FabO!!! I scored a…read morefresh s'mores here,'cuz a wonderful fam is sharing our B&B, on the eve of their son's wedding! They were using the community space located here for some fellowship,& we recognized one another by his springer spaniel:) Welcome to the land of the historic Iditarod start point, of breathless vistas of sharp peaks and rocky crags on snow-covered Chugach range. RV and tent campsites located here,$15&$10/nt, respectively. Skate park and kiddie playground for locals. A few large B&Bs along the waterfront held us with their size and views.

This park has stunning views. I got to spend a day in Seward after a long week of doing work in…read moreSoldotna. Seward Waterfront Park is known mostly for their campground area. I didn't camp, but did spend some time walking around the park and taking pictures of the mountain range on the other side of Resurrection Bay. There are restrooms, picnics tables and shower houses at the park. Seward Waterfront Park extends from the boat harbor to the Alaska SeaLife Center near the downtown area. For activities, there are historical landmarks and interpretive signs along the Sea Otter Trail, a skatepark, wildlife viewing, RV parking, camping and a playground. When I was here, there was a cruise ship parked in the terminal. The best part for me was the view of the mountain range from across the bay. The snow on the mountains made for some beautiful photos.

Stunning glacier! Portage lake is everything you can imagine in a glacial lake, my only grievance…read morewas with the tour company that does the cruise to the glacier. They were not ideal and the operation felt very rinky dink. I do think it would be cool to kayak to the glacier and around the icebergs! This is a fairly easily accessible glacier! 10/10 would go again!

The Portage Glacier in Chugach National Park is definitely worth a stop…read more You can glide right up to the face of the glacier for a pretty low cost (about $45) on a ship called the Ptarmigan. The glacier has receded quite a bit so is no longer visible from the visitor center like it used to be. So you'll definitely want to do the Ptarmigan cruise up to the face of it. The water around the glacier is a piercing blue turquoise color. So the boat ride up to the face of the glacier is very pretty in that respect too. There were also many small waterfalls all around the lake that were great to see as we strode by. It was raining and sleeting when we took the cruise, but we still managed to trod up to the outdoor deck and snap pictures of the glacier up close. If you'll be in the area, definitely make a trip to see this beauty before it's totally gone!

"Where Mountains, Ice, and Ocean Meet"…read more Exploring this National Park was a nice addition to my trip to Alaska. I came here to do volunteer work. In the evenings, we mostly fished in the Kenai River. After finishing up our work, my group planned two fun days at the end of the week. One day we chartered a boat in Homer to Halibut fish and the other we visited Seward and got to see the Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. Kenai Fjords National Park is massive. It is the fifth most-visited park in Alaska and is the closest national park to Anchorage. The park was established in 1980 and encompasses over 600,000 acres outside of the town of Seward. Snow and ice cover 50 percent of the park with the Harding Icefield stretching over 700 square miles. The park's headquarters and visitor center are located in Seward. The nice thing about Kenai Fjords National Park is that it provides both leisurely and adventurous activities for visitors. Activities include kayaking, boat tours, camping, fishing, biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, dog sledding and mountaineering. Various companies offer tours that are guided by National Park Rangers. In addition to seeing the beautiful scenery up close, you can also see both land and marine wildlife. Seward is also a destination for cruise ships and provides passengers from the ships with tours of the park. Kenai Fjords National Park lies on the southeastern side of the Kenai Peninsula and can be reached from Seward. The most significant fjords include Aialik Bay, Harris Bay, McCarty Fjord and Nuka Bay. Most of the interior of the park is covered by the Harding Icefield. A cool thing for me was that I was doing work at an airport when I was here in Alaska. Because my work was volunteer, one of the pilots offered to take some of us up in a plane to see Alaska from above as an appreciation for the work that we were doing. We flew over the Harding Icefield and got to see how massive it was. It was such an awesome experience. Another way to see the icefield up close is to hike on the Harding Icefield Trail. Kenai Fjords National Park is made up of three main areas - the Exit Glacier, Harding Icefield and the coastline. The Exit Glacier is the easiest section of the park to reach. I stopped by the visitor center in Seward first before seeing the glacier. It is a nice place to visit and to learn about the park. There are park rangers on hand to answer questions and a gift shop. We then headed over to the Exit Glacier. It is the only destination in Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by land. They have a small nature center that you can visit before heading out on the trail to the glacier. The Exit Glacier hike is the best way to see this glacier up close. Sadly, the glacier has shrunk considerably due to climate change. They have signs showing where the glacier once stood by year. Park scientists continue to monitor and record the glacier's accelerating recession. At some point, you won't be able to see the glacier anymore from the overlook trail. I really enjoyed my time visiting this park. Getting a chance to fly over the Harding Icefield was an amazing experience for me. Then checking out the Exit Glacier later in the week really made me appreciate how beautiful this park is. I hope someday I can return here and hike on Harding Icefield Trail to get up and close to it.

