Glaciers, wildlife stir sense of adventure, love of outdoors

It's not every year you can share a milestone birthday with a state.

Alaska was the destination for an extended family celebration for my wife Jane's 50th birthday. It was only after we planned a cruise for late May did we realize that Alaska was celebrating its 50th anniversary of statehood.

Large cruise ships for the most part are the same - delicious belt-busting meals, lots of onboard activities and nightly entertainment. But setting this cruise apart was the spectacular glacier scenery and our encounters with whales, bears, eagles, moose and otters.

First off, a few quick impressions of this land known as the "Last Frontier" or Alyeska as the natives call it, meaning "the Great Land."

• I knew the days would be longer, but that really hit home for me after seeing a sign at a ranger station in the Denali National Park and Preserve that read "Daylight: 20 hours, 4 minutes." In fact, that night I woke up at 3 a.m. and peeked out to see the early morning sky.

• Listening to the groaning and grinding of glaciers in Glacier Bay was surreal. I had heard about the aqua-blue streaks of the glaciers, but it was an amazing sight to see.

• Alaskans are not joking when they say the mosquito is the state bird. I thought mosquitoes were huge and vicious around Lake Superior, but some of their Alaskan cousins looked like they were bulked up on steroids.

Living in the nation's largest state, Alaskans seem to enjoy thumbing their noses at those who brag "everything is bigger in Texas." Because Alaska is so vast and remote, the highway system is limited. In fact, some towns like Juneau, the state capital, can only be reached by boat or airplane. The Alaska Railroad also is an option if you're traveling between Anchorage and Fairbanks or to Denali.

The key is getting here, whether it's via cruise ship or flying into one of Alaska's cities and then planning tours and side trips. Possibilities can range from day cruises to riding along on a dog sled to searching for elusive whales to sea kayaking. You won't be lounging on the beach on this trip. This is the kind of vacation where you want to pack along a sense of adventure and a love for the outdoors.

Alaska's summer season is a short one. We were very lucky with the weather. Late May-early June found temperatures in the low 60s for most of the trip along the coast and reached the lows 70s when we ventured inland to Denali to hike and see Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak.

The first stop of our tour of the Inland Passage was soggy, sleepy Ketchikan. Only a half-mile wide and seven miles long, Ketchikan receives 162 inches of rain a year (that's more than 13 feet) and it's wet almost 240 days a year.

Ketchikan claims the world largest collection of totem poles and features Saxman Native Village, Totem Bight State Historical Park and the Totem Heritage Center. If you're short on time, there is a collection along Totem Way downtown, which includes a 50-foot pole.

After a walk around the old red-light district on Creek Street in a chilly steady drizzle, we headed out for our first real taste of Alaskan wilderness and a sea kayak trip in the Tongass National Forest. About a half-hour drive outside of town, we were outfitted with gear and kayaks and followed our guides to Eagle Island.

We were hoping to see eagles, seals or otters, but no such luck. Our guides tried their best, but a cold driving rain dampened our enthusiasm and we only came across an eagle or two, some purple-colored starfish and a few sea cucumbers as we circled the island. Paddling back to the dock and in between the steady raindrops, Jane kept reminding me that I owed her big time.

Juneau certainly made up for Ketchikan. Not every capital can brag that it butts up against a huge ice field and thick forested wilderness.

Just about everyone was on a Sarah Palin watch, but we were told the Alaska governor was out of town. However, her white governor's mansion, which isn't far from downtown, could be seen on a ride through town.

One of the major attractions in Juneau is the Mendenhall Glacier, which is one of the most accessible ice sheets in Alaska. A tour bus, which we took on our own from downtown, dropped us in the visitors' center parking lot. (Round-trip tickets and an entertaining tour guide: $14) A short path led to glacier-fed Mendenhall Lake, which still had large chunks of ice floating in the icy-cold water.

Hikers can choose from five trails, and it was on the East Glacier Loop that our group of four encountered a black bear 20 feet away peacefully munching on some bushes. We stayed a safe distance, but it was a thrill to see our first bear in the wild.

