Insight Guides Alaska (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

Insight Guides Alaska

Travel made easy. Ask local experts.
Comprehensive travel guide packed with inspirational photography and fascinating cultural insights.

From deciding when to go, to choosing what to see when you arrive, this guide to Alaska is all you need to plan your perfect trip, with insider information on must-see, top attractions like Glacier Bay National Park, Chena Hot Springs and Kodiak Island, and gems like the Alaska Railroad (used by locals to reach remote cabins), the sight of bears feeding on spawning salmon at Brooks River and Camp, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, home to polar bears and the greatest biodiversity of any protected area in the Arctic.

Features of this travel guide to Alaska:
- Inspirational colour photography: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, and be inspired by stunning imagery
- Historical and cultural insights: immerse yourself in Alaska's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour maps: with every major sight and listing highlighted, the full-colour maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Editor's Choice: uncover the best of Alaska with our pick of the region's top destinations
- Key tips and essential information: packed full of important travel information, from transport and tipping to etiquette and hours of operation
- The ultimate travel tool: download the free app to access this and bonus content from your phone or tablet
- Covers: Southeast Panhandle. Southeast Alaska: Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, Juneau, Haines, Skagway, Southcentral and Interior Alaska, Downtown Anchorage, Around Anchorage, Kenai Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna Valley and Palmer, Denali National Park and Preserve, Fairbanks, The Far North, Southwest Alaska and Kodiak

Looking for a specific guide to the US's western national parks? Check out US National Parks West for a detailed and entertaining look at all the city has to offer.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Aug 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781839053023

Insight Guides

Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

Book preview

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Alaska, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editor’s Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Alaska. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Alaska are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Alaska. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

All Rights Reserved © 2021 Apa Digital AG License edition © Apa Publications Ltd UK

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Table of Contents

Alaska’s Top 10 Attractions

Editor’s Choice

Plan & Book Your Tailor Made Trip

Introduction: The Last Frontier

The Fragile Wilderness

An Independent People

Decisive Dates

Beginnings

The Making of Modern Alaska

Visiting Alaska’s Natives

Life in Winter

Alaskan Wildlife

Surviving in the Wilderness

Cruising and Touring

Alaska From the Air

Introduction: Places

Introduction: Touring the Southeast Panhandle

Ketchikan

Misty Fiords National Monument

Wrangell

Petersburg

Sitka

Juneau

Glacier Bay National Park

Haines

Skagway

Insight: The Great Klondike Gold Rush

Yakutat

Introduction: Southcentral Alaska

Anchorage

Chugach State Park

Prince William Sound

Wrangell-St Elias National Park

Kenai Peninsula

Matanuska-Susitna Valley

Introduction: The Interior

Denali National Park and Preserve

The Alcan

Fairbanks

Insight: The World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

Beyond Fairbanks

Introduction: The Far North

The Arctic

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Gates of the Arctic

Cape Krusenstern

Insight: Native Art and Artifacts

Nome and the Seward Peninsula

Insight: The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Introduction: The Southwest

Kodiak

Insight: A Serengeti of the North

Lake Clark National Park

Katmai National Park

McNeil River State Game Sanctuary

Remote Communities and Wildlands

Transportation

A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information

Further Reading

Alaska’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction 1

Denali. North America’s highest peak is surrounded by one of the world’s greatest wildlife sanctuaries, Denali National Park and Preserve. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 2

Totem poles. Tall and elaborately carved, totem poles are comparable to family crests and are used to tell a story or recall an event. The totemic symbols are often animals or birds – typically bears and eagles. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 3

Bald Eagles. Alaska is the stronghold of bald eagles, which congregate in places where fish are plentiful. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 4

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. Sixteen tidewater glaciers flow down from mountain peaks and plunge into icechoked fjords. The park is one of the best places to view bears, seals, humpback whales, and eagles. For more information, click here.

Glacier Bay NP

Top Attraction 5

Cruising. Traveling along a stretch of Alaska’s 33,900 miles (54,500km) of coastline by ship is a popular and often luxurious way to see wildlife. For more information, click here.

Danny Lehman/Princess Cruises

Top Attraction 6

Travel by rail. Trains such as the McKinley Explorer, with glass domes or openair viewing platforms, penetrate deep into Alaska. For more information, click here.

