Itinerary

Day 1:

After breakfast in Anchorage, we get in the van and we cross over the Knik and Matanuska Rivers, skirt the Talkeetna Mountains and head north toward Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park. The Alaska Range now looms to our left, dominated by Mt. McKinley, at 20,320 feet, the largest mountain in North America. We start our ride at a Denali Viewpoint. We eat lunch at Hurricane Gulch, a deep cleft in the side of the mountains. We continue riding along the Chulitna River for several miles, and then suddenly turn across the river. The road quickly rises to tree line for a long glide across Broad Pass. The mountains surround us on three sides with Mt. McKinley on our left. Our ride ends at Cantwell, where we hop in the van for a 20-minute ride to dinner and our cabins.
Distance: 39 mi / 62km

Day 2:

We explore the Denali Highway, taking our time to make stops to enjoy the mountains, view wildlife and explain the signs of glaciation.. We ride the bikes for about 15 miles along one of the most scenic parts of the highway, then proceed to McClaren Ridge where we hike toward the massive peaks and glacier of the Alaska Range. The trail follows a lake-studded ridge high above the treeline.
Distance: 15 mi / 24 km

Day 3:

At the MacClaren River Lodge, we pick up paddles and head out onto the MacClaren River in canoes! The calm river take us far back into the pristine wilderness populated by caribou, moose, and bear, as well as a host of exotic birds. After lunch, we bicycle the twenty one paved miles of the Denali Highway. The entire ride is well above tree line, with sweeping vistas of the nearby Alaska Range, and far off to the south, the magnificent snow capped volcanoes of the Wrangell Mountains.
Distance: 21 mi / 34 km

Day 4:

After breakfast we visit the ice age as we hike up Phelan Creek in the Alaska Range to its source at the face of Gulkana Glacier. If conditions allow, we continue right up onto the glacier! In the afternoon, we bicycle from the Alaska Range into the Copper River Valley. We eat dinner near the base of the Wrangells at the historic Gakona Lodge (built in 1906).
Distance: 30 mi / 48 km

Day 5:

A hop in the van takes us past the Wrangell Mountains to Stuart Creek, where we mount our bikes and wind our way up the Tsaina River toward Thompson Pass. On the way we stop off at Worthington Glacier, only yards from the road! The views from here are truly spectacular. We now drop 2,500 ft / 800 mtrs in six miles into the Lowe River Valley. Following the Lowe River, we ride through the vertical rock walls and numerous waterfalls of Keystone Canyon. Just across the river is Bridal Veil Falls, over 700 feet high! We spend the night in Valdez, port for the Alaska State Ferry.
Distance: 33 mi / 53 km

Day 6:

Sea Kayaking! We climb aboard a water taxi for a ride through Prince William Sound to Shoup Bay, where we begin this scenic journey. Shoup Bay offers the full spectrum of wildlife with seals, otters, bald eagles and sometimes even whales! Over the course of the day we will paddle past floating icebergs, past a nesting colony of Black Legged Kittiwakes, and right up to the face of Shoup Glacier! We enjoy a picnic lunch with a spectacular glacier view. At the end of our paddling we are picked up by motor boat for the ride back to Valdez.

Day 7:

We wake up early and board a ship of the Alaska Marine Highway for an unforgettable trip across Glacier studded Prince William Sound. We usually see sea lions, otters, and porpoises, and about half the time we have a chance to see whales. We leave the ship in Whittier, drive UNDER the Chugach Mountains to Portage, and then continue on to our farewell in Anchorage.

Please note:
Over the last view years, budget cost have been making the Alaska Marine Highway increasingly unreliable and difficult to work with. We have been having problems with cancellations and schedule changes. If that happens on the tour you sign up for, we will run a different itinerary on day 7, which will include cycling or hiking in another beautiful location.

* This is a general itinerary. Tour itineraries are subject to change based on the group, available accommodations and other unforeseen circumstances such as the weather, local conditions, government intervention, that may affect the quality of the trip and/or safety of the participants. Please view this itinerary as an outline as to what to expect on this tour.

Lodging

Included:

• All lodging, including the night before the tour departure.
• All meals and roadside snacks, except on the ships of the Alaska Marine Highway.
• All transportation, from your hotel in Anchorage back to the Anchorage location of your choice.
• Excursions on your tour. Glacier cruise, canoes, and sea kayaking Shoup Glacier
• Cannondale bicycles, with fenders, rack, water bottle and day pack
• Luggage transfer each day.

Not included:

• Flights to and from the trip.
• Gratuity guides.
• Night after the tour.
• Alcoholic beverages.