One of the trip's highlights for Jane was later in the day when she took a helicopter ride to a dog sled camp on Mendenhall Glacier. After meeting the friendly enthusiastic dogs, Jane and the musher took off across the snow. Later, the guide let Jane drive the dog sled herself. It was a memorable birthday gift indeed. 

I passed on the dog sleds and instead opted for the evening whale quest. A catamaran plied the waters of Stephens Passage in scenic Auke Bay. Scanning the waters up top was cold and windy, but our persistence was rewarded as we sighted several different whales. While we never saw a whale breach or actually leap, it was exciting to hear someone shout they spotted a whale's telltale spouting followed by a glimpse of a back or tail. Adding to the trip was a very knowledgeable naturalist who gave all of those onboard a real lesson in Alaska's marine life.

In Skagway, some of our group opted for the White Pass Scenic Railyway trip, which traveled into Canada's Yukon. I stayed behind with a few others for a guided hiking trip on the Chilkhoot Trail, which was used by gold miners during the gold rush in Skagway in the 1890s.

Our guide, Dave Paradise, led us on the moderate trail through the temperate rain forest mixing in bits of history, knowledge of the flora and fauna, and pointing out details like trees scarred by bear claw marks. The hike ended at the Taiya River where a raft was waiting for us. Floating down the river, we spotted a large eagle's nest. We craned our necks looking for eaglets to no avail, but we did spot an adult eagle in the vicinity. The hike and float gave us a glimpse into what the early settlers saw and experienced.

The cruise part of our trip wrapped up with stops in Glacier Bay, College Fjord and Prince William Sound. As our ship made its way in and out of the icy inlets, it was fascinating to see the colors and shades of the sheets of ice and the barren ground where the glaciers had receded.

Park rangers who came onboard for this part of the cruise pointed out bears hunting along the shore, goats scampering up the craggy mountainside and seals floating by on ice flows.

Our Alaskan vacation did not end when the cruise ship docked at Whittier, east of Anchorage. The next day we rented a car and headed 240 miles north to Denali National Park and Preserve in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive Mount McKinley, which is often shrouded in clouds.

Visitors to Denali can only drive 15 miles into the park. Shuttle bus service, which runs from mid-May to mid-September, provides trips from the Wilderness Access Center further into the park. Tickets can be purchased at the center, and trips vary in length from six to 11 hours.

The park offers opportunities to hike, camp, backpack, climb and fish. During our brief stay of 11/2 days, we took advantage of one of the shorter hikes along the Savage River and a seven-hour shuttle trip to Toklat River. Both provided more opportunities to revel in the beauty of the stunning mountains and valleys of interior Alaska, along with sightings of moose, Dall sheep and a rare lynx. I was grateful for the opportunity to enjoy the scenery and leave driving the twisting, narrow roads to the experienced bus driver.

And to top off our Alaskan adventure, the travel gods smiled upon us as McKinley revealed itself in all of its mountain majesty. 

<p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Alaska cruise information:</b> <a href="http://cruise.com" target="new">cruise.com</a></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Alaska Railroad:</b> <a href="http://akrr.com" target="new">akrr.com</a>/</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><a href="http://Alaskatravel.com" target="new">Alaskatravel.com</a> or call (800) 208-0200</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Alaska Travel Industry Association:</b> (907) 929-2200</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Denali National Park and Preserve:</b> (907) 683-2294 or <a href="http://nps.gov/dena" target="new">nps.gov/dena</a></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Juneau Convention & Visitors Bureau:</b> (907) 586-2201 or <a href="http://traveljuneau.com" target="new">traveljuneau.com</a></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Ketchikan:</b> (800) 770-3300, visit <a href="http://ketchikan.com" target="new">ketchikan.com</a></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>National Park Information:</b> Alaska Public Lands (907) 456-0527</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>Skagway:</b> <a href="http://skagway.com" target="new">skagway.com</a></p>