Holland America Line

Top Attraction 7

Fishing. Prime fishing in pristine waters offers anglers a sporting chance of reeling in massive king salmon, leaping trout, halibut, and northern pike. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 8

National and State Parks. With eight national parks and a state parks system of more than 3.2 million acres (1.3 million hectares), Alaska has tremendous appeal to outdoor enthusiasts. For more information, click here.

T. VandenBerg/NPS

Top Attraction 9

The Northern Lights. These can be viewed most clearly in winter in the area around Fairbanks, which calls itself an ‘auroral zone.’ For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction 10

Bears. Getting close to brown bears allows you to recognize their individuality – some are aggressive by nature but others are mildmannered. McNeil River State Game Sanctuary creates safe conditions for bear watching. For more information, click here.

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Editor’s Choice

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Trans-Alaska oil pipeline is also known as the Alyeska Pipeline.

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Only in Alaska

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Home to musk oxen, polar bears, and the Porcupine caribou herd, this refuge is the nation’s largest and has the greatest biodiversity of any protected area in the Arctic. For more information, click here.

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Moving oil 800 miles (1,300km) from the North Slope to Valdez and across three mountain ranges, this feat of engineering is an important part of modern Alaska and can be seen from several state highways. For more information, click here.

Aurora Borealis Displays (Northern Lights). These heavenly light shows can be viewed only in the darkened autumn or winter skies that begin in late August. For more information, click here.

Alaska’s Thermal Resort (Chena Hot Springs). Soak away your preconceived notions about a ‘frozen wasteland’ in outdoor and indoor steaminghot thermal pools, in summer or winter. For more information, click here.

Land of the Midnight Sun. Communities throughout Alaska celebrate the summer solstice each year with parties and barbecues and, in Fairbanks, midnight tee time for golfers in natural light. For more information, click here.

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A plane about to land on Lake Clark.

Kent Miller/NPS

Best Kept Secrets

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. A short flight from Anchorage or the Kenai Peninsula offers boundless recreational opportunities for wildlife viewing, river running, kayaking, hunting and angling, yet this national park is among Alaska’s least known, and least visited. For more information, click here.

Richardson Highway. This scenic road from Fairbanks to Valdez provides spectacular views of Worthington Glacier, the many waterfalls of Keystone Canyon, and Thompson Pass. For more information, click here.

Ship Creek. This salmonladen stream, within casting distance of downtown Anchorage hotels, is a favorite fishing spot for locals during lunch hour. For more information, click here.

Yakutat. Said by some to be one of the top, and certainly most unusual, surf beaches in the US, this is a great spot for serious surfing en thusiasts. For more information, click here.

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Brown bear.

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Best Spots for Bear-Viewing

Brooks River and Camp. Located in Katmai National Park and Preserve, the location is only accessible via plane or boat. Safe viewing platforms allow you to watch bears feed on spawning salmon near the Brooks Falls. Visitors may stay at Brooks Lodge, or fly out on a day trip from Anchorage. For more information, click here.

Denali National Park and Preserve. Shuttle bus tours present visitors with excellent opportunities for bearspotting. For more information, click here.

Kodiak Island. Famous for its healthy population of large brown bears. Bearviewing tours will take you to see them in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. For more information, click here.

McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. Created for the world’s largest concentration of brown bears. Access is limited: visitors are selected by lottery. For more information, click here.

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A pair of red-necked grebes near Anchorage.

Donna Dewhurst/US Fish & Wildlife Service

Best for Families

Alaska Zoo. A guaranteed safe, closeup look at Alaska wildlife. For more information, click here.

Crow Creek Mine. Try your hand at panning for gold at Southcentral Alaska’s richest goldmine. For more information, click here.

Discovery Center. This awardwinning handson science center within the Anchorage Museum features touch tanks, a planetarium, and reptiles. For more information, click here.

Alaska SeaLife Center. This is the place for people of all ages to get up close to puffins, sea lions, octopus, and more. For more information, click here.

Pioneer Park. This Alaskacentric theme park in the heart of Fairbanks includes a riverboat, historic gold rushera structures, and carnival attractions. For more information, click here.

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At Alaska Zoo.

Ronald Laubenstein/US Fish and Wildlife Service

Free in Anchorage

Drive to Hatcher Pass. You can have a family picnic on the tundra, take a hike, or pick fresh berries on stunning alpine slopes. For more information, click here.

Navigate the Coastal Trail. Whether you travel by bike, inline skates (or skis, in winter) or your own two feet, the 11 miles (18km) of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, from downtown Anchorage to Kincaid Park, makes for a delightful afternoon. For more information, click here.

