WILDLIFE & WILDERNESS OF ALASKA

Day 1
The group flight arrives in the evening.

Day 2
We have a briefing on the trek after breakfast before leaving for Denali National Park. En route, we will stop at Denali State Park and take a short hike and have a picnic lunch. We will then continue with our drive and arrive at our campground in the late afternoon. Nowhere in North America has such a variety of wildlife, unspoilt wilderness and great scenery as Denali. We camp near the park entrance for 2 nights.

Day 3
Our first full day in the park will be exploring with the National Park bus service (the only vehicles allowed deep into the reserve). The drivers are experts at spotting wildlife and so we will make regular stops for photography and also take some short walks for the best views. As the wildlife is pretty habituated to these buses, we should be able to see moose and bears near to the roadside and Dall sheep on the mountain slopes. In the middle of the park is snow-clad Mt. McKinley, North America's highest mountain at 6,194 m - on a clear day we should have excellent views.

Day 4
On our second day, we can enjoy a longer hike. On foot we should be able to see more fauna and flora and escape the more crowded parts of the park. For those that do not want to hike, options include rafting (paid locally) on the nearby Nenana River or a visit to the dog sled kennels run by the park rangers. It is also possible to take a scenic flight over Mount McKinley. After the walk and daytime activities we will move our campsite to Talkeetna for the night to help break up the drive tomorrow.

Day 5
We will drive along the beautiful Glenn Highway, sandwiched between the coastal and interior mountains with forest and rushing rivers on the valley floor and glaciers tumbling from the peaks. We stop at Matanuska Glacier and will take a short walk for views of this enormous river of ice. The glacier reaches right down to the valley floor and is a stunning 27-miles long and 4 miles wide. We continue onto Glennallen where we camp tonight. The total drive time for today is about four hours, but we will stop a few times en route for rests, to enjoy the spectacular scenery and for any interesting wildlife that we spot, in addition to the Matanuska Glacier walk.

Day 6
Glennallen is just on the western side of the Wrangell-St Elias National Park & Preserve. This is the largest national park in the US and at 36,740 sqaure kilometres, is nearly twice the size of Wales. We drive to McCarthy, a historic town at the centre of this mass of mountains, glaciers and wilderness through some amazing scenery, including the dramatic Copper River valley and there will be plenty of opportunities for photo stops. The last part of the journey is the 60-mile gravel road to the small town of McCarthy (population 40 in the summer, rest of the year 17!). The area has recently received some publicity because of the popular book The Road to McCarthy, by the late Pete McCarthy. He visited the area in an attempt to pursue his far-flung Irish connections. On arrival you will have some time to explore the quaint town that will be our base for the next 3 nights.

Day 7 - 8
The Wrangall-St Elias area as a whole contains nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the United States including the second highest, Mt. St. Elias (5,488m) and is also the most glaciated region in the North American continent. We have two full days in this beautiful area, which has some wonderful hiking opportunities for all abilities. There is also a great opportunity to go ice climbing with a local outfitter. It is an imposing area of glaciers, mountains, forest and wilderness, with wonderful wildlife viewing opportunities, and there is a chance to don crampons (provided) and explore the Kennecott and Root glaciers (paid locally). We plan to do two days of hiking here; the best way to explore the mountains and valleys, but there are plenty of optional alternative activities for those wanting to do something else. Kennecott was built in somewhat of a 'copper rush' after the discovery of the world's richest seam in the mountain here. Alcohol and vices were banned in the town and so McCarthy was set up a few miles away to entertain the miners. The 'rush' was short lived and as the seam ran dry and copper prices fell the mine began to close, only around 20 years after opening. Amongst our walks we can visit the abandoned Kennecott copper mill, a huge wooden hillside structure close to the enormous glacier.

Day 9
Driving south towards Valdez through the Chugach Range, we stop by the famous Worthington Glacier for a photo opportunity. We can also stop at Thompson Pass, which holds all of Alaska's snowfall records and fish wheels on the rivers built to catch salmon migrating up stream to spawn. We arrive in Valdez in the late afternoon and will explore this busy seaside town, a return to civilisation after the mountainous isolation of McCarthy. Valdez itself is a new town, a major earthquake having destroyed the old one in 1964. It is a busy port, where the Trans Alaska Pipeline ends and oil is thereafter transported by ship. It was here where the large oil spill took place in 1989, but this has all been cleaned up and virtually no signs of this disaster remain.

