Guided Backcountry Adventure Tours

You’ll take off from Anchor­age, and Alas­ka will open up for you as you appre­ci­ate its vast­ness from the air. Where will you go? That’s up to you! Choose from a vari­ety of tours. Take one of the clas­sics, like flight­see­ing to Denali, or opt to explore one of the state’s hid­den gems. You can also fly to see glac­i­ers, go bear view­ing in Lake Clark Nation­al Park, or work with the pros at Alas­ka Air Ser­vice to cre­ate your own cus­tom itinerary.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of flight­see­ing in areas that most tours can’t reach. Go with Gold­en Eagle Out­fit­ters and enjoy ful­ly cus­tomized flight­see­ing tours from Kotze­bue or Delta Junc­tion — or take advan­tage of their air-taxi drop-off and pick­up ser­vice to access some of the most beau­ti­ful and remote parts of Alaska.

Fam­i­ly-owned and oper­at­ed, Des­ti­na­tion Alas­ka Adven­ture Com­pa­ny, has a pas­sion for show­ing peo­ple Alas­ka. Whether your must-see list includes nation­al parks, glac­i­ers, vol­ca­noes, great fish­ing, bear view­ing, or more, Homer is not only a great base for flight­see­ing but also a great home base for your trip. Browse avail­able tours, dream up an adven­ture of your own, or let the pros at Des­ti­na­tion Alas­ka help you cre­ate one!

Expe­ri­ence Alas­ka at its most beau­ti­ful­ly remote on a ful­ly out­fit­ted float trip with Ani­ak Air Guides. Whether your pas­sion is raft­ing, fish­ing, hunt­ing, back­pack­ing, wildlife and out­door pho­tog­ra­phy, or gold pan­ning, Ani­ak Air Guides can set you up with every­thing you need, then fly you to the per­fect loca­tion to DIY the trip of a lifetime.

The unique trips offered by Infi­nite Adven­tures begin with trans­porta­tion in a con­vert­ed school bus that’s been trans­formed into a spa­cious, com­fort­able char­i­ot for 16 trav­el­ers. Accom­mo­da­tions are most­ly in tents, and itin­er­aries have been designed for camp­ing lovers (and those who would like to try it). Plus, the own­ers run most trips them­selves — a hus­band and wife who are pas­sion­ate about show­ing off Alaska!

Tra­verse the majesty of Exit Glac­i­er by ice hik­ing or ice climb­ing, or opt for a nature hike in the gor­geous ter­rain around Seward, Alas­ka. Nev­er ice climbed or hiked on a glac­i­er? Not a prob­lem. All trips include instruc­tion to get you started.

Get a unique view of the Alaskan wilder­ness on a four- or sev­en-day back­pack­ing trip through the back­coun­try. You’ll be trekking on Kesu­gi Ridge in Denali State Park, with mag­nif­i­cent views of Mt. McKin­ley and of course plen­ty of wildlife to spot along the way. Your expe­ri­enced nat­u­ral­ist guide will be with you the whole way, cook­ing up great meals at your camp­sites. You should be fit enough to car­ry a pack up mod­er­ate hills, though you’ll  ...more

Explore the Alaskan wilder­ness while car­ry­ing your pack and camp­ing out — it’s a way to tru­ly get in touch with nature. Choose a 1‑night or 2‑night trek leav­ing from the town of Ken­ni­cott — your expe­di­tion will be led by expert guides, who will take you on hikes that can wind past gor­geous lakes and stun­ning water­falls. Work with your guide to per­son­al­ize your adven­ture — they know the must-see high­lights of this area and can fill you in on the human  ...more

St. Elias Alpine Guides have a long his­to­ry of shar­ing the wilder­ness with trav­el­ers — whether the activ­i­ty involves hik­ing a glac­i­er, back­pack­ing, raft­ing, ski­ing, or even doing some extreme moun­taineer­ing — there’s some­thing for every­one! You can also take advan­tage of the option to cus­tomize your trip.

Set off with a small group and an expe­ri­enced guide for an unfor­get­table explo­ration of the Mat-Su Val­ley area on foot. Nes­tled between the Chugach Moun­tains to the south and the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains to the north, there are crag­gy, snow-capped peaks and rush­ing rivers every­where you turn: a clas­sic Alaskan set­ting that comes packed with a rich his­to­ry. Opt for a half-day or full day hike, or choose a hike & brew or a town tour to learn the  ...more

Explore Anchorage’s best kept secrets with a local guide. Tra­verse Alaska’s pri­vate, cus­tom adven­tures are designed to take vis­i­tors off the beat­en path and away from the crowds. Adven­tures can incor­po­rate a full day of hik­ing or a com­bi­na­tion of scenic dri­ving and out­door activ­i­ties. Each trip is cus­tom designed to meet your inter­ests and desired activ­i­ty level.