One of the best parts of our June Alaska cruise occurred on the last day in Seward. We viewed…read moreparts of Kenai Fjords National Park from the water on a Major Marine boat trip. We saw the Holgate and Aialik glaciers, tons of wildlife (Orcas, sea otters, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, and more). The finale was seeing the amazing rock formations in Porcupine Bay. Afterwards, we stopped by the Kenai Fjords National Park visitor center to learn more about the park. Wish we had more time for further exploration!

Despite the horrific fire damage resulting from the 2019 Swann Lake Fire, Skilak Lake recreational…read morearea remains one of our family's favorite places to recharge. It's remote enough to unplug from the world (no cell.service in about 80% of this huge park) but close enough to basic services like toilet paper, gas and a latte if you REALLY need it that you won't freak out. There's an enormous variety of activities in the wonderful park, and the fire opened up huge fields of wild flowers and fungi that were previously much harder to access. In some places the fire damage is very very disturbing and sad, but if you like being alone, like me, and enjoy rebirth and photography, coming here can be a very beautiful and centering experience.

I love, love, love this picnic park. It's well hidden and unknown by most people unfamiliar with…read moreWhittier (well, I've gone and ruined that now haven't I?) The park is tucked away in Shotgun Cove at the confluence of a glacial stream and Prince William Sound. The protected cove offers a lovely vista of mountains, water and trees (ok and a parking lot.) It's got several grills, tables and a picnic pavilion that is perfect for small gatherings. Midweek, the park is an ideal place for contemplation. The only issue here is the mosquitoes, which are significant. But if I could plunk a house down anywhere in the world, it would be right here, a little piece of paradise.

One of my absolute favorite places to spend time in Southcentral Alaska. I didn't actually…read morediscover Lu Young Park in Whittier until June of 2016. I happened to have a day off and decided to drive down to Portage area for some photography and enjoy a beautiful summer sunny day. Even though I have lived in Alaska for over 45 years, I didn't visit Whittier or go through the tunnel all that often. Maybe only a handful of times since I was young. A few times included taking the train while another was driving down there with a friend where I was riding shotgun. But something that day made me decide to pay the money to go through the tunnel and do a bit of exploring. And given I'm one with an insatiable quest for exploring, I found myself on the road to Shotgun Cove. And that is where I found Lu Young Park. To access Lu Young park drive up Blackstone Road and then turn right on Salmon Run Road just past the abandoned Bucker Building (hard to miss, one of the tallest buildings in Whittier). Continue on the dirt road for about a 1/2 mile and you will see a pull out with a covered picnic area. The area has a couple of picnic tables, bathrooms and an overlook. It is a great place to explore both at high and low tide. Additionally the area is teaming with thousands of pink salmon during their run in August. It is not uncommon to find kayakers and SUPs in the cove. There is always something different to see and experience here. During the evenings after work during the summer I like to grab a bit of food from somewhere and drive down and catch the tunnel opening and then have a picnic. It is always serenity to me.

What an incredible experience. We stayed for 2 nights in July and wished we had booked a longer…read morestay. Remote, peaceful, immersed in nature, this is hands down one of our favorite spots in all our travels. During the boat ride to the property we got lucky and saw a couple of orcas! Upon arriving we were in awe of the property, the views, and the amenities. We went fishing, cooked fresh salmon on the grill, hung out in the shared space and met other guests, and enjoyed the sound of rain on the yurt roof. I literally had the best night of sleep in my adult life in that yurt! So so cozy. There were river otters that came by each day, which was an added bonus. We will definitely return to take advantage of the surroundings more!

It is difficult to imagine a better place to stay in Alaska. We loved these yurts. We were…read moregreeted time and time again by excellent staff from the boat taxi at check in all the way to check out. We had a memorable stay here at Orca Island. We were given the Oyster Catcher yurt which had a nice combo of a view of the inner cove and the outter bay. Our yurt was in excellent condition with great amenities. We did shopping in Seward before the trip as recommended by the hosts and had all we needed to prepare great meals at the yurt. We used the kayaks to stumble across salmon spawning near the cabins. The spawning was one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever watched. Thousands of salmon making their way upstream in all different stages of life. Incredible. The kayaks were in great condition and we appreciated being taught how to use the kayak skirts because we come from warm water area where skirts aren't used. I recommend bringing water shoes if you plan to kayak as ours came in really handy when getting off the kayaks at the nearby waterfall. If you plan to fish, I'd recommend bringing your own tackle. We weren't having much luck with what was rigged up but we also didn't fish for that long. Still would have been nice to have our own lures to use because their lures seemed too big for the fish in the cove. Tons of fish, not a single bite. I don't think the hosts are that big on fishing. Always good to do your own research if you wanna catch something. During our stay we saw a ton of jelly fish, bald eagles, thousands of salmon, otters, sea lions, puffins, and more birds I couldn't identify. Incredible experience. We loved the art gallery and communal coffee spot. Wish we bought some orca island gear while we were there but forgot to stop back in the shop before departing. Stay here!! Don't bat an eye at the price. It is worth it.

