Many feel that the name of Alaska comes from an Aleut word meaning land that is not an island. Alaska is the only tundra in the middle of nowhere due to its distance from the lower 48 states and since the majority of the tales you hear about Alaska generally links to the snow and cold and vast, bare, open spaces. However, it is not fully correct.
Alaska - the largest country (by landmass) is also be among the most populated and is a land that combines the gorgeous snowy scenery of the Alps' with the adventure trip. Get tickets for cheap flight fares and great deals on vacation packages to Alaska. Adventurous travelers may have tried activities like sandboarding, scuba diving, or even ice climbing, but few travelers have tried something else that requires more physical effort than you'd think: panning for gold.
There's no state in the US better suited to trying gold panning than Alaska, home of the Klondike Gold Rush that brought roughly 100,000 prospectors to the Last Frontier. Today, visitors can try their luck panning for gold throughout the state, either by visiting gold-panning attractions or signing up for backcountry panning tours. And if you have the right tools, you can even go gold panning by yourself. Who knows: you may be the next person to strike it rich.
1. Kenai Fjords National Park
Alaska is the place to be if you have ever dreamed of experiencing the absolute magnitude of a glacier, which the pages of a novel or movie cannot communicate. Of course, most favour Iceland or Greenland for this chilling experience. Fjord exploration is just a few of many reasons why people ought to be thankful to the first State of Alaska.
You can raft to your hearts' content and pretend you are a wanderer with experience in the middle of this vast selection of wildlife. Travel and experience the many wonders of Alaska. Listen to the tales of the natives. Catch a glimpse of eagles as you hold on for dear life during Kenai River Canyon raft trip.
2.Juneau
This is the most popular game in Alaska and an experience worth telling your grandchildren, friends, or whoever will hear it. Should you choose, check it out yourself or can see dog sled races too. The Huskies are trained, so there is no need to fear. Additionally, you may sled with the husky owner.
3. Round Island
So, you have not seen any of these furry critters? Wind up searching for more of an experience as opposed to a one? Or maybe you're happy to watch it. You can see other marine mammal’s like walrus and bird species from the deck of a yacht. It is possible to take a hiking excursion and watch more of this wildlife if you would like a little more of a challenge.
4. Prince William Sound
Alaska's national parks are some of the country's most beautiful, especially those near the coast: Glacier Bay National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park. They're renowned for their huge glaciers, but it's a long drive to reach either one (plus a ferry ride, in some cases).
Fortunately, this stunning fjord is just over an hour from Anchorage and home to 150 glaciers, 26 of which you can see in a single boat tour. And it also has resident orcas, migrating whales, seals, and sea lions, and the chance to see (and hear) massive sheets of ice plummeting into shimmering blue water. This experience is one that you can experience by visiting Alaska. This ensures you don't try this and isn't for the faint of heart.
5. Wrangell St. Elias National Park
Most national parks have gateway towns — towns that most tourists pass through on their way to the park entrances, like Bar Harbor outside Acadia National Park or Mariposa near Yosemite. But the gateway town to Wrangell St. Elias National Park — America's largest national park — is just a little bit different.
For starters, cars aren't allowed in McCarthy. There's no authority or police of any kind, and most people arrive by plane since it's surrounded by 50 miles of pure wilderness in all directions. Oh, and there's a good chance most of the buildings in town are haunted.
McCarthy was one of Alaska's first "sin cities," with more than a few brothels and saloons in town. Today, it's a fabulously quirky home base for epic backpacking and hiking trips (and yes, you can sleep in a former brothel). There's practically nothing compared to backpacking in 18, an experience you have to grab. Of course, you can choose your adventure travel destination: Arctic Refuge, Brooks Range, Talkeetna Mountains, and Wrangell-St. Elias.
6. Resurrection Bay
Folks envision a land of ice and frozen dessert whenever someone mentions Alaska. So, it is somewhat difficult to imagine people being able to fish in this place. However, Alaska is a place full of experience, a location well.
For the Alaska fishing experience, you can try your chance at hooking any of several prized fish such as Silver Salmon in Resurrection Bay during August and September, the King Salmon in the Lower Kenai River from May to July or even Red (Sockeye) Salmon.
7. Aleutian Islands
Way out at the tail end of the Aleutian Islands, see this remote island. Its magical waterfall pouring into the Pacific Ocean and its two touring volcanoes will rarely be seen by human eyes, not to mention most of the Aleutians. Can you imagine what a tourist destination this would be if it were located on the mainland? Take a tour of the entire island chain and you’ll never forget that vacation!
