Any client looking for a hiking trip is sure to be pleased in Alaska, a state with more top-notch wilderness adventures than one can enjoy in multiple lifetimes. I have spent decades in The Great Land, and I’ve learned that choosing the right hiking adventure is a fine science. And, like scientists, travel advisors should allow facts and experience to guide their work.
Based on my own adventures, here are two Alaska guides that advisors can recommend with confidence.
Go Hike Alaska
Based out of Anchorage, Go Hike Alaska offers road-accessible day hikes into nearby Chugach State Park. The company offers ideal options, especially for travelers who have a day layover in Anchorage. Clients can enjoy a hike, be back before supper, pack and catch their flight home.
Backcountry Eats & Foraging Treats is the company’s newest itinerary. Naturalist guides take visitors through rainforests or across alpine tundra, foraging for seasonal offerings such as wild greens, mushrooms and berries.
“After clients hike for a couple of hours and work up an appetite, we supply Alaska-sourced foods, such as smoked salmon and wild berry jam, to complement the items we’ve harvested along the way,” said Chelsea Smith, operations manager for Go Hike Alaska. “Some of the more popular lunches include a couscous plate, a wild mushroom risotto, a wild greens salad and a variety of iced berries. For the naturopaths, we identify wild medicinal plants that were commonly used by Indigenous Alaskans for a variety of ailments.”
The company offers a 20% commission to agents.
Alaska Alpine Adventures
A top wilderness hiking guide may need years to learn the intricacies of an area’s highlights and master dozens of backcountry skillsets. For this reason, I’m partial to guides with decades of experience exploring the wilderness of Alaska. One such guide is Dan Oberlatz, owner of Alaska Alpine Adventures.
“We make hiking enjoyable for folks who don’t want to shoulder a heavy backpack for five to 12 days,” Oberlatz said. “We often use inflatable kayaks to transport clients through difficult hiking terrain and avoid the impenetrable alder and willow thickets that all hikers disdain.”
Guides use the kayaks to transport the heavier gear to a camp that serves as a base for exploratory hikes. The most a client will carry while hiking is a small daypack.
Alaska Alpine Adventures’ three- to 10-day hiking tours include major destinations, such as Katmai, Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, Aniakchak and Gates of the Arctic. Oberlatz says two of his favorite options are Turquoise Lake Kayak and Hike — a kayak-supported hiking trip located in Lake Clark National Park — and Denali Unexplored: Ruth Glacier and Great Gorge Trek, which is located 17 miles from Denali.
He adds that guests on an Alaska Alpine Adventures hike do not have to worry about big crowds.
“Most of our hiking is across open tundra, glacial moraines, mountain peaks or gravel bars,” he said. “The only trails we experience are game trails, with the alpine tundra allowing clients to hike 360 degrees in any direction.”
Oberlatz encourages visitors to occasionally hang up their hiking boots and partake in other activities, such as fishing, journaling, photography or just relaxing. No matter what the activity, exploring the destination up close can be a life-changing experience.
“The non-hiker often finds it difficult to comprehend the experience of hiking across miles of open alpine tundra carpeted in multi-colored wildflowers, swaying like ocean waves in the breezy July sunlight,” Oberlatz said. “And the same area in September offers abundant varieties of equally colorful edible alpine berries under a crimson and yellow ground cover. It’s about as close to a hiker’s heaven as anyone can experience on Earth.”
Advisors receive 10% commission.
