Wild Alaska Awaits: An Epic Family Adventure of Fjords, Glaciers and Bears

You land in Alaska and the first thing you notice is the light. It feels clearer here, with mountains rising straight up beyond the runway and air that is cool and clean enough to wake you after the long flight. Your private chauffeur is waiting in the arrivals hall, hand already on the luggage cart, greeting the children and guiding all of you smoothly outside.

Instead of stopping in the city, you head straight for the mountains. The drive to Girdwood is short, around half an hour, yet full of glimpses of Turnagain Arm opening beside the road. The sea shifts in color under the sky, spruce forests cling to the hillsides and you may spot floatplanes on nearby Lake Hood or an eagle perched on a piece of driftwood. You can simply lean back in your seat and enjoy the view while every detail of arrival is handled for you.

Soon you are turning into the forested valley of Girdwood and Alyeska Resort appears between the trees, its tram reaching up toward snow touched peaks. Inside, your mountain sanctuary feels calm and generous, with soft beds, deep baths and windows that frame the slopes and evergreens outside. If you feel like moving after the flight, you might wander through the village or settle into a quiet corner for an early dinner. Tonight is about arriving gently, breathing in the mountain air and realising that your Alaska adventure has truly begun.

Late morning in Girdwood feels unhurried. After breakfast you step out to the front entrance of Alyeska, where the Alpine Air van is waiting for your family. The drive to the flight office is short, but the mood shifts the moment you see the helicopters on the pad. Inside, the team helps you into warm outer layers and glacier over boots, gives a clear, calm safety briefing, and suddenly this is no longer a picture in a brochure, it is your day.

You climb into the helicopter, headsets on, and feel the lift as the valley falls away beneath you. The resort, tram and village shrink to small shapes while ridgelines, snowfields and blue ice open ahead. Your pilot traces a path toward Punchbowl Glacier, pointing out peaks and glacial valleys as you cross into bright white country high above sea level. Then you touch down on the snow and the hush of the ice is quickly replaced by excited dogs who know it is time to run.

Mushers greet you at the helicopter and introduce their Alaskan huskies, all eager eyes and restless paws. After a quick introduction to life on the sled, you set off on a loop across the glacier, the sled gliding over packed snow, the only sounds the dogs, the runners and your own laughter. There is time to take photos, to ask about the Iditarod world these dogs come from and to simply stand still in the clear air, surrounded by peaks and endless white.

Eventually the helicopter lifts you back toward Girdwood, the same mountains now familiar from both ground and sky. By mid afternoon you are back at Alyeska, free to float between tram rides, pool time for the children and perhaps the spa or a quiet drink for you. As evening settles around the resort, your second night in this mountain sanctuary feels warm and calm, with the memory of sled dogs and glacier light still very close.

Morning at Alyeska feels slow and soft, with mountain views from your window and time for an easy breakfast. Around midday you meet your driver at the front entrance and follow the curve of Turnagain Arm back toward Anchorage. The ride is comfortable and familiar now, the sea on one side, forested slopes on the other, and you arrive at Lake Hood already knowing that every handover has been quietly taken care of. At Rust’s Flying Service your family is welcomed, checked in and guided to your floatplane.

Take off is a small thrill as the floats skim the lake and then you are in the air, flying southwest over Cook Inlet. Below you, tidal flats and braided rivers create shifting patterns; ahead, the Chigmit Mountains rise with the silhouettes of Redoubt and Iliamna on the horizon. The plane sets down on a remote beach in Chinitna Bay, at the edge of Lake Clark National Park, where an expert local guide meets you. In a sturdy 4WD you move into true bear country, watching from thoughtful vantage points as brown bears graze on bright green sedge, dig for clams in the wet sand or wander along the tide line. Surf, wind and the guide’s stories blend with the quiet excitement of the children.

After several unhurried hours, you return to the plane for the flight back, sharing snacks and favourite sightings as the coastline slides beneath your window. Your driver is waiting again at Lake Hood to bring you home to Alyeska. Evening gathers around the resort lights and spruce trees while you scroll through photos of bears on wild beaches, settling into your third night in this mountain sanctuary with the sense that everyday life is already very far away.

Morning comes early at Alyeska, but the excitement makes it easy to get everyone ready. Your Salmon Berry guide meets you at the hotel entrance, helps you move your things into soft bags for the fly in lodge later in the trip, then drives you the short distance to the Girdwood rail platform. There is no station building here, just fresh air, tracks and the quiet anticipation of a train journey. When the GoldStar cars roll into view, glass domes catching the light, it already feels like a scene from a film.

You settle into spacious upper level seats as the Coastal Classic glides away from Girdwood. Breakfast is served while Alaska rolls by outside, the curve of Turnagain Arm on one side and steep green slopes on the other. From the open air viewing deck you can smell the sea and hear the soft rhythm of the train as it follows the shoreline, then turns toward the Kenai Peninsula. Your guide on board shares stories about the land, the wildlife and the people who live along this line, giving context to each glacier, river and valley that passes by your window. Luggage is checked through to Harbor 360, so your hands and mind are free to simply enjoy the ride.

By late morning, the train slows and comes into Seward, with the harbor opening ahead. You step onto the platform, walk the short distance to Harbor 360 and find that your bags have either arrived in your rooms or are waiting safely for you. Your new sanctuary sits right on the small boat harbor, with balconies looking out over Resurrection Bay and the hum of marina life as a soundtrack. Sea otters often bob in the water, fishing boats come and go, and the mountains wrap around the bay in a wide arc. The rest of the day is yours. You might wander into town, visit the Alaska SeaLife Center, stop for coffee and local art, or let the children splash in the pool while you speak with the front desk about tomorrow’s fishing trip, licenses and snacks. Evening brings you back to your harbor view room, where you can watch the last light linger on the water and feel how naturally the day has carried you from mountains to sea.

The marina is still quiet when you step out of your hotel in the early light and walk just a few steps to J Dock, where your captain and the Big Iron are waiting. Licenses are sorted, gear is ready and someone else has already thought through tides and weather. As you pull away from the pier, Seward slips behind and Resurrection Bay opens ahead, mountains on both sides and seabirds tracing the wake. Out at the fishing grounds, the crew shows everyone how to work the rods and feel for that first tap deep below. Soon the rhythm of dropping lines, waiting and reeling in becomes a shared family game, broken by shouts of surprise when a heavy halibut or bright rockfish appears at the surface. Between bites you look up to see distant glaciers, the curve of Kenai Fjords and, if you are lucky, whales, puffins or sea otters passing through the scene.

By mid afternoon the boat turns back toward Seward, the five of you pleasantly tired and a little salty, with the quiet satisfaction of a full day on the water. At the dock, the crew fillets your catch while the children watch proudly, already talking about who hooked which fish. It is only a short stroll back to Harbor 360, where hot showers, the pool and a harbor view balcony are waiting. Evening might mean fresh seafood in town or a simple walk along the waterfront, watching the last light linger over the boats while you agree that this was one of those days the family will talk about for years.

Morning in Seward feels easy today. Your check in is just a few steps from your room, at the Major Marine desk inside Harbor 360. After a relaxed breakfast, you wander downstairs, collect your boarding passes and walk straight out to the catamaran tied up just outside. The children clutch their Junior Deckhand activity books, already planning who will spot which animal first, while you choose a comfortable table inside, knowing you can move between the warm cabin and the open decks as the day on the water progresses.

Once the lines are cast off, you glide through Resurrection Bay, mountains rising on both sides and the town slowly shrinking behind you. The captain’s voice comes over the speakers now and then, pointing out distant glaciers, small coves and the first sea otters or puffins along the way. As the vessel rounds Cape Aialik and enters Aialik Bay, the water deepens in colour and the air turns cooler. Lunch is served as you watch the coastline change, then the engines slow and you find yourself in front of a tidewater glacier, its blue face towering over the bay. From time to time a crack echoes across the water and a piece of ice calves away, crashing into the sea with a force you can feel in your chest.

Throughout the day there are constant small moments: a whale’s tail lifting clear of the surface, a raft of sea otters rolling in the kelp, sea lions piled on sun warmed rocks, thousands of seabirds circling nesting cliffs. The captain brings the boat close whenever possible, giving you time for photos and quiet watching rather than quick glimpses. By late afternoon you are back in Seward, stepping off just a few metres from your hotel. You might head straight for the pool, or take a slow walk along the harbour before dinner, the motion of the boat still in your body and the images of glaciers and wild water very much alive in your mind.

Your Salmon Berry guide meets you this morning at Harbor 360, and the day begins at an easy pace. Bags for the wilderness lodge are already packed into soft duffels, the rest safely arranged to wait for your return in Anchorage. As you leave Seward, the road climbs gently away from the harbour and back into the sweep of the Kenai Peninsula. This stretch of the Seward Highway is considered one of the most scenic in North America, and it feels that way from the passenger seat; alpine ridges, hanging glaciers and wide tidal flats trade places outside your window while your guide weaves in stories and spontaneous photo stops wherever the light looks especially beautiful.

Midway, you arrive at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, where the family can walk or drive slowly through a landscape of open enclosures framed by mountains and Turnagain Arm. Moose, bison, musk ox, reindeer and often bears move through big spaces that feel much closer to the wild than to a traditional zoo. The children get close enough for real eye contact while still comfortably safe, and there is time to linger at the viewpoints that spark the most curiosity. A little further on, you pause in Girdwood for lunch and a ride up the Mt Alyeska aerial tram. From the top, you look out over several glaciers, the upper reaches of temperate rainforest and the silver ribbon of Turnagain Arm far below. On early summer days you might even spot a black bear foraging along the tram route, a small dark shape moving through the bright green.

By afternoon you reach Anchorage and Lake Hood, where floatplanes rest on glassy water. At Rust’s Flight Service you check in for the next chapter: a 45 minute flight into the interior. Once aboard, the plane lifts off the lake and you are looking down on a patchwork of wetlands, rivers, dense forest and bright lakes. On clear days, Denali appears on the northern horizon, a distant white giant anchoring the view. You follow a clear water river system toward the Susitna Valley, the outside world receding with every minute of flight until there are no roads, just patterns of water and trees.

Wilderness Place Lodge comes into view as a small cluster of cabins tucked between the forest and the riverbank. You step onto the dock and are welcomed by the lodge team, who guide you along the path to the main lodge and then to your private cabin, complete with comfortable beds, a full bathroom and just enough rustic character to remind you where you are. Before dinner there is time to settle in, maybe sit for a moment on the porch listening to the river, or join other guests for a drink and hors d’oeuvres in the lodge. The chef team prepares a generous evening meal built around fresh Alaskan ingredients, and they will chat with you about how you would like breakfasts, shore lunches and dinners to work over the next days. As night draws in and you walk back to your cabin under a soft northern sky, the steady sound of the river becomes the new backdrop to your family’s story.

By your first full morning at the lodge, you already recognise the sound of the river before you even open your eyes. If someone in the family wakes early, there is coffee and a simple continental breakfast waiting in the main lodge, windows looking out over a light mist on the water. A little later, the chefs add a hot breakfast spread and you can decide whether to sit down properly, take something to go or head straight for the river and circle back when hunger calls. There is no set schedule chasing you; the day bends around your family instead.

Your guide appears when you are ready and helps everyone into waders and boots if you choose to fish, setting you up either on the main river or on a nearby chain of lakes. Casts land on clear water while the children learn to read the current and feel for the subtle pull of a fish, with a patient hand always nearby to untangle a line or celebrate a small victory. Between sessions, there is time for pure play: scavenger hunts under the trees, geocaching, rock collecting and painting back at the lodge, kids’ baking or a simple gold panning lesson that turns ordinary gravel bars into treasure spots. If you feel like stretching the adventure, the team can arrange a gentle day float or even a fly out to a quiet lake outpost with a relaxed cookout and an easy drift back downstream, stopping whenever a gravel bar or a shaft of light looks inviting.

By afternoon the rhythm has settled into something that feels very natural: time on the water, time in the forest, time just sitting on the porch with a drink while the children compare favourite rocks. Guides quietly clean and pack any fish you choose to keep, while in the kitchen the chef team turns local ingredients into a dinner that would feel impressive in any city, yet tastes even better out here. Evening might end at the river’s edge gazebo, with a small campfire, a local beer or glass of wine in hand and the steady sound of water in the background. When you return to your cabin, the beds are turned down, the air is cool and still, and the river keeps flowing in the dark, a gentle reminder of how far you are from everyday life and how close you are to what really matters.

On your final full day in the wild, the plan starts with a simple question over breakfast what does everyone still want to do. The answers might be different now that you know the place. Maybe one parent wants a quiet early session with the guide on a favorite run, while the kids ask for more time on the lake or another chance at a scavenger hunt and rock painting back at the lodge. The beauty here is that nothing is fixed in stone your guide reshapes the day around those wishes, whether that means a shorter float with more time to explore the shore, or an unhurried morning on the porch followed by a relaxed afternoon on the water. It feels less like an activity schedule and more like a day you are co-creating with people who know the river by heart.

Later, as the light softens, the behind-the-scenes care becomes more visible. Any fish you choose to keep are cleaned, labeled and packed for travel, so you can carry a piece of this river home in a very literal way. Inside the lodge, the chef team prepares dinner with the easy familiarity of people who already know what you like, perhaps adding a quiet little flourish to mark your last night. Afterward you might drift outside for a small fire by the water or sit together on the cabin porch, listening to the current and talking about the moments each of you will remember most. Sleep comes with the comforting awareness that tomorrow you fly out, but tonight you are still fully here.

Your last morning by the river feels both familiar and rare. You know the sound of the current now, the way the light hits the far bank, where the steam first curls from the coffee mugs in the lodge. After breakfast there is time for one more outing, perhaps a short, gentle fishing session with your guide to savour the feel of the rod and the quiet concentration that has become part of your days here. It is not about how many fish you catch this time; it is about the rhythm you have found together in this place.

Late morning, the floatplane pulls up to the dock and bags are loaded with the same easy efficiency that greeted you on arrival. As you lift away from Wilderness Place Lodge, the cabins, trees and curve of the river become a small, self contained world beneath you, already sliding into memory. The flight back toward Anchorage retraces a route you now recognize: braids of water, pockets of forest, distant ranges under a wide Alaska sky. At Lake Hood, your Salmon Berry guide meets you once more and the final chapter of your journey unfolds around the Anchorage area. You might share a relaxed lunch in town, wander through the Alaska Native Heritage Center to step inside different cultural stories, or drive out to Eagle River Nature Center for a last walk among trees and mountain views. If anyone simply needs a nap and a hot shower, a quiet room in town is waiting, a small urban cocoon before the long flight home.

As the day draws to a close and you are dropped at the airport, there is a moment when everything you have just lived seems to line up in your mind. The first glimpse of Turnagain Arm from the road. Dogs surging forward on a high glacier. Bears turning their heads on a wild beach. The slow curve of the Coastal Classic along the water. Whales and sea otters in Kenai Fjords, the weight of halibut on the line, mist rising from the river at the lodge. More than a checklist of sights, it feels like a story your family wrote together across mountains, fjords and clear running water. When you are ready to turn this kind of story into your own reality, Evyssa will be here to shape every flight, lodge and quiet in between moment, so all you have to do is arrive, be present and let Alaska do the rest.