![]() Heading north, Denali National Park isn't often included as an Alaska off the beaten path destination, but given its size the park's vast interior is plenty isolated. From this harbor town travelers can take a Columbia Glacier day cruise into Prince William Sound for a chance to spot wildlife and see one of the largest tidewater glaciers in Alaska. In winter avalanches regularly render this road impassable, but come summer it is a scenic drive over mountains and through a canyon draped in waterfalls. Valdez is about 100 miles south down the Richardson Highway. It sits near the famously salmon-rich Copper River and famously immense Wrangell-St. Today a single resort-style lodge provides comfortable accommodations to travelers passing through. Copper Center's handful of roadhouses were frequented by prospectors during the Klondike gold rush. Looking east of the railbelt across a few mountain ranges and glacial icefields you'll find the outlying destinations of Copper Center, McCarthy, and Valdez. In both these small communities getting out onto the water is essential, whether it's rafting the Kenai or kayaking in Kachemak. If you keep going, the road will eventually end in Homer, a fishing town with a distinctive artists' vibe on the bluffs overlooking Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park. Cooper Landing is just 10 minutes off the Seward Highway, tucked along the Kenai River in an especially beautiful mountain valley. Some, like Homer and Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula, aren't that much farther down the main road. You could easily spend weeks exploring these popular places, and most visitors do.īeyond the railbelt a whole array of new destinations await. That path links international airports and cruise terminals by both train track and highway, and the towns along it account for nearly half the population of Alaska. ![]() There are few enough highways that they're known by nickname rather than number, and even the state capital is only accessible by boat or plane.Īll that considered, what exactly do we mean by off the beaten path in Alaska? We're talking anywhere off the railbelt, the mainland thoroughfare from Seward to Fairbanks that includes well known destinations like Kenai Fjords National Park, Anchorage, and Denali National Park. Looking at a map of Alaska, much more of the state appears off the beaten path than on it.
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