#44 best destination in the world

Misty Fjords National Monument

Best time to travel: May-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$$

  • Light-colored granite, about 50 to 70 million years oldm has been sculpted by glaciers that gouged deep U-shaped troughs throughout the monument
  • Many of the glacial valleys are filled with sea water and are called “canals”, but they are not man-made in any way
  • The walls of these valleys are near-vertical and often rise 2,000 to 3,000 feet (600 to 900 m) above sea level, and drop 1,000 feet (300 m) below it

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

Best trail: Photo Point Trail
Best time to travel: late May-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Glacier about 13.6 miles long, located 12 miles from Juneau
  • Glacier that has retreated 1.75 miles since 1929, when Mendenhall Lake was created, and over 2.5 miles since 1500
  • The glacier will continue to retreat in the foreseeable future

Tongass National Forest

Best trail: Nugget Falls Trail
Best time to travel: May-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Waterfall downstream of the Nugget Glacier, at the base of Bullard Mountain
  • Formed by the creek from the Nugget Glacier, the waterfall drops 377 feet (115 m) in two tiers of 99 feet (30 m) and 278 feet (85 m) onto a sandbar in Mendenhall Lake, which is the freshwater pool at the face of the Mendenhall Glacier
  • Prior to the recession of Mendenhall Glacier, it was said that the falls would drop directly on the glacier, or that the glacier covered the waterfall

Glacier Bay National Park

Best trail: Forest Trail
Best time to travel: May-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Park declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for the spectacular glacier and icefield landscapes as well as for the importance of grizzly bears, caribou and Dall sheep habitat

Hubbard Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Best time to travel: late Aug-Sept
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Glacier located in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve
  • It takes about 400 years for ice to traverse the length of the glacier, meaning that the ice at the foot of the glacier is about 400 years old
  • The glacier routinely calves off icebergs the size of a ten-story building
  • Where the glacier meets the bay, most of the ice is below the waterline, and newly calved icebergs can shoot up quite dramatically
  • The only way to see the Hubbard Glacier is to visit Yakutat, and several cruise ship companies include the Hubbard Glacier on their Alaska cruise itineraries

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

Best trail: Skookum Volcano Trail
Best time to travel: June-Aug
Walk difficulty: Moderate
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Largest single wilderness in the United States, an expanse larger than nine U.S. states and around the same size as Croatia
  • The coastal region is seismically active with frequent large earthquakes
  • Major quakes occurred in 1899 (four between magnitudes 7 and 8) and followed by the 1964 Alaska earthquake (9.2)
  • The 1979 St. Elias earthquake reached magnitude 7.9

Exit Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park

Best trail: Exit Glacier Overlook Trail
Best time to travel: June-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Glacier derived from the Harding Icefield in the Kenai Mountains, and one of Kenai Fjords National Park’s major attractions
  • It is one of the most accessible valley glaciers in Alaska and is a visible indicator of glacial recession due to climate change
  • Exit Glacier retreated approximately 187 feet (57 m) from 2013 to 2014 and park scientists continue to monitor and record the glacier’s accelerating recession

Bishops Beach

Best trail: Beluga Slough Trail
Best time to travel: June-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Natural shore with picnic areas, an entrance to a tidewater trail and nearby visitor center

Chugach State Park

Best trail: Thunderbird Falls Trail
Best time to travel: June-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Park that contains extensive ocean shoreline, abundant lakes, massive glaciers and ice fields

Aurora Dora, Talkeetna

Best time to travel: late Jan-Feb, Nov-Dec
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Art gallery in downtown Talkeetna showcasing Aurora Borealis pieces

Denali National Park and Preserve

Best trail: Horseshoe Lake Trail
Best time to travel: July-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Highest mountain peak in North America, and the third most prominent and third most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua
  • The Koyukon people who inhabit the area around the mountain have referred to the peak as “Denali” for centuries
  • In 1896, a gold prospector named it “Mount McKinley” in support of then-presidential candidate William McKinley
  • In 2015, 40 years after Alaska had done so, the United States Department of the Interior announced the change of the official name of the mountain to Denali
  • The first verifiable ascent to Denali’s summit was achieved in 1913

Mendenhall Glacier

Best trail: Photo Point Trail
Best time to travel: late May-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Glacier about 13.6 miles long, located 12 miles from Juneau
  • Glacier that has retreated 1.75 miles since 1929, when Mendenhall Lake was created, and over 2.5 miles since 1500
  • The glacier will continue to retreat in the foreseeable future

Aurora Borealis, Fairbanks

Best time to travel: Jan-Feb, July-Aug, Nov-Dec
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $$

  • Natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions, around the Arctic and Antarctic
  • Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky
  • Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind
  • Most of the planets in the Solar System, some natural satellites, brown dwarfs, and even comets also host auroras

North Pole

Best trail: Moose Creek Bluff Trail
Best time to travel: Jan-Feb, July-Aug, Nov-Dec
Ease of travel: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Town whose biggest attraction is a gift shop named Santa Claus House, the modern-day incarnation of a trading post (gift shop) established in the town’s early days
  • The Santa Claus House is known for the world’s largest fiberglass statue of Santa Claus outside
  • Before Christmas each year, the USPS post office in North Pole receives hundreds of thousands of letters to Santa Claus, and thousands more from people wanting the town’s postmark on their Christmas greeting cards to their families

Katmai National Park and Preserve

Best trail: Brooks Lodge, Brooks River Bridge, Riffles Platform and Brooks Falls
Best time to travel: June-Aug
Walk difficulty: Easy
Cost ($-$$-$$$): $

  • Waterfall located within Katmai National Park and Preserve
  • The falls are famous for watching salmon leap over the 6 foot falls to get to their Brooks Lake spawning grounds
  • Consequently, large populations of brown bears, also called grizzly bears, are attracted to feed on the spawning salmon
  • Brown bears usually congregate at the falls in July through early September