 Facts at a Glance
Area: 591,004 sq miles (1,530,700 sq km)
Population: 550,000
Capital city: Juneau (population 30,000)
People: 80% Caucasian, 15% Inuit and other indigenous groups
Language: English plus Native Alaskan
Religion: Christian
Easily the USA's largest member, Alaska is a huge state, able to give each of its residents more than a square mile in which to do their morning star jumps. The state measures 1400mi (2254km) north to south and 2400mi (3864km) across the girth, comprising several distinctive regions. The Southeast, also known as the Panhandle, is a 500mi (805km) coastal strip including the wildly serrated Inside Passage, a lifeline for isolated towns inaccessible by road. The mountain ranges, glaciers and fjords of this region continue through Southcentral in its 650mi (1047km) curve from the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak Island. The Interior is Alaska's heartland, with milder weather than the state's extremities and scenic delights which include Denali National Park, Alaska's number one attraction. The Bush is larger than all the other regions combined, claiming the whole western swathe, Arctic Alaska and the southwestern island chains. Bush Alaska is generally accessible only by charter plane, rendering it prohibitively expensive for many travelers, but enabling the maintenance of a lifestyle unaffected by the state's booming summer tourist industry.
 South Fork Valley, Harmony Mountains, Chugach State Park (22K)
If you believed the hype, you'd reckon Alaska was shoulder to shoulder wildlife. Well, the salmon aren't yet picketing for high-rise streams, but it is pretty packed here if you're talking fins, four legs, flippers or flappers. The moose population is around 150,000, and black-tailed deer, caribou, mountain goat, dall sheep, bears and wolves are frequently seen picnicking from the urban periphery to back of beyond. Harbor seals, porpoises, dolphins, humpback and minke whales, sea lions, sea otters and walruses are all common marine mammals, making an arctic ocean plunge a decidedly social affair. Late summer salmon runs (when thousands of fish swim upstream to spawn) choke many Alaskan streams. The action is airborne too, and the sky is alive with birdlife, most notably the impressive bald eagle which has a wingspan that often reaches 8ft (2m). The flora of Alaska is diverse, changing dramatically from one region to the next. Among the 33 native tree species are Sitka spruce (the state tree), western hemlock, alder, white spruce, cottonwood and paper birch.
Moose are unlikely to try and have sex with your car (24K)
Alaska has an extremely variable climate and daily weather that is famous for being unpredictable. Don't stake your raincoat on it, but Southeast and Southcentral Alaska generally experience high rainfall and moderate temperatures with summers averaging 60-70°F (15-21°C). In the Interior precipitation is light but temperatures fluctuate wildly. The climate in the western coastal region is mostly cool with summer temperatures around 45°F (7°C) with fog and rain common along the coast. Most of Alaska experiences the magic of the midnight sun, a surfeit of daylight which apparently sanctions the kind of madness which finds whole families undertaking 6mi (10km) hikes after dinner and softball teams convening for a witching hour hit-up.
Since white settlement, Alaska has boomed and bust on the back of its natural resources. While fur was fur, picks struck gold, whales swum obligingly into harpoons and oil gurgled in pipes, Alaska seemed a bountiful repository of raw resources. As each of these resources in turn has been discredited or exhausted, the state has fallen into disfavor, considered a frozen wasteland, suitable only for Inuit and polar bears.
The first Alaskans migrated from Asia to North America from 40,000 years ago during an ice age that squeezed a 900mi (1449km) land bridge out of the ocean separating Siberia and Alaska. Although many of these nomadic tribes continued south, four ethnic groups - the Athabascans, Aleuts, Inuit and the coastal tribes of Tlingits and Haidas - remained in Alaska and made the harsh wilderness their homeland. The first Caucasian to set foot in Alaska was Virtus Bering, a Danish navigator sailing on behalf of the tsar of Russia in 1728. Bering's crew returned with pelts and tales of fabulous seal and otter colonies. The Russians quickly established a base for the fur trade on Kodiak Island, a lawless cowboy trade, which spat and bit unregulated until the Russian-American Company was organized in the 1790s. Other European invaders, most notably the Spanish and the British, were seduced by this lucrative coast but Russian predominance extended well into the 19th century.
