If you’re ever in the need of an epic short trip, I highly recommend Alaska. Pack your warmest ski-underwear and your Mt. Everest down parka and expect to be blown away. By the colors, the incredible mountains, the wildlife and did I mention the mountains?
I flew into Juneau where the first touristic agenda point was a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier – the perfect place to start my journey to The Last Frontier.
Traveling with a local is the best way to see any place and for this Alaska trip it proved to be true more than anything. We spent the afternoon riding the cable car up to Mount Roberts for a fantastic view over the bay, just in time to see one of the large cruise ships depart and take the thousands of tourists with it that invade the small town during the day.
We took the night flight back to Anchorage, the constant daylight lighting up a sea of glaciers below. It’s the most incredible sight to fly over never-ending vastness of glaciers and I loved every minute of it.
Day 2 started with fried eggs and packing up the RV, before heading over to Rust’s for a flightseeing trip up to Mt. Denali on a cool little sealanding plane that fit just 4 of us. I got to sit up front next to the pilot and he was playing some Lynard Skynard as we flew over the ‘wild west’ – no roads, just marsh land, lakes, rivers, moose and bear. The weather was great so I did get to catch a glimpse of not only base camp, but also the summit.
On the way back to Anchorage we landed in a lake in the middle of nowhere and I dreamed up my future cabin by the lake.
After returning back to town we set off out of Anchorage towards the Kenai peninsula. Driving out alongside the coast line I got to witness one of natures amazing secrets: a bore tide.
Day 3 took us to the little town of Whittier – literally where the world ends. We got onto a 26 Glacier Cruise, I wore all the clothes that I brought and borrowed an additional layer. That way being out on the upper deck for the entire journey was no problem and I got to see not only hundreds of glaciers, but also wales, otters, sea lions, mountain goats and lots of Alaskan rain forest.
It was such a beautiful day and I highly recommend this cruise.
The night was going to be short, because the next day was the opening day for sockeye salmon on the Kenai river. For the first time in my life I got to put on waders and learned how to throw out a line. Our fishing trip started at 3am and was to last 9 hours – Ladies, if you have never fished before and are not sure if you’ll like it, don’t let yourself get signed up for this. While I did enjoy being on the river and catching some trout, it ended up being the longest day and i was SO cold. By 4.30am I couldn’t feel my feet anymore and by 10am I was ready to pass out.
I did catch some rainbow trout but no salmon and overall I’d say I’ll never become a major fisherwoman. A great experience though.
We ended the day in Seward, me mostly asleep. One more highlight that day were the ginger (!!) flavored smores. Next level delicacy – oh America, land of the unhealthy yet ungodly delicious food.
Next time I’m Alaska-bound I’d love to go hike and explore.. it’s such a large state and 4 days didn’t do it justice. If only it wasn’t so cold.
See all photos here.