If I Were Going...: September in Alaska -- The Plan and the Trip

Fall is a nice time to visit

Favorable Alaska Airlines fares and a two-year gap from our last Alaska trip prompted Scott to plan a September trip to Alaska.

Little Susitna River

We had been in late September once before and saw fabulous fall foliage and huge antlers on Moose, so this seemed like a good plan.

Fall Bull Moose

We entered the Denali Road lottery, but were not selected. I have read that one-in-six wins, but with five entries (Caty and Becca entered for us and I accidentally entered twice, although duplicates are allegedly not permitted), we still came up short.

If you win in the road lottery, you can purchase a single, daylong permit, to drive as much of the Denali Park Road as weather allows. In years with heavy snowfall, the Park Road might be open to Savage River (mile 15) ...

Snow at Savage River

... in milder years, lottery winners are able to drive the entire 92-mile length of the historic road. After the lottery dates, you can often drive out to mile 35, weather permitting.

Late season Denali

The year we did this drive ourselves, we photographed a Lynx (this is a picture from that trip).

A real treat

We will try again next year.

Still, we planned a trip, with the idea that Scott would fish. I also did some research and found a day trip to Gates of the Arctic National Park. I am trying to visit all National Parks and am down to a few I just haven’t done yet (Isle Royale, Voyageurs, Cayahoga Valley, Dry Tortugas) and some a bit more difficult to reach (U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic). I got the Gates of the Arctic tour on the last day it was offered.

Map: National Park Service

Shortly after we planned everything out, Scott discovered that the fishing season would be over in Copper River (our first planned stop). I checked on the ability to visit the Kennecott Mine at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which I had seen but Scott hadn't.

Old mine building

I discovered that the shuttle wasn’t running, increasing the hike to five miles one-way (a bit iffy in fall weather).

So, I rearranged the trip and tried to find a place for Scott to halibut fish and to view Bears on the Kenai Peninsula. I failed at halibut (late in the season), but was able to secure two nights at the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge across the Cook Inlet from Soldotna.

Silver Salmon Creek Grizzly

Of course, aurora was a big objective of the whole trip.

Aurora in Soldotna

So, off we went.

The weather in Alaska this summer had been unusually dry and clear until we arrived. UNTIL is the operative word. We arrived to rain and cold, which stayed with us throughout most of the trip.

We have been extraordinarily lucky to date with Alaska weather (Sunshine in Ketchikan! Seeing Denali for five days in a row! Above freezing temps in February!). We like September because, as the season shuts down, crowds are small. Plus, the bears are big, the moose and caribou have huge antlers and the colors are spectacular. So far, everything had been perfect.

Fall scene

It was time to pay our dues.

We left Colorado Springs on time – a miracle because we usually have some sort of delay when flying to Alaska for a vacation. But, our problems started at the Seattle airport on our layover. We rushed to Anthony’s for our customary crab cocktails to find that they have taken crab off the menu because delivery is unreliable. It’s Seattle! You get crab in Seattle! Whaaaa?!

Besides that, travel was uneventful. We arrived to drizzle and settled in to our hotel. The astronomical outlook for aurora was high; meteorological was low. We got an alert in the evening, but the weather made exploring seem fruitless. It’s too bad we hadn’t opted to drive a bit north and stay in Talkeetna or even further. They had stupendous aurora that night. I pulled this from Spaceweather.com:

Oh well!

The next day, we explored. We started out down the Seward highway, thinking we might go all the way to Seward. And accident on the narrow highway put an end to that. After sitting about 15 minutes, we decided to explore north. Good decision; we read the next day that the accident snarled traffic for three hours.

So, we headed towards Eagle River, where fall was glorious.

Eagle River area

It was overcast and a bit rainy, but not enough to spoil the scenery. We immediately saw three female Moose along the side of the road.

Alaskan Moose cow

After looking for Salmon in the river (only a few dead and dying ones, that run was over) ...

Spent Salmon

But, the walk to the overlook was lovely.

Takin' some pix

We headed north and stopped at Reflections Lake, which is right off Highway 1 and is very aptly named.

The fall foliage was beautiful

We saw animal prints, but no animals.

Raccoon? Otter?

Then, we decided to drive to Hatcher Pass, which is partially paved and partially gravel. We had been there years before on our family trip to Alaska. The scenery, this time cloaked in fall colors, did not disappoint.

Hatcher Pass

The animal count was low – we saw just a few Hoary Marmots.

Hoary Marmot

Before the gravel part of the road, we stopped at the Little Susitna River Overlook, which was breathtakingly beautiful from multiple angles. This is a perfect spot to appreciate Alaskan fall.

A favorite stop

Then, we drove up through the pass, with incredible vistas everywhere we looked.

A bit foggy, but ...

After the drive, we ended up north of Willow, so we had a nice drive down to Girdwood where we were staying at the Alyeska Resort for two nights. We did a little exploring on the way, stopping to see a few glaciers poking through the clouds ...

Glacier working its way down the mountain

... and some additional Salmon down near the Portage Glacier.

End of the season fish

We got to Girdwood in time to catch the tidal bore on Turnagain Arm.

Map: NOAA

The bore tide is a wave or series of waves that advance down the narrow channel off Cook Inlet, turning the mud flats into a bay again.

The Turnagain bore tide is one of the biggest in the world, actually. All other bore waves run up low-lying rivers in more southerly latitudes.

The Turnagain Arm bore wave is the only one that occurs in the far north and the only one bordered by mountains, making it the most unique and most geologically dramatic bore tide in the world.

Turnagain Arm tidal bore

We had tried on our previous trip and it was, indeed, a bore. But this time, it was enough for a surfer to catch the wave.

That night, we ate dinner at one of our favorite Alaska spots, the Double Musky. This time we had “just” appetizers – halibut ceviche, jalapeno rolls and scallop-stuffed mushrooms. Delicious! It’s always fun to go to the Double Musky – and we are never hungry enough for dessert.