By the 1860s, the fur trade declining and European wars demanding both attention and resources, the Russians found themselves badly overextended: several offers for the sale of Alaska were made to an initially ambivalent USA. Eventually, in 1867, the Americans signed a canny treaty to purchase the region for US$7.2 million - less than two cents an acre. Despite the bargain buy out, Alaska remained lawless and unorganized, a frozen mystery accessible (and interesting) only to a few hardy settlers until its natural riches began to be exploited one by one. First it was whales, taken mostly in the Southeast, and then the phenomenal salmon runs were tapped, but the real explosion in Alaska's economy, population and profile came in the 1880s with the discovery of gold.
An Alaskan icon - the hard-working husky (8K)
Chortling with the confidence which arrives hand in hand with wealth, big hats and the clicking over of a century's clock, Alaskans (all 60,000 of them) began to clamor for more say in their future. Congress began to grant non-voting legislative privileges but the statehood movement subsided during WW I when many residents departed south for high-paying jobs. Thus depleted, Alaska dozed until mid-1942 when the Japanese rang alarm bells by attacking the Attu and Aleutian Islands. Alaska owes much of its infrastructure to the concerted US response to this military threat to its northwest flank. Most notably, Alaska's only overland link to the rest of the USA, the Alcan, was built, a 1520mi (2447km) engineering masterwork completed in just over eight months. The injection of funds and personnel spurred post-war development, leading to a new drive for statehood. In 1959, President Eisenhower proclaimed the 49th State of the Union, spawning the cute Alaskan monikering of the 'Lower 48'.
In 1968 massive oil deposits were discovered underneath Prudhoe Bay in the Arctic Ocean, provoking intense negotiations between a ravenous oil industry, environmentalists and Native Alaskans with moral claims to land which now promised to generate extraordinary wealth. A treaty was signed with the indigenous population in 1971 and a 789mi (1270km) pipeline to the warm-water port of Valdez was constructed. In 1977 the oil which has made Alaska the richest state in the USA began to flow. For most Alaskans it is still hard to see beyond the gleam of the oil dollar despite shadows cast by the 1986 slump in world prices and the tragic Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.
King Mountain & the Matanuska River (18K)
The exploitation of natural resources, particularly oil, is a hot topic in Alaska, concentrating the juicy issue of a coveted independence from Washington, the concerns of environmental groups, the desire for economic wealth, and the rights of the indigenous population. An increasing awareness that the Alaskan wilderness is an outstanding natural resource all the more valuable if it is left untouched may be the sentiment which saves the fabled frontier.
Major industries: Oil and gas (25% of US production), commercial fishing, mining
Alaska's indigenous people are renowned for their traditional arts and crafts primarily because of their ingenious use of the limited natural materials available to them. Roots, ivory, birch bark, grasses and soapstone were used creatively to produce ceremonial regalia and other artwork. The Aleuts are known for some of the finest basket weaving in North America, using the prized Attu grass of the Aleutian Islands. The Inupiat and Yup'ik Inuit made their objects out of sea-mammal parts; their ivory carving and scrimshaw work is world renowned. The best known example of Native Alaskan craft is the totemic art apparent in every community in the southeast. As well as the classic freestanding poles, totemic art is carved on houses and other clan structures. Totem poles were often raised to commemorate a 'potlatch', a major ceremony which drew clans from throughout the region.
English is spoken across Alaska but is tinted with Alaskan words and phrases that make it almost a tongue of its own. Most of these words are of Native Alaskan origin or a colorful combination coined by some local character (probably the same guy who asks you if you want to take part in a blanket toss, an activity in which a hunter is tossed into the air for whale-spotting purposes). Just so you don't embarrass yourself, remember that a cheechako is a tenderfoot trying to survive the first year in Alaska, and if someone offers you a stinkhead it's as bad as it sounds.
