Alaska

Bears!  We heard there were plenty of bears, but we didn't expect to see over twenty grizzlies on our first day.  Katmai Nat'l Park is one of the premier grizzly viewing areas in the world, [...]

Anchorage is the gateway to Alaska for most travelers.  An astounding 40% of the population of the state live there.

We flew the Pilatus with a river raft, oars, camping gear, 3 coolers of food and 7 people. Fitting everything in the back of the plane required the skills of a Tetris master, along with [...]

Long underwear. Wool hats. Parkas. Sure doesn't feel like summer, but we're here at the solstice, and daylight goes on forever. If we didn't put on eyeshades, you'd never know it's night. It does make [...]

Yes, we camped here. Yes, the matches got wet and we had no fire for dinner. Luckily some extra matches were unearthed in time to make truly wonderful blueberry pancakes for breakfast the next morning.The [...]

We camped in the midst of the largest protected grizzly bear population in the world, so we were expecting company. One grizzly sniffed us floating down the river and ran toward our raft at full [...]

Down the Tatshenshini and Alsek Rivers. A private trip, with just seven fearless rafters adrift on the icy waters in two rafts, camping out in the wilderness. From left, our friends David Russell, Larry Anderson, [...]

After the helicopter dropped us off at the top of the glacier, we had a real adventure. We got up to about 17 miles per hour on our sled ride!! You have to lean as [...]

It was a magnificent clear day to see the glaciers, which were glistening with melted ice on this 70 degree day. We even swooped down to check out mountain goats on our way up to [...]

These reindeer (actually domesticated caribou) are smaller than you'd think. Or maybe Santa's sleigh is smaller than I think it is... In any case, they have beautiful soft velvet on their antlers that we could [...]

Through this gorge, the glacier drops nearly 2,000 feet over ten miles and is raked with crevasses. Add in the solid granite cliffs that tower 5,000 feet above the glacier's surface, and you create an [...]

Flightseeing over Mt. McKinley (or Denali, as the locals call it...apparently McKinley never set foot in Alaska). At 20,306 feet, this is the tallest mountain in the USA. We even saw some tiny tiny climbers [...]