If I Were Going...: Alaska: Return to Some Favorites and a New Destination

Off to Alaska again: Silver Salmon Creek and Dutch Harbor

We go to Alaska often and, to some degree, I have been feeling like it's time to give it a little rest and concentrate on other places. But, two factors sent us back in 2023.

First, I had been trying for a couple of years to book a return trip to the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge (SSCL) in Lake Clark National Park for some Bear viewing. We had been in September 2015 and loved it. Finally, back in 2021, a slot opened up for June 2023, a time when there might be some little baby Bears. We booked it.

More on this later

In 2022 we took a spur-of the-moment trip to Alaska focused of Kenai Fjords and Katmai National Parks (first blog in the series covering that trip is here). On a free day, we booked a one-day fly-in Bear viewing with Kenai Backcountry Adventures in case Katmai disappointed (it didn't). They didn't specify where we were going in advance because they base trips on weather and where Bears are being seen. It turns out we landed on the beach right in front of SSCL. And, we saw lots of Bears.

A Brown Bear at Silver Salmon Creek, 2022

So, we were getting pumped for our three-day stay in 2023.

But, three days isn't worth going to Alaska for and one of my major philosophies is, "If we're there, we might as well go somewhere else, too." So (and this is the second factor), I decided that it was time to go to the one major unexplored area I still had in Alaska: the Aleutians.

For some time, I had wanted to visit the chain of islands sprawling out into the Bering Sea almost all the way to Russia. But, I had been having trouble figuring out a cost- and time-effective way to get there. I finally decided to take a birding tour to Dutch Harbor. Now, this is certainly not seeing the whole 1,100-mile-long chain of islands. But, Dutch Harbor is smack dab in the middle and is reachable by plane. It was a great choice, which I will get to later.

Dutch Harbor

When I plan trips to Alaska, I always pad a bit in case there are flight delays or weather issues (Alaska weather is unpredictable), so my trip also included some pre-SSCL time based in Anchorage.

The weather looked iffy coming into Anchorage

And, we had some time between SSCL and Dutch Harbor, which we spent on the Kenai Peninsula.

Harbor Seals in Kenai Fjords National Park

Generally, I like to write and post my blogs fairly quickly after my trip, but here I am in September, writing about June. There are two reasons for that: first, I was traveling a lot and, second, I was deeply embroiled in updating my original two 2014 blog posts on my recommendations for travel to Alaska. Well, as most of my projects do, that one grew. It blossomed into 11 installments (the first one is here).

Writing them took up almost all my spare time in the summer and, because I wrote parts after this trip to Alaska, I scooped myself a little, using photos and anecdotes from my 2023 trips to SSCL and Dutch Harbor. I will attempt to cut as much redundancy as possible, but will have to duplicate some info for clarity here.

So, let's get started.

Anchorage and Up and Down

Our trip required that we fly into Anchorage for our flights to our two target destinations.

I get a window seat on the north side of the plane so I can see this coming into ANC

So, we flew in on a Friday and had the afternoon to explore a little. We started with some yummy fish 'n chips at local favorite, Humpy's.

Left: Scott Stevens; Right: Humpy's

Then, we drove down to Potter's Marsh to look for birds before crashing for the night.

We didn't see many birds; this is a Tree Swallow

When I was planning our trip, I discovered that our arrival would coincide with the Anchorage Market, a summer-time outdoor art/food/craft market that we had visited on past trips. Along with all the junk one sees at a craft fair, we had also found lots of incredible native art. In 2013, we bought a series of prints of drawings by Ken Lisbourne from Pt. Hope that hang in our basement.

We were looking forward to more stuff like this

Scott, who collects Native Alaskan art, was really looking forward to it. I discovered that it had moved from its previous rather sketchy location to the parking lot of the Dimond Center Mall, so I booked a hotel at the Dimond Center (pretty pricey for a basic room) so we wouldn't have to mess with parking.

What a bust! There were hardly any vendors. No real art. And, so-so food.

So, instead of a day immersing ourselves in art shopping, we had to find something else to do. We started out by driving north, planning to go out to the Matanuska Glacier, but after a brief stop at always-beautiful Reflections Lake ...

We always stop here

... a stop at nearby Mirror Lake (a pattern?) ...

It was a perfect day for reflections

... and a few minutes with a mama and baby Alaskan Moose ...

They were fairly skittish and disappeared quickly into the willows

... we changed our minds and turned south.

You just can't go wrong with the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. We didn't do much ...

A glacier near Girdwood

... just stopped at Williwaw to see if any Salmon were running (they weren't) and continued along Turnagain Arm ...

The Williwaw viewing bridge

... admired another mama and baby Moose ...

Right on the highway

... drove by the Exit Glacier ...

This is part of Kenai Fjords National Park

... and made a quick stop in Seward ...

Seward harbor

Then, we ended the day in Anchorage by driving downtown to see what was happening at the Slam'n Salm'n Derby, an annual fishing contest at Ship Creek.