This website uses cookies to improve your experience. As we stood on the streets of Anchorage picking up our Ford Escort rental car for our two week Alaska road trip we had no idea what these two weeks in Alaska had to offer. If you wanna read up more on the road trip up the Dalton Highway, read this post here. See more and plan the perfect trip with the Anchorage Travel Guide, Distance: 20 Miles to Eagle River 22 Miles more to Eklutna, Time: 25 Minutes to Eagle River 35 Minutes to Eklutna, Place to stop: Arctic Valley, Eklutna Graveyard. this post to see a list of cheap accommodations, Take a glacier cruise from Whittier to explore Prince William Sound, Visit Spencer Glacier On The Whistle Stop Train, Take a Kenai Fjords National Park glacier cruise, One Week Kenai Peninsula Road Trip itinerary, Go flightseeing and bear viewing over in Lake Clark National Park, backcountry safari down the Stampede Trail, Riverboat Discovery Tour down the Chena River, Take a road trip tour from Fairbanks to Delta Junction, one week in Alaska Wrangell St. Elias & Prince William Sound Road Trip, Anchorage To Fairbanks Road Trip: One Week In Alaska, Kayaker’s Cove: My Favorite Escape From Seward, The Best Way To Explore Kenai Fjords National Park: Major Marine Tours, What to Pack for Alaska, Written by a Local, Denali National Park Travel Guide + 14 Things To Do In Denali, The Rabbit Lakes Hike In Anchorage, Alaska, The Reed Lakes Hike In Hatcher Pass, Alaska. Have you ever wanted to camp somewhere where you will be terrified a Grizzly will eat you in your sleep? With Alaska’s vast size and limited amount of developed land, you probably aren’t surprised to learn that just about any road trip you take in the great 49th state is going to require a lengthy trek. Look no further! Not much further south from Girdwood is a tunnel that pierces through the mountains to a little town named Whittier on Prince William Sound. We had no idea what the great state of Alaska had in store for us. Check out the Broke Backpacker’s Bible…. Kenai Airport Hotel| Booking.com | Hotels.com |, King’s Haven Lodge| Booking.com | Agoda.com |, Southern Bluff B&B| Booking.com | Hotels.com |, Read more details on my One Week Kenai Peninsula Road Trip itinerary. How to Plan a Road Trip in Alaska Twice the size of Texas, Alaska had an estimated population of 686,000 in 2008, a little less than the population of El Paso, Texas. Alaska is the most beautiful place I have ever lived or visited, and I want to share a few tricks to plan an Alaska road trip. Begin a journey to Alaska on the Alaska Highway, sometimes known as the Al-Can. I know, maybe you think an Alaska road trip camping vacation may sound a little terrifying right about now but watching out for Grizzly bears is just one tiny portion of what the Alaskan experience is like! One road, two countries, and 2,232km – a journey along the Alaska Highway promises to be the road trip of a lifetime. Another trusty source of information is the Alaska Milepost, I highly recommend purchasing one before your Alaska road trip! All the restaurants we tried in the small town of Talkeetna were truly fantastic. You can safely walk the streets of Anchorage at two a.m. strolling home (to your  tent) from one of Anchorages fantastic watering holes (The cocktail kind; not the filled with elk kind) It will be twilight and creepy feeling because darkness just won’t come as the midnight sun refuse to set. Starting/Ending Location. This route takes you through Denali National Park too. Venturing to Alaska with a sleeping bag, a tent, some freeze dried meals and sleeping amongst the Grizzlies sounded crazy and daring. Book a ticket on one of the park buses to experience true Alaskan wilderness! If you really don’t want to be covered in bug bites just get used to smelling like Deet all the time like everyone else in Alaska. From Whittier it’s possible to take day cruises in the sound out to beautiful calving glaciers, go out on a fishing charter, hike, camp and more. The hiking in Alaska and in Denali National Park specifically is absolutely gorgeous. Looking for a harder hike? That is Alaska. Hi there you all! That right there is why an Alaska road trip is the best budget friendly vacation you can have in the United States. This is what makes a summertime Alaska road trip exciting! Two hours to the north of Anchorage you may get your first views of Mt McKinley, or Denali or just “The Mountain” That’s what the locals call it. I admit now looking back that perhaps throwing four good friends and two weeks’ worth of camping supplies into a compact Ford Focus might have been a strain on our friendship and we did more than a little bit of getting on each others nerves (And that was before we dropped the video camera into the river. The gorgeous highways and back roads through the coniferous taiga forests of Alaska are the kind of place that just beckons anyone who loves a road trip. If you’re not fussed to camp in a tent (or camper/RV) and outside the park though, you can usually find a slot at a campground even at the last minute. That is the thing about doing an Alaskan road trip and driving the Alaska highways; it’s so exceptionally breathtakingly gorgeous up here in the northern state that you don’t even have to make crazy vacation plans. The Adventures of Nicole is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. For those of you that are only in Alaska for a week, you may be bidding your goodbyes here, but if you’re continuing for two weeks or more, use this time to re-stock up before hitting the