Alaska is the largest US state and home to more vast open wilderness than most countries have altogether, making it the perfect place for an adventurous outdoor trip. It’s a place where you can experience untouched tundra, glacier packed fjords and rugged remote mountains – all while spotting moose on the roadsides and brown bears fishing salmon straight out of the rivers. And the best bit? Even in the height of summer, it still feels peaceful and you can easily find yourself hiking for hours without seeing another human. The dream!
This guide follows the exact two-week itinerary we took, and it turned out to be one of the most incredible trips of our lives. The first nine days are a hiking-focused road trip through Southcentral Alaska’s most accessible corners, before the adventure takes a sharp turn and leaps into “Bush Alaska”, where the roads run out and the only way into Lake Clark and Katmai National Parks is by float plane. I hope this guide gives you everything you need to plan your own adventure to one of the most beautiful places in the world, the Last Frontier.
There aren’t currently any direct flights to Alaska from the UK, but there are connecting flights through mainland Europe and other US states. We flew out via Seattle and home via Portland.
You will need to rent a car to explore southcentral Alaska, I recommend opting for a high clearance 4×4 to be safe. Once you get into Lake Clark and Katmai National Parks there aren’t any roads and you will need to fly in, out and around these regions.
I would recommend visiting in summer to give you the best chance of good weather, which is mid June to the end of August. If bear viewing at Brooks Falls is important to you, then mid July (during the salmon run peak) is your safest bet.
Alaska is the largest US state and demands a longer trip to even get a little taste of all it has to offer. I would recommend a minimum of 10 days there, but ideally a fortnight.
Day 1: Arrive in Anchorage
Day 2, 3 & 4: North of Anchorage & Hatchers Pass
Day 5 & 6: Glaciers & Girdwood
Day 7, 8 & 9: Seward & Kenai Fjords National Park
Day 10: Travel to Lake Clark
Day 11, 12, 13 & 14: Lake Clark & Katmai National Parks
Day 15: Travel home
Once you’ve picked up your rental car Anchorage, I recommend driving north towards the Hatchers Pass region. The vast majority of the mountains in Alaska are untouched and inaccessible on foot but this is a rare area with an abundance of day hikes for you to get stuck into.
Day 2: Eklutna Lake & Reflections Lake
Day 3: Gold Cord, Rae Wallace & Summit Lake
Day 4: Reed Lakes Trail
Restaurants & cafes to try: Fern AK for acai bowls, Lekker or XtraCup for coffee and Matanuska Brewery for a drink.
Accommodation: Northern Nights Lodging or Fishhook Sunrise B&B
Here are my top trail recommendations as well as a suggested day by day itinerary:
This hiking route is perfectly located on the drive up to Hatchers Pass from Anchorage. It climbs up over a stunning glacial lake giving panoramic views over the surrounding mountains. I know the elevation is spicy, but you don’t need to go all the way to the top to get the view - you could stop at around 700-800m elevation if you wanted to. We spotted two moose on the road into this hike!
Distance: 14km
Elevation Gain: 1300m
Difficulty: Strenuous
Trail Map: Click here
A short, easy and flat trail that is again just off the road north from Anchorage, so an easy stop on your drive to Hatchers Pass. At the far end of the loop you can look back over the lake for stunning reflections of the mountains in the water.
Distance: 2km
Elevation Gain: 17m
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map: Click here
Independence Mine State Park is a historic ruined mine dating back to the early 1900s. It is worth parking up there and having a walk around the buildings, before then taking a short scenic hike over to Gold Cord Lake. This is a beautiful alpine lake and from its rim you can look over the whole valley.
Distance: 3km
Elevation Gain: 150m
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map: Click here
Located just down the valley from Gold Cord Lake is another short and sweet hiking route which gives views over the surrounding mountains. This trail is typically slightly quieter than other ones in the region and equally as beautiful.
Distance: 4km
Elevation Gain: 300m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Map: Click here
Summit lake is another picturesque lake nestled in the Hatchers Pass region. You can easily just drive up and park next to the lake and take a stroll around it. However if you want more of a challenge, there is a nearby peak you can climb for views over the lake and surrounding mountains.