Local seafood is renowned throughout the country, but it doesn't come cheap. The most common catches are king salmon, Dungeness crab, prawns and halibut. One popular eating event during the summer is the salmon bake. The salmon is grilled, smothered with somebody's homemade barbecue sauce and often served all-you-can-eat style. Alaskans take their coffee seriously as evidenced by the ubiquity of cafés: even in tiny towns you'll find somebody with an espresso machine. The dark winters are conducive to serious drinking, mostly of American and Canadian beer. Apart from 70 dry Native Alaskan towns, it is never very difficult to find an open bar or liquor store.
Alaskans do their fair share of celebrating, especially in the summer when 24-hour daylight turns the most sober and sane into the most blithering and bonkers. Most towns have Summer Solstice (21 June) activities. Fairbanks holds the best community festival, with a variety of events including a midnight baseball game played without the use of artificial lights. Sitka lets off June summer steam with log chopping, axe tossing and tree climbing competitions. Independence Day (4 July) is a very popular holiday with celebrations of particular note in Ketchikan and Anchorage including parades, contests and softball games, all rounded off with impressive firework displays. On the second weekend in July, Talkeetna is the proud host of the Moose Dropping Festival, a high-class bash popular with second-class shot-putters wondering why dropping-tossing isn't an Olympic event. Golden Days in Fairbanks in late July celebrates the discovery of gold with parades and sports, giving a chance to the less athletic in events like the Hairy Legs Contest.
Visas: Conditions of entry are the same as those for the rest of the USA. Most visitors require a visa. However, Canadians need only proof of citizenship and citizens of the UK, New Zealand, Japan, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland can stay up to 90 days without a visa. Remember to collect appropriate documentation to re-enter the US if you leave via Canada.
Health risks: Giardia, hypothermia, motion sickness, rabies, sunburn & windburn
Time: UTC minus 9 hours
Electricity: 110/120V, 60Hz
Weights & Measures: Imperial (see conversion table)
Tourism: 600,000 visitors per year
Currency: US dollar ($)
Relative costs:
- Budget meal: US$5-10
- Moderate restaurant meal: US$10-20
- Top-end restaurant meal: US$20 and upwards
- Budget room: US$10-20
- Moderate hotel: US$20-60
- Top-end hotel: US$60-200
Alaskans use the same currency as the rest of the USA, only they tend to use a little more of it. The state is traditionally known for having one of the highest costs of living in the country. There are two reasons for this: the long distances needed to transport everything and the high cost of labor. The trick to beating the high prices is to either travel out of season or avoid the labor cost, ie buy your own food and use public transport. Overall the Southeast is generally cheaper than most places in the Interior or elsewhere because barge transport from Seattle is only one or two days away. Anchorage, and to a lesser extent Fairbanks, are the exceptions to the rule as they have competitive prices due to their large populations and business communities.
Cash works. So does credit. There may be cases of a store or hotel in the Bush that doesn't accept any type of credit card, but not many. Having some plastic money is good security for the unexpected. It's also pretty easy to find an ATM. If you have change money, the NBA is the largest bank in the state with offices in most towns on the heavily traveled routes.
Tipping in Alaska, like in the rest of the USA, is expected. The going rate for restaurants, hotels and taxi drivers is about 15%.
Because most travelers like to avoid below-freezing temperatures, Alaska's traditional travel season has been from June through August. The peak weeks - from early July through mid-August - tend to attract colossal crowds to popular sites like Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula. Travel during the 'shoulder season' - May and September - offers not only mild weather, but also a good chance for off-season discounts on accommodation and transportation. Most Alaskan festivals and events take place during the summer periods of 24-hour daylight.
For the most part, the Alcan can be driven throughout September and early October without too much fear of being holed up by blizzards. But you should still equip yourself for some cold, rainy weather. Arriving in Alaska in late April is possible in the Southeast and the Kenai Peninsula, but the Interior is usually still elbow deep in slush and mud. During October, the Southeast and Southcentral regions are pelted with rain most of the time, while in the Interior and Fairbanks there will be snow. In recent years, the state has been promoting winter (November through February) travel - dog sled trips, skiing vacations and trips to see the Northern Lights are the big draws; -50°F (-45°C) temperatures are the fine-print warnings.