Let me start by saying that I had set some pretty high expectations of the Harding Icefield Trail…read moreand was worried they wouldn't meet them ... But they actually ended up far surpassing them. This trail was, by far, our favorite hike we did in Alaska, and one of our top hikes in general. This is a strenuous hike that you need to come prepared for. It's about 8.2 miles roundtrip with over 3000 feet of elevation gain with some rocky areas. We wore hiking shoes and rented some poles, and it went great. We did the hike in September, and there was still snow toward the end of the hike - so these poles definitely came in handy once we hit that. This hike was absolutely beautiful. You'll start out with gorgeous views of the trees, rivers, and wildlife. The higher up to go, you'll start to get a sneak peek of the glaciers, and let me tell you - pictures don't do it justice and won't prepare you for what you're going to see. The Harding Icefield is absolutely breathtaking - just pure white as far as you can see. It's such a peaceful experience that we could've just sat there for hours and taken it all in. The hike up was rough, but it's 100% worth it when you reach the end. Pack lots of water and snacks. It was rainy the day we went, so our rain jackets were lifesavers. But there is a lot of open hiking, so definitely back sunscreen if it's a sunny day. And don't forget your bear spray. Absolutely incredible hike. 100% recommend it.

We checked in at the visitor center before the hike, where they loaned us trekking poles and let us…read moreknow the trail was open all the way to Top of the Cliffs--it had only just opened past Marmot Meadows. The hike itself is tough, especially with the snow patches you have to cross to reach the top, which was also still snow-covered. Coming down was actually kind of fun--you could slide if you didn't mind a wet bum. The views made it all worth it. The Harding Icefield is just massive and awe-inspiring. We also saw the glacier below, along with people mountaineering through the crevasses and hiking out on the ice. We saw a few hikers pushing past the recommended stopping point, but we turned around at the top. Not interested in testing our luck with a rockslide or avalanche. There were plenty of people on the trail, so we never felt concerned about wildlife, and we ran into a couple of interpretive rangers along the way who were friendly and happy to chat.

Short and sweet trail in Seward that features wooded, mossy trails, a waterfall and two small…read morelakes. It was a perfect end to a full day in Seward, as a way to stretch our legs after dinner. It's a damp, boggy trail in some stretches but they do have a boardwalk through some of it. Total mileage is only about 1 mile but very scenic. I got to see some type of river otter or beaver swimming in one lake. Mostly seems like a locals park and everyone we ran in to seemed friendly. Easy trails for those who want something simple or hiking with smaller kids. No bear or moose sightings but stayed alert and did bring bear spray.

Short loop track that has 2 really beautiful ponds and one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've…read moreever seen. The vibe of the trail is very Pacific NW with giant trees and plants- its boggy and beautiful. Highly recommend if you have about a half hour to spare. The path has a couple options, so recommend taking a few minutes to research the trail before doing it or do two laps to fully enjoy+

We had an incredible 4 days of fishing the Kenai River, it was truly a once in a lifetime Alaskan…read moreAngling Adventure. As a saltwater angler the drift boat/indicator fishing techniques were new to me, but Mike's instruction got me up to speed quickly and we were catching fish right away. Mike is thoroughly in-tune with the river and ecosystem. This knowledge showed as he was constantly making adjustments to give us the best chance of hooking up. His skills managing the boat and 2 anglers battling fish were also impressive. Overall this trip exceeded our expectations thanks to Mike's preparation, guidance and hard work. 10/10 highly recommend!

AMAZING!!!!! What a great experience- Mike was fantastic! He was so knowledgeable and so good…read morewith both of us( having two different fly fish experience). The River and scenery was unbelievable and Mike was so informative on everything. Just tbe scenery and experience would have been enough BUT we killed it and caught our limit in Salmon!!! Such a great experience. Mike is the best!!!

We were randomly introduced to Jeff of Gone Again Charters and so happy we were!! The cusotmer…read moreservice from start to finish and excellent communication is rare these days and best believe I will be sending everyone to him for their Seward fishing needs, they really hit it out of the park. He put us right on the fish, before the third rod was rigged we were reeling in the first and second with Kings! Got our max bag limit and a ton of silvers and rock fish too. Jeff told us a great way to cook the fresh salmon, we found a great little water front camp site grill bought some fire wood and did just that. Fresh King from rod to plate in under 4 hours was pure heaven. Looking forward to fishing with them again. If you're reading this, just go ahead and book him. I was born and raised in key west FL and know fishing charters. This is the one you want for Seward. Top notch Unbelievable