For lovers of the outdoors and active travelers, Alaska is an ideal destination, especially by cruise ship. Alaska offers several fitness-inspired excursions in its popularly visited cities, such as Juneau, Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan. You can choose from such activities as hiking, kayaking, and bicycling, while exploring the special features and scenery in each spot.
Juneau
Juneau, the capital of Alaska, offers several excursions for active travelers. If you like hiking, there are several trails to enjoy, whether you're a beginner or prefer intermediate or challenging hikes. Perseverance Trail allows hikers to check out the gold mining valleys and ruins, and advanced hikers can follow this trail to the Granite Creek trailhead, which takes hikers to an elevation of approximately 1,200 feet with scenic views. The Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center has access to several trails, such as the 3.5-mile East Glacier Trail and the West Glacier Trail, both of which provide impressive views of the Juneau Icefields. You can also enjoy kayaking excursions, such as a self-guided kayak tour around the glaciers at Mendenhall Lake, which offers intimate views of the Mendenhall Glacier and icebergs and scenic mountain landscape with waterfalls.
Icy Strait Pointe
Icy Strait Point is a unique Alaskan port of call because it's a small, natural setting, which can only be accessed by water and services one cruise ship at a time. All the excursions around the port's town, which is called Hoonah, are available through visiting cruise ships by the company Icy Strait Point. If you're in Hoonah for the day, you may have time to do a cruise-sponsored excursion as well as some hiking on your own. There are no bicycle rentals available unless you're part of a tour. Icy Strait Point's active excursions include the 2-hour-long Hoonah Bike Trek, which is an 8-mile guided bike tour around the Tlingit settlement, the Icy Strait Kayak Adventure, a guided kayak tour that lasts about 2.5 hours, and the ZipRider Zip Line, a 90-second ride at a drop of 1,300 feet at 60 miles per hour. If you want to take a break from your fitness-inspired activities and get up close and personal with Alaska's wildlife, there is a Whale and Marine Mammals Cruise in Port Frederick and Icy Strait, with views of sea lions and otters as well as other sea animals, and the Wildlife and Bear Viewing tour, a short bus tour through Hoonah.
Ketchikan
Ketchikan is the second most popular cruise ship port in Alaska, according to the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. Located in the Tongass National Forest, a sprawling 16-million-acre wilderness area, the community is an ideal excursion destination for those who love the outdoors and getting active. For hikers, several trails are available for people of various fitness levels, such as the Deer Mountain Trail and the Silvis Lake John Mountain Trail. Beginners can do the 2.5 mile Deer Mountain hike, and advanced hikers can take the trail to Silvis Lake John Mountain Trail, which is a difficult and steep 10-mile trek with beautiful views of Ketchikan. Another popular hike is the Ward Lake Trail and Perseverance Trail, which takes hikers around Ward Lake and then Perseverance Lake. Kayaking and canoeing excursions are also available for Ketchikan visitors. Ketchikan Kayaking Adventure by Southeast Sea Kayaks offers a 2.75-mile kayaking tour on the sea. Alaska Travel Adventures, Inc. has a Rain Forest Canoe Adventure and Nature Trail tour, in which participants paddle in a traditional Indian-style 37-foot canoe around a Tongass National Forest lake and then take a brief nature tour by foot around the rain forest.
Cruises and Excursions
According to Alaska Travel, one of the most popular ways to visit Alaska is by cruise ship. Most cruises to Alaska don't include excursions in their ticket prices. Commonly, cruise lines will offer a list of excursions for each port of call in the ship's itinerary. These may be pricey or may not suit your needs if you're a particularly fitness-minded traveler. Luckily, passengers have the choice of exploring the cities on their own or taking part in excursions offered by independent tour companies. If you elect to find your own excursion in a port of call, make sure you're back at the cruise ship in time before its scheduled departure, as the cruise will not wait for you to return before leaving.
When to Go
You can enjoy activities in Alaska at many points throughout the year, depending on climate, although most excursions are available May through September. Alaska's temperature varies wildly throughout the year. June, July and August are considered to be the best time of year to visit with 24-hour daylight and warm temperatures; however, this is the busiest time of year for tourism in Alaska, meaning more crowds and higher prices. May and September are becoming increasingly popular months to visit Alaska, as most excursions can be enjoyed, prices are lower, and the crowds have thinned. Cruise ships begin coming to Alaska on May 1 and continue to come into the month of October, but around late August through the middle of September, rainy weather is common as temperatures drop. Snow and ice begin to set in during the month of October in Alaska, and winter falls between December and March, when visitors can enjoy winter recreational activities such as downhill and cross-country skiing and ice-skating. However, many excursions aren't available during the winter, especially ones such as sea kayaking and wildlife sightings.
Member Comments