Itinerary Help

[LarryF]

Hopefully this will be the last time I have questions about our itinerary. Our current itinerary is as follows:

 

May 26 - Dock in whittier, Shuttle to Anchorage. Pick up rental car and sightsee in Anchorage. Overnight stay in Achorage.

May 27 - Scenic Drive to Seward (Portage Glacier, Exit Glacier, etc.), Overnight stay in Seward.

May 28 - Sea Life Center, 3pm Kenai Fjords Tour, Overnight stay in Seward.

May 29 - Scenic Drive to Matsu Valley, Overnight stay a Sheep Mountain Lodge.

May 30 - MICA Ice Trek on Matanuska Glacier, Scenic Drive to Talkeetna, Overnight in Talkeetna.

May 31 - Drive to Denali, Raft Trip, Overnight at Denali Lakeview Inn.

June 1 - Shuttle as far as possible in Denali Park, Overnight at Denali Lakeview Inn.

 

Our number one goal for this trip is to take in as much magnificant scenery as possible. I really do not like big cities and don't particularly enjoy museums, so we are considering just picking up our rental car in Anchorage and doing the scenic drive to Seward on May 26. On May 28, I was thinking of driving to Cooper's Landing and staying at the Princess Lodge with either a rafting trip or a drive to Homer and back that day??

 

The rest of the itinerary would remain the same; although am thinking of night staying in Talkeetna on May 30 after our ice trek and driving all the way to Denali and adding a night at the Denali Lakeview Inn.

 

I know it would save a lot of time renting a car in Whitter, but our rental car for the week picking up in Anchorage is only $211, so I won't consider renting a one way from Whittier

 

I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions ....

 

thanks,

 

Larry

[NancyIL]

Larry - it's a good thing we both started planning our trips early, isn't it! ;) As someone who hasn't been to Alaska yet - but has been planning our land itinerary for months and months (and making as many changes) - I think your current plan looks very good.

 

As you know, I tweaked our itinerary to have 2 days in Homer, but that meant dropping 2 nights elsewhere. It's ~ 4 hours from Seward to Homer, so I personally wouldn't drive there from Seward for only a few hours and then spend the night in Cooper Landing. Were you planning to do any flightseeing out of Talkeetna? That's probably easier to do if you spend the night there so you'll have evening one day and morning the next to attempt a flight. I understand that the Toursaver coupon from Talkeetna Aero is only available for 11:00 a.m. flights.

[Budget Queen]

Homer isn't a day trip, so skip that, unless you plan on spending more time there. My recommendation is at least 2 nights.

 

It's a long drive - Seward- Sheep Mt. so plan on all day, but doable.

 

Only you can decide if Talkeetna will offer you more than the Denali Park area, I would speculate no.

 

Since you are not interested in "cities" I would go with your option to backtrack to Seward your day of arrival, and skip staying in Anchorage. I would suggest you plan your Anchorage touring day for your day of departure. Then if you wish you could spend your night in Cooper Landing, although it's only 45 miles from Seward and little in the area- make an afternoon raft reservation.

[LarryF]

Homer isn't a day trip, so skip that, unless you plan on spending more time there. My recommendation is at least 2 nights.

 

It's a long drive - Seward- Sheep Mt. so plan on all day, but doable.

 

Only you can decide if Talkeetna will offer you more than the Denali Park area, I would speculate no.

 

Since you are not interested in "cities" I would go with your option to backtrack to Seward your day of arrival, and skip staying in Anchorage. I would suggest you plan your Anchorage touring day for your day of departure. Then if you wish you could spend your night in Cooper Landing, although it's only 45 miles from Seward and little in the area- make an afternoon raft reservation.

 

We won't have time to do anything in Anchorage or Cooper's Landing because we will be driving back from Denali that day for a 5pm flight home.

 

My thought was to backtrack to Seward the first day and spend 2 nights there. Then drive to Cooper's Landing the 3rd day and either take a raft trip or fish. Then on the 4th day drive to Sheep Mountain Lodge. That way the drive to Sheep Mountain wouldn't be as long??

 

After taking the MICA Ice Trek on day 5, I think we'll go to Denali instead of Talkeetna so we can have more time in Denali. If by some miracle the Hatcher Pass road is open and clear, I would really like to take that route! If the road is closed, is it worth taking the paved road as far as it goes?

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

[Budget Queen]

We won't have time to do anything in Anchorage or Cooper's Landing because we will be driving back from Denali that day for a 5pm flight home.

 

My thought was to backtrack to Seward the first day and spend 2 nights there. Then drive to Cooper's Landing the 3rd day and either take a raft trip or fish. Then on the 4th day drive to Sheep Mountain Lodge. That way the drive to Sheep Mountain wouldn't be as long??

 

After taking the MICA Ice Trek on day 5, I think we'll go to Denali instead of Talkeetna so we can have more time in Denali. If by some miracle the Hatcher Pass road is open and clear, I would really like to take that route! If the road is closed, is it worth taking the paved road as far as it goes?

 

Thanks,

 

Larry

 

 

You can NOT drive past the paved section of Hatcher Pass anyway in a rental car. So yes driving the paved section to Independence Mine is definately worthwhile. But I would not drive from Sheep Mt, to Denali Park in the same day- it's very worthwhile to spend some time in Talkeetna. I only recommend the 4 hour treks with MICA, shorter isn't worth going all the way there for that alone.

[Budget Queen]

Just noted, you are going begining June - Hatcher Pass likely won't be open. So make your timing plans without it.