Lonely Planet Alaska

815 Pages·2012·38.68 MB·English

by  Jim DuFresne

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
How to Use This Guide
Alaska map
Plan Your Trip
On the Road
Understand Alaska
Survival Guide
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers

GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LONELY PLANET MAPS
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in this guide.
Plan Your Trip
Welcome to Alaska
Top Experiences
Need to Know
What’s New
If You Like…
Month by Month
Itineraries
Outdoor Activities & Adventures
Cruising in Alaska
Travel with Children
Regions at a Glance
Welcome to
Alaska
Top of section
Big, breathtakingly beautiful and wildly bountiful; there are few
places in the world, and none in the USA, with the unspoiled
wilderness, mountainous grandeur and immense wildlife that is
Alaska.
SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / GETTY ©
Wondrous Wilderness & Outdoor Playground
Wilderness – land free of strip malls, traffic jams and McDonald’s
restaurants – is the best attraction Alaska has to offer. Within Alaska is
the largest national park in the country (Wrangell-St Elias), the largest
national forest (Tongass), and the largest state park (Wood-Tikchik). This
is where people play outdoors. During 20-hour days, they climb
mountains, canoe wilderness rivers, strap on crampons and trek across
glaciers. In July they watch giant brown bears snagging salmon; in
November they head to Haines to see thousands of bald eagles gathered
at the Chilkat River. They hoist a backpack and follow the same route
that the Klondike stampeders did a century earlier or spend an afternoon
in a kayak, bobbing in front of a 5-mile-wide glacier continually calving
icebergs into the sea around them. In Alaska these are more than just
outdoor adventures. They are natural experiences that can permanently
change your way of thinking.
The Biggest State of Them All
Alaska is big and so is everything about it. There are mountains and
glaciers in other parts of North America, but few on the same scale or as
overpowering as those in Alaska. At 20,320ft, Mt McKinley is not only the
highest peak in North America, it’s also a stunning sight when you catch
its alpenglow in Wonder Lake. The Yukon is the third-longest river in the
USA, Bering Glacier is larger than Switzerland, and Arctic winters are
one long night while Arctic summers are one long day. The brown bears
on Kodiak Island have been known to stand 14ft tall; the king salmon in
the Kenai River often exceed 70lb; in Palmer they grow cabbages that tip
the scales at 127lbs. A 50ft-long humpback whale breaching is not
something easily missed, even from a half mile away.
Far, Far Away
The 49th state is the longest trip in the USA and probably the most
expensive. From elsewhere in the country it takes a week on the road,
two to three days on a ferry, or a $700 to $900 airline ticket to reach
Alaska. Once there, many visitors are overwhelmed by the distances
between cities, national parks and attractions. Alaskan prices are the
stuff of legends. Still, the Final Frontier is on the bucket list of most
adventurous travelers, particularly those enamored of the great outdoors.
Those who find the time and money to visit the state rarely regret it.
DRIENDL GROUP / GETTY ©
top experiences
Top of section
Mt McKinley
1 The Athabascans call it the Great One, and few who have seen this
20,320ft bulk of ice and granite would disagree. Seen from the Park
Rd of Denali National Park, McKinley (Click here) chews up the skyline,
dominating an already stunning landscape of tundra fields and
polychromatic ridgelines. The mountain inspires a take-no-prisoners kind
of awe. Climbers know that feeling well. As the highest peak in North
America, McKinley attracts over a thousand alpinists every summer: less
than 50% make it to the summit.
PAUL A. SOUDERS/CORBIS ©