Alaska

25 years of wedded bliss is upon me and my wife. We don’t travel much but thought a nice vacation would be a great way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Alaska is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go and see but have no idea where to start. I know I’d like to do some fishing (open to salt or fresh water) but again, don’t have a clue about when/where/who.

We are just now starting our research and I figured some of you may have some helpful suggestions on when/where to go, what to see, where to stay, who to fish with, etc..

I’m thinking fly in, rent a car and drive.

Any suggestions/input?

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I did the fly and drive option into Ketchikan 5 years ago. Great trip! Here's the link with pic's and details. PM me if you have questions.

https://texashuntingforum.com/forum...Search/true/ketchikan-alaska#Post6854186

Lived there for 4 years. Definitely fly and drive…for MANY reasons. Alaska has an outdoor forum, similar to this one. I’d start there. Nice folks willing to help.

Do the fly out fishing trip to Crescent lake! Think we went thru Alaska West Air. Flew out to river fishing for salmon, first half of day and then to Crescent lake second half of day. It was AWESOME!!

I lived up there for several years. June and July is peak tourism season with the best weather and the biggest crowds. August is nice, much less busy, but it might rain. The fishing is better in August, for the most part. My must hit list would be:

Denali National Park
Halibut Fishing
Salmon Fishing
Scenic Drives

For vacation purposes, I tend to divide the state into three pieces, the Kenai Peninsula which is the are south of Anchorage, Southeast meaning the panhandle area, and the rest of the state. Don't try to do everything, the state is too big. The Kenai is beautiful, more developed and more crowded. Fishing is first class, both in the rivers and offshore. You could have a wonderful trip staying in various towns in this area if you don't mind bigger crowds. Southeast is too much of a pain to get to unless you are taking a cruise, and most towns are not connected by roads. I would skip it. The wide open rest of the state is where I would recommend. Much smaller crowds, more diverse geography and tons to do, but logistically a bit more difficult due to distances and lack of development.

There are basically three roads that cover the rest of the state, with corners at Fairbanks, Anchorage and Valdez. There is also a rough gravel highway that cuts across from Denali National Park. The drive from Anchorage/Wasilla to Valdez is a bucket list trip, one of the prettiest roads I have ever seen. The Denali Highway is also very pretty but remote and rough. Some people claim too rough for rental cars.

I would fly into Anchorage and put together a drive that hits Denali and Valdez. Valdez is my favorite coastal city, mostly because there is no cruise ship port, so it is much less crowded. You need to run a little farther off shore to get into big halibut than you would in the Kenai, but I think its worth it. An outfit called Fish Central serves as booking agent for most of the captains and also processes and freezes your catch for transport home. Great folks. Valdez offers halibut and saltwater salmon fishing.

Denali is stunningly beautiful and will give you an opportunity to see a ton of wildlife that is hit or miss at best just driving around. It sounds very lame, but taking the bus into the interior of the park is really an amazing experience. Just have the mindset that you will enjoy the guide, the amazing sights, and ignore the rest of the folks on the bus with you. All the way in takes a full day round trip, but you can go as far as you want, get out for a hike and picnic, then catch the next bus headed back out. Even when I was living up there, I did it at least once a year.

Awesome stuff! Thanks everyone for the tips.
Great Post Sherpa! Thanks for taking the time with all the info!

Lived in se ask for 5 years and would go back in a heart beat
Have fun