Get out there on one or more of these super-acces­si­ble trips, which range from easy nature walks to stren­u­ous alpine mul­ti-day treks. You’ll not only get a healthy dose of scenery, you’ll also exer­cise your body, mind, and soul. In win­ter, mar­vel at frozen water­falls, snow­shoe treks and even heli-snowshoeing!

Tra­verse Alas­ka can craft ful­ly-guid­ed cus­tom adven­tures, or set you up on a trip into the Alas­ka wilder­ness arm­ing you with some know-how — and pro­vid­ing you with the inde­pen­dence to freely explore. Excur­sions include pri­vate day hikes, raft­ing and pack­raft­ing, and mul­ti-day backpacking. 

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 4‑night, 5‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

See the bears of Lake Clark and Kat­mai Nation­al Park on their own turf at this bliss­ful­ly remote cab­in-based eco lodge. This is a glamp­ing expe­ri­ence with incred­i­ble views — both of the bears liv­ing in their own habi­tat, and of the nat­ur­al scenery that you get from your hosts, who also run Homer’s only heli­copter-based adven­ture safari company.

Mem­bers of 1% For The Plan­et, Kayak Adven­tures World­wide strives to ful­fill their mis­sion to inspire an active stew­ard­ship of our nat­ur­al world. Through small group sea kayak tours in Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, they focus on safe­ty, edu­ca­tion, and con­nect­ing guests with the unique and frag­ile ecosys­tems you’ll visit.

Sprawl­ing Wrangell-St. Elias Nation­al Park has huge moun­tains, North America’s largest con­cen­tra­tion of glac­i­ers, and thou­sands of rivers — but just two roads. That’s why tak­ing to the local rivers is such an excel­lent way to explore the park: this oper­a­tor out of McCarthy offers mul­ti-day adven­tures that embrace the rugged won­ders of the park, while keep­ing you com­fort­able enough so that you relax and enjoy it.

Take a bou­tique, small-group kayak­ing trip with expe­ri­enced guides at Liq­uid Adven­tures and get close to glac­i­ers in kayaks or pad­dle­boards while look­ing for whales and oth­er marine mam­mals. You can even com­bine your adven­ture with a jet­boat, heli­copter, or wildlife cruise. There’s noth­ing quite like it in all of Alaska!

Tal­keet­na Riv­er Guides has offered expert­ly guid­ed raft­ing day trips for over 20 years. Float through the remote wilder­ness of Denali State Park, just a stone’s throw away from Denali Nation­al Park’s wild south side. Choose the two-hour Tal­keet­na Riv­er Nat­ur­al His­to­ry Float Trip, the four-hour Chulti­na Riv­er Raft Tour, or an overnight or mul­ti-day excursion.

Guid­ed sea kayak­ing in Alaska’s South­east opens up the mag­i­cal world of water-based tour­ing. Glide through a marine envi­ron­ment with gor­geous views in every direc­tion, and many oppor­tu­ni­ties to spot wildlife – from eagles and salmon to bears, whales and sea lions. Options include day tours for busy sched­ules and mul­ti-day immer­sions, all under the expert guid­ance of nat­u­ral­ists who help you under­stand the com­plex work­ings of a unique and amazing  ...more

Tra­verse Alas­ka cre­ates cus­tom tours in the Denali Nation­al Park area that allow trav­el­ers to enjoy the mag­ic of Alas­ka at their own pace. Win­ter itin­er­aries include icon­ic Alaskan cold-weath­er activ­i­ties in South­cen­tral and Inte­ri­or Alas­ka. After all, Alas­ka in win­ter is a very spe­cial time of year — qui­eter, full of snow-frost­ed trees, and frozen snow-cov­ered ground cre­ates an out­door play­ground in every direction.

Take part in the thrill of win­ter and fall dog sled­ding out of Fair­banks. You’ll expe­ri­ence the sport with one of Alaska’s longest-run­ning dog tour com­pa­nies. Go for a ride, attend mush­ing school, or go on a mul­ti-day adven­ture to the his­toric Tolo­vana Roadhouse.

Award-win­ning Alas­ka-based pho­tog­ra­ph­er Jeff Schultz can take you to stun­ning Alas­ka loca­tions to cre­ate your dream images of Alaskan land­scapes & wildlife. Whether you want to make pho­tos in clas­sic Alas­ka loca­tions or in places that the aver­age trav­el­er will nev­er see, based on decades of liv­ing, trav­el­ing and pho­tograph­ing all over Alas­ka, Jeff can cre­ate a cus­tom pho­to trip that will meet all your wants and desires.

