1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (99 page)

Though previous attempts had been made, the first successful ascent of Denali’s main summit was not made until 1913.

Right outside the northwest border of the park, family-owned Denali West Lodge accommodates just ten guests in private, rustic log cabins overlooking Lake Minchumina. There are woodstoves for heat, saunas and bathhouses made from birch and cedar, and family-style meals served in the main lodge, but the biggest draw is the wintertime dogmushing expeditions: six-day trips that explore historic gold-mining and trapping trails each day and return to the lodge at night, and nine-day expeditions to Mount McKinley, staying in walled tents along the
way. In summer, activities focus on hiking, kayaking, and learning about regional plant, bird, and animal life.

D
ENALI
N
ATIONAL
P
ARK
: 237 miles north of Anchorage. Tel 907-683-2294;
www.nps.gov/dena
.
When:
park road closed Oct–Apr.
T
OURS
: Alaska Wildland Adventures. Tel 800-334-8730 or 907-783-2928;
www.alaskawildland.com
.
Cost:
$4,180 for a 6-day lodge-based, all-inclusive tour.
When:
June–mid-Sept.
F
LIGHTSEEING
: Denali Air. Tel 907-683-2261;
www.denaliair.com
.
Cost:
$260.
When:
May–mid-Sept.
C
AMP
D
ENALI
: Tel 907-683-2290;
www.campdenali.com
.
Cost:
$1,305 per person, double occupancy, for 3-night stay, all-inclusive.
When:
June–early Sept.
D
ENALI
W
EST
: Lake Minchumina. Tel 907-674-3112;
www.denaliwest.com
.
Cost:
$1,470 per person, double occupancy, for 3-night stay. Mushing from $3,450 per person for 5-night trip.
B
EST TIMES
: June for wildflowers and birding; Aug–Sept for autumn foliage.

North to Alaska!

Fairbanks to Dawson Creek, British Columbia

It began in panic: On December 7, 1941, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, American military planners looked at a map and saw the long sweep of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands extending like a bridge down into the Pacific
, only 1,000 miles from Japan. If the Japanese were to gain a foothold in Alaska, they feared, the continental U.S. could be invaded by land.

Mobilization was swift. By March 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had begun work on a supply road that would connect the U.S. and Canadian road systems to Fairbanks, a distance of 1,520 miles. With engineers working just ahead of the bulldozers, the Alaska–Canada Military Highway (“Alcan” for short) was completed in only eight months.

Postwar, engineers have worked almost continuously to improve conditions that initially included 90-degree turns, 25 percent grades, and loose gravel virtually guaranteed to spit up and crack your windshield. Today, though extreme weather requires near-constant maintenance work, the two-lane highway is almost entirely paved—a significant inroad on America’s last frontier.

The road begins officially in Dawson Creek, in northeastern British Columbia, about 825 miles north of Seattle. The Canadian portion of the highway is particularly spectacular, crossing the Canadian Rockies past gorgeous Muncho Lake; going through the town of Watson Lake with its signpost forest (30,000 strong, pointing to every place under the sun); zipping past Whitehorse (the Yukon’s largest town) and Kluane Lake (its largest lake) in the Kluane National Park Reserve; then crossing the border into Alaska for the final 300-mile push to Fairbanks. Along the way, you’ll pass scores of snowcapped mountains and ice fields, lakes mirroring an endless sky, and miles of wilderness—plus museums, gold rush sites, and innumerable hiking, fishing, and canoeing opportunities. All told, the drive takes a minimum of seven to ten days.

Fairbanks is not Alaska’s prettiest town, but it’s a hub for exploration of Alaska’s
Interior. The four-day World Eskimo-Indian Olympics is held here in the summer, when more than 400 Native athletes and dancers from around the U.S. and Canada compete in traditional sports. Started in 1961, the event has grown to more than 50 games, plus dance competitions, displays and sale of Native crafts, Native foods, and the crowning of the Miss World Eskimo-Indian Olympics Queen.

A sign marks the beginning of the world-famous Alaska Highway.

In Fairbanks, you can catch the 12-hour Alaska Railroad trip south to Anchorage, stopping at Denali National Park along the way (see p. 912). Expansive picture windows and outdoor viewing areas let you marvel at the scenery and wildlife without worrying about keeping an eye on the road, and tour guides (one per car) are on hand June through August to clue you in on what you’re seeing. It’s one of the most interesting train rides in the world.

W
HERE
: 1,520 miles from Dawson Creek, B
C
, to Fairbanks.
Highway info:
www.themilepost.com
.
W
ORLD
E
SKIMO
-I
NDIAN
O
LYMPICS
: Fairbanks. Tel 907-452-6646;
www.weio.org
.
When:
June or July.
A
LASKA
R
AILROAD
: Tel 800-544-0552 or 907-265-2494;
www.alaskarailroad.com
.
Cost:
$143 (off-peak), $179 (peak).
When:
daily mid-May–mid-Sept; less frequently off-season.
B
EST TIMES
: May for wildflowers; June–Aug for weather; late June for Midnight Sun Festival in Fairbanks; Sept for fall colors, but beware of iffy weather.

