Things to do in Alaska for a 4d3n trip

[pillage2001]

I am prolly gonna be lambasted by people asking me to use the search button and I did without getting anything useful as the word alaska is used pretty much everywhere.....

Basically, am having a business trip to the states early april and would have 4 days to look see and thought I should spend it in Alaska hoping to catch some northern lights. Area of focus would be in Achorage.

Question would be, what should I do during the limitted days I have there? I read about Denali, I read about going to fairbanks to observe the northern lights, what else??

Am mostly interested in sights and food. Would prolly have a rental car and don't mind cover 250miles a day if it is worth it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Was going to say northern lights but you got that covered.

I'm lucky enough to live where they are somewhat common (what's tricky is finding a day where there are no clouds and ideally no moon) so I can see them pretty much just walking out of the house. Even better taking a quick drive to get away from streetlights. Never gets old.

 

[Newbian]

Basically, am having a business trip to the states early april and would have 4 days to look see and thought I should spend it in Alaska hoping to catch some northern lights. Area of focus would be in Achorage.

Where are you going to for the trip as unless it's in Alaska it seems a bit out of the way?

I suppose if the outdoors is a huge thing for you it could be nice.

 

[pillage2001]

Where are you going to for the trip as unless it's in Alaska it seems a bit out of the way?

I suppose if the outdoors is a huge thing for you it could be nice.

I would be heading to north cali so I take it that it's another 5 hours to fly to AK. I suppose to go till there, outdoor would be a must to see.

Was going to say northern lights but you got that covered.

I'm lucky enough to live where they are somewhat common (what's tricky is finding a day where there are no clouds and ideally no moon) so I can see them pretty much just walking out of the house. Even better taking a quick drive to get away from streetlights. Never gets old.

Any particular place I should be stopping by to catch this or it's all over?

 

[Exterous]

How much driving\flying in Alaska do you want to do? Its the largest state in the US so it takes a bit of time to get between a lot of places. Anchorage to Fairbanks is 360mi and a ~6.5 hour car ride assuming nothing goes wrong. A downside to driving in Alaska is that there aren't a lot of alternate routes if there is an accident or something. I've never used them but from what I've heard Alaska has a pretty robust rail network so that might be a decent option if you don't want to spend that long driving.

There's the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center about an hour south of Anchorage which is worth a visit IMO

I really like the Alaskan Brewing company but they seem to be expanding (pretty easy to find them in MI now) so thats not as much of a novelty as it once was.

 

[dud]

Stay warm?

 

[SearchMaster]

Stay warm?

Anchorage AK - April
Avg Low=29F
Avg High=45F

Not THAT bad

 

[pillage2001]

How much driving\flying in Alaska do you want to do? Its the largest state in the US so it takes a bit of time to get between a lot of places. Anchorage to Fairbanks is 360mi and a ~6.5 hour car ride assuming nothing goes wrong. A downside to driving in Alaska is that there aren't a lot of alternate routes if there is an accident or something. I've never used them but from what I've heard Alaska has a pretty robust rail network so that might be a decent option if you don't want to spend that long driving.

There's the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center about an hour south of Anchorage which is worth a visit IMO

I really like the Alaskan Brewing company but they seem to be expanding (pretty easy to find them in MI now) so thats not as much of a novelty as it once was.

Crap..i think I mistaken the Fairbanks in Anchorage with the Fairbanks town or something?? Is it possible to see the northern lights in Anchorage itself? 125 miles per drive is what I can mostly do as I can't do a 720mile round trip. lol.

Will keep the Conservation centre and brewing company in the list.

I saw alot of day tours that utilizes the rail network. I think that might be worth checking out?

 

[pillage2001]

Anchorage AK - April
Avg Low=29F
Avg High=45F

Not THAT bad

LOL. I studied in Michigan, that's BBQ weather.

 

[glenn1]

How much driving\flying in Alaska do you want to do? Its the largest state in the US so it takes a bit of time to get between a lot of places. Anchorage to Fairbanks is 360mi and a ~6.5 hour car ride assuming nothing goes wrong. A downside to driving in Alaska is that there aren't a lot of alternate routes if there is an accident or something. I've never used them but from what I've heard Alaska has a pretty robust rail network so that might be a decent option if you don't want to spend that long driving.

There's the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center about an hour south of Anchorage which is worth a visit IMO

I really like the Alaskan Brewing company but they seem to be expanding (pretty easy to find them in MI now) so thats not as much of a novelty as it once was.