Every­one from begin­ners to experts can book a cus­tom, mul­ti-day pho­tog­ra­phy trip in Alas­ka. As a long­time Alaskan, Michael knows the best spots to go. And he can care­ful­ly craft cus­tom trips to take you to the most mag­i­cal areas. His spe­cial­ty is land­scape, wildlife and adven­ture-trav­el based trips around South­cen­tral Alas­ka — places like Chugach and Denali State parks, and the region’s acces­si­ble glaciers.

On this six-day, all-inclu­sive sum­mer­time expe­di­tion, you’ll head to gor­geous Kodi­ak Island with Dan M Lee and Jes­si­cal Hay­dahl, two pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers spe­cial­iz­ing in Alas­ka. Your small group tour includes two brown bear view­ing fly-outs and a marine wildlife tour. You’ll come away not only with bet­ter tech­ni­cal skills, but you’ll also learn how to think out­side the box in order to cap­ture the sto­ry behind the image, and how to document  ...more

Don’t just expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of Alas­ka — learn how best to cap­ture it on your cam­era. Trav­el with award-win­ning pho­tog­ra­ph­er Jeff Schultz and you’ll get per­son­al­ized, hands-on instruc­tion as you take in the state’s mag­nif­i­cent sights. Choose from cus­tom tours or small group tours with a max­i­mum of 6 par­tic­i­pants that depart through­out the year and include accom­mo­da­tions, trans­porta­tion, and meals.

Immerse your­self in a mul­ti-day Alaskan adven­ture that promis­es incred­i­ble views and jaw-drop­ping bear view­ing in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, along with a warm cama­raderie that only a small group expe­di­tion can cre­ate. Explore from your home base on the Island C, a research ves­sel that gets you close to the action while pro­vid­ing com­fort­able lodg­ing and deli­cious meals.

This fall pho­tog­ra­phy trip offers some of the best pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties in Alas­ka as the sea­sons change. Head to Lake Clark Nation­al Park for griz­zly bears, turquoise-col­ored lakes, snow­capped moun­tains and the bright gold col­ors of fall. You’ll also spend a half day pho­tograph­ing moose, and a heli­copter flight to an ice­berg-filled glacial lake only acces­si­ble by air. Fall can also be a won­der­ful time to pho­to­graph the auro­ra bore­alis, weather  ...more

South­cen­tral Alas­ka is a fall col­or pho­tog­ra­phers dream. This pho­to tour is per­son­al­ly craft­ed and led by Michael DeY­oung and his wife, Lau­ri; they make up one of Alaska’s most sea­soned trav­el and adven­ture pho­tog­ra­phy teams, bring­ing more than 30 years of expe­ri­ence pho­tograph­ing and adven­tur­ing in this area.

Explore Alaska’s Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park ful­ly with a three-day/t­wo-night cus­tom adven­ture per­fect for fam­i­lies or cou­ples. Alas­ka Fjord Char­ters guides you to the best mix of kayak­ing, glac­i­er view­ing, whale watch­ing, and fish­ing, all in one leisure­ly tour. 

This South­east Alas­ka-based tour oper­a­tor will leave you with a new def­i­n­i­tion of what it means to have a once-in-a-life­time Alas­ka cruise: You sail on an inti­mate ves­sel — often get­ting to steer your­self, under the super­vi­sion of an expe­ri­enced licensed cap­tain — while explor­ing away from the crowds, and get­ting a won­der­ful­ly up-close view of the wildlife and scenery. Sail­ings from Juneau and Sitka. 

Immerse your­self in a mul­ti-day Alaskan adven­ture that promis­es incred­i­ble views and jaw-drop­ping bear view­ing in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, along with a warm cama­raderie that only a small group expe­di­tion can cre­ate. Explore from your home base on the Island C, a research ves­sel that gets you close to the action while pro­vid­ing com­fort­able lodg­ing and deli­cious meals.

Set sail for 5 days and 4 nights with the crew of the M/V Sea Star for small ship adven­ture cruis­ing in Prince William Sound, Kenai Penin­su­la or along the Inside Pas­sage. The well-appoint­ed yacht accom­mo­dates just 12 guests, allow­ing for a per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ence where you are the explor­er! Unplug from day-to-day life and soak up the won­ders of Alaska’s amaz­ing coast­line. All meals pre­pared by an on-board chef and fea­tur­ing fresh local  ...more

Spend the after­noon, or a few days explor­ing the waters of Res­ur­rec­tion Bay and Prince William Sound aboard the M/V Car­o­line, a beau­ti­ful cus­tom-built yacht set for adven­ture! It’s the per­fect set­ting for a fam­i­ly or small group vaca­tion. Fill your days loung­ing on the fly­bridge, fish­ing, kayak­ing, strolling beach­es and cruis­ing to your next fan­tas­tic destination.

