Follow-up on my Anchorage Trip (PIC HEAVY)

Here was my original post prior to my trip: LINK

My dad and I made a quick bucket list trip to Alaska, with intentions of spending very little money and seeing as much as possible in 3 days. In all, with flight, hotels, rental 4x4 truck, and 4-hour Resurrection Bay cruise, we managed to keep the cost under $550 per person (not including fuel, food, or souvenirs.) We traveled about 1300 miles and took tons of pics.

Our itinerary included:
Seward, Alaska
This was about 3 hour scenic drive south to the Kenai Peninsula. We stayed at Hotel Seward, which included a pass to the Alaska SeaLife Center and a 4-hour Gray Whale Cruise in Resurrection Bay. The cruise was one of my favorite parts of the trip.





Bear Glacier










We then went to Alaska SeaLife Center and saw some of the local wildlife.




Then we drove up to see Exit Glacier. During summer months, it is only a mile hike from the visitor center to the glacier itself. The road was only open to mile 7, so we only got to see it from the overlook.


Then we drove up to Whittier to get a view of Portage Glacier. They typically get a lot of precipitation, but we got lucky and had a clear day. It was a mile hike to the top of Portage Pass Trail, with a gain of 850 ft of elevation. At the top of the trail, you can see Portage Glacier and a snow covered landscape to the south, and Prince William Sound with a greenish landscape to the north.



We crashed in Anchorage that night. I had a complimentary night at Hilton Garden Inn. The following morning, we started our 5-hour trip to Denali National Park, in hopes of getting a glimpse of Denali (Mt McKinley) and some wildlife. We got very lucky. Here are some pics from the drive up. Denali National Park was open to Mile 30. We got to see caribou, moose, dall sheep, and beautiful landscapes. We were hoping to see some bears. All we saw was bear tracks and scat.










That night, we stayed just north of the park in Healy, overlooking a frozen Otto Lake. The aurora forecast was looking good, the skies were clear. It was now a waiting game. We took a nap, setting the alarm to 12:00. No lights. 12:15, no lights. 12:30, jackpot. The lights were showing from 12:30-3:00, with just a little ambient sunlight on the horizon.









Some links I used to see when would be best viewing of the lights were the Aurora Forecast and ClearDarkSky

The final day, we drove south, then east to Matanuska Glacier, because we wanted to touch a glacier. We had heard multiple people mention it and heard good reviews, so we headed that way. I was disappointed to find out it was $50 for the 2 of us to take a 15 minute unguided hike to the glacier, which nobody mentioned. Nevertheless, we drove that far, so I paid up.




After the short hike, we headed back to Anchorage. We went by the Ulu Factory to buy Alaskan Ulu knives as gifts. We then went up to Flattop Mountain to get a view of the city from the overlook. We got luck to get another partial view of Denali, which is mostly cloud covered, but is also 123 miles away.


Finally right before our flight, I took a quick photo of downtown Anchorage near the airport.



Sorry for so many pics. I hope some appreciate them and are inspired to make a bucket list trip themselves.

Thanks to CuseTiger and RogerTheShrubber for help planning the trip.