Eagle River Nature Center. This center offers free nature programs, hiking trails, a viewing telescope, and natural history displays. For more information, click here.

Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. A broad, open expanse, just south of Anchorage, which provides an excellent wetland habitat for a variety of resident and migratory birds (and, sometimes, salmon spawning). For more information, click here.

Windy Corner and Beluga Point. At mileposts 107 and 110 on the Seward Highway, there are pullouts that allow you to safely park and look for Dall sheep, which often perch on nearby craggy ledges, apparently watching the traffic go by. Telescopes help spot the inlet’s beluga whales. For more information, click here.

Climb Flattop Mountain. Panoramic views of Anchorage, the Alaska Range, and the Cook Inlet reward the sweaty hiker. For more information, click here.

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Hiking towards Spencer Glacier.

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Sporting Events

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Known as ‘The Last Great Race,’ mushers and their dogs dash approximately 1,000 bonejarring miles (1,609km) from Anchorage to Nome, crossing two mountain ranges, following the Yukon River for about 150 miles (240km), then traversing the pack ice of Norton Sound. For more information, click here.

World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. Hundreds of athletes from Alaska and the circumpolar nations gather each July in Fairbanks to compete in many exotic, and often painful, athletic events. These competitions are patterned after the traditional hunting, fishing and gathering culture. Endurance, observation, and a spirit of cooperation are all key ingredients in events like the ear pull, the knuckle hop, the Eskimo stick pull, and the blanket toss. For more information, click here.

Baseball under the Midnight Sun. During Fairbank’s yearly summer solstice festivities, you can watch a baseball game (which has been played on June 21 for more than a century). It begins around 10.30pm and is played without any need for artificial light. For more information, click here.

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Bald eagle near Homer.

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Best for Birdwatching

Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve (Haines). This preserve is home to the world’s largest gathering of bald eagles, and hosts a festival each November. For more information, click here.

Kachemak Bay (Homer). Hundreds of thousands of shorebirds from as far away as Asia, Hawaii, and South America visit the picturesque hamlet of Homer during spring migration. The city hosts the Katchemak Bay Shorebird Festival each May. For more information, click here.

Pribilof Islands. These tiny islands about 200 miles (320km) north of Unalaska in the Aleutians are a nesting ground for nearly 200 species of seabirds, including feathered migrants from Asia. For more information, click here.

Creamers Field (Fairbanks). Originally a dairy farm, this official migratory waterfowl refuge now plays host to sandhill cranes, Canadian honkers, and ducks every spring and fall. For more information, click here.

Copper River Delta (Cordova). The delta is a birder’s paradise, home to the entire population of dusky Canada geese, and the town of Cordova hosts a lively festival during May’s migration. For more information, click here.

Best Rail Tours

The Spencer Glacier and Grandview Tour. Traveling from Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad is a chance to see gorgeous landscapes, glaciers – even take a float trip – and be back in Anchorage in time for dinner. For more information, click here.

The Hurricane Turn Train. Part of the Alaska Railroad, this track is used by locals to reach remote cabins. Passengers may get off the train at any point along the 55mile (90km) trip to fish, hike, or enjoy a float trip, then flag it down on its return trip to Talkeetna. For more information, click here .

Anchorage to Seward. This route also passes the Spencer Glacier and Grandview areas, but continues on to Seward, where you can take a day cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park. For more information, click here.

Denali National Park and Preserve. Traveling to the park via train offers several good opportunities to view Denali, weather permitting. For more information, click here.

Aboard the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. You can retrace the steps of the historic Klondike Trail of ’98, from Skagway to the White Pass Summit (elevation nearly 3,000ft). For more information, click here.

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The White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad.

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Must-See Museums

Alaska Native Heritage Center (Anchorage). This is the place to learn about Alaska’s incredibly rich indigenous culture, art, and traditional customs. and see artists at work. For more information, click here.

UAF Museum of the North (Fairbanks). This museum at the University of Alaska has long been considered one of the top museums in the state. Exhibits include cultural artifacts, a huge mummified bison, a giant copper nugget, and more. For more information, click here.

Sitka National Historical Park. Wind your way through a beautiful, oldgrowth coastal forest, view an extensive collection of Tlingit and Haida totem poles, visit a museum and watch Native American artisans at work. For more information, click here.