Distance: 3.5km
Elevation Gain: 260m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Map: Click here
If there is one hike you do in Hatchers Pass, make it the Reed Lakes trail. It is definitely ranked as one of the top hikes I have ever done! Climbing from a lush green valley up past two rugged alpine lakes, it takes in varied and beautiful scenery with 360 degree views the whole time. Definitely pack your swimwear on a warm day and have a dip in the creek!
Distance: 14km
Elevation: 700m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Map: Click here
It’s time to start your journey south, driving back past Anchorage and along the Seward highway. Instead of heading straight down to Seward itself, I recommend taking your time and stopping off in Girdwood for a couple of nights. This will allow you to fit in a couple more hikes, immerse yourself in a small slower-paced town and eat some delicious local food (we had our favourite meal of the trip at Jack Sprat here!). This is what we did:
There are countless ways to experience Alaska’s glaciers, ranging from short walks to full-blown helicopter landings. On our drive south, we stopped at Knik Glacier and took a helicopter and paddleboarding tour onto the ice – floating through the glacier’s rivers and pools was genuinely one of the highlights of our whole trip. It’s an expensive activity though, so if you’re after a more budget-friendly way to get up close to a glacier, book a guided glacier walk on nearby Matanuska Glacier instead which is an incredible experience in its own right.
Girdwood itself has a handful of hikes, but I would recommend using it as a base to explore nearby Portage Valley. Drive down Portage Glacier Road, passing through the historic Anton Anderson memorial tunnel to reach the tiny coastal town of Whittier. From here you can take on the stunning Portage Pass hike and then grab yourself an ice cream or some fresh seafood on the waterfront. On your drive back, I recommend stopping off at Tangle Pond for a wild swim, you will likely have the whole place to yourself!
Restaurants & cafes to try: Jack Sprat for dinner, Alpenglow for coffee and Girdwood Brewing Company for a drink. Birch & Alder is a great coffee and lunch spot on the road down to Girdwood.
Accommodation: Alyeska Spruce Cabin or Alpine Charm Lodge
Distance: 8km
Elevation Gain: 450m
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Map: Click here
The drive from Girdwood to Seward is absolutely incredible, perhaps one of the most scenic drives I have ever done! So make sure you set aside time for stops along the way to take in all the views, my personal favourite spots were Kenai Lake and the Trail Lakes. Once you get to Seward itself, there is so much to do. This coastal town is known as the gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park, acts as a hub for ocean adventures and of course, has plenty more hiking trails to explore. Here’s how I recommend you spend your time there.
Suggested itinerary:
Day 7: Take a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park
Day 8: Hike the Harding Icefield Trail
Day 9: Hike Tosina Creek & Rent a Sauna
This national park basically consists of a rugged stretch of coastline where towering mountains and huge tidewater glaciers descend straight into an ocean. It is jam packed with humpback whales, otters, seals and puffins. The best way to experience it is through a boat tour, and I would recommend Seacor Tours as not only are they women owned and run, but they operate out of a small boat which gives a much more personal experience than the bigger operators. We actually had one of the best whale watching experiences of my life in Kenai Fjords, seeing about 12 humpbacks bubble feeding together for an hour!
Our favourite hike in the Seward region was definitely this trail. It is a spicy route which allows you to hike to the edge of the Harding Icefield, one of the four major ice caps in the United States. You have incredible glacier views for the vast majority of the route, and it is a great place to spot bears and marmots - we saw both on our way up!
Distance: 15km
Elevation Gain: 1000m
Difficulty: Challenging
Trail Map: Click here
If you’re looking for a more gentle hike which is still absolutely beautiful, this easy route in Resurrection Bay brings you out on a scenic black sand beach and gives you gorgeous views along the way.
Distance: 5km
Elevation Gain: 200m
Difficulty: Easy
Trail Map: Click here
If your body needs a little help recovering from all the hikes, then I definitely recommend booking a mobile wood-fired sauna from Seward Saunas. They will set it up right on the bank on Resurrection River, so you can easily warm up in the sauna before jumping into the glacial water (I warn you, it is seriously cold!!), and then rinsing and repeating! It’s the perfect way to revive sore legs after the Harding Icefield hike and the mountain views are pretty hard to beat.
