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Canada / Alaska Trip 2026

Seward and Petersen Lake

Updated: 9 hours ago

Link to our current trip map:


From our campground in the Portage Valley area we drove south to the coastal town of Seward. It's another beautiful coastal town located on Resuurection Bay. It's surrounded by a mix of snow capped and tree covered mountains .

Our campground was right on the waterfront and and easy walk to town. Cruise ships stop here frequently and there were several on the 2 days we stayed. Fun Fact: Seward was the historic starting point for the 2300 mile Iditarod sled dog race but later moved to Anchorage. We stopped to check out at the monument.

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We also went to the Alaska Sealife Center which houses an aquarium, research facility and marine mammal / rescue center. I had really wanted to see puffins and they had several along with seals, sea lions and many other sea birds.



We booked a last minute wildlife cruise around Resurrection Bay and the Kenai Fjords National Park which is mostly accessible only by boat. We saw puffins in the wild (!), bald eagles, seals, otters, sea lions.


This morning we left and started making our way down the Kenai Peninsula towards Homer where we’ll stay for 5 days. We found a great free camp spot at the edge of Petersen Lake and took the kayak out with Pepper at the helm. She seems to love the kayak which always surprises us because she's not a fan of swimming.




 
 
 

Denali (by air) and Portage Valley

Updated: 9 hours ago

Link to current trip map



On Monday (8/10) We did a tour by air out of Talkeetna to Denali. We flew with K2 Aviation and and thought they were great. We were so fortunate to have great clear weather both days we were in that area. We were told by our pilot and others that we were very fortunate as only about a third of folks that come to see Denali actually get to see it not shrouded in clouds.


Fun Facts: Mt Denali is the largest peak in North America at 20,310 ft. Denali is actually taller than Mount Everest, when measured from base to peak since it rises 18,000 feet out of the low plateau that it sits on.


It's very visible and dramatic from many miles away....


...and more dramatic up close.


(Click on the individual photos to see larger versions)

The Ruth Glacier that looks like a runway is ice that is 3,600 feet deep. In the last photo is the Sheldon Chalet which is the only private building in Denali National Park. You have to zoom way in to the dark rock area to see it. You can stay there for only $32,000 a night.


Dan and I were in awe the whole tour. Easily one of the coolest things we've ever done. we have lots more pictures and videos but our internet is a little spotty as we get further north so we'll have to share them in the future.


From Talkeetna we drove south through Anchorage and stopped for a couple of nights at Williwaw campground near Portage Lake. It was a very nice campground that we found looking on the map while driving through the area..


The campground is on the Trail of Blue Ice that connects multiple campgrounds and recreation areas. It's a cool multi-use trail with boardwalks and bridges through some very pretty areas.


The most interesting part of our bike ride came next. Dan was riding in front and came around a corner and a huge bull moose was on the trail in front of him eating foliage. Unknown to us, there was also a guy on a bike on the other side of the moose stopped and looking at him. The moose was startled and he charged towards the other guy. He jumped off his bike into the bushes. He was fine but a little shaken up.



 
 
 

Valdez to Talkeetna


We did a couple of things before leaving Valdez on Saturday. We stopped by the Soloman Fish Hatchery The salmon are spawning and there are so many of them. We only saw seagulls at the all-you-can-eat fish buffet but it's common for sea lions and bears to be here too.


A short drive from there is the Valdez Glacier Lake. We pulled out our inflatable kayak and paddled around the chunks of iceberg that have calved off from the Glacier. The different colors and textures of the ice against the gray water was really cool.


We started our drive to Talkeetna and stayed the night at a rest right area off the highway that had the most beautiful views.


We arrived in Talkeetna this afternoon.

The weather has been very warm for this area. In fact we got a 'Severe Weather Alert' sent to our phones this afternoon that they were expecting extremeley warm temperatures in our area in the mid 70's and that we should take precautions to avoind getting overheated. It feels pretty perfect to us.


Today, we can see Mt Denali from the Susitna River close to where we are staying.

Apparently this is visible only about 30% of the time. Tomorrow we'll be taking an air tour of Denali and are hoping that the weather holds.

 
 
 
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