Trip Report - DIY Land Tour - July 22 - 29

[TwoSue]

I just posted this over on Trip Advisor, but thought some people here might benefit. We did a DIY land tour for a week, followed by the HAL Glacier Discovery from Seward to Vancouver.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help planning our Alaska trip. We have been on a lot of great vacations, but we all agree this was our best ever!! "We" is my husband and I and our two kids, ages 11 and 14. I'll just write the land portion tonight.

 

We rented a 25' motorhome from Great Alaskan Holidays. We have never traveled in an rv before, but everyone loved it! Our teenaged son especially enjoyed having the refrigerator at arm's reach. We arrived in Anchorage at 1 in the morning and had arranged to spend the night in the rv. (We were not alone... 12 families spent the night in their rvs on the lot that rainy night) We had an appointment at 8:45 in the morning for orientation. GAH was very efficient and we were out of there by 10:00. We stopped at Walmart for groceries and then headed south.

 

The rest of Day 1 was spent traveling along the Turnagain Arm, turning off for photos. We stopped at Potters Marsh for a short walk on the boardwalk. We next stopped at Girdwood and hiked the Winner Creek Trail to the hand tram (fun!) and back. We then headed to Portage Lake and explored the visitor center. By this time it was raining sideways, so we didn't do the hike near the center that we had planned. We went to Williwaw Campground, where I had a reservation. It was still raining, but not windy, so we decided to go to the salmon viewing area over the creek. Not a salmon in sight! We ended up taking an hour hike and then settled in for the night.

 

Day 2 - After leaving the campground, we hiked up to Byron Glacier. That was a nice hike along the creek, and we only bumped into one other person. It was our first peek at the blue ice of a glacier... just a taste of what was to come! We then drove over to the Whittier tunnel for the 11:30 tunnel. We had a 1:00 glacier cruise booked with Major Marine (using 2 for 1 coupon). We had a great time on the cruise... only about 30 people on a boat that could hold 150. The weather was rainy, but it didn't matter. The buffet was delicious, especially the salmon. We spent time out on the decks when we were by the glacier, and the rest of the time we were comfortable in our window seats.

 

After the cruise, we headed back up the Turnagain Arm. I had purchased the book "Travelers Guide to Alaskan Camping", so as we drove we looked for a good place to stop. We chose Eklutna Lake, which was not too far north of Anchorage. What a fabulous spot!! The lake was incredibly beautiful. Out of 50 campsites, only 10 were occupied. I highly recommend a stop there.

 

Day 3 - We drove out the Glenn Highway to Matanuska Glacier. The scenery was spectacular along the highway! We did a 3-hour ice fall trek with MICA guides. It was a great trip. We happened to have a beautiful, sunny day, and hiking across the glacier with crampons on our boots and the sun in our eyes was a unique experience. After the trek, we drove down the road a couple of miles and did their zipline, which was also fun. We then headed over to Grandview RV Park, which still had some spots left. We had pizza in their cafe for dinner (the only time we ate out during the whole land tour) and enjoyed the hook-ups.

 

Day 4 - We didn't have a big plan for this day, except to head towards Denali, and stop along the way for whatever we wanted. We first went to the Musk Ox farm in Palmer (2 for 1 coupon). The tour was short but interesting. I had wanted to drive up Hatcher Pass, but I was overruled by my family. We looked through our Northern Lights coupon book and decided to try for a jetboat tour in Talkeetna. I called and made a reservation, and we headed on our way. We stopped in Wasilla at the Iditarod Headquarters. My kids enjoyed snuggling with the sled dog puppies, but there wasn't much of a museum there. We also stopped for a delicious slice of cheesecake at Alaska Cheesecake (coupon) and then headed to Talkeetna.

 

As we approached town, we saw Denali towering right over the road! That was a nice surprise. We took the 6:30 Wilderness Jetboat Tour with Majays Jetboats. This was another efficient, friendly operation. We had a nice ride up the river, and enjoyed the educational part at the re-creation of the trapper's cabin and Athabascan fish camp. We knew it was a pleasure ride, not whitewater, but we all enjoyed it. We had several nice views of Denali.