Restaurants & cafes to try: Rays for dinner (be prepared to queue), Crown Point for coffee and Gridl for burgers.
Accommodation: Cabin on the Cliff or Hotel North
After 10 days of driving around South-central Alaska, this is where the trip changes completely – and gets really exciting! Lake Clark and Katmai are two of the most remote national parks in the whole of the USA, with no roads leading in or out, the only way to reach either is by float plane. This is where Alaska’s real wilderness reputation comes into play, it is prime brown bear country where you can watch them fishing for salmon just metres away, surrounded by volcanoes, glaciers, and turquoise lakes with barely another visitor in sight. It is also, I warn you, by far the most expensive stretch of the whole trip, so alongside our own experience staying at a resort I will outline a slightly more affordable way to see the bears too.
We flew to Lake Clark Resort and stayed there for the remainder of our trip, doing day trips from the lodge into Lake Clark and Katmai National Parks. They have their own fleet of float planes and a team of pilots, and each day can fly you to different remote regions of the national parks. It is a pretty incredible set up! When you book in with Lake Clark Resort you select a package with different experiences, these are the ones we went for:
This is THE iconic bear watching spot in Alaska. It is one of the only places known to humans where solitary brown bears come together to hunt, catch and eat salmon alongside each other. It was the highlight of our whole trip and I highly recommend that if you only do one experience in this region, you make it this. It should be noted, it needs to be booked far in advance and you should time it in line with the salmon run.
A pilot flies you around the remote lakes and mountains of Katmai National Park. We had a very rainy day for our tour, but still had incredible wildlife sights including moose, bears, caribou and even a wolverine! We stopped off at remote beaches, had a campfire lunch nestled under a mountain and explored the wilderness as we pleased. It doesn’t get much better than that!
You board a float plane and fly over the glaciers and around the volcanoes of Lake Clark National Park. This was one of the most scenic days of our whole Alaska trip, with mind blowing landscapes, endless glaciers and rugged untouched mountains. We flew high over a huge volcano which was steaming with sulphur and then landed on a remote turquoise blue lake with a huge waterfall flowing straight into it. This day was yet another highlight of our adventure!
We had a free day to explore Lake Clark National Park on foot. Considering how huge this park is, there are only a couple of established hiking trails but they are super rewarding:
> Tanalian Mountain. A spicy climb to the only peak you can summit in the national park, which gives incredible views over Lake Clark. This is the hike we did and thoroughly enjoyed it.
> Tanalian Falls & Kontrashibuna Lake. A moderate hike to a spectacular waterfall and serene mountain lake. Most other guests did this trail and they all recommended it.
Our experience at Lake Clark resort was nothing short of phenomenal. The national parks in this region are notoriously hard to access and explore, but the resort makes it feel easy. The food was delicious, rooms were comfortable and service was top notch. Yes, it is an expensive experience but we agreed that it was definitely worth it for us.
If the resort isn’t in your budget, there are still ways to see the bears for significantly less, but I warn you that whatever you do this isn’t a cheap experience.
The simplest option is to book a day tour direct from Anchorage or Homer. You’ll fly out in the morning, spend a few hours watching the bears fish at the falls, and be back in Anchorage/Homer by evening, all without any overnight logistics to plan. If you’d rather have more time and a bit more independence, the second option is to fly into the small town of King Salmon and base yourself there instead. From King Salmon, you can cross over to Brooks Camp by water taxi or float plane, spend the day watching the bears, and head back to town in the evening. Either way, you’ll end up watching exactly the same bears at exactly the same falls, for a much smaller price tag than a multi-day lodge stay.
It is worth noting, that all day tours and flights to Brooks Falls must be booked well in advance.
An easy way to extend your trip would be to add in a stop at Denali National Park (this is also a cheaper alternative to Lake Clark & Katmai). It is home to North America’s highest peak and some of the best wildlife viewing in the state. It’s roughly a 4 hour drive north from Anchorage and you only need a couple of days there to see the highlights.
Safe travels,
Zanna xx
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