Days: 15
Month: July/August
Alaska has a reputation for being tricky to navigate — vast distances, remote parks, and logistics that can overwhelm even experienced travelers. So we let Princess Cruises do the heavy lifting. Their 15-day Cruisetour combined 7 days at sea with 8 days on land, taking us to 4 National Parks: Glacier Bay National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, and Denali National Park. Additionally, we made it to 1 National Historical Park: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. It wasn’t perfect — we ran into a few hiccups — but overall, this trip delivered the kind of adventure we were hoping for.
Day 8 – Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge
After leaving the ship, we continued our journey by boarding a coach bus. Our driver gave us a nice little tour around Whittier before we had to wait our turn for the tunnel. Whittier sits on the other side of Maynard Mountain, connected to the rest of Alaska by the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel — the longest combined rail and highway tunnel in North America, at about 2.5 miles long. Since it’s only wide enough for a single lane, cars and trains take turns passing through on a strict schedule, alternating direction every half hour. It made for an interesting little wait, but a cool bit of engineering to experience firsthand.
Once through, we made our way toward the lodge, stopping along the way at a rest area to stretch our legs. We walked out to a bridge overlooking a river before heading back to the bus — a nice, quick break to get some fresh air. We were greeted with snacks as we climbed back on board.
Our driver, Mike, kept us entertained with stories along the way — including how he does HVAC work on the side for a friend who owns a fishery business, and gets paid in seafood instead of cash. Not a bad trade.
We eventually arrived in Cooper Landing at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge. The lodge itself isn’t inside the national park, but sits anywhere from one to two hours outside it, depending on which part you’re headed to. The property was set up with individual cabins scattered around the grounds, and our room ended up being really nice. We headed to the Rafters Lounge for lunch, where Colleen had the wild mushroom quesadilla (really good) and I had the goat cheese pesto chicken sandwich — though the chicken had an oddly chewy texture.
Next up was gold panning at Prospector John’s. Jim was our guide, and he was fantastic — he taught us how to separate the gold from the sediment, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We’d highly recommend this excursion to others!
After that, we joined a nature walk on the trail near our cabin, led by Olive from the lodge. She taught us about several of the trees in the area and told us about the lodge’s composting system — they collect food scraps and feed them to worms, which turn them into compost used to grow plants on the property. The mosquitoes were relentless, but it was still a nice trail. The weather was warmer than usual for the area, in the mid-60s and sunny.
We also hiked the River Trail, and the water was absolutely beautiful — though the bugs picked back up once we got into the wooded sections.
For dinner, we went to Rod & Reel, which shares a menu with the lodge’s bar. We started with the Kenai smoked salmon dip, then had the pan-seared Alaskan halibut and pan-seared salmon. Everything was excellent.
We spent a little time relaxing on our back porch afterward, taking in the view of the mountains and woods — though the bugs made it tough to stay out too long.
The lodge itself sits within the Chugach National Forest, which made the whole setting feel even more remote and beautiful.
Day 9 – Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge
We started with a quick breakfast then headed to Kenai Fjords National Park. Learn more about that adventure here.
Once we finished up at the park, we headed for dinner. We went back to Rod & Reel and shared several dishes — salmon chowder, a kale and beet salad, and blackened halibut tacos. Everything was fantastic.
We wrapped up the night packing our bags for the early 6:45am bag pickup the next morning.
Day 10 – Travel To Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge
We kicked off the morning with breakfast at Rod & Reel — we both got the Kenai griddle cakes, no coconut. So good.
From there, we boarded the motorcoach for the roughly 9-hour trip (including stops) from Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge to Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, on our way to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
We stopped in Palmer for lunch, and it happened to be the town’s Friday Fling — food trucks, local vendors, and live music filling the streets. There was a heat advisory in effect, with temperatures around 67 degrees climbing to a high of 74. This was funny to us but in reality it was really hot; we were in Alaska after all. I tried reindeer with caramelized onions (yum), a cinnamon sugar pretzel (also yum), and Colleen had a Thai basil chicken stir fry with rice, which was fine but didn’t have much bold flavor. When we got back on the bus, our driver’s family was there waiting to surprise us with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies!
