Alaska Hut to Hut Highlight Tour

Welcome to Anchorage, the population capital of Alaska! Surrounded by the Kenai, Talkeetna, and Chugach mountain ranges, this city serves as the gateway to Alaska’s wilderness. With the largest population in the state, Anchorage is home to over 1,200 moose, 250 black bears, and 60 brown bears. You'll also find world-class attractions like the Coastal Trail, Anchorage Museum, and Ship Creek salmon fishing.

After arriving at the airport, take a taxi or Uber to downtown Anchorage to your hotel. Your first night of the trip includes a 6 pm pre-departure meeting, giving you the chance to meet your leader and fellow travelers for the upcoming journey ahead!

Take note, this is an adventure trip!
 Please understand that this trip is a true adventure and requires a good level of fitness. Various hikes are offered, with adjustments in length and difficulty to suit different fitness levels. However, for an adventure trip in Alaska, it's important that your fitness level exceeds that of a daily commute or neighborhood walk.

Regarding meals, breakfast can be eggs, yogurt, granola, and fruit; lunch is almost always a sandwich heaped high with a healthy salad and assorted fillings, sometimes with fruit to follow. Dinner might be a BBQ, risotto, or pasta dish, and there is always the chance to try some local food - especially salmon and halibut. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions. 

Though this is a lodge-based program, and you will be sleeping in beds, accommodations are still considered more ‘rustic’. You will likely share rooms and facilities with others at some of the yurts and cabins. Private rooms are not available. 

After breakfast, your journey takes you down the scenic Seward Highway along the Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm to Resurrection Bay and the renowned Kenai Fjords National Park. You visit Bear Lake Weir, a man-made waterfall that gathers spawning salmon returning to restock Alaska's lakes and rivers.

From there, you hike alongside Exit Glacier, exploring its moraines, glacial rivers, and surrounding trails. This fast-receding hanging glacier is a striking example of how reduced historical snowfall and warmer temperatures are affecting the region's slow-moving ice. Three hike options let you choose your pace: a basic 3-mile (4.8 km) walk, a more strenuous 4-mile (6.4 km) hike, or a ranger-led route through Marmot Meadows or out to The Cliffs.

Overnight in Hotel Seward or similar, a historic landmark building in downtown Seward, with private or shared bathrooms.

Prepare for an excellent day aboard a catamaran exploring Kenai Fjords National Park. During this 6-hour wildlife cruise, you visit an active tidewater glacier and search for marine life like humpback whales, orcas, Steller sea lions, and sea otters. Your experienced captain narrates the journey, pointing out spectacular sights and sharing insights into the area's wildlife, history, and geology.

Overnight in Hotel Seward or similar, with private or shared bathrooms.

Start your day with an animal essential to the lives of Alaskans: sled dogs. A visit to the Seavey Homestead (home to a 3-time Iditarod champion family) will bring you face-to-face with these joyful canine athletes during a 1.5-hour Wilderness Dog Sled Ride and Tour.

After the tour, you continue up the road to Moose Pass. Here, you gear up to paddle 1 mile (1.6 km) across Trail Lake, followed by a short 1.5-mile (2.4 km) uphill hike to your remote camp at Grant Lake, where you'll spend the next two nights.

Overnight in Moose Pass Yurts or similar at Grant Lake

The day starts with a delicious breakfast, preparing you for another kayak and hiking expedition on Grant Lake. You explore a local waterfall and take in the scenery, with the option for more paddling and hiking in the evening under the Midnight Sun.

After your paddle, you relax and enjoy the views with your Moose Pass adventure guides, swapping stories around the campfire. If the weather cooperates, you can take an optional polar plunge into the turquoise lake.

You sleep well in the Moose Pass Yurts or similar at Grant Lake under the Alaskan night sky.

Travel to the busy but quaint town of Talkeetna, the historic launch point for hundreds of climbers attempting to summit Mount Denali every year. With a short walk to the Susitna River, you hopefully get your first glimpse of "The High One."

During your two days here, you choose from optional activities including a Denali flightseeing tour with a glacier landing, jet boating through "Devil's Canyon," float trips on the Talkeetna or Chulitna rivers, or fly fishing. Back at your accommodations, you have access to outdoor amenities including badminton, bicycles, a fire ring in the front yard, and an indoor fire pit out back.

Overnight in Talkeetna Northern Guest House or similar.

Enjoy a scenic drive along the Alaska Range as you make your way toward Denali. Today is dedicated to learning about this incredible 6-million-acre wilderness. You visit the Denali Visitor Center, the Murie Science and Learning Center, and the only working sled dog team in the U.S. National Park system.

Overnight in Denali Park Hotel or similar.

Today, you depart early to catch the shuttle to the East Fork River in Denali National Park. With luck, you will spot grizzly bears, moose, caribou, wolves, and many other beautiful creatures that call Denali home. Along with the shuttle ride, you can choose your own hiking route: the Savage Alpine Trail, Mount Healy, or Horseshoe Lake, with an optional whitewater rafting trip on the Nenana River for something more intense.

Overnight in Denali Park Hotel or similar, close to the park entrance.

You leave Denali National Park behind, but keep the glaciers and vistas of the Alaska Range in view. The historic Denali Highway, used by people for over 10,000 years, takes you to Maclaren River Lodge.

Upon arrival, board a jet boat or airboat to travel 10 miles upriver to a remote camp near the Maclaren Glacier. Explore the surrounding glacial fields on foot and experience true wilderness with no cell service and no vehicles.

Your morning begins with delicious pancakes, followed by a canoe trip down the Maclaren River back to the lodge. Despite heading downstream, you still need some navigation skills! Braided rivers change daily, so you must do your best to avoid getting stuck on a gravel bar.

After your paddle, spend the rest of the day enjoying the rustic lodge, chatting with fellow travelers, and tasting the local Maclaren Berry Pie or bread pudding.

Stay overnight at the Maclaren River Lodge, enjoying the tranquility of Alaska. 

Finish the Denali Highway, connecting with the Richardson Highway to reach North Pole, Alaska, where you visit a mock-up of Santa’s Workshop. Welcome to "The Land of the Midnight Sun," where the everlasting sunshine energizes everyone.

End your afternoon with a relaxing soak in the Chena Hot Springs. The waters here circulate deep underground for thousands of years, picking up natural geothermal heat before surfacing through cracks in the granite rock.

Overnight in Bridgewater Hotel or similar. 

Your Alaskan journey concludes today, but first, you try your hand at gold panning! Your morning starts with a bag of paydirt from Fairbanks Gold Co. You are guaranteed to find gold, but you also have the chance to uncover Ice Age fossils, pyrite, quartz crystals, and garnets. Some lucky guests even walk away with woolly mammoth ivory!

Say your final goodbyes to your guide and fellow travelers as the trip wraps up around noon.

Note: The day typically ends around lunchtime in Fairbanks. If you are planning flights out of Fairbanks, please make sure don’t book them
earlier than 3 pm.