8. Denali
Often, the big mountain creates its own weather, and that is rain, fog, snow, and other things which completely obscure any views of it. Denali is also one big white snow, glacier, ice covered blob and that makes it easily hidden by the weather it creates, but absolutely beautiful on a clear day. Of all the 100% of tourists that come to Denali Park, only 30% ever get to actually see this big beauty.
9. Gates of the Arctic National Park
Speaking of lesser-visited parts of Alaska, this is the least visited national park in America. With such stunning views, it’s too bad more people don’t see it!
10. Katmai National Park and Preserve
The Novarupta volcano on the Alaska Peninsula violently erupted and shook the area we now know as the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The wilderness became a dynamic landscape of smoking valleys, mountains covered with ash and small holes and cracks that gave off steam and gas. There was a single eruption in history, apart from this, on the Greek island of Santorini, in 1500 BC, which dismissed more ash and pumice.
Nature lovers with their cameras and fishermen with their rods have much to see and do in the Katmai National Park and Preserve, in the southern region of Alaska, on the Pacific, known as the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and inhabited by grizzly bears. In this region of alpine tundra, forests, lakes, rivers and swamps is a very diverse fauna.
In addition to the bears and salmon at Brooks River, you can see moose, caribou, wolves, foxes, waterfowl, bald eagles, seals and whales. Katmai also hosts the wild river Alagnak and several large lakes. The Naknek Lake is the largest and contains the five species of Pacific salmon, as well as Rainbow trout, Char alpine fish, Arctic grayling and Northern pike, making the park a famous destination among recreational anglers.
Walk the park by boat or on foot, and always have the camera ready. This park is a reserve that protects an active volcanic landscape and is a very important habitat for salmon and thousands of brown bears that feed on these fish. Travel by kayak through the chain of lakes and rivers known as the Savonoski circuit, the picturesque American Creek River and the Savonoski Loop River fed by the glacier.
With no road connection to any city, Katmai requires additional planning, including costs and reservations in advance, in cases of extended visits. Packages of bear sightings to the park, including day trips, can be arranged from Kodiak, Homer and Anchorage.
Most people think of bears when they think of Katmai. This National Park is one of the best areas in the world for the sighting of bears. It is home to over 2,000 brown bears, many of which are concentrated in the Brooks Camp area to hunt red salmon in the Brooks River. You can take a short walk to reach three platforms along the river from which you can see how the bears dive to get their dinner.
Nunathloogagamiutbingoi, is the name of an Alaskan beach in the Cup’ig (Central Alaskan Yupik) language.
Are you now convinced that traveling to Alaska is an experience you should not miss? Before making reservations, make sure that you've got a pair of hiking boots and different types of clothing for a vast range of temperatures. Assuming that you are arriving in Alaska by plane, as a sane person would, you will get your first taste of the cold when you step off the plane to go into the terminal. It is biting, the air is crisp but smells of exhaust.
In the winter the temperature is going to be between 40 to -40 F or 5 to -40C. The temperature tends to fluctuate between the two extremes with a half period being a month. And when it is on the -40 end, while the weather isn't humid, so it really isn't that bad, when the cold air hits your skin it will feel like your skin is going to tighten to the point of possibly peeling off.
And breathing in the air is like a cold burning. You would probably avoid breathing in though your nostrils, but instead breathe in through your mouth covered by your coat, scarf or glove, but the condensation from one's breath accumulates quickly so it might get wet.
It is going to be dark for the most part, not that many tall buildings, and there is almost going to be a perpetual hovering ice fog, that is most likely exhaust that sinks in the air due to the fact that you will see many empty cars just running. People will typically leave their cars running if they are parked for less than 30 minutes, to keep the heat on, because driving in a cold car is incredibly miserable.
When it gets cold enough, it is advised plug in one's car at -15 F, but if one can't plug in their car then going outside and running it every 2 hours or so is advised. If this doesn't happen, in as little as 4 hours a car engine can freeze solid and it will take at least 4 hours for it to get to the point that the car can start again, that is if you can immediately plug in your car. And even if a car starts beautifully, without a garage, it is advised to let the car run for at least 5 minutes.
But you can see cars magically start up without any passengers, due to the wonders of auto-start. But auto-start is typically done from the inside, since what is the point of going outside to push a button since you got the darn thing so you didn't need to go outside to start your car.
So due to the possible ice fog, and exhaust from all of the running cars, it causes the light to scatter everywhere making a kind of uniform glow when the sun is up. It is light outside, but you can't figure out where the sun is exactly unless it is setting, which is when people tend to go outside for a chance to see the sun, since it is out for such a short time, less than 6 hours. But it isn't difficult to see a clear bright night sky filled with stars, a large moon on most nights.
Other than the convenient travel packages being offered by the travel agencies that cater to Alaska, you can create your travel itinerary and then hire a guide to help you.