Along the way, Mike told us about how some of Alaska’s remote communities rely on helicopters instead of ambulances when someone calls 911, since the nearest ambulance can be 45 minutes to an hour and a half away, and the nearest hospital up to three hours out.
We made a stop at Matanuska Glacier State Recreation Site, where we walked a bit of the trail and snapped a few quick photos. Back on the bus, Mike handed out water and snacks — we later found out he’d bought the snacks himself, out of his own pocket.
When we arrived at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, we were greeted by a cheerful welcome crew with bear hands and pompoms. We checked out the property, which felt more like a hotel setup on the outside, but had a warm, lodge-style feel throughout the interior decor. We wandered the Wild Woods Trail out to a scenic overlook point.
Next up was the Scenic UTV Nature Ride with our guide, Miranda, offering incredible views of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and the Chugach Mountains. Our first stop was to check out two eagle nests. From there we continued on to a viewpoint overlooking a couple of mountain ranges, including the Chugach Mountains. Miranda took our photo at several stops along the way.
At our next stop, we watched eagles catching fish in the river below.
We then continued on to Devil’s Elbow, a dramatic overlook with sweeping views down into the Klutina River Canyon.
On the way back, Miranda shared more stories about the area, the mountains, and the wildlife, making the whole ride feel personal and memorable.
Once back, we headed to the Whistle Stop Bar & Grill for dinner.
Another note: I ran low on cash and realized I’d forgotten my ATM card at home, but Adam — an awesome guy from the hotel — helped me sort everything out; shout-out to Adam!
Day 11 – Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve
We woke up and had a quick breakfast at the lodge before heading out on our first adventure of the day in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve. Check that out here.
Day 12 – Travel to Mt. Mckinley Princess Wilderness Lodge
After a quick breakfast, we headed out via motorcoach toward Denali State Park.
We made a stop at Matanuska Glacier — a massive, easily accessible glacier that stretches roughly 27 miles long and 4 miles wide, making it one of the largest glaciers reachable by road in the U.S. It’s always a stunning sight, even from a distance.
Our next stop was Palmer, where we grabbed lunch at Matanuska Brewing Company. We had mojito lime chicken tacos and a turkey avocado sandwich — both were good. Afterward, we stopped at Big Dipper for homemade ice cream. I had Alaska Wild Berry and Bearly Awake, while Colleen went with Mint Chip and Rhu-berry Rhapsody. The ice cream was excellent.
We finally made it to the lodge — and it is massive. So many buses coming and going. The Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge sits inside Denali State Park with 460 rooms spread across 22 separate buildings, making it one of the largest hotels in Alaska.
We set out on the Treehouse Trail, a 1.1-mile hike leading to the property’s custom-built treehouse, which was actually constructed in 2017 and featured on an episode of Animal Planet’s “Treehouse Masters.” It offers one of the highest land-based, north-facing viewing spots for Denali in the whole state.
Next, we tried the Creek Overlook Trail, but it was overgrown with no clear path forward, so we ended up walking the road for most of it instead. We finished up with the South Loop Trail, a 0.7-mile path. Between the Treehouse Trail, Creek Overlook, and South Loop, we covered close to 3 miles of walking around the property.
For dinner, we headed to 20,320 Alaskan Grill — a mountaineering-themed restaurant named for Denali’s elevation. We had the crab and spinach artichoke dip, a truffle mushroom flatbread, huckleberry ice cream (x2), a Moose Tooth root beer, and a very berry lemonade. Everything was delicious. From there, we took the Lodge Trail over to grab tickets for the evening’s show, spotting some elderberries along the way.
That night’s show was Photosymphony’s “Aurora” at the Hudson Theater, but honestly, it was a bit underwhelming.
After coming out of the show, we found out the lodge had been evacuated due to a fire alarm while we were inside the theater.
The weather all day stayed in the low-to-mid 60s — great conditions for exploring.
Day 13 – Transfer to Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge
We woke up to rain around 3am. Not a downpour, just a consistent, slow rain — which ended up lasting all day. This turned out to be the only day it rained on the entire trip. We’d been blessed with beautiful weather otherwise — it hadn’t rained for most of the trip, and it wasn’t especially cold either.
