Last year David and I drove to south-east Alaska. Yes, I know - there are very few roads and you can't actually drive there. We drove anyway. Most visitors see this part of the world from the deck of a cruise ship and if this is what you are planning, don't worry, we called in at the same towns and ports as the cruise ships so my advice applies equally to you.
1. You can't drive to south-east Alaska.
- Much of the panhandle of Alaska (the bit on the coast reaching down into Canada) is inaccessible by road. Even towns on the mainland, like Juneau, the capital, are so difficult to get to no-one has succeeding in joining them up with the state's road system. I imagine this explains why nearly all the visitors come by cruise ship.
- There is however, another way, other than flying of course, and that is to drive using the Alaska Marine Highway car and passenger ferry system. The Alaska Marine Highway connects the port of Bellingham, just north of Seattle with Dutch Harbor in the far south-west of the Aleutian Islands. Previously I have written a series of posts on our experiences driving the Alaska Marine Highway - click here to read them.
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| Camping on deck aboard the Alaska Marine Highway |
2. Alaska isn't always cold. In fact it can be hot, very hot!
- The average June maximum in Juneau, the capital, is a modest 61.6℉ (16 ℃). When we visited in June 2015 we had several days above 80℉ (26.5℃). Luckily we had a few shorts and T-shirts packed along with the thermals.
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| The Mendenhall Glacier on a hot day. |
3. It rains a lot in south-east Alaska.
- Ketchikan is one of the wettest places in North America, closely followed by all the other towns in south-east Alaska. The first Alaskan port of call for most cruise ships, Ketchikan gets an average of 160 inches of rain a year (more than 4 metres). It is a fun town, if a little like Disneyland on steroids with all those cruise ships, but be warned - take a raincoat. Your best bet for a dry day is either June or July.
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| Ketchikan Harbor. We were lucky and got beautiful sunshine. |
4. Wild Animals.
- Without doubt my biggest disappointment in south-east Alaska was the lack of animals. Naively, I expected whales breaching next to the car ferry, and bears and moose grazing by the side of the road. Might you get lucky - sure - but chances are this just isn't going to happen. My advice here is to manage your expectaions and see the next bullet point.
- The animals are there but they aren't stupid. Ships are huge, and the marine life tends to give them a wide berth. We caught a few fleeting glimpses of dolphins, orcas, and distant whales but nothing to get excited about. We did see a couple of bears. One was a black bear next to the road just north of Juneau and the other a grizzly running along the beach at Haines. Honestly though, if it is animals you want to see, you are going to have to take a separate tour, and for this you should read point 5. on outrageous tour prices.
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| Me, on deck with binoculars, ready to spot the whales we didn't see! |
5. Outrageous prices.
- Whale watching tours out of Juneau start from upwards of US$100 per person and many are priced a lot higher than that.
- Want to see the bears at Pack Creek - just a snip at US$689 per person.
- Or, maybe you fancy a train journey from Skagway along the White Pass and Yukon Railway to Carcross. With a turkey sandwich for lunch this will set you back a mere US$229 per person.
- Alaska has done a hugely successful job of selling itself to the rest of the world, particularly my countrymen in Australia, but it does not come cheap and the add-ons can be a shock if you are follish enough to book your airfare and cruise first and think about extras later.
- While I am on the subject of cruises, did you know that unless you are American or Canadian you will get charged a much higher price by the cruise lines. Click here to read about our experiences with discriminatory pricing based on nationality.
- Don't imagine either that you will get a better deal by travelling independently. Our experience was that the tour operators are so dependent on the cruise ship industry they will not risk offering better prices to travellers who book with them directly. Whether you travel by cruise ship or not, be prepared to pay the prices set by the cruise industry.
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| Sightseeing planes on the tarmac at Haines. We were told they had been there for many years. It appears the operator went broke when the cruise ships stopped calling in at the town. There is currently a big push amongst the shop owners and tour providers to coax the cruise industry back. |
7. Several billion pine trees.
- Lastly, I hope you like pine trees.
- Between leaving Vancouver, Canada and arriving at Ketchikan, the first port of call in Alaska, you are going to see a lot of them - and precious little else. Personally, I am not a fan of pine trees. Having seen several trillion of them from the deck of our ship, and even more on the way home along the Alaska Highway, I can confidently say that if I never see another pine tree again as long as I live it will still be too soon.
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I counted several trillion pine trees.
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For all my posts on our Alaska and Canada road and car ferry trip click - here.
For my Travel Photo Tuesday photo posts on Alaska click - here.
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