Alaska, the Last Frontier



Denali or Mount McKinley



This is the first of the two states that I have not yet visited.  I wish I was about 40 years younger so I could truly explore the vast wilderness that gives Alaska the nickname The Last Frontier.  There are 586,000 square miles of land (about 1,517,733 square kilometers) and only a little over 700,000 people who live there.  Imagine taking the population of Frankfurt, Germany and spreading the people  from just that one city across the entire area of France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland - all put together! 



Arctic Fox



Just a little over one person in each square mile (or 1 person in about two square kilometers)!  That leaves a lot of empty land since about half of all the people in Alaska live in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, the three largest cities.  That empty land is filled with smaller cities and villages, glaciers, mountains, valleys, even deserts, and an abundance of wildlife.  Over  a thousand species of wildlife are in Alaska.  These include Grizzly, Polar, Brown and Black Bears, Elk, Moose, Caribou, Seals, Whales, Walrus, Sea Lions, Wolves and Arctic Fox. About 2/3 of the land is owned and managed by the government, mostly in National and State Parks and Wildlife Refuges , such as Denali National Park.  The wildlife is protected yet can be seen frequently in these areas.  

Trapper's Camp on Frozen Sucker Lake

I know of people who have taken the Alaska cruises – very popular here in the US – and they all have reported that it was a fantastic trip.  My daughter went to Alaska to work for a short time at a military base and she had a more adventurous trip.  The last part of her trip in to Kodiak Island was on the “milk run” plane.  Since so much of Alaska is remote, one of the main transportation modes is by small airplanes flown by "Bush pilots".  She and the pilot were the only ones on the plane that brought supplies (including milk!) to the island.   Alaska is a place that some visit and fall in love with forever.  A friend of mine has a son who went to Alaska to work a summer job with the fisheries and returned later to make Alaska his home. 



Blanket Tossing
 in Point Barrow



Giant Frog Totem
Juneau



Alaska is a destination all by itself.  If you are interested in beautiful wilderness to explore, mountains to climb, native villages or gold rush towns to visit, inland waterways to fish or sail through, then I suggest you check out travelalaska.com for information to make your trip the one of your dreams.  There are many methods of exploring Alaska: train, boat, plane, bus, or automobile.  The site provides plenty of information about each method of transportation plus the places to see and things to do.  I am very impressed with the website as it seems to cover all the information anyone needs to plan a trip to this wonderful State of the United States.