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Author Topic: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?  (Read 13573 times)

Offline gunner7888

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Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« on: June 07, 2011, 05:32:14 pm »
  Since I have decided to shut down my business I will have time (little money) to take the trip I have dreamed about for years. Plan is to fly into Anchorage, drive up to Denali Nat. Park then drive down to Homer and Seward. Can anyone give me any tips of side trips or things I should see?  I'm into landscape photography and am leaning towards the natural beauty of the state rather than time spent in cities. Also giving thought of stopping in Seattle and checking out Olympic Nat. Park for a few days.

  THANKS, SCOTT

Offline AllenF

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2011, 05:34:19 pm »
What time of the year are you planning your trip?

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2011, 06:36:29 pm »
last i heard, this guy had moved up there and i think he took his bees.   :(  he was my backup swarm catcher.....

anyway, you might drop him a line.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?action=profile;u=5858
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline gunner7888

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2011, 07:13:25 pm »
 AllenF:  Planning on going the last 2 weeks of August. Would like to go a little later, but a bit risky with the weather from what I hear.

 Kathyp:  thanks, will drop him a line, nothing like a local to give pointers.

Offline hardwood

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2011, 08:04:07 pm »
My daughter lives up there in Anchorage...Ft Richardson.

Scott
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Offline Shanevrr

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2011, 09:32:52 pm »
lots of fishing :-D
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Shane C.

Offline Shawn

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2011, 09:52:01 pm »
I went to Alaska last year in July. Definitly get away from the big city and go into the interior. There are a lot of nice small towns where you can see some amazing scenery. I went to Anchorage, GlenAllen, Valdez, and stayed with a firend in Glenallen. Have fun and takes lots of mosquito spray. 

Offline Larry Bees

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2011, 11:35:26 pm »
Mosquito spray? As cold as it gets in the winter time up there and they still have mosquitoes. I guess I'll just stay here in Florida. Larry

Offline Kathyp

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2011, 11:40:27 pm »
Quote
As cold as it gets in the winter time up there and they still have mosquitoes.

i believe they are the state bird.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Larry Bees

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2011, 11:47:05 pm »
 :lau:

Offline Shawn

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2011, 01:32:35 am »
Yep lots and lots of spray. Its amazing when you get out to go look at a glacier you have to keep swatting at them or you will be covered. Do a search onyoutube for mosquitos in alaska.

Offline danno

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #11 on: June 08, 2011, 09:06:12 am »
Yep lots and lots of spray. Its amazing when you get out to go look at a glacier you have to keep swatting at them or you will be covered. Do a search onyoutube for mosquitos in alaska.
Not just spray get yourself a head net if you plan on doing any breathing up there.  I hated knats in my lungs.   Take a trip to the coast and charter a halibut day trip.  Going up in a bush plane for a hour or 2 is also something you will never forget.  In 1984 my mom and dad came up,  met me in anchorage and we rented a motor home that we drove to Fairbanks over to Tok junction and back down camping and fishing all the way.  I lived on Kodiak so we then took the ferry over and I took the halibut fishing for a few days.   Have the photo right here on the wall in front of me with my mom and her 125 halibut. 

Offline JP

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2011, 09:21:11 am »
Well, Danno, you gonna show us that picture or not?

As for mosquitos, gnats (black flies?) look into mosquito proof clothing, also into possibly treating your clothes (there are products in most camping sections for this) and by all means as mentioned bring at least one mosquito proof veil.

Other than that, an idea? Yeah, bring my wife and I with you! I would have said bring me with you but she wouldn't go for that!  :-D


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Offline danno

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2011, 09:45:31 am »
Well, Danno, you gonna show us that picture or not?

As for mosquitos, gnats (black flies?) look into mosquito proof clothing, also into possibly treating your clothes (there are products in most camping sections for this) and by all means as mentioned bring at least one mosquito proof veil.

Other than that, an idea? Yeah, bring my wife and I with you! I would have said bring me with you but she wouldn't go for that!  :-D


...JP
JP
I dont have a scanner so I cant copy it or the 100s more that I have.  My biggest rod and reel  halibut went 148.  I was with a friend when he landed one that topped 300.  I commercial fish for them on a 100ft troller and have pics of a fish we boarded that topped 700. It was 8.5 ft long, about 6 ft wide and about 24 inchs thick.  Our catch was always over 50,000 lbs in the 2 day commercial season.   I also killed a 8.5 ft brown bear in 1984 and and a mountain goat in 85  Also thanks for the gnat correction.  They are gnats and not blackflies.   They dont bite just buz your head.  I knew that didn't look right but hadn't had my coffee yet.   Mosquitos are large and blood thirsty.  We alway joked the were so big they could stand flat footed and **** a turkey

Offline gunner7888

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #14 on: June 08, 2011, 10:24:52 am »
  WOW I knew the mosquitos could be tough, but starting to realize must be worse than I thought :shock:  I have debated a halibut trip while in Homer, sort of play that by ear.  JP: I truely feel I owe you and some others here a trip for all you have taught me with your shared knowledge and videos (I seem to learn better watching than reading) but ummmmm maybe next time.  LOL  Danno, for years my dream was to go to Kodiak Island on a bear hunt, sadly, my situation will not allow that now, thats why I'm doing this trip now, although I can't really afford it, its now or never. Sure hope others will chime in because this is a one time only trip and any ideas or tips are greatly appreciated.
  THANKS SCOTT

Offline danno

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #15 on: June 08, 2011, 10:53:36 am »
If you like to read and since you have always want to try Kodiak bear hunting, I recommend 2 books written by Ralph Young.   They are Grizzlies dont come easy and my lost wilderness.   
http://www.amazon.com/Grizzlies-Dont-Come-Ralph-Young/dp/0832934941
http://www.amazon.com/My-Lost-Wilderness-Ralph-Young/dp/0832903124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307540987&sr=1-1

This guy guided some of the greatest hunters of the last century.  Guys like Warren Page and Jim Carmichel

Offline AllenF

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #16 on: June 08, 2011, 06:43:17 pm »
If you can't bear hunt in Alaska, try Georgia.   Bears a plenty.
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/187773/3/Bears-close-camping-along-Appalachian-Trail
Closed it again this year.

Offline fish_stix

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2011, 01:04:09 am »
My son and I were up in Homer a couple years ago. Fished 4 days for halibut and flew home with 300 lbs of frozen halibut fillets. The drive from Anchorage to Homer is spectacular, but only if you enjoy seeing glaciers, moose, Dall Sheep and the Kenai River. If the red (sockeye) salmon are running in the Kenai while you're there you could also get a close look at the brown bears at Cooper River. We also spent a few days salmon and trout fishing on the Kenai. The view from Homer of the mountains and glaciers across the other side of Kachemak Bay is alone worth the trip. Take a good camera, it's the trip of a lifetime.

Offline gunner7888

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2011, 07:34:44 pm »
fishstix: I have gotten alot of info on the halibut fishing from the Homer chamber of congress, looks very cool and have heard alot about Homer. I will be taking 3 nikon cameras, problem being getting the film I want. Thats right, I said film  lol  I shoot only slide film and its getting hard to get, paying over list price at times, but to me, well worth it. I will probably take fifteen to twenty 36 rolls and my cheapie digital for just snapshots.
 

Offline fish_stix

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2011, 01:24:10 am »
Yep. I'm one of those old diehards too, with a Nikon film camera. That's what I took up there, along with about 3 dozen rolls of film. Next trip I'll have a digital SLR though. If you can get on Google Earth, take a look at Homer Spit, which is where all the fishing boats are docked. About halfway out on the spit you'll see a pond with a small inlet out into the bay. The pond is called the Homer Spit Fishing Hole. It's stocked regularly with king salmon fingerlings which leave and do their at-sea tour and then return as adults to the pond. There are some monster salmon in there and you can fish for them if you have the time and inclination; it's usually wall to wall fishermen, AKA tourists. We passed on that. Amazing to see a school of huge salmon swimming by 20 feet away. BTW, not many are caught; they're in the spawning mode although they can't spawn in the pond, and they don't eat. If you decide to try them check with the guy at the Sport Shed tackle shop directly across the road from the pond and he'll give you some tips on how to maybe catch them. The Sport Shed has 3 efficiency apartments upstairs which is where we stayed. Not the Taj Mahal or a Hilton Hotel but clean and you can cook instead of paying restaurant prices. Halibut are a sure thing! It's about a 2 hour run out to the halibut areas in open ocean around the end of the Kenai Peninsula and incredible scenery. Lots of goats up on the mountains, occasional black bears coming down on the beach, sea otters, seals and dozens of whales. Never expected to see 60-70 ft whales in shallow water; we usually fished within a mile of the beach and in 50-100 ft of water. Our average halibut was about 60-70 lbs, largest was 129. Our captain released any less than 50 lbs. There were a couple in the 300 lb range caught while we were there. Great trip!!!

Offline fish_stix

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #20 on: June 10, 2011, 01:31:27 am »
Gunner; are you retired military by any chance?

Offline danno

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #21 on: June 10, 2011, 08:52:35 am »
I forgot to mention that there is no better eating fish on earth than halibut

Offline L Daxon

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #22 on: June 10, 2011, 11:37:10 am »
As an adventurous college student I spent a summer on the Kenai peninsula canning salmon decades ago (won't say how many  :shock:).  Try and tour a salmon cannery, but the run may be over by late August.  I flew back to the states on August 5th and it snowed the day after I left, but global warming wasn't even a pipe dream back then so you may not get snowed on.

Homer has lots of eagles to photograph.  The neatest thing to do is to get someone to take you up in a little bush plane and fly low over the glaciers and mountains and see the bear and wildlife from higher up.  You look out over miles and miles of forrest and realize no human being has probably ever set foot on the places you are seeing.

Linda D

And, and be sure to try leaving a bar at 2 a.m. and enjoy the sun shining bright.  It is a hoot when it is daylight nearly 24/7.
linda d

Offline gunner7888

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #23 on: June 11, 2011, 11:24:35 am »
  fish_stix: No I'm not ex-military, I got this nic as a youngster when I started my first hobby, capgun collecting. My pride and joy being "The Rifleman" rifle  LOL Might be time to start selling them off. I will look into the Sport Shed tackle shop. I do my vacations on the cheap, just need a clean bed. A Taj Mahal place for me, means a private bathroom!! I camp sometimes, but don't think I want to risk the weather in alaska, and with airline baggage wt. restrictions, tough to do.
  Idaxon: I was sort of thinking of taking a flight over Denali Nat. Park, have heard that is a must, so not sure I could do one in the Homer area, gawd so much to do, so little time (and even less money) I was wondering about amount of daylight, since getting great photos is all about the sunrise and sunset and low angle light. I am hoping that actually, since I believe the sun stays low in the sky during the daytime, almost anytime will give chance for that "keeper" photo. I do need a good photo of an eagle, got one in Yellowstone and in Glacier Nat. Park, but both farrrrr away.
  I really appreciate everyones thoughts and comments, keep-em coming.

Offline fish_stix

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Re: Any ideas for an alaskan trip?
« Reply #24 on: June 13, 2011, 11:46:56 pm »
You're only going to have about 2-3 hours of dark depending on when you go. We arrived in Anchorage around May 27 at about 9 PM in bright sunlight and it finally got dark about 2 AM. Eagles are plentiful in Homer! I have photos of one perched on our TV antenna about 8' over my head. They literally flocked to the fish cleaning station across the road from Sports Shed at the RV park, including dumpster diving for fish parts. They roost on top of all the street lights along Homer Spit; you can look down the 5 mile line of poles and see dozens and dozens of them. No problem getting closeups.