Northern Explorer

This itinerary is the starting point for your tour, but it’s not set in stone. If there are days you would like to change, or specific places you’d like to go, we can work with you to create a personalized program that fits the needs of you and your students.

Day 1: Anchorage

Arrive in Anchorage and meet your local ACIS Tour Manager. Enjoy a brief orientation of the area while driving to your hotel.

Day 2: Anchorage

After breakfast, enjoy a sightseeing tour of historic downtown Anchorage and Lake Hood, the busiest float plane base in the world. Next, you will meet an Alaskan Bush Pilot at the Alaska Aviation Museum and get to see bush planes up close and personal. Learn all about flying in the bush of Alaska, and how important the industry is for this large state. This afternoon, enjoy a visit to the Alaska Native Heritage Center to learn all about the first Alaskans. While there, interact with local Alaskans and share learn more about their culture through singing, dancing and storytelling.

Day 3: Denali

Today's adventure brings you via scenic train to the quaint town of Talkeetna. This town began as a trading post when gold was first discovered in the Susitna River. There is time for a walking tour and a visit to the Talkeetna Ranger Station, which keeps track of all the people climbing Denali. In the afternoon continue to Denali National Park. Upon arrival enjoy the Denali Education Center's presentation, “Welcome to the SubArctic,” a one-hour talk. Learn about the history of Denali National Park from the ground up before touring the park tomorrow. Enjoy dinner this evening at a local restaurant.

Day 4: Denali

Today visit the Denali National Park Visitor Center, then enjoy stunning landscapes and wildlife watching opportunities on a 6-7 hour scenic tour of Denali National Park. Your local guide will provide information about this vast wilderness and the wildlife that takes up residence here. Keep an eye out for moose, caribou, wolves, bears and much more. You will also have the opportunity to get out and walk on the tundra. A box lunch is included on your excursion. This evening, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant in the Denali area.

Day 5: Wasilla

This morning begin the journey north to Denali. Along the way stop at the small community of Big Lake where you will enjoy a visit to the home of four-time Iditarod winner Martin Buser and his sled dogs at Happy Trails Kennel. Learn about the history of the Last Great Race and the life and art of mushing dogs in Alaska. You even get to cuddle with puppies (no, you can't take one home!).

Day 6: Anchorage

Begin the journey back to Anchorage. En route, visit a local agricultural farm where you will hear experiences and stories about farming and agriculture in Alaska. Learn which produce grows well and about Alaska's own “Alaska Grown” program, encouraging residents to buy local. Next, make a stop at the Palmer Musk Ox Farm for a closer look at this ice age mammal that once roamed the earth alongside saber-tooth tigers and woolly mammoths. Learn all about qiviut—their dense underfur that's considered to be one of the warmest materials in the world!

Day 7: Homer

Depart Anchorage this morning and travel along the scenic Seward Highway. Visit Crow Creek Mine, located in the community of Girdwood, to learn about how gold was the origin for many towns in this region of Alaska and even to have a chance to pan for gold yourself. Then continue south to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, where you will have a chance to see some of the native wildlife up close. A local guide from the center will share information and stories about the bears, bison, moose and many more animals that call the center home. Tonight's final destination is the town known as the “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World”—Homer.

Day 8: Homer

This morning your coach will take you to the Homer Spit where you'll board the vessel that brings you to the Peterson Field Station. At the station your expert Coastal Studies instructors will help you explore the richness of Kachemak Bay's extreme tidal changes and a coastal forest ecosystem on the edge of wilderness. You'll feel even more immersed in the wilderness experience this evening as you spend a unique overnight in a yurt. Please note that these wilderness overnight lodgings are extremely rustic with no private rooming. The group can choose to overnight in Homer at a hotel instead of the yurts, additional costs apply.

Day 9: Seward

Rise early and cross the bay by boat back to Homer, from where you will drive to the port community of Seward. Head to Seward's Small Boat Harbor where you board your vessel for a (6 hour) Kenai Fjords National Park boat cruise, viewing marine wildlife. Keep an eye out for whales, otters and seals. On arrival back at Seward Harbor, enjoy an up close and personal visit to the Alaska SeaLife Center where you will learn more about the marine animals you saw in the wild.

Day 10: Departure

This morning head back to Anchorage. Along the way enjoy a short hike that lets you view the most accessible glacier in Resurrection Bay—Exit Glacier. Learn about the exciting science of glaciology as you discuss the causes and implications of the glacier's recession. Later arrive in Anchorage where you have dinner and then transfer to the airport.