Alaska State Museum (Juneau). Exhibits range from a Native American community house to Inuit ivory carvings and gold rush memorabilia, all illustrating Alaska’s varied history. The most notable feature is a model of a towering, twostory ‘eagle tree.’ For more information, click here.

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A child enjoying the exhibits at the Imaginarium.

Anchorage Museum

PLAN & BOOK YOUR TAILOR-MADE TRIP

Alaska is a vast state that offers stunning and varied natural beauty, a warm and welcoming culture and myriad things to do. From the urban sophistication of Alaska’s cities to outdoor pursuits and wildlife spotting in the wilderness to serene cruises and farmers markets selling local produce, this magical ten-day adventure delivers it all.

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Day 1, Anchorage. Anchorage may be the gateway to Alaska but do take time to explore the state’s largest city. Visit the Alaska Native Heritage Centre, which offers an in-depth look at indigenous culture, art and traditions. Afterwards, hit Downtown for its buzzing restaurant scene, where fresh king crab and wild salmon are a menu favourite. For more information, click here.

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Day 2, Chugach State Park. For snowy peaks, glacial lakes and alpine valleys head for Chugach State Park, which is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts, criss-crossed with 280 miles of trails. Climb Flattop Mountain and be rewarded with phenomenal views, or try a spot of biking, fishing, rafting, horseback riding or kayaking. For more information, click here.

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Days 3 & 4, Denali National Park & Preserve. Denali is North America’s highest peak, surrounded by Denali National Park & Preserve. To get there from Anchorage, hop aboard the Denali Star train bound for Fairbanks (incidentally, one of the best places to see the aurora borealis) and soak up the scenery en route. Next day, take a tour bus through the park, keeping your eyes open for grizzlies, caribou, moose, wolves and more. For more information, click here.

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Days 5 & 6, Seward. Make your way down south, via Anchorage, to the city of Seward, which nestles between the mountains and the ocean. Spend an afternoon exploring the picturesque harbour and historic downtown with its public mural collection. The Exit Glacier is one of the most popular road-accessible glaciers in the state, and well worth a visit. For more information, click here.

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Day 7, Kenai Fjords National Park. Resurrection Bay and the nearby Kenai Fjords National Park are said to be among the most reliable places to view marine wildlife in the world. Venture out on a day cruise and bring your binoculars to spot the sea lions, otters, porpoises, humpback whales, orcas, puffins, bald eagles and seabirds that call the region home. For more information, click here.

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Day 8, Homer. A three-hour drive from Seward will bring you to the coastal community of Homer, with its seafood shacks, local galleries and bustling farmers’ market. Fish abound in the town’s surrounding waters, earning it the title of Halibut Fishing Capital of the World; birdwatchers should take a boat to Kachemak Bay, home to thousands of migrating shorebirds during summer. For more information, click here.

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Days 9 & 10, Girdwood. Heading back to Anchorage, stop at Portage Valley and take a boat trip to its crown jewel, the Portage Glacier, before spending your final night in the small mountain town of Girdwood. On your way to the airport, stop over at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Centre, a 200-acre sanctuary dedicated to preserving local species. For more information, click here.

You can plan and book this trip with Insight Guides, or we can help you create your own. Whether you’re after adventure or a family-friendly holiday, we have a trip for you, with all the activities you enjoy doing and the sights you want to see. All our trips are devised by local experts who get the most out of the destination. Visit www.insightguides.com/holidays to chat with one of our local travel experts.

Paddle boarder on Bear Lake, Kenai Fjords National Park.

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A car makes its way along an icy Alaskan highway.

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A grizzly bear hunts along a salmon stream in Katmai National Park.

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Kayaking off Ketchikan coast.

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Introduction: THE LAST FRONTIER

Some people say there are no more frontiers to explore without leaving the planet. But they’re forgetting about Alaska, where the wild landscape remains vastly untouched by the modern world.

Alaska: the Great Land, the Last Frontier – more than 580,000 sq miles (1.5 million sq km) that taunted early explorers and still challenges modern-day researchers. It also provokes a fascination that attracts more and more travelers looking for something that a conventional vacation cannot give them. The hint of urban sophistication in Anchorage and Juneau rapidly gives way to the frontier, where outdoor survival skills are among the most useful attributes a resident can possess.

The mail arrives by floatplane.