Anchorage
Anchorage is home to almost half of Alaska's residents and is a city of prosperity and much debate. Many of the state's residents look at the city, shake their heads and say, 'Anchorage is great. It's only 20 minutes from Alaska'. To them Anchorage is everything that Alaska isn't. It's an urban sprawl, shopping mall, traffic crawl kind of joint and it doesn't sit well with your average husky-wielding Alaskan who figures she's a frontier-woman just off to fill in some blank bits of the map. For the traveler, Anchorage is unavoidable, being the hub of Alaska's road system and an international air junction; luckily it's also a pleasant city to dip into. Downtown is laid out in a simple lettered and numbered grid making it easy to stride like a local as soon as you touch base. Many of the city's attractions are within easy walking distance or you can take advantage of over 62mi (100km) of cycle tracks and pedal your way around.
The Anchorage Historical & Fine Arts Museum is an impressive center for displays on Alaskan history and indigenous culture as well as an art gallery showing work by regional, national and international artists. Native artwork is featured at the Heritage Library Museum where there are well-regarded collections of tools, costumes and weapons, original paintings and lots of scrimshaw.
There are a number of good parks in and around the city. On the west side of the city, Earthquake Park offers an interesting display detailing the massive 1964 earthquake that caused 130ac (52ha) of land to slip 2000ft (600m) toward the sea. When not overrun by a tour bus or two, the best feature of the park is the excellent panorama of the city skyline set against the Chugach Mountains. On a clear day you can see Mt McKinley and Mt Foraker to the north. The most scenic cycle route is the 11mi (18km) coastal trail which begins at the western end of the city proper and breezes along the shore, where you may even spot the backs of beluga whales. With the Chugach Mountains at its doorstep, Anchorage has many excellent day hikes that begin on the outskirts of the city and quickly lead into beautiful alpine areas to the east. The most popular is the Flattop Mountain Trail, a mostly moderate climb, except for some scrambling over loose rocks near the 14,760ft (4500m) summit.
Finding a place to stay in Anchorage is rarely a problem. The downtown area is replete with hostels and inexpensive motels and cosy B&Bs are easy to find all over the inner-city. The downtown area has a wonderful selection of cafés and eateries, and this is also the place to crawl for pubs and bars. Anchorage is Alaska's busiest airport for both domestic and international traffic, although once you're grounded, trains or buses can be cheaper and more convenient for most destinations. Anchorage's local People Mover bus service is excellent.
Sheep Mountain in the Talkeetna Range north of Anchorage (20K)
Because of its diverse terrain, easy accessibility and close proximity to Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula has become the state's top recreational area. The peninsula is a conglomeration of mountains, fjords, icefields and glaciers serviced by a range of hiking trails, numerous campgrounds and beautiful paddling areas. Kenai Fjords National Park covers 587,000ac (234,800ha) with an abundance of marine wildlife and glaciers, including Harding Icefield, measuring 50mi (80km) long and 30mi (48km) wide. Many towns in this area are delightful: Homer is a colorful fishing village that has a number of artists lured by the region's beauty. A handful of galleries display mostly local art. Camping is the most inexpensive way to experience the peninsula but you can also find reasonable accommodation in the towns of Seward, Homer and Soldotna. The Kenai Peninsula is 43mi (70km) south of Anchorage and is easily accessible by road. Buses run daily between Seward and Anchorage.
