers and mountains, thick, green forests and blue glass waterways. This is Alaska, and you’ll find no other place like it.
Visit Juneau, Alaska’s capital city. Originally a fishing community of the Tlingit Indians, thousands of settlers flooded Juneau during the Gold Rush in the 1880s turning it into a rough and tumble mining town. Today, you’ll find that Juneau is one of America’s most beautiful cities, with scenery among the most breathtaking in the world. Walk through any one of the dozens of hiking trails or visit Juneau’s Alaska State Museum and its exhibits and artifacts.
Skagway lies in the northernmost point of Alaska’s Inside Passage. Here you can charter a fishing boat or explore downtown Klondike Gold Rush National Historic District. Almost 100 structures remain from the gold rush. Or, hike some of the 19 miles of White Pass Trail, which reaches an elevation of 3,000 feet and crosses the Canadian Border. In fact, there are many activities available: horseback riding, boating expeditions, flight seeing tours and more.
Ketchikan, Alaska, is a popular destination along the famous Inside Passage, the route through which most cruise ships visit Alaska. Ketchikan is located in the nation’s largest national temperate rain forest, the Tongass, which totals an unbelievable 17 million acres of wilderness. After your hike, be sure to stop in at one of the local restaurants and order the barbecued salmon off the menu.
Yet it isn’t only nature that attracts the eye in Alaska. The state's largest city, where 40% of Alaska's population resides, Anchorage has all the attractions of Big City, USA. In fact, there’s a saying that goes, "Anchorage isn't Alaska, but you can see it from there.” Well, while it’s true that you’ll find a great cityscape in Anchorage, it’s still very close to Mother Nature, and in 10 minutes as the floatplane flies, you can be in wilderness deeper than any other in the lower 48.
One of the best ways to experience Alaska is via cruise ship; standing on the deck of the ship as she meanders through the cold Northern Pacific waters allows you to be privy to many enthralling sights. Travel through the 26-mile winding fjord called Tracy Arm. Awe-inspiring waterfalls line this passage and it is not uncommon to spot a mountain goat scrambling up a rocky crag towards the top of the mountain. Tracy Arm finally ends at the twin Sawyer Glaciers.
Hubbard Glacier is another great sight to see. Stretching 76 miles to the sea at Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays, it is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska and has an open calving face over six miles wide. Before it reaches the sea, Hubbard is joined by the Valerie Glacier to the west, which has contributed to the advance of the ice flow that experts believe will eventually close off the Russell Fiord from Disenchantment Bay.Many cruises allow people the opportunity to visit Kenai Fjords National Park, which encompasses 607,805 acres of unspoiled wilderness on the southeast coast of Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Sweeping from rocky coastline to glacier-tipped peaks, Kenai Fjords National Park is capped by the Harding Ice field, the largest ice field entirely within U.S. borders.