Looking for travel advise: Yukon, Alaska, Rocky Mountains, B.C., Alberta

I lived in Alaska in the late 70's and revisited 6 years ago for my 60th birthday with the family. My advice may be outdated.

I drove the Alcan highway when it still had 1200 miles of gravel road. I wouldn't do it again. You will get that remote feeling but it's not like driving through a beautiful mountainous pass. There were a lot of days of similar scenery. If you’ve got lots of time and want to say you did it, then by all means. It wasn't a destination for me though but something to pass through.

Looks like you're not going to Alaska, which is about all I know. If you do go to AK, take a day trip (or two) to Seward and take a boat into the gulf. Seward is a fishing town with beautiful mountains surrounding it. Climate change has hurt the amount of birds there but they had puffins and eagles when we were there, plus the occasional whale. You can go up to glaciers and on the boat we were on, we had glacier ice margheritas. The family's favorite memory. It was a little sad for me as the glaciers had recceded over a mile since I had last been there. But it's beautiful.

The whole Kenai peninsula south of Anchorage has lots of brown bears, which are best seen by a chartered plane out of Anchorage. Anchorage is a typical city but as they say, the nice thing about Anchorage is that it's only 5 minutes from Alaska. Meaning, it gets remote fast. There's about 250k people in Anchorage, about 60 to 70K in Fairbanks, and 750k in the whole state, a state that is 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. You can get remote fast. The flights aren't cheap but they're the best way to see grizzlies fishing (and probably the safest.)

Denali is a long drive from Anchorage. You have to board a bus to enter the park now (double check.) So you may need some advance planning. When we were there you could just drive in and camp anywhere with the bears. People were more expendable. Denali is spectacular, but often covered in clouds. The foothills surrounding Denali would be big mountains by themselves.

There's a place called Hatcher's Pass a little north of Anchorage where we'd go for a day drive or weekend camping trip. There are some nice mountain hikes ( nothing technical.)



There are a lot of mosquitoes in the summer. The forest service guys in Denali park wear nets over their face all day and sleep in nets at night. One guy said he counted 70 squashed mosquitoes in the palm of his hand after swatting his arm. 'Coming into the Country' by John McPhee is a fantastic book about Alaska that might be worth reading.

Alaska is one of the few places a modern person can visit where they are not the top of the food chain. It's an unusual feeling to know that you could be eaten. For that alone it's worth visiting and seeing grizzlies. It can be as wild or as tame as you want.

I didn't make it to Kodiak Island but wished I had. Some folks said good things about it.

Whatever you do, it'll be an adventurous memory. Be prepared and always carry food and water as if you'll be stranded for a few days.

Have fun.

Some of the finest hikes I enjoyed when I lived in Calgary were located in what’s known as the Front Ranges, ie the Rockies immediately west of Calgary but not quite Banff Park. Moose Mountain comes to mind. Awesome hike - I love it. There are some great hikes between Bragg Creek and Banff Park.

Sentinel Pass is in Banff Park and is a terrific hike. Spectacular.

I was visiting old friends and family in Calgary last month. Should you have time and if it’s your kinda thing, I cannot recommend Major Tom enough. It’s a very chill but stylish bar and restaurant at the top of the Scotiabank Tower. Brilliant concept, one I could never have imagined when I was running bike courier trips to 40th floor executive offices 35 years ago.

There’s a legendary ice cream place in Calgary’s East Village, just off 10th Ave East. Village Ice Cream. Even in winter, I’ve seen folks leaving with tasty looking cones.

S.S. Klondike in Whitehorse.
Whitehorse also had the McBride museum? that was pretty neat. Also consider taking a ferry from Prince Rupert to Vancouver Island. It will save time behind the windshield. Valdez Ak also had a great museum and camping higher above Valdez meant no mosquitos. They way to Valdez follows the pipeline. And bring lots of cash. Our credit card started to get declined in Destruction Bay Yukon, not good. Told the credit card company we were traveling to Alaska (AK), they put (AL) or Alabama as our destination. If you get to Destruction Bay, watch for cop cars😀.

Buy this book: https://themilepost.com/ I'll copy you on an email I sent my aunt before planning her trip.