Hiking and River Trekking in America’s Last Great Wilderness

Alaska

There was a time not too long ago when a person could travel west and be all alone in total wilderness—no trails to guide their way, no jets overhead, and no sign of humanity anywhere in sight. Those days are long gone
throughout most of the Lower 48, but up here the contiguous Gates of the Arctic National Park and Noatak National Preserve represent one of the world’s largest areas of protected and utterly pristine wilderness.

The 8.5-million-acre Gates of the Arctic National Park was always intended to remain wild, with a poetic mandate that it provide “opportunities for visitors to experience solitude.” That it does: On any given day, there are likely to be fewer than 50 visitors—which means they each have 164,000 acres all to themselves. With no trails, you’re completely immersed in the stern mountains, vast tundra, and wide, sweeping valleys, which in summer bloom with a profusion of wildflowers. Several Athabascan and Inupiat subsistence communities survive here, but you’ll find far more animals than humans, including musk ox, wolves, brown and black bears, thousands of migrating caribou, and more than 130 species of birds.

Gates of the Arctic and Noatak, just to the west, offer two of America’s best wilderness float trips, on the 350-mile Kobuk River and 400-mile Noatak. From Walker Lake in the
park’s southern section, the Kobuk is navigable for its entire length, with a few short stretches of rapids that can reach Class V. Tracking the south side of the Brooks Range and connecting with a series of small lakes, it flows westward through Kobuk Valley National Park before joining the Chukchi Sea at Kotzebue Sound.

To the north, the Noatak is the largest unaltered, mountain-ringed river basin in America, preserving 330 miles of officially designated Wild and Scenic River. From headwaters just north of Walker Lake, on the slopes of Mt. Igikpak, the mostly Class I and Class II river flows around the northern side of the Brooks, passing through broad, sloping valleys and high-walled canyons before turning south to Kotzebue Sound. It’s one of the most elemental river experiences in North America.

Use Bettles Lodge as your springboard and base. Owners Dan and Lynda are licensed pilots who can arrange every aspect of your trip.

W
HERE
: 200 miles northwest of Fairbanks.
G
ATES OF THE
A
RCTIC
: Tel 907-692-5494;
www.nps.gov/gaar
.
N
OATAK
: Tel 907-442-3890;
www.nps.gov/noat
.
H
OW
: Arctic Treks (tel 907-455-6502;
www.arctictreksadventures.com
) and Arctic Wild (tel 888-577-8203 or 907-479-8203;
www.arcticwild.com
) both offer backpacking and canoeing trips in Aug–Sept.
Cost:
from $2,600 for 10-day backpacking.
B
ETTLES
L
ODGE
: Tel 800-770-5111 or 907-692-5111;
www.bettleslodge.com
.
Cost:
$790 per person for 2-day/1-night stay, includes meals and air transfer from Fairbanks.
B
EST TIMES
: July–Aug for warmer temperatures and caribou viewing; Sept–Mar for spectacular aurora borealis activity.

First-Class Skiing and Sky-High Dining at Alaska’s Best Hotel

Girdwood, Alaska

Alaska really is the last vestige of America’s frontier, so the term “deluxe hotel” might need to be taken with a grain of salt—except when the accommodations in question are the Alyeska. Opened as a ski
resort in 1959, the hotel didn’t come into its own until the Japanese Seibu Corporation took over in 1980 and built the luxurious Alyeska Prince. A high-style chateau that sits in a gorgeous valley surrounded by miles of spruce trees, it is framed by the vast bulk of 3,939-foot Mount Alyeska that looms behind it.

Just 40 miles from Anchorage along the scenic Seward Highway that skirts the Turnigan Arm Waterway, the Alyeska (an Aleut word meaning “great land of white to the east”) sits near the funky town of Girdwood in the Chugach Range. Inside, a million board feet of cherrywood paneling link the guest rooms and the public areas, which include a lobby with riveting mountain views and a stunning indoor pool under a wooden A-frame ceiling. Outside, more than 1,000 acres of slopes offer skiing and snowboarding for all abilities. Heli-skiing is also available, as are snowshoeing, crosscountry skiing, dogsledding, and flightseeing. In summer, the resort offers glacier and trail hiking, white-water rafting, salmon and halibut fishing, and bear viewing, plus access to the 18-hole, par-72 Anchorage Golf Course, where during summer you can play from 4:30
A.M.
till after midnight.

In the evening, ride the aerial tramway up the mountain for dinner at the sumptuous Seven Glaciers Restaurant. Its view—possibly
the best at any U.S. ski resort—inspired its name: On a clear day, you really can see seven glaciers while sampling from a menu that focuses on Alaskan seafood and game.

W
HERE
: 40 miles from Anchorage. Tel 800-880-3880 or 907-754-1111;
www.alyeskaresort.com
.
C
OST
: from $109 (off-peak), from $189 (peak); lift tickets $45; dinner at Seven Glaciers $50.
S
EWARD
H
IGHWAY
:
www.byways.org
.
B
EST TIMES
: Mar for winter daylight and highest average snowfall; June for constant daylight and the driest weather.

The Making of the World, Right Before Your Eyes