The many faces of Alaska: from the Southeastern panhandle to Arctic waters, the 49th state offers countless attractions

Travel America, Sept-Oct, 2002 by M.T. Schwartzman

Just how big is the state of Alaska? So big that if you placed it over a map of the Lower 48, it would stretch practically from sea to shining sea. In the south, it would touch the Florida panhandle. In the north, it would kiss the Great Lakes. And in the west, it would reach southern California.

To make things simple, the state has divided itself into five geographical regions. There's the Southeast, the Southcentral, the Southwest, the Interior, and the Far North.

But that doesn't really tell you a lot about the place. So we've come up with our own regions to help you better understand Alaska, a state that's really many destinations in one:

Glacier Country. Alaska's Glacier Country runs the length of the Southeast (also known as the Inside Passage) and continues across the Gulf of Alaska to the coast of the Southcentral. This is where you'll find Alaska's famous tidewater glaciers (glaciers that reach the sea) and many drive-up glaciers (glaciers that are reachable by car).

Alaska's tidewater glaciers begin about halfway up the Inside Passage, where the LeConte Glacier spills into the sea. It's the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. A little farther up the coast is Tracy Arm, with the twin Sawyer Glaciers, which also are very active, dropping huge chunks of ice into the waters of the fjord. In Juneau, we come to the Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska's best-known drive-up glacier. It's just 13 miles from downtown. Next comes Glacier Bay, made famous by naturalist John Muir. Here there are 12 tidewater glaciers.

Heading west toward the Gulf of Alaska, we find Hubbard Glacier, six miles wide across its face. And finally we arrive at Prince William Sound and College Fjord, where 16 glaciers line the narrow channel.

Alaska's Glacier Country is where you'll find so many picture-perfect maritime communities. There are no roads connecting the towns of the Inside Passage, so you must arrive by ferry, cruise ship, or plane. Traveling northward, the first place you'll make landfall is in Ketchikan, which is best known for its totem poles. In fact, there are more totem poles here than anywhere else in Alaska or the world.

Petersburg (907-772-4636), a small community near LeConte Glacier, is Alaska's "Little Norway." It was founded by Norwegian settlers and retains a Scandinavian flavor to this day. Sitka (907-747-5940), once the capital of Czarist Alaska, is where native, Russian, and other European influences have converged in one place.

Juneau (888-581-2201), the state capital, has a little bit of everything you'd expect to find in Alaska: frontier history, great shopping, and scenic views from the Mount Roberts Tramway (888-461-8726). Haines (800-458-3579) has long been a favorite stop for RVers. It's one of the few places on the Inside Passage that's connected to the rest of the state by road. Haines is a great place to shop for authentic Alaskan crafts, some locally made and others gathered from around the state.

Skagway looks every bit a gold rush town, much as it did over a century ago. The Skagway Streetcar Company (907-983-2908) can give you a tour of the historic district, or the White Pass & Yukon Route (800-343-7373) can show you the old Trail of `98 blazed by the prospectors.

Many tour operators and cruise lines can show you Alaska's Glacier Country. Among them are Cruise West (800-746-7702) and Holland America Tours (800-628-2449). If you want to bring your RV on tour, contact the Alaska Marine Highway System (800-642-0066). This is the state's ferry operation, and all its ships are designed to carry vehicles as well as passengers.

Mountain Region. When you get to Seward, on the coast of the Gulf of Alaska, you've arrived in Alaska's Mountain Region. Of course, there are mountains all along the Southeast and Southcentral coastlines. But this is where we start getting really serious, starting with the Kenai Mountains--the backbone of Alaska's Kenai Peninsula (800-535-3624), otherwise known as "Alaska's Playground."

The first peak of interest is Mount Marathon, which sets the stage for the city of Seward. The mountain gets its name from a race held every Fourth of July, when crazy contestants run up the 3,000-foot mountain and back down. Seward is the end of the line for many ferry and cruise ship passengers, who often are just passing through. Those who linger a while will find the Alaska Sealife Center (800-224-2525), a world-class facility devoted to saving Alaska's marine wildlife.

About 125 miles north of Seward is Anchorage (800-478-1255), ringed by the Chugach Mountains and the Alaska Range. From downtown Anchorage, you can see Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America at 20,320 feet. Anchorage is Alaska's only true metropolis. Besides its large population, the city has an opera company, an exceptional art museum, and--as of this past summer--Alaska's only indoor waterpark, H2Oasis (888-426-2747).

Anchorage is where you'll find the superb Alaska Native Heritage Center (800-315-6608). There are other native attractions in Alaska, but only this one gathers all the state's major native groups under one roof. It's like a United Nations of Alaska's First Peoples, representing five different cultures, from the Aleuts, who gave Alaska the name "Alyeska," meaning "Great Land," to the Athabascans, who gave the name "Denali" to Mount McKinley, meaning "The High One" (not "The Great One," a common mistake).