road to the north toward Denali and Fairbanks. I mean that is if you love to fish the way that I love to fish. Check the Alaska DOT’s 511 for road condition information. That’s a lot of words. Embark on a backcountry hiking trip through the Gates of the Arctic National Park. Close, Amber can usually be found on top of the nearest 14,000 peak mountain. Imagine the most gorgeous pink and purple sunset that lasts for three hours. It’s not unheard of to sit in a road work delay for at least an hour. The intrepid van dwelling nomad is passionate about traveling to far-flung places on the globe. McCarthy is the main jumping off point into Wrangell St. Elias National Park. This can also be started from Fairbanks for those flying in there, or Tok for travelers arriving overland from Canada. Our road trip mascot a known as “maxi-moose” – I wish I could say I came up with that name, but I didn’t! I suggest taking a break from driving and the fantastic views of the Alaska road trip to spend a day fishing the rivers of Alaska. People stopped and starred at me on the streets. Fairbanks goes out of its way to make sure if you are in the city for the midnight sun events you are going to have one hell of a good time. Talkeetna makes a great base for adventures around Denali National & State Parks. There isn’t much in the way of attractions or things to do in Kenai itself unless you’re planning to get in some fishing on your way down to Homer, but Kenai can be a decent place to stop over between Seward and Homer. The Dalton Highway is a crazy road trip that will take you from Fairbanks to the north coast of Alaska, up a dirt road, that passes beyond the Arctic Circle. Actually celebrating the summer solstice at the Arctic Circle is a really cool way to spend June 21st. Alaska Destinations. This trip to Alaska was different though as food in Alaska is stupid expensive. In Copper Center, I’d recommend making a stop at the Copper Center Visitor Center to learn what activities and trails to hike in Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Welcome to Alaska! Entrance to Shanghai - Inner Ring Road - Trip to China part 43 - Full HD travel video - Duration: 3:16. Make the most of your time in Homer with the Homer Travel Guide, Beluga Lake Lodge|Booking.com|Hotels.com|. Once there, park the car and head on out to the ice, following the trail marked by orange cones. An adventure filled Alaskan road trip with a side of camping and fishing for massive Alaskan salmon takes you back to a simpler time and place before iPhones, Snapchat and Instagram. Learn more to plan your visit here, Wanna break from driving? I’m not sure why Fairbanks is so into their break dancing, maybe it comes back to that whole eighties feel of Alaska? The Haul Road, also known as the Dalton Highway is one of the top ten things you just need to experience when on an Alaskan road trip. For those not as adventurous it’s easy enough to stop at viewpoints along the Glenn Highway for views of the glacier, but if you’re wanting to get out on the ice drive into Matanuska Glacier Park where you can pay the $30 per person access fee and continue to drive to the toe of the glacier. Oh 2002; Remember video cameras?) You don’t want to give up the sensational scenery of Alaska, why not extend the road trip into Canada? If you want to go the granola natural route (Which I normally recommend but this is Alaska and the mosquitoes are fierce here) you can try pure lemongrass oil as opposed to the chemical Deet. All rights reserved. In Seldovia, you can try the Sea Parrot Inn, or click here for more info on camping in Seldovia ($10/night for tents and $15/night for RVs). We are in our sixties and will be traveling with our pet dog. Maybe I have just watched the documentary Grizzly Man to many times. When she is not trail running or hiking up to mountain peaks she is travelling the world camping and blogging about her adventures in the great outdoors. I recommend dressing warm and wearing cleats out there to help prevent slips. Anchorage has numerous grocery, department, and gear stores such as Fred Meyer, REI, Walmart, and more. Spoiler alert! Every day we were in the Talkeetna area in late June there were insane thunder, rain and hail storms in the afternoon! It’s very easy and just two miles. What are the best day trips in Alaska? For an easy hike I recommend the Savage River Loop Trail. Moose, glaciers, grizzly bears, bald eagles, mosquitoes as big as bald eagles… Alaska has it all to offer and the sun never sets on adventures here in the land of the midnight sun! See our suggested Alaska Itinerary: 7 days through the top attractions in Alaska. Check out our favorite Fairbanks hostels. People could just look at us and tell we were different; we were from California. Unless you take an Alaska road trip! How Much Does It Cost To Travel In Alaska? Tip: There are even hostels in Alaska! It’s been many, many years since I have been to Alaska and they still, all these years later have some of the best pizza I have ever had in my life. Published annually for more than 60 years, The Milepost is a mile-by-mile guide to the state. Eating freeze dried food in Denali National Park for a few days may sound slightly terrible but before you enter Denali National Park, if driving into Denali from Anchorage you will drive through the smorgasbord of a small town, Talkeetna. The bug situation in Alaska is like nothing I have ever seen in my life and buying good quality insect repellent is important unless you want to look like you are covered in Syphilis scars.