Pricing / dates

Tour price 2024 from: $ 4395.- pp single fee $700.-
Prices are based on double occupancy. For people who book singly, we will try to find a same-sex roommate. If we fail to find you a roommate, there is no extra charge. Single rooms may guarantee at extra cost depending on availability.
It is possible to upgrade to an e-bike for $350.00 a week

Tour dates 2024:
09 Jun -15 Jun
16 Jun – 22 Jun
23 Jun – 29 Jun
07 Jul – 13 Jul
21 Jul – 27 Jul
28 Jul – 03 Aug
11 Aug – 17 Aug
18 Aug – 24 Aug

Conditions

Deposit 25%
The deposit payment for a tour must be paid within two weeks after the booking is confirmed.
The remaining payment is due 90 days before the start of the tour.
For tours that are booked within 90 days before the start of the tour you will pay 100% of the tour price

Information

What’s a day like:
On a typical high mileage day, we will meet for breakfast at 8:00 AM and be ready to ride about 9:30 AM. We generally divide the riding day into four legs of 12-22 miles each. After the first leg, we have a snack break at the van, where we have bananas, apples, candy bars, drinks, and all kinds of other goodies available. After the second leg, we have lunch, which may be in a lodge, or may be on the side of the road. After the third leg, we have another snack break, and then it’s onto our rooms and dinner. We eat our way down the highway!
A shorter mileage day proceeds much the same except after lunch we might hop in the van to go to a trailhead for a hiking excursion.
Riders ride at their own paces. At all times a guide is employed as ‘sweeper’ and rides at the back of the group to catch any flat tires or other problems. Some groups string out over quite a distance. Others are much the same speed and stay as a pack. No matter. You get to ride at a pace you find comfortable.
Your guide knows the road. He knows the hills. After a few days, they will know you too. We are always glad to answer questions like, “Do I want to ride this next leg?”
We know how difficult the ride is, we know how scenic it is, and we can see how fresh you are. We do our best to make sure that you get all you want, but not too much
What if I get tired? After all, you are on vacation; there is no dishonor in taking a break.
If you ever don’t want to ride your bike or take part in any of the activities, we take care of that too! You will see the van roughly every two hours. You can feel free to get in the van at any time!
Bonus Miles! Most days will have the opportunity for you to ride even more mileage than the tour itinerary states. Let us know! We can usually give you all you want!

Alaskan Highways
Considering our remoteness, Alaska is blessed with wonderful roads. Considering our winters, it’s a good thing! Roads in Alaska do not go up to high elevations or they would be in permanent snow. If they were steep, they would be too icy to climb all winter.
Many of the pictures you see look like they were taken at high elevations. Bear in mind that this far north, tree line is rarely as high as 2500 feet, and often much lower. That opens up a world of beautiful Alpine scenery without having to deal with lung-busting thin air!
Since virtually none of the land was in private ownership before the highways were built, there was never a necessity to build roads around someone’s property lines. Therefore the roads very effectively finesse the terrain, winding as necessary to avoid hills and to keep grades even.
Alaska is certainly well known for its mountains. Fortunately, the roads in the North Country pass through the mountains rather than over them. For example, when we cross the Alaska Range at Isabel Pass, the road only climbs to 3200 feet. As a rule, the steepest grades on our larger highways is 6% (same as on Interstate Highways.) And the greatest one-day elevation gain on either tour is only 1800 feet!
Most of the Richardson Highway has wide shoulders, such as these spot about 35 miles out of Valdez. This road cross section is typical of the entire highway.
On the northern Richardson Highway between Delta Junction and Paxson, the road is mostly shoulderless. When the Parks highway was completed in 1972, this section of road was bypassed by the vast majority of traffic. Since then vehicle traffic on this stretch of road has been negligible As a consequence all the lodges and gas stations closed long ago and we eat lunch out of the van.

Weather
Alaska has an exaggerated reputation for being rainy because most of the people who visit here come up on cruise ships!
They cruise the Inside Passage, where the warm waters of the Japan Current fill the air with moisture that falls on the coastal mountains of southeast Alaska. Yes, it rains a lot down there, but away from the coast, most of Alaska and the Yukon Territory is technically semi-arid, getting only 10 – 15 inches of precipitation per year.

Mosquitos
Alaska has gotten a reputation for voracious mosquitoes. Like many ‘reputations’, this one has elements of truth, which are often exaggerated to a ridiculous extent.
Alaska has generated this reputation largely because of two of the largest attractions have been hunting and fishing.
If I wanted to attract mosquitoes I would go to a wet, wooded area and stand still. Hunters and fishermen do exactly that, and yes, they will get eaten alive.
I have been in Alaska for 33 years now, and the worst mosquitoes I have ever seen were in Idaho. In second and third places come Minnesota and Northern California. I’m sure many of you have seen places that can beat any of the ones I mentioned. The fact is, anyplace on the planet with woods and water will have mosquitoes!
The typical maximum airspeed of an Alaskan mosquito is about four miles per hour. (You won’t find that kind of information in an encyclopedia.) I have been walking away from mosquitoes for years now, and I have observed the speed at which they can no longer keep up. When hiking, you can just walk fast or trot for twenty yards or so and you will lose them for a while.
On a bicycle, they can’t keep up except when you have a tailwind that is going exactly the same speed as you are. How often does that happen?
Most of the other bugs I get asked about either don’t exist in Alaska or are here in such small numbers as to not have annoyed me in 33 years. These include the dreaded Black Flies which exist on the east coast of the US.