Explore the nat­ur­al won­ders of north­west­ern Prince William Sound Alas­ka in this 3‑day ver­sion of our Clas­sic Dis­cov­ery Voy­age. This is the per­fect cruise for those who don’t have time to do the whole Inside Pas­sage or wish to com­bine their Alas­ka cruise with more shore-based activities. 

Per­fect for the adven­tur­ous trav­el­er, the Hike and Kayak voy­age sees all the same sites as on our Clas­sic voy­age, but with more excur­sions. Kayak among ice­bergs, hike through moun­tain mead­ows, and take in the scenery on this unique trip. Activ­i­ties can be cus­tomized to suit the inter­ests and activ­i­ty lev­el of those on board.

Set sail for 5 days and 4 nights with the crew of the M/V Sea Star for small ship adven­ture cruis­ing in Prince William Sound, Kenai Penin­su­la or along the Inside Pas­sage. The well-appoint­ed yacht accom­mo­dates just 12 guests, allow­ing for a per­son­al­ized expe­ri­ence where you are the explor­er! Unplug from day-to-day life and soak up the won­ders of Alaska’s amaz­ing coast­line. All meals pre­pared by an on-board chef and fea­tur­ing fresh local  ...more

This fly-in-only lodge fea­tures two seclud­ed chalets set amid a stun­ning mix­ture of sea, for­est, and a glac­i­er-formed lake. Enjoy guid­ed walks, cus­tom zodi­ac tours on the lake, bon­fires on the beach, and relax­ation at your pri­vate chalet. The rate includes trans­porta­tion to and from the lodge, kayaks, and activ­i­ties. There’s a cen­tral cook­house for prepar­ing meals. 

Enjoy the seren­i­ty of this inti­mate, all-inclu­sive lodge, which sits on a pri­vate beach just a 20-minute water taxi ride from Homer. Fam­i­ly-run and com­plete­ly ren­o­vat­ed in 2022, the Lodge at Otter Cove offers four cozy, rus­tic cab­ins, 3 deli­cious meals a day, and a vari­ety of activ­i­ties to choose from. 

For a lot of trav­el­ers, explor­ing deep into Denali Nation­al Park, far from the crowds, sounds like the ide­al way to expe­ri­ence the famous park. But not every­one wants to rough it out there — which is why this lodge is the per­fect bal­ance, a com­fort­able perch in seri­ous­ly remote wilderness.

Stay­ing at the remote Kenai Back­coun­try Lodge with­in the Kenai Nation­al Wildlife Refuge offers a real taste of the wilder­ness. The lodge, locat­ed on a five-acre, pri­vate in-hold­ing, began as a riv­er-accessed hunt­ing cab­in back in 1935. Years lat­er, the remod­eled and expand­ed prop­er­ty is still road-free, and guests raft into the lodge. Alas­ka Wild­land Adven­tures pride them­selves on a ​‘leave no trace’ style of eco-tourism. 

Out­side of pitch­ing a tent on a beach with the bears, you can’t stay any clos­er to the heart of Glac­i­er Bay Nation­al Park & Pre­serve. The Glac­i­er Bay Lodge, with its mas­sive tim­bers, huge stone fire­place, net­work of board­walks and rooms tucked into the trees, is the only lodg­ing avail­able with­in park bound­aries. Fab­u­lous views, a full-ser­vice restau­rant, trails through the rain­for­est, camp­ing and kayak drop-offs, moun­tain-bike and  ...more

In the best way pos­si­ble. you’re out­num­bered by bears dur­ing your stay at this pri­vate fly-in wilder­ness camp. Fly by char­tered plane from Homer to Alas­ka Bear Camp on a 4‑night, 5‑day all-inclu­sive pack­age. This deluxe back­coun­try camp accom­mo­dates just 14 guests in some of the best bear habi­tat in the world. In con­trast to day trips cater­ing to dozens of vis­i­tors at a time, Bear Camp offers a rare and exclu­sive wilder­ness immersion.

Explor­ing Alaska’s back­coun­try lakes, forests and rivers is a phe­nom­e­nal expe­ri­ence. Wilder­ness Place Lodge — tucked away on a remote riv­er north­west of Anchor­age — offers excel­lent access to near­ly any fresh­wa­ter fish you came to Alas­ka for, along with a unique eco-trav­el expe­ri­ence that comes with a high lev­el of ser­vice, a vari­ety of non-fish­ing activ­i­ties and the mel­low free­dom to cre­ate an Alaskan expe­ri­ence that suits your own taste.

This fly-in lodge on a pri­vate lake in the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains is a great place to unplug. It is also an ide­al des­ti­na­tion to escape the crowds as the lodge only accom­mo­dates small groups of 10 or less. Take guid­ed hikes to look for wildlife and enjoy nature, kayak, go fish­ing, pick wild berries, or just relax and enjoy the peