Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Help: Advice for Alaska Family Vacation

So, we have booked our flights and have a rough itinerary. Travelling with be myself, my lovely bride of 20 years, my 15 year-old daughter, 13 year-old son, and 10 year old son (that is all of us!).

This is kind of a big deal for us, as we have never taken the kids on a big trip, and we seldom leave Montana!

Now, I need suggestions and advice on each place we are going.

We fly into Juneau on Day 1, and out of Ketchikan on Day 10.
Day 8 is fishing with a buddy out of Ketchikan (Oasis Charters).
This will be the latter end of August.

The rest is pretty open, and we are using the Alaska Ferry system to get around. Petersburg, and other towns are all on the list to visit. I am open to thoughts and suggestions on places to stay (My wife has a few booked, I am sure), eat, excursions, places to explore, etc.

We don't drink alcohol, but love good food and outdoor adventure, natural history, history, etc. We are not really big on tourist traps, so some local flavor would be nice.

Thanks in advance!

Shortside

I haven't had a chance to spend any time in Southeast so no specific recommendations.

The big recommendation I can make having taken several trips with the whole family is don't fall into the temptation to see it all in one trip as you'll spend all your time traveling between points and none of your time actually experiencing a few of them.

shortside:

I did the same kind of thing a few years back, but I went on a bear hunt first.

After the hunt, my wife flew up and met me in Sitka. Sitka is a beautiful city and I recommend seeing it. We spent four days and three nights there. It's not on many of the cruise ship routes so not as touristy as some.

We also went to Skagway. We spent a day hiking on the Chilcoot Trail. That was kind of fun. We stayed there for four nights and got a chance to see the city when there were no cruise ships in port. It's entirely different in that situation. We rented a car and drove into Canada for some sight seeing and also rode the White Pass & Yukon Railway.

We saw the state capitol in Juneau and rode the tram. More great sight seeing.

We also went to Gustavus and tried to arrange a day cruise of Glacier Bay, but couldn't make it happen.

We flew around on Wings. That's a regional airlines that uses twelve-passenger turbo props and flying on one of those is an experience all its' own. We also traveled several legs using the Alaska Marine Highway, for some great sight seeing.

I think 458 lott is right. Don't try to see it all on one trip. We spent two weeks just seeing the northern part of the panhandle. I hope to go back some day and see the southern area: Petersburg, Ketchiken, Wrangel, Misty Fiords.

KC

Good thoughts. we plan to stay in SE, and not get very far north of Juneau. Wrangell and Gustavus are on the list, and will depend on ferry logistics. Sitka is a bit out of the way of the ferries and the cruise lines, and for that I think it is on the list as well.

I am going to do my best to eat local, fresh foods only/mostly, and enjoy what we are able to see, more than try to see as much as possible.

Good advice.

shortside,

In Juneau, the tram is a good trip, with several hiking trails at the top of the tram, and the option to just take the tram one direction and either hike up to the top, or hike down to the bottom. The new Walter Soboleff Center in downtown has a lot of local Tlingit native history and artwork. A good portion of the downtown area will likely be crammed with cruise ship passengers during the day, and I avoid it like the plague in the summer, but if you can get past the touristy, klitschy gift and jewelry stores it is worth spending a day downtown. As for food downtown, stick to the food trucks and food stands (Tracy's Crab Shack is excellent, as are Bernadette's, Little Mexico, Randy's Rib Shack, and Pucker Wilson's). If you want a sit-down meal, the Sandpiper downtown is great for breakfast and lunch, but closed for dinner. With a few exceptions, most actual restaurants here pretty much suck.

The Mendenhall Glacier is worth the trip, and the hike to Nugget Falls is nice, with good views of the glacier, but you'll have a thousand other people with you. The East Glacier trail is a better choice, but take the spur trail off the top to the old Nugget Creek dam. It's not listed on the trail map, so you'll have to ask how to find it. The West Glacier trail is also a good hike. For mining history, the old Treadwell mine site near Sandy Beach/Savikko Park in Douglas is really cool and is a nice walking tour. You can also see if there are any Pack Creek bear viewing trips available through one of the air charter companies. Just Google Pack Creek Bear Viewing and you'll see who has trips available. Oh, and the DIPAC fish hatchery is pretty neat, too.

If you make it to Skagway, definitely take the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad trip. Also, take the walking tour of Klondike National Historic Park.

Gustavus is nice, but very small. I'd skip Gustavus unless you can book a marine tour of Glacier Bay National Park.

Wrangell is a decent small town, but there's not all that much to do besides stroll around town, which will take you about an hour tops. The restaurant at the Stikine Inn is fantastic. Before you go to Wrangell, check on the possibility of a jet boat tour up the Stikine River or a boat trip to the Anan Creek bear observatory.

Petersburg is one of my favorite towns in Southeast Alaska, as it's a decidedly un-touristy small fishing town. With that said, unless you are there to fish or have another purpose to be there, there just aren't all that many things to do as most people will be busy working, not providing entertaining activities for tourists. It's a great place to just hang out relaxing for a couple of days. There are two food carts next to the Scandia House hotel and a pizza place about a block and a half down the street. That's pretty much it for fine dining, but Coastal Cold Storage has a small take out place on the main street (North Nordic Drive) that has genuine, fresh Alaska seafood. Their halibut beer bits are beyond fantastic.

If you hit Sitka, check out the totem poles at Sitka National Historic Park. There's also Fortress of the Bears (a sanctuary for orphaned bears) and the Alaska Raptor Center. Sitka is far less "touristy" than Juneau or Ketchikan, and strolling around town is pretty cool. Several decent places to eat, too!

Hope you have a great trip. I absolutely love Southeast Alaska!

Chris

double tap - thanks for the info!

Petersburg may be out for a stay.... this trip.

So, it looks like Juneau and Sitka is where we should plan to spend a day or two. Any thoughts on Ketchikan? We are fishing out of there, so were hoping that there would be some activities that we could do - berry picking, hiking etc. We are not too wrapped up in tourist-oriented excursions but it seems as though that is all we are finding for information.

The Juneau-Sitka ferry is pretty regular, but they dropped one of the other ferries out of rotation, so we will need to be careful with our schedule.

shortside,

Haven't spent as much time in Ketchikan as I have elsewhere, but I know there is a nice easy hiking trail around Ward Lake, and another decent trail across the road from Ward Lake called the Perseverance trail. Both are about 8 miles north of town, and I believe there is some access to berry picking on the Perseverance trail, but it's a fairly popular trail so a lot of locals will have already hit the berry patches by the time you get to Ketchikan. Hopefully they've left a few!

The Deer Mountain trail is accessible from downtown and is quite a bit more strenuous than the other two, but if you have a day available and the weather cooperates that might be a great hiking option. Like downtown Juneau, downtown Ketchikan is overly touristy and the mobs of cruise ship passengers will have you tearing your hair out in short order if you're anything like me.

The fishing out of Ketchikan can be great, so with any luck you'll be catching salmon 'til your arms ache!

Chris

I lived in Ketchikan for about a year and a half, just moved out to a new hatchery. PM me if you want some info on stuff to do. I might be able to get you a tour of the whitman lake hatchery if that interests you, I used to work there.

The Glacier Bay cruise is definitely a good thing to do.

When I was in Gustavus a few years ago, they were just building a dock for the Alaska Ferry. If that is operating, you have good access to Gustavus and the Glacier Bay cruise.

Halibut fishing off the mouth of Glacier Bay is well worth the trip. And if you're headed that way, go see Elfin Cove. It's really unique.

I'm no expert on Alaska hunting, but those who claim to be say that there isn't any better game meat that a Sitka blacktail buck in August.

SE Alaska tends to be 55 and drizzly a lot of the time during the summer. Take appropriate clothing. When the weather is decent, there is no more beautiful place on Earth.

I want you to know that in the 1960s, I hiked up to where the Juneau tram takes you to the restaurant. We worked our way up the back side, and came out where the restaurant now is. We took a Coastie who had a 357 with us for bear protection. Back up in the trees, there were the remains of an old hotel. So for target practice, he started blazing away at the rusty hulk of a 5 gallon bucket, at about 25 feet away. He couldn't hit it. I spent the rest of the trip wondering how I was going to persuade him to give me the gun if we met a bear.

Visit Bigstick

It looks like Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan are our places of focus.

And lots of time on the ferry!

Thanks for the tips!