Alaska Division of Tourism

America’s 49th state is so broad, so unpeopled, and so roadless that small airplanes are more common than cabs in other states. Men outnumber women (though women have coined the phrase ‘The odds are good, but the goods are odd’). The population numbers almost 740,000, with about 40 percent living in one city, Anchorage. Nearly the entire state is raw, wondrous wilderness.

Alaska has lush rain-drenched forests and fragile windswept tundras. There are lofty mountains, spectacular glaciers, and still-active volcanoes, as well as 3 million lakes and endless swamps. Along with a handful of modern high-rise buildings, there are countless one-room log cabins. This varied land is best viewed from a small plane or surveyed from a canoe or kayak – or by foot; it cannot be seen properly from a car (though increasing numbers of people are exploring parts of the state by traveling the highways). And, although it would take forever to cover on foot, hiking is often the best way to touch the landscape, to appreciate its vastness. Alaska is an outdoor world, a wilderness, a land of many faces.

Indigenous Alaskans.

Alaska Division of Tourism

The Alaskan experience includes the sheer wonder of finding what hides beyond the horizon or over the next ridge. No one person has ever seen it all; no one person ever will. Therein lies the essence of Alaska. Its huge untamed spaces, it has been said, are the greatest gift Alaska can give to a harassed world.

A NOTE TO READERS

At Insight Guides, we always strive to bring you the most up-to-date information. This book was produced during a period of continuing uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, so please note that content is more subject to change than usual. We recommend checking the latest restrictions and official guidance.

When to go

Springtime (or ‘breakup’) to an Alaskan is a hopeful time of dwindling snow berms, widening streets, emerging lawns and, most exciting of all, lengthening daylight hours. But to a visitor in the here-and-now of Alaska spring, it may look like dirty snow melting to reveal accumulated trash, huge puddles trapped by still-frozen drains on winter-ravaged roads and fickle weather conditions. March, April, and early May are months of renewal for Alaskans, but visitors would be wise to allow sufficient time for the state to wake up, spruce up, and set up for the tourist season.

Canoes are versatile transportation.

Alaska Division of Tourism

Before the first cruise ship arrives, store merchants bring out hanging flower baskets and the cities seem to ‘bloom’ overnight. Gift shops, which may have been closed over the winter, are re-opened, swept, shelves stocked and windows polished. The visitor season runs from mid-May to mid-September. During those months, all tours, parks, campgrounds, trains, buses, ferries, restaurants, hotels, B&Bs, and other service-related facilities are running at full speed. Many offer bargain rates for the ‘shoulder seasons’ of late May and early September. Summer in Alaska boasts mild temperatures and, in most areas, seemingly endless daylight.

If springtime is when Alaska showers and shaves, and summer is open house, fall feels like a time for getting together with a few close friends. Like spring, the timing of autumn in Alaska is a fickle business, and one can miss it altogether. Generally it begins to feel like fall in late August and continues through mid-September. The trees and grasses turn golden, the spent fireweed magenta, and the mountains, below the ‘termination dust’ of newly snowcapped peaks, a warm russet. Fall brings darkness back to the night sky of most of Alaska, and with it displays of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

There are far fewer tourists in autumn – but fewer options, too. The favorite tourist destinations, lodgings, restaurants, transportations and other amenities taper off as suddenly as they gear up in late spring. The use of a private or rental car greatly increases sightseeing options. Careful research and planning is needed for a rewarding autumn visit to Alaska – but are well worth the effort.

If skiing, snowboarding, sled dog races, and other winter sports appeal, a wintertime visit to Alaska is an excellent option. The Fur Rendezvous, held in Anchorage in late February, is a yearly celebration that includes the Open World Championship Sled Dog Race, fireworks, art exhibits, a reindeer run through town, fur auctions, a winter outdoor carnival (dress warmly), and much more. Fairbanks also celebrates winter with Denali Winterfest, fireworks displays, sled dog races and the incredible sculptural masterpieces of the World Ice Art Championship.

The Northern Lights are best seen between late September and early April.

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Lupine flowers, a native species.

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Introduction: THE FRAGILE WILDERNESS

It’s thrilling to visit areas that have remained unchanged for a thousand years. But how can more people enjoy the experience without endangering that very wildness?

You don’t really know what wild means until you’ve been to Alaska. With one-fifth of the land area of the contiguous United States and more shoreline than all the other states combined, Alaska includes 150 million acres (60 million hectares) of national parks and forests, wildlife refuges and other designated preserves. Its 38 mountain ranges, 3,000 rivers and 3 million lakes fall within climate ranges from temperate rainforest to arid Arctic. Much of this territory is barely charted, let alone touched by the human foot.