Resting up after a long day on the trail (20K)
Situated on the northern and southern flanks of the Alaska Range, 237mi (382km) from Anchorage, Denali is the nation's premier subarctic national park, encompassing 6 million acres (2,400,000ha). Despite the excellent wildlife-watching opportunities, the park's main attraction is Mt McKinley - an overwhelming sight it you catch it on a clear day. At 20,320ft (6096m), the peak of this massif is almost 4mi (6km) high. The park offers camping, hiking, backpacking, mountain biking and white-water rafting. It all comes at a slight price though, since nearly a million visitors queue up for permits and the shuttle buses during the summer months. Try to go in early June or late September to avoid the crowds, and remember, they all disappear once you get into the back country. There is camping within the park as well as other accommodation. North and southbound buses service Denali National Park, but the most enjoyable way to arrive is aboard the Alaska Railroad with its viewing-dome cars that provide sweeping views of Mt McKinley and the Susitna and Nenana river valleys along the way.
Fording a stream the low tech way (20K)
Few cities in the Lower 48 and none in Alaska are as beautiful as Juneau. Residents claim it is the most scenic state capital in the country, while others describe it as a 'little San Francisco'. Overhead are the snowcapped peaks of Mt Juneau and Mt Roberts, while the Gastineau Channel provides a bustling waterfront for the city. In the center of the city is a fine historical district with many buildings dating back to the early 1900s full of bars, gift shops and restaurants. Also nearby is the much photographed St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, an octagonal-shaped building built in 1894. Since gold fever built Juneau it is well worth a look into the many museums and mines in and around the city. Given that it is known as the 'Gateway to the Glaciers', Juneau is lucky to have several face-saving glaciers in the area - including the Mendendall Glacier, Alaska's famous drive-in glacier, located just 13mi (21km) from the city center. Domestic airlines and the state ferry make daily stops in this Southeast Alaskan city.
Sitka
Rivaled by few for the sheer beauty of its surroundings, Sitka is fronted by the Pacific ocean and overshadowed by Mt Edgecumbe, the extinct volcano with a cone similar to Japan's Mt Fuji. At the heart of the city is St Michael's Cathedral, a replica of the 100-year-old Russian Orthodox cathedral that burned down in 1966. Luckily, Sitka's residents saved the priceless treasures and icons inside. East of the city center, past the boat harbor, is the octagonal Sheldon Jackson Museum which houses one of the best indigenous-culture collections in the state. A bit further east is the most noted attraction in town, the Sitka National Historical Park. The 107ac (43ha) park features a trail that winds past 15 totem poles standing in a beautiful forest setting next to the sea. Surrounding Sitka are over 40mi (64km) of hiking trails through the woods and mountain areas. Sitka has a hostel, many B&Bs and a good variety of restaurants. The city is serviced daily by domestic airlines and the state ferry and is also the departure point for numerous blue-water trips.
Glacier Bay National Park
Sixteen tidewater glaciers spilling out of the mountains and filling the sea with icebergs of all shapes, sizes and shades of blue have made Glacier Bay National Park an icy wilderness renowned throughout the world. It is an area of green forests, steep fjords and icebergs. An added attraction is the variety of marine life including humpback whales, harbor seals, porpoises, and sea otters, while other wildlife includes brown and black bears, wolves, moose, mountain goats and over 200 species of birds. Glacier Bay offers an excellent opportunity for kayakers to enjoy the protected arms and inlets where the glaciers are. It is a trail-less park, but it still provides enjoyable backpacking. The park is serviced by a small settlement, Gustavus, which can be reached by plane from Juneau.
Wrangell-St Elias National Park
If you are intrigued by valleys, canyons, towering mountains, icefields and glaciers but don't feel like battling the crowds of Denali National Park, you'll probably welcome Wrangell-St Elias National Park. An adventure into this preserve requires time and patience rather than money, but it can lead to a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Encompassing 13.2 million acres (5,280,000ha), Wrangell-St Elias - located along the Canadian border - is a true wilderness, both diverse and plentiful. Species in the preserve include moose, black and brown bears, dall sheep, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines and beavers; three of Alaska's 11 caribou herds also call the park home. It's possible to hike or paddle to a glacier or float through the vertical-walled Nizina River Canyon. There is limited accommodation at nearby McCarthy or the `ghost' town of Kennicott. It's possible to drive to the preserve but bus and air companies service McCarthy frequently.
