Alaska, United States
Alaska, the State of Eight, so named by me due to it being the location of 8 National Parks, not to mention many more state parks, national forests, monuments, and amazing unnamed wilderness. It’s beauty is truly wild, and just getting to see the parks is an adventure.
A State of Eight
I have a lifelong goal of visiting all the national parks in the United States. As of 2022, there are 63 of them, and no state has a harder set of parks to visit than Alaska. So, over the course of two years, I visited all 8 Alaskan National Parks.
Visiting each park took a combination of plane, train, boat, and automobile, which lead to a lot of late nights planning to be able to squeeze in all of these beautiful parks. I filmed my experience and put in on YouTube, and it turns out, a lot of folks were interested in my journey too, including Alaksa.org, which profiled my journey here.
It was my first video with over 50,000 views, and I’m still in awe so many folks saw this (And saw Andrew swearing at Alaskan Rivers). I hope you enjoy it!
All the photos below were taken by Alexyn Scheller. If you are interested in any photo prints of Alaska for your personal use, please contact me below.
Park 1: Glacier Bay National Park
Our first park. We came here via boat from Juneau to Gustavus, where we took the official national park ship through the fjords to see the Glaciers in Glacier Bay.
Park 2: Gates of the Arctic National Park
Flying into Fairbanks from Juneau and hitching a ride to Anaktuvuk Pass with a Airplane guide who was out to pick up a bear hunter. The summer quickly turned into Winter as we crossed into the arctic circle deep into Gates of the Arctic National Park. As we returned, we were greeted by an early Northern Lights show.
Park 3: Denali National Park
From Fairbanks, we hopped on a train to Denali National Park and back to the Alaskan fall (late August). In Denali, we were lucky enough to see the top of the mountain, which is almost always covered by clouds. Wildlife too was aplenty, with grizzly, beaver, and moose sightings everywhere we hiked.
Park 4: Kenai Fjords National Park
After Denali, we hitched a ride on the train back to Anchorage, whizzing by some amazing fall colors and wonderful scenery before the rain of Alaska returned. After we returned to Anchorage, we rented a car to drive down to Seward, Alaska and tackle Park #4, and our last of the year: Kenai Fjords National Park.
Park 5: Kobuk Valley National Park
Nearly a year after we visited Park #4, we visit Alaska again, heading by plane from Anchorage to Kotzebue, Alaska: the entrance to Kobuk Valley National Park. It’s from this small town (home of the Visitor center and a single hotel) that we take another charted plane ride to the dunes of Kobuk Valley National Park into some of the most extreme isolation ever experienced (no people for miles in any direction once the plane took back off).
Park 6: Wrangell St. Elias National Park
After flying back to Anchorage from Kotzebue, we rent a car and drive to McCarthy Alaska, however the get there, we need to cross the often dangerous and always rugged McCarthy Road. From McCarthy, we take a town shuttle to the entrance of Wrangell St. Elias National Park.
Park 7: Katmai National Park
We again head back to Anchorage in our rental, before hoping on a small plane to King Salmon, Alaska, where we get into a puddle hopper plane to head off to Katmai National Park, where we camp in an electric fence. Katmai, despite being incredibly remote, is actually one of the most accommodating places there, with an incredible national park center that serves meals, has a bar, and access to a shuttle to Valley of 10000 Smokes. Not bad for a place surrounded by hungry Brown Bears.
Park 8: Lake Clark National Park
We visit the eighth and final national park in Alaska by once again travelling back to Anchorage to hop on a small plane to visit Lake Clark National Park.
Interested in a Print?
I hope you enjoyed these photos and video from Alaska. If you are interested in a print in any size, please reach out to me for a quote and let me know which photo you are looking for.