Of Alaska’s 15 national parks, preserves and monuments, only five can be accessed by road. Glacier Bay National Park (3.3 million acres/1.3 million hectares), for example, can be reached only by boat or floatplane. North America’s premier mountain wilderness and its largest national park, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve (13.2 million acres/5.3 million hectares), is home to nine peaks of more than 14,000ft (4,270 meters), including the 18,010ft (5,490-meter) Mount St Elias, the continent’s fourth-highest peak (and the second-tallest in the United States). The park also has the largest collection of glaciers in North America, the Bagley Icefield, numerous wild rivers, and multitudes of wildlife. Yet only two roads penetrate the park boundaries, one of which is unpaved and best negotiated by four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Natural wonders

For those eager to explore the Arctic, Gates of the Arctic National Park, the northernmost of all the state’s parks, is a remote and undeveloped 8.4 million acres (3.4 million hectares) of crags, fragile alpine meadows, crystal clear mountain streams, and sweeping Arctic valleys. Without roads or trails, backpacking, mountaineering, river floating, and dogsled excursions are the best ways in which visitors can explore these Arctic expanses.

Do not feed the animals; maintaining the balance between tourism and nature.

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Besides its federal parks and refuges, Alaska has state-managed parks and sanctuaries that are among the nation’s finest, from 1.55-million-acre (630,000-hectare) Wood-Tikchik – the country’s largest state park – to the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve and McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, where dozens of brown bears, some weighing 1,000 pounds (450kg) or more, gather each summer to fish for salmon.

Whether it’s animals in the sea, air or on land, wildlife is abundant throughout much of the state’s wilderness. Hundreds of thousands of caribou roam across sweeping tundra, Dall sheep graze in high alpine basins, seals sun themselves on ice floes, wolves howl from the tops of ridges, golden eagles spiral through blue skies and clouds, whales ply turquoise fjords.

Alaska has approximately 100,000 glaciers and more than 3 million lakes. The largest of these, Lake Iliamna, in southwest Alaska, encompasses 1,100 sq miles (2,850 sq km).

A bus stops for a grizzly sow and her cubs to cross the road, Denali National Park.

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When federal geographer Henry Gannett, a founder of the National Geographic Society, surveyed Alaska’s expanse in 1904, he set the tone for today’s ecotourism: ‘Its grandeur is more valuable than the gold or the fish or the timber, for it will never be exhausted.’ Alaska is a land where inhabitants and travelers sense that they can do no better.

Low-impact tourism

Unfortunately, the traditional tourist industry in the state often bypasses its great wilderness areas in favor of organized tours that take visitors by bus, train or airplane to cities, towns and developed parks. The majority of tourists see sights that are reached by road (such as Portage Glacier, Denali National Park and Preserve, and cities such as Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks) but rarely step into untouched wilderness. Only one road goes into 6-million-acre (2.4-million-hectare) Denali National Park – a 90-mile (145km) strip that bars most private vehicles. While this road channels more and more visitors into the park each year via bus tours – which cause minimum disturbance to the landscape and wildlife – only a fraction register for backcountry permits.

Furthermore, the Alaska Travel Industry Association reports that in one recent summer around 1.9 million non-resident visitors spent a little more than $2 billion, or about $1,060 a person. About half of these visitors said they did some wildlife viewing – although only an estimated 10 percent strike out away from traditional tourist areas into the pristine wilderness.

Guides such as Bob Jacobs, founder of St Elias Alpine Guides based in Anchorage, feel that visitors to Alaska should see a lot more, but, at the same time, the land should be protected. ‘Alaska is a wonderful classroom,’ Bob says. But, unlike school, ‘you don’t need a schedule. In summer you can hike until 2am and sleep until noon.’

On Jacobs’ trips into the heart of the Wrangell-St Elias National Park you climb unnamed peaks, raft down swift, milky rivers and backpack for weeks at a time. Jacobs helped pioneer ecotourism in this state, which comprises environmentally friendly outdoor adventures such as sea kayaking, mountaineering and wildlife watching. Though the great majority of travelers continue to see Alaska by car, tour bus, or cruise ship, ecotourism has helped a growing number of people see wild and pristine areas of Alaska inaccessible to the masses.

