Alaska - often seen as that one isolated state in the corner of maps of America is a bucket list item for every adventurous tourist, and is every bit worth the effort it takes to reach there! Most of Alaska is rugged, uninhabited, and inaccessible by roads. For a casual tourist, a practical itinerary involves covering the middle of Alaska with the four promiment locations - Anchorage, Fairbanks, Seward, and Denali National Park - done as a spectacularly beautiful road trip. I will let the pictures do most of the talking of our Alaskan adventure.
One of the biggest draws of visiting Alaska is to see Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights - the spectacular show in the sky put up by the Earth's magnetic field, so let's get to that right away. Immediately after landing at Fairbanks airport, we rent a car and drive off to an isolated spot just beyond the end of the town's lights, and there it is in its full glory! The eyes take some time to notice the faint Aurora, but once they get used to the darkness, it grows on you. We spend a couple of hours in the freezing cold, alternating between stepping inside the comfortably heated car and stepping out to see the dancing lights in the sky, marking the best welcome to Alaska one can hope for!
Aurora watching requires darkness, and at least a couple of nights of stay in Fairbanks to account for bad weather ruining the show. So, what does one do in Fairbanks during the day? It's a cute little town worth exploring. Pioneer Air Museum has a great collection of aviation history of Alaska and is open to public during the warm months. We had contacted a local who volunteers at the museum and they graciously opened the doors for us to visit and spend a couple of hour geeking over airplanes.
Is Fairbanks the northernmost point we go to in our trip? No, we can go further north, as far as good motorable roads go, so we begin driving northwards with no destination in mind. Our destination ends up being a quaint truck stop and gas station called Hilltop in the middle of nowhere, with the most decadent pies to celebrate reaching the northernmost point of our travels.
If we are this far north, can Santa be too far? Turns out not, as we can go to North Pole. No, not the geographic pole, rather its namesake town outside Fairbanks where Santa and his reindeers reside year round. It's a neat little spot to get your holiday pictures clicked irrespective of which month you visit.
After a couple of days in Fairbanks, it's time to start heading south. There are two options to travel from Fairbanks to Denali National Park and onwards to Anchorage - either take the Denali Star train operated by Alaska Railroad for a long, scenic journey enjoying the views from the train's observation cars, or pick up a car and drive along the Alaska highway at your own pace. We choose the latter, but timed our journey such that we get to run parallel to the Denali Star and enter Denali National Park at the same time as the train!
Denali National Park is incredibly popular among tourists during the warm season between Memorial Day and Labour Day (end-May to early-September). During this period, private cars are not allowed inside the park, instead everyone has to take the shuttle buses operated by the National Park Service. However, we are visiting in the shoulder season just after the Labor Day peak crowd has subsided, and the park is getting ready to close for the winter. During these few weeks, private cars are allowed to drive inside the park which gives an opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty peacefully without crowds and without worrying about bus schedules.
Fall begins in Alaska much earlier than in the lower states, so by mid-September the flora in Denali is in full bloom in a riot of bright colours! The wildlife, especially the bears, have already begun their preparation for the long harsh winter, so there are barely any animal spottings at this time of the year, but the autumn colors more than makes up for it giving a beautiful driving experience.
From Denali National Park to Anchorage is another several hours of drive away, and the journey takes longer than what the car's navigation system shows because the entire route is so spectacularly scenic that we end up taking several photo stops along the way. A full day's journey finally culminates in Anchorage where you are welcomed with wide highways, heavy traffic (by Alaska standards), and fast food chain restaurants, reminding you that you may be far away but still very much in the United States!
Speaking of traffic, in Alaska more of it is in the air than on the roads, as the locals own small private airplanes and fly them to access remote parts of the state not easily accessed by roads. Owning a plane in Alaska is as normal as owning a car for the rest of us, and there are thousands of them flying all day long, often from airfields that have no air traffic control tower and no radars - everything is manually managed between the pilots over radio! It's a controlled chaos worth experiencing at one of the local airfields.
Anchorage is a comfortable place to rest and take a break, and also serves as the gateway to a completely different side of Alaskan landscape - one with fjords and lakes and glaciers. We continue our drive south towards Seward along the highway hugging the fjords, hoping to see whales but spotting none.
The drive from Anchorage to Seward is punctuated by lakes and mountains and colourful autumn foliage which makes the entire journey feel like a scene from a fairytale, culminating in the cute little seaside town of Seward.
Seward is the main port of call for Alaska cruise ships and ferries from the mainland. However, our reason to arrive here is different - get on a boat to go looking for glaciers! The water is deep blue, the weather is cold and windy, but the views make it all worth it as we make our way from the safe harbour into the open sea.
Finding glaciers and reaching them is dependent on weather conditions of the day. Our boat's captain is determind to take us to one, as long as we are okay with braving some choppy seas along the way. An hour of bouncy ride later, we get our effort's worth - a big beautiful glacier in all its glory!
This week in Alaska is one of the most memorable travel experiences I have had. If this has inspired you to visit the Last Frontier, here are some tips:
- Flying in and out of Anchorage is easiest but doubles the local travel to do a round-trip to Fairbanks. Instead, fly into Fairbanks and out of Anchorage (or the other way round) and do a one-way north-south trip
- Renting a car is the best (and practically the only) way to explore Alaska at your own pace. A one-week rental with pickup in Fairbanks and drop in Anchorage ends up being very expensive as one-way drop premium is added to the entire rental duration. Instead, break up your car rentals. We rented one car in Fairbanks and returned it in Fairbanks, immediately picked up another car from Fairbanks for a one-day one-way rental to Anchorage, and at Anchorage exchanged for another local rental. This involves the effort of swapping cars twice but saves hundreds of dollars
- Aurora and glacier spotting are both dependent on weather conditions. Keep enough flexibility in your schedule to switch things around based on the day's weather conditions rather than pre-booking non-refundable tickets for activities on a specific date
- The Denali Star train experience is beautiful, but expensive. If your budget allows for it, make sure to book it early as the train gets sold out regularly
- Instead of hotels, opt for AirBnB to stay with local families in Anchorage and Fairbanks. The Alaskan hosts are very friendly, and you may also end up making some fun four-legged friends!