 

After the jetboat ride, we kept driving towards Denali. We stopped at the southern viewpoint at 10:40 pm and were treated to an incredible sunset right over Denali! The mountain was clear and the view was spectacular!! I kept telling my kids how lucky they were to see such a thing. We stayed there taking pictures for an hour or so, and then we discovered that for $10, we could overnight in that parking lot, so we did.

 

Day 5 - Denali was still visible in the morning, although it was starting to cloud over. We got a late start to the day, but enjoyed the rest of the drive to Denali. We had a reservation for two nights at Riley Creek Campground, which was good since it was totally booked.

 

After choosing a campsite, we went to the Visitor Center where my daughter checked out a Junior Ranger backpack. We then drove to Savage River and did the hike there, spotting our first caribou.

 

Day 6 - We had reservations for the 9:00 Eilson shuttle bus. It was a beautiful, but foggy, day in the park. We spotted 8 bears (including 3 cubs), lots of caribou, and several Dall's sheep. The bus was comfortable and the stops were plentiful. I told my kids they needed to pay attention on the way out, but on the way back one went to sleep and the other read a book. We packed a lunch to have at Eilson and did a small hike there. Denali was not visible today.

 

Day 7 - We visited the Visitor Center to get the kids' junior ranger badges and then did the trail to Horseshoe Lake. We then took the bus to the 2:00 dog sled demo. It was about 80 degrees out, and those dogs were hot! It was an interesting demo, and we enjoyed petting the dogs. We then headed south towards Anchorage. I just wanted to get close, so we ended up using our camping book to find the Knik River Gravel Bar, where we could camp overnight for free. There were lots of Anchorage locals there riding ATVs, which was fine except that they were still riding at 1 a.m. when I wanted to sleep.

 

Day 8 - We headed back to Anchorage to return our RV. We filled up with gas and propane and were back by 11:00. We were supposed to be picked up at 1:00 by Anchorage Tours and Transfers for our shuttle to Seward, but they called and asked if they could come earlier so we were on our way by about 12:30 (coupon). The ride was nice. We enjoyed the stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We arrived in Seward at 5:00 and hopped onto our cruise ship for the second part of our vacation.

 

I'll happily answer any questions about the above trip, and I'll post about the cruise portion soon. Thanks again for your help!

[vbmom87]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip details with us.

 

What size RV did you rent? Were you able to get a deal? I ask, because on our first trip to AK, we had wanted to rent the RV, but it was going to cost more than staying at B7Bs. I would like to go back to AK and rent an RV, but I need to figure out how to snag a better price on them.

[TwoSue]

Thank you for sharing your wonderful trip details with us.

 

What size RV did you rent? Were you able to get a deal? I ask, because on our first trip to AK, we had wanted to rent the RV, but it was going to cost more than staying at B7Bs. I would like to go back to AK and rent an RV, but I need to figure out how to snag a better price on them.

 

We had a 25'. I wanted a smallish one, but big enough so that we had a regular bed to sleep on. The kids slept overhead and on the dinette, but I wanted a real bed! We paid about $200/night. The cheapest rental car I could find when I was booking in February was $100/night, so I figured it was more economical to get the rv (especially including meals). I heard that if you reserve farther ahead, you can get a better deal, so I'd just keep looking!

[vbmom87]

We had a 25'. I wanted a smallish one, but big enough so that we had a regular bed to sleep on. The kids slept overhead and on the dinette, but I wanted a real bed! We paid about $200/night. The cheapest rental car I could find when I was booking in February was $100/night, so I figured it was more economical to get the rv (especially including meals). I heard that if you reserve farther ahead, you can get a better deal, so I'd just keep looking!

 

That is the price we were quoted for an RV back in 2008. We ended up getting a car for 9 or 10 days for about $200 total, so it was definitely cheaper for us to rent the car and stay in B&Bs. We averaged 30 mph in a full sized car so our fuel bill was also much lower than we would have had in an RV.

 

However, next time, I really want the RV experience. We have a pop-up camper and have great memories of many wonderful vacations. Camping in Alaska will be a dream come true for me. It was nice reading how well it worked out for you. I just need to find a deal on an RV. I am hoping to take the grandchildren next time, and I think the RV would be a great way to travel with them.