That Cicely feeling at the McCarthy general store (24K)
Kennicott, a copper mining ghost town, Wrangell-St Elias NP (22K)
The Gates of the Arctic National Park is a vast wilderness area, straddling the Artic Divide in the Brooks Range, 200mi (322km) northwest of Fairbanks. This is rugged back country containing no National Park Service facilities, and is recommended only for serious, knowledgable backpackers and paddlers. The park covers 8.4 million acres (3,360,000ha), extends 200mi (322km) from east to west and lies north of the Artic Circle. The Gates themselves - Mt Boreal and Frigid Crags - flank the North Fork of the Koyukuk River where the unobstructed path northward to the Arctic coast was discovered by Robert Marshall in 1929.
Most of the park is vegetated with shrubs or is tundra, and is inhabited by grizzly bears, wolves, dall sheep, moose, caribou and wolverines. The terrain is only intermittently good for hiking, so walking across boggy ground and tussocks is inevitable; hiking in the Gates of the Arctic has been described by one guide as 'walking on basketballs'. A good day's travel is covering five or six miles (8 or 10km). The static aspects of fishing may therefore begin to appeal: grayling and Arctic char abound in the clear streams and superb lake trout are caught in the larger, deeper lakes. It's possible to drive to the Gates but there are a couple of flights from Fairbanks to Bettles - the closest village with food and accommodation - where charter air-taxi are available.
Alaska has enshrined its greater than great outdoors and there are more ways to partake than you can count on frostbitten fingers and toes. Some of the best hiking trails are the Chilkoot Trail near Skagway, which was used by gold prospectors late last century; the Resurrection Pass Trail on the Kenai Peninsula; and the Pinnell Mountain Trail near Hyder, which has great views of the midnight sun. Alaska has some great paddling opportunities at Misty Fjords National Monument, Glacier Bay National Park and Katmai National Park. Blue-water paddling - coastal touring in ocean kayaks - is very popular throughout Southeast and Southcentral Alaska but is also good at Muir Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park or Tracy Arm Fjord, south of Juneau. Fish you may haul out of a river, stream or lake will probably include rainbow and cutthroat trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic char and grayling.
 Off the record
Sea Kayaking on a warm day in Prince William Sound (19K)
There are three ways of getting to Alaska: by the Alcan (also known as the Alaska Hwy), the Inside Passage waterway or by flying in. Anchorage International Airport (ANC), 7mi (11km) west of the city center, is Alaska's largest airport and is serviced by major airlines but most travelers from Asia or Europe will need to touch down in Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit or Vancouver first and catch a connecting flight to Anchorage. There is a US$10 departure tax for all foreign destinations except Canada and Mexico. You can drive or take a combination of buses along the Alcan into Alaska. Good tires are essential on this road. Ferries run from Bellingham, Washington, take between two and four and a half days to reach Juneau (depending on the route), and are a scenic and hassle free way to get to Alaska.
There are a couple of domestic airlines servicing major towns and quite a few bush planes which can be chartered to access remote destinations. Regular bus services are available between the larger towns and cities at reasonable rates. The Alaska Railroad provides a good, scenic means of transport, though rarely the cheapest. Marine ferries service Southeast, Southcentral and Southwest Alaska and are often the dominant mode of transport in these road-unfriendly areas. Car rental agencies are located in major cities. Cycling is a good way of getting around and can be economically combined with ferry trips if your bike doesn't convert into a pedal-steamer.
- It's impossible to resist The Call of the Wild, Jack London's classic tale of a dog's life in the Alaskan gold rush.
- James A Michener does his usual stuff in Alaska, beginning with the creation of the land and going right up to the present time.
- Coming into the Country by John McPhee provides an excellent insight into the state and the kind of people who live there.
- Alaska's Brooks Range by John Kauffmann gives an in-depth profile of what the author regards as the world's last, great unspoiled wilderness.
- Facts about Alaska is an almanac, covering just about every topic imaginable, from what a 'potlatch' is to the state's heaviest snowfall.
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