We were originally scheduled to take our normal bus to Talkeetna (about an hour away) at 11am, but we headed out early instead so we could check out the town beforehand. It’s a cute little town. We picked up a couple of small souvenirs and grabbed some fireweed ice cream at Shirley’s, right across from the bus lot.
We headed back to our drop-off point to catch the bus to the train depot for Denali. Once we were on the Princess Cruises train, it got moving quickly. Early on, we stopped on the tracks alongside a train heading the opposite direction, where they swapped some workers and supplies.
We saw a moose!!! The train ride was beautiful and scenic, even with the rain. Our assigned seats were upstairs — downstairs is where the dining area and the outdoor viewing platform are located. The folks eating lunch in the dining car actually missed the moose sighting. There are certain moments where the upper level offers better views, but I also love being out in the open air downstairs, so we bounced between our seats and the outdoor platform several times throughout the ride. We also spotted some swans, along with great views of the Talkeetna Mountains.
We arrived at the lodge and explored the property for a bit, then headed to King Salmon for dinner. Colleen had the sea salt-accented king salmon, and I had the Asiago-crusted Alaskan halibut, followed by a chocolate lovin’ spoon cake for dessert. All of it was delicious. This lodge was nice too, but we ran into an issue with our toilet not flushing, and they gave us double beds instead of queen/king — so overall, this ended up being our least favorite room of all the lodges on the trip.
Day 14 – Denali National Park Day
We woke up to high winds, but we were determined to make the most of the day. We’d been assigned an 8:30am start time for our Tundra Wilderness Tour — a rough time slot for us — and we tried to switch to something earlier, but there were no other openings available. So we woke up in time to grab a quick breakfast and catch the 6am shuttle, giving us time to squeeze in a hike before the bus tour through Denali National Park. Check out the post on Denali here.
Day 15 – Denali National Park & Fairbanks
This day started at Denali National Park, see the post on that here.
Once we were done at the park, we boarded the motorcoach to Fairbanks for the Riverboat Discovery Cruise. The cruise covered the history of the area as we made our way down the river. We watched a bush plane take off and land right alongside the boat, not once but twice, and passed by some beautiful old houses, including a hand-built log cabin that the owner had constructed entirely with hand tools and a chainsaw.
We also got to see Susan Butcher’s daughter, Tekla, give a sled dog demonstration at the family’s Trail Breaker Kennel — a really special moment, given her mother’s legacy as a four-time Iditarod champion. We saw reindeer, learned how salmon are traditionally caught and dried, and stopped at Chena Village, where we saw caribou, moose, and even a grizzly bear hides. It was a fun stop packed with information about how Athabascan communities historically used every part of the animals they relied on.
We checked into the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge for our final night, which felt more like a hotel than the wilderness lodges we’d stayed at earlier. We ended up with the biggest room of the whole trip — two king beds and a ton of extra space, way more than the two of us needed, but a nice way to spend our last night in Alaska.
Dinner was at Trackers Bar & Grill. I had the fish and chips, which was just okay — tasted more like premade breaded fish. The fries were fine, and so were the homemade chips. Colleen had the sweet chili chicken sandwich, which was good. We finished with Baked Alaska for dessert — a fitting way to end the trip.
Before turning in, we walked the Discovery Trail around the lodge and spotted a mouse nibbling on a flower along the way. The trail combines the quarter-mile River Walk with the half-mile Lodge Trail, making for a combined route of about 0.75 miles — a relaxing little stroll to close out our last night in Alaska.
Day 16 – Travel Home
We had a small breakfast from the coffee shop to start the day.
For lunch, we headed back to Trackers Bar & Grill. I got the sweet chili chicken sandwich — yum! Colleen tried the tomato pesto grilled cheese, which was also a hit.
We caught the lodge’s shuttle over to the airport. Fairbanks International is tiny — only six gates total — so we breezed through the line in no time.
The rest of the day was spent entirely in transit, making our way back home. We didn’t touch down until 6:20am the next morning, exhausted but so happy with everything we’d gotten to experience.
