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| Guests can now take helicopter flying lessons at the Winterlake Lodge. |
From wildlife viewing to culinary explorations, wilderness lodges in Alaska are gearing up for the summer season. Travel Agent reached out to properties across the state and rounded up suggestions for families, destination weddings, foodies and the adventurous. Here’s the latest:
CIRI Alaska Tourism: This year CIRI Alaska Tourism (ciritourism.com/agent) is reopening its Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge with a new main building that has an expanded kitchen and a culinary program. The lodge will offer a new evening kayak experience for overnight guests as well.
The company also has a property in Talkeetna, which serves as a base camp for many mountain climbers who attempt to summit Mount McKinley and also offers a setting for small meetings, weddings and other special events, as well as a range of adventure activities. In Seward, the company’s Seward Windsong Lodge offers access to the Kenai Fjords National Park and Preserve as well as an exclusive day lodge on Fox Island.
“We’ve just created an electronic flipbook for agents, with all of our products and more detail than what you would get in a consumer piece,” says Dee Buchanon, director of marketing at CIRI Alaska Tourism.
Buchanon recommends CIRI’s properties for a wide variety of travelers. “It’s really mixed,” she says. “We do partner with the cruise companies, we get a lot of cruise travelers, international travelers, high-end travelers. It’s a little bit of everything. We have accessible rooms, so we get folks with limited mobility and folks who want to do all the walking on their own. It’s a little bit of everything. Anyone who’s looking for a lodge experience.”
CIRI Alaska Tourism pays 10 percent commission. Interested agents can visit the company’s website and send an e-mail requesting to be set up as a travel agency or a company.
Camp Denali & North Face Lodge: The summer of 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the first climb to the top of Mount McKinley, and Camp Denali and North Face Lodge are celebrating by hosting Brian and Diane Okonek for one week in July as part of the properties’ Special Emphasis series. The couple will host a series of evening programs that will talk about historic expeditions as well as offering a local resident’s perspective on the wilderness of Denali National Park.
Camp Denali and North Face Lodge are the only accommodations in Denali National Park with views of Mount McKinley. Beginning on Mondays or Fridays, the properties offer reservations of three, four or seven nights. Because private vehicles are restricted from driving on Denali National Park’s only road, the lodges provide roundtrip transportation from the Denali train depot.
Camp Denali offers accommodations in separate cabins with quilts, wood stoves, propane lights, an outdoor water spigot and a hot plate for heating water. The dining hall, lodge natural history resource collection and a bath and shower facility are a three- to seven-minute walk from the cabins.
North Face Lodge is a renovated north country inn with 15 rooms with en suite bathroom and electricity.
“The demographic at our lodges range from multi-generational families [with kids ages 8-18], to adults interested in active, hiking vacations, to retired couples who enjoy traveling through National Parks,” says Katherine Schake, the lodges’ program coordinator.
Both properties offer 10 percent commission, and agents with questions should reach out to Sarah Bierschwale ([email protected]).
Within the Wild Adventure Company: The big news this summer at Within the Wild Adventure Company is the company’s glacier camp, where the company brings its sled dogs in the summertime. Additionally, this season the company will be offering several new helicopter adventures at Winterlake Lodge, where guests can even take a helicopter-flying lesson.
“At Tutka Bay Lodge, we have added a new curated art collection at the lodge,” says Kirsten Dixon, owner of Within the Wild Adventure Company. “We have a new lineup of culinary topics for our cooking school at Tutka Bay, which is complimentary for our lodge guests.”
Near the western edge of the Alaska Range, Winterlake Lodge offers views of the Trimble Glacier and the Rainy Pass from the lake. In addition to the main lodge, it also has five guest cabins along the mile-long lake, which is home to nesting loons and swans. Guests here can enjoy hiking, helicopter-assisted trekking and wildlife viewing in the Wolverine Mountains behind the lodge.
Tutka Bay Lodge sits at the head of a seven-mile fjord. The 10-acre property has a main lodge, six private guest accommodations, a sauna, hot tub and boathouse, all connected by a boardwalk. The lodge offers deep-sea fishing, freshwater fishing, ocean kayaking and hiking. For foodies, the adjacent Cooking School at Tutka Bay allows guests to create a three-course meal.
Within the Wild pays 10-25 percent commission, based on volume. Talk to Carl Dixon or Kristen Dixon ([email protected], 907-274-2701).
Alaska Wildland Adventures: Combinations of one to three wilderness lodges on the Kenai Peninsula are offered by Alaska Wildland Adventures.
The Kenai Riverside Lodge, on the banks of the Kenai Peninsula, offers rafting, fishing and hiking on the river. The Kenai Backcountry Lodge is on a glacially-carved lake, accessible by a guided raft tour. The Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge—the only lodge within the Kenai Fjords National Park—offers marine wildlife glacier day cruises, canoeing, kayaking and nature walks led by naturalists.
Agents should call 800-334-8730 or e-mail [email protected] with queries.
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| Accommodations at Camp Denali include wood stoves. |