Pay attention to this, the size and distances involved are deceiving. Anchorage-Fairbanks is about the same driving distance as LA-SF or slightly shorter than Washington DC - Boston. Alternatively, if you were to drive from San Francisco to Anchorage, once you crossed the U.S. Canada border into British Columbia you'd be less than 1/3 of the way there (1,486km of 5,087km total drive). You're going to spend a lot of time just getting there and then want to spend most of your time driving once you're there? Makes very little sense.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If you don't like the out doors, there is no reason to go to Alaska.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I was also going to say. Fairbanks is way better for the northern lights, but it is a LONG drive. I personally only spent about 8 hours in Anchorage so I can't say what all there is to do there. Fairbanks is kind of a blue collar type area, that you are mostly going to be looking at scenery. There is a very nice hot spring hotel place about 50 miles from there though.

 

[Exterous]

Crap..i think I mistaken the Fairbanks in Anchorage with the Fairbanks town or something?? Is it possible to see the northern lights in Anchorage itself? 125 miles per drive is what I can mostly do as I can't do a 720mile round trip. lol.

Will keep the Conservation centre and brewing company in the list.

I saw alot of day tours that utilizes the rail network. I think that might be worth checking out?

It is possible but the colder, darker, more north you get increases the chance and April has a downward trend of two of those. I can't speak much for Northern Lights in Alaska itself but given my experience with trying to see them in other parts of the world in early April I wouldn't plan on it being a guarantee. FWIW its about a 1 hour flight to Fairbanks from Anchorage and Fairbanks does fly to several airports in CA (generally through Seattle) so you could fly into one and out of the other or go to Fairbanks instead of Anchorage. Denali is pretty much in the middle of those two cities.

LOL. I studied in Michigan, that's BBQ weather.

Heh - its not terribly uncommon for us in MI to see that its warmer in Anchorage in April than it is here.

 

[Thebobo]

Drive down the Kenai Peninsula and then take the ferry to Kodiak island.

 

[NesuD]

I am prolly gonna be lambasted by people asking me to use the search button and I did without getting anything useful as the word alaska is used pretty much everywhere.....

Basically, am having a business trip to the states early april and would have 4 days to look see and thought I should spend it in Alaska hoping to catch some northern lights. Area of focus would be in Achorage.

Question would be, what should I do during the limitted days I have there? I read about Denali, I read about going to fairbanks to observe the northern lights, what else??

Am mostly interested in sights and food. Would prolly have a rental car and don't mind cover 250miles a day if it is worth it.

That is not a good time of year for sight seeing. You will likely be pretty much limited to Anchorage to be honest. Denali is probably not a good bet in April. The season doesn't start there until May 20 and the park road isn't fully open until June 8. I've been there and you probably won't be able to see the mountain without going well into the park. Fact is the mountain is so massive it makes its own weather and is usually shrouded in clouds. Only about 30% of Visitors to the park experience a clear view of the mountain peak. I was lucky when I was there. A break in the clouds made it visible for about 5 minutes then it was gone again. This is the current alert up right now for the Park road

" Denali Park Road closed at Headquarters
The Denali Park Road is closed to vehicle traffic at Mile 3. Pedestrian traffic (via ski, snowshoe, etc) is permitted, but stay back from any road plowing equipment you see. The Murie Center (our visitor center) is open daily, 9 am - 4:30 pm, at Mile 1.5."

It is still very much winter in the interior in the month of April. The Park interior itself doesn't receive a lot of annual precipitation because of the mountain It is almost a near arctic desert to be honest but getting to the park and the farther east you get from the mountain it becomes more like classic alaskan weather with lots of snow. The closer to the mountain you get the drier it becomes. Highway 3 is never really closer than 50 miles from the peak at best as the bird flies. Depending on weather It can be only 6 hr drive in good conditions. up past Denali all the way to Fairbanks. I doesn't even get daylight in Fairbanks in April. You get about 2 hrs of twilight in April then back to full night. Not trying to dissuade you but you won't be able to see much at all except maybe the Northern lights. I don't think given the conditions at that time of year it is advisable to go on a sightseeing adventure into the interior. You could probably see the Northern lights just as well from the Anchorage area as Fairbanks if you can get away from the city lights.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Any particular place I should be stopping by to catch this or it's all over?

In in Canada so don't know of any "key" areas but normally when northern lights happen it covers a pretty large area like a huge chunk of a province so if you look at a aurora map you'll know if it's hitting your general area or not. Like in my case even with the street lights I could see them (though the long exposure pic brings out more than what I could see with naked eye) but if you find a place dark away from lights that's the best bet.

I'm not sure on actual specific spots in Alaska though. In my case I just drove down the highway (655) which happened to point north and pulled over. I'd imagine there might be some nicer spots in Alaska. That's also more north than where I am so you'll see them even better.