Day 10
The Alaska State ferry takes us across Prince William Sound to Whittier and is one of the highlights of any visit to Alaska. The views of the mountains and glaciers as we travel across the Sound are impressive. We can see harbour seals, sea otters and sea lions playing in the water. From Whittier we drive to Seward passing the Portage Glacier. There will be a chance to explore the small fishing town of Seward and its busy port before we head to our campsite around three miles out of town.

Day 11
There are several options this morning. We recommend a hike close to the ocean on the Caine's Head Trail in the Caine's Head state recreation area, but you can also choose an optional sea kayaking excursion or a fishing trip (at an additional cost). In the afternoon we take a half-day wildlife cruise - puffins, stellar sea lions, bears and orcas are often seen here and we may even see Humpback whales. Tonight we camp at Seward again.

Day 12
Today we spend the day in the staggeringly beautiful Kenai Fjords National Park, which offers wonderful wildlife and bird watching opportunities amidst dramatic fjords down which glaciers flow from the huge Harding Icefield. Dependant on weather conditions, we can do the spectacular walk from Exit Glacier to the Harding Icefield. Exit Glacier is one of the 30 frozen rivers flowing off the 1,800 square kilometre icefield. The walk (total walking distance is 12km/6-8 hours round trip) gives views of deep crevasses and huge seracs on the glacier, and takes us 900m up to a lookout point over the icefield. This walk is strenuous but those who want to take an easier option can take the accessible trail to glacier view or continue on toward the toe of the glacier and glacier's edge (approx. 1.5 hour round trip). Those not taking the full hike will return to Seward with the driver and can visit Seward's impressive Sea Life Center, a remarkable public aquarium and ocean wildlife rescue center. The Kenai Peninsula juts out due south of Anchorage and with Prince William Sound to the East and the Cook Inlet to the West is a maze of mountains, forest and icefields. We cross the centre of the peninsula from Seward to Soldotna. Our total driving time is about 3 hours.

Day 13
Perhaps the highlight of the trip is today's float plane trip to go bear viewing. Float planes are a way of life for many of the more remote Alaskan communities, particularly those who still have no road access and too little wealth or space amongst the mountains to build runways. We will have an early start today as we head to check in for our flight. We'll then board the small planes (as the planes generally seat 10 max, we may need to split into two groups for the flight) and take to the air for a beautiful flight across the Cook Inlet. We will land in the Big River Lakes area and transfer to the waiting boats to explore the river and lake system keeping our eyes open for bears. The chance of sightings is excellent and we can see brown (grizzly) or black bears. The lakes are just on the fringe of the Lake Clarke Park & Wilderness reserve and are a long way from any roads or civilisation, with float planes offering the only access. Perhaps this is the quintessential Alaska - almost completely untouched wilderness with ice-clad mountains and active volcanoes as the backdrop. We may see the thousands of salmon pushing up stream to spawn and if lucky we'll see bears catching and feeding upon them. There should be excellent photo-opportunities with the bears and we'll be able to get reasonably close. The guides will also talk about other fauna and flora as we pass them. The bear-watching excursion will take about 5 hours and we will return to the planes in the afternoon. Flying back across the Cook Inlet, we may be able to spot whales and orcas before landing in Soldotna, tired but thrilled with the day.

Day 14
After packing up camp and having breakfast, we drive for a couple of hours to Alyeska in the Chugach Mountain Range. A ski resort in winter, this is a great spot to take a final hike. We will then continue on to the state's capital, Anchorage. Containing half the population of the state, Anchorage in some ways looks just like any other sprawling American town and after nearly two weeks in the small towns and villages it will likely feel busy and bustling. There are points of interest, including several art galleries and craft shops where you can see the beautiful Eskimo handicrafts being made and the National Parks Centre has some excellent displays. However, after such a busy trip, we'll most likely be keen to head out for a celebratory final meal in one of the many good restaurants.

Day 15
Those on the group flight will depart in the morning and land in the UK the following morning.

Day 16
Arrive London.