Heading back to camp after a trek.

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Protecting the land

According to the UN Environmental Programme, ecotourism not only falls under the umbrella of the UN’s definition of ‘sustainable tourism,’ but it goes one step beyond by actively contributing to the betterment of local natural and human communities.

Visitors become better educated about an area and the issues facing it, while encouraged to practice low-impact measures that avoid disturbing ecosystems. Ecotourism also means that tourist dollars get filtered back through to the local community and to preservation organizations.

Alaskans place a high value on being in balance with nature.The Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies offers naturalist-led tours and experiences. By opening its doors to travelers in summer and to parties of schoolchildren in spring and fall, it works to foster responsible human interaction with their natural surroundings and to generate knowledge of the marine and coastal ecosystems of Kachemak Bay through its environmental education and research programs.

GEOLOGICAL YOUTH

Alaska is a young country, geologically speaking. Composed of fragments of the earth’s crust that rafted from the Pacific area on the backs of crustal plates and then ‘docked’ together, the entire region is still in the process of coming together. Tracing the ridgeline along the Aleutians and Alaska Range, it is easy to see where the Pacific plate rammed into the North American. Its youth and place on the globe are responsible for much of Alaska’s diversity and largesse. Its mountain ranges include active volcanoes with peaks, 19 of which are over 14,000ft (4,270 meters), and 17 that are among the 20 highest mountains in the United States.

Ecotourism in Alaska was initiated by a handful of small, independent operators and outfitters that led groups into the outback, while the mainstream industry concentrated on marketing developed resort areas.

Now some large-scale organizations have developed policies and principles that depart significantly from traditional commercial concerns and lean toward low-impact tourism. Nevertheless, ecotourism largely remains the domain of smaller businesses that emphasize small groups.

Eco-friendly options

Dozens of outfitters offer river rafting, tundra trekking, mountain climbing, birdwatching, whale cruising, wildlife photography safaris, and sea-kayaking adventures, ranging from easy-going to incredibly strenuous. Some tour operators specialize in ecotours geared specifically toward senior citizens. Although some of these trips hark back to the days of the pioneers, they are usually made comfortable enough. Visitors can take advantage of experienced guides without having to acquire all the necessary skills themselves; and many of the backcountry meals approach gourmet quality.

A humpback whale makes a splash.

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TRAVELING GREEN

There are a number of ways to make your stay in Alaska more eco-friendly. Purchasing carbon credits for the long flight to Alaska as well as for any inner state air travel is a great way to offset your greenhouse gas emissions. Travel by train and ferry is also lower impact than by car. Follow the guidelines that come with backcountry permits and query wilderness lodges on their environmental practices. Opting for smaller, locally owned hotels, restaurants, and adventure outfitters keeps money within the community and is often the more ecological choice. For a list of green travel businesses, visit www.adventuregreenalaska.org.

Wildlife viewing is a major draw, especially for those hoping to see the monarchs of the land: the grizzly and its coastal cousin, the brown bear. One of the most notable areas is the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, but visitors are strictly regulated by permit; only a limited number of people a day, accompanied by sanctuary staff, can visit the bear-viewing areas. This close supervision means that visitors have to apply in advance, and names are randomly drawn by computer. You have a better chance of getting to Brooks Camp, another top bear-viewing area, within Katmai National Park.

Other renowned bear-viewing areas include Denali National Park and Preserve, home to 200 to 300 bears; many can be seen grazing on plants or digging for ground squirrels near the Park Road. Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, designated a refuge by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, is home to the largest bears on earth (they can reach 1,200lbs/540kg). As much as 10 percent of Alaska’s grizzlies live on Kodiak Island. ‘Big bears fill big hotels,’ said the controversial grizzly activist Timothy Treadwell, who was mauled to death by a bear in Katmai National Park in 2003. ‘People go to Alaska to see wilderness, to be part of what Earth used to be like. That’s good for tourism. If you protect grizzly habitat, you protect your bread and butter.’

A photographer’s paradise

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Besides bears, people come from around the world to see other wildlife: Dall sheep, moose, caribou, wolves, bald and golden eagles, and all manner of songbirds, shorebirds, and seabirds, as well as marine mammals (for more information, click here).

Ethical guidelines

Although ecotourism industry operators generally follow environmental ethics, they don’t all abide equally by the unwritten code of minimal impact. Bob Jacobs has some suggestions to enable would-be visitors to pick the right company with which to