Question about Talkeetna

We are in the process of planning our trip for June 2007 to Alaska and will be spending two nights in Talkeetna. The first night we will arrive later since we are flying into Anchorage in the early evening, renting a car and heading for Talkeetna for our first night spent in Alaska. The next mroning we plan on doing the summit flight with Aero and after that we thought about doing a river float trip but now I am not to sure on the float trip. Has anyone done this out of Talkeetna? Any other suggestions on what to do there? I have the visitor guide from there but would like to hear first hand experiences instead. If by some chance that our summit flight is cancelled the first time we are hoping to do it the next day and then after that we are heading for Denali to do some exploring. So any other suggestions on Talkeetna would be appreciated, thank you.

For me the float trips are so so at best. Usually no wildlife, the rafting on the Nenana is superior for me.

There isn't a lot to do in Talkeetna, I suggest you might want to have a late arrival there and spend your time on the way from Anchorage on several scenic activities perhaps??? Glacier Trekking, Hatcher Pass to Independence Mine, Eagle River Nature Center, Eklutna Spirt House tour, Musk ox farm ( if you aren't going to Fairbanks?) etc etc etc. This would involve overnighting in Anchorage your first night- which might be a better option.

One day in Talkeetna is enough in my opinion.

For the flight, also consider time on your return from Denali Park as a back up as well.

I personally would like to spend a couple of days in Talkeetna. It is very small but full of character. We were only able to spend a few hours in the morning there. We had breakfast pizza at a pizzaria across the street from the Roadhouse.

Talkeetna was probably my favorite town. It is just a "real" alaskan town. Actually I heard they even based the TV show NOrthern Exposure off of it. It was very cute, BUT like Budget Queen says there is not a lot to do.

The summit trip with Aero is spectacular, enjoy that. They also fly out of Denali (although it is a little more expensive), so if the weather doesn't cooperate while you are in Talkeetna ask them if they have availability out of Denali (actually Healy airport).

We took the Devil's Canyon jet boat and it definitely wasn't the highlight of our trip. The canyon portion was exciting, especially with the high water levels, but that was only about 15 minutes of the 5 hours or so we were on the boat. We only saw eagles and I think you would get more scenic things if you did some of the things that BQ talked about. I am a huge fan of glacier trekking. It is absolutely beautifula and where else are you going to do it?

Have fun!