Alaska travel - 10 things you should know before you go & Things to do in Alaska #visitAlaska

i'm so excited today because we're talking about   one of my favorite places on planet  earth the beautiful state of alaska we spent one month up in alaska in 2020 between  july and august working during the week hitting   the hiking trails during the weekend and taking a  few days off to explore all the beautiful wonders   that this state has to offer and in this video  today i want to share with you some tips to help   you plan for your visit to alaska especially  if you are going for the first time ready let's   if you look at the map but you only appreciate  it when you are actually in alaska and just to   give you some perspective alaska is larger than  texas california and montana combined and these   three are some of the largest states in the lower  48. there are five main regions in alaska the far   north the interior south central southwest and  the south east the fart north region most of it   is above the arctic circle the interior region of  alaska is where fairbanks is denali national park   south central alaska is where anchorage  is located anchorage the city that most of   people would fly to if you are flying to alaska  this is where the kenai peninsula is located   and then there is the southwest and then there  is a southeast region this is where the capital   of alaska juno is located five main regions of  alaska and understanding what every region has   to offer will be very helpful for you to plan for  your adventure my recommendation to you is to go   to travelalaska.com this is the official website  for the tourism board in alaska and they do   have this useful interactive map where you can go  and click what region you are interested in and   then it's going to take you to a page with a lot  of details about things to do in that particular   region attractions the main national parks and  that is going to be a good starting point for   you to plan for your adventure to alaska we spent  one month up in alaska and we only explored the   southeast region so that gives you an idea how  much time you will need if you want to go and   explore every single region of the state of alaska  if you are interested or if you happen to choose   the south central region as your playground when  you visit alaska we do have a lot of resources we   do have a lot of videos and i'm going to link to  them in the description box if you are interested   there aren't many roads in alaska most of the  time there is only one road to get from point a   to point b and that can be a challenge sometimes  so just make sure that you set expectations with   yourself and you are flexible with your plan  make sure that you are getting an early start   in the morning if you know that you will have to  drive from one place to the other this way you can   be traffic and you can save some time on driving  traveling to alaska does not have to be expensive   and a lot of people may disagree with me because  most of people look at alaska as this exotic place   for retired people or for rich people and it can  be expensive and it is expensive but it doesn't   have to be expensive all the time you can still  travel to alaska on a budget you don't have to   be on a cruise to go to alaska you don't need  a month or more than a month to go to alaska   and there are so many other ways to explore you  can rent an rv you can rent a camper van or you   can rent a car and this is exactly what we  did and it was very cost effective we flew   to anchorage from seattle and then we rented the  car and we were pretty much just driving from one   place to the other in the south central legion of  alaska so that's something to consider also what   really makes alaska expensive are the type of  activities you are doing once you are in alaska   fishing kayaking ice climbing hiking and some  of these activities can be really expensive   but if you choose cheap activities like we did we  were hiking most of the time hiking does not cost   anything sometimes insurance fee took part but  that was very minimal you can still travel in   alaska on a budget you can pick activities that  are budget-friendly we found some activities like   ice climbing and it was only 180 per person we  found some helicopter tours instead of going on   a floating airplane and that only cost 125 dollars  per person so if you spend some time researching   and finding some off the beats and path activities  that are kind of away from the very touristy areas   you can find some very good deal and you can  still explore alaska without breaking the bank   summer in alaska has nothing to do with summer in  the lower 48 especially if you're gonna be hiking   or backpacking or up in the mountain and actually  it doesn't even have to be hiking and backpacking   it is still cold so make sure that you are packing  your winter gear make sure that you do have a rain   gear layers down jackets if you're going to be  hiking on pretty much every single trail that we   were on it was raining it was very cold make sure  that you are prepared and make sure that you have   all of the necessary gear to feel warm and happy  while adventuring summer midnight is such a fun   phenomenon to witness summer in alaska the sun  doesn't go down until after midnight which was   great for us because we would work during the  day and the sun is still up and that gives us   a lot of opportunities to go and hike and explore  the city without being or feeling pressured by the   sun going down it's a really fun phenomena so when  you go to alaska and it's midnight and the sun is   not going down don't worry it's not the end of  the world it's just alaska don't expect to see   the aurora or the northern lights in summer a lot  of people go to alaska during summer and they are   disappointed because they don't get to see the  northern lights and who doesn't want to see the   northern lights in alaska however it's not very  common to see them during summer you have to go   further north and chances are higher during winter  you might see a lot of wildlife or you might see   no wildlife by the end of the day it's just a  question of luck we were lucky enough that we   saw a bear and we were able to see moose at least  four times when we were in alaska but i have some   tips for you here just to maximize your chances  of seeing wildlife number one ask locals when   we were in anchorage we asked locals what is an  area or a park where we can see moose we had some   recommendations and to our surprise there was one  day where alex drove to the parking lot of one of   the parks that was recommended by a local and he  saw a move and her calf so ask away ask the locals   they are going to have the best recommendations  for you number two especially if you are hiking   or backpacking make sure that you do have a  pair of binoculars with you so that you can   spot wildlife from far away and last tip if you  are interested in photography make sure that you   invest in a reliable zoom lens who doesn't want to  take beautiful photos of wildlife in alaska we did   invest in the zoom lens before going to alaska and  i'm going to leave a link in the description box   in case you are interested or if you are in the  market looking for a new one cell phone service   is weak do not rely on your phone especially  for directions it's not reliable also if you are   hiking and you are in the backcountry your phone  is not going to be reliable so make sure that you   do have a physical map with you or a campus that  you can rely on to find directions and find your   way from point a to point b seafood in alaska is  expensive and that was a big disappointment for   me because you would think alaska is a hot spot  for commercial fishing but no seafood in alaska   is expensive probably more expensive than it is  in the lower 48 which was disappointing for me   fishing in alaska or going on charters for fishing  is an expensive experience the only company that   i consulted with i was told that you have to pay  300 to go on a one day fishing adventure for one   person and if you want to get that fish shipped  to the lower 48 that is going to cost you 300   more so 600 if you want to go fishing in the sea  with the charter but that is just to tell you that   seafood is expensive even when you go to  restaurants however the quality was stellar   i don't think i ever had any seafood here in the  united states that can exceed what i got in alaska   hiking in alaska is different than hiking in  the lower 48 and i feel like i will need a   full episode just to talk about hiking in alaska  because it's very different two things that comes   to mind when it comes to hiking to alaska one they  don't know what switchbacks are everything goes   straight up and up and up until you can't anymore  so keep that in mind make sure that you have   trekking poles with you that is the one thing that  i wish that i had with me before going to alaska   and then the second thing when you are hiking  in alaska you want to make sure that you are   self-reliant you have everything that you need  for worse scenarios you want to make sure that you   have all the necessary gear all the 10 essentials  were hiking it's not crazy to have a sleeping bag   with you even if you are going on a day hike  remember we talked about there being limited   roads or sometimes one road from point a to point  b should anything go wrong sometimes it's very   difficult to get somewhere to to support you  or help you so when you're hiking in alaska   make sure that you have all of the gear that you  need especially if you are hiking in bear country   as well you you want to make sure that you have  something to start a fire to keep yourself warm   to not get hypothermic and i'm going to talk about  this in detail in an upcoming episode next tip on   the list many places in alaska are not accessible  by car and that was a surprise for me knowing that   there are some national parks in alaska that you  cannot access by car like katmai national park   where you will have to fly a floating airplane  to get to kathmaine national park same thing   with kenai fjords national park although parts  of the national park are still accessible by car   we did drive to the hardin icefield trail  beautiful hike by the way if you are in the kenai   peninsula or if you are in seward you definitely  should check the hit the hardin ice field trail   it's one of my favorite hiking trails up until  now but anyway so what i was trying to say is   that even the kenai fjords national park a big  chunk of the national park is only accessible by   cruz boats kayaking or airplanes so don't be  surprised because so many places you can only   access by airplane and actually that is one  of the reasons that makes going to alaska and   if you guys found this to be useful please give it  a thumbs up my goal is to help you plan for your   next adventure my name is haviba this is trekking  pals and i will see you soon on a new adventure

Channel: Trekking Pals

Views: 82,637

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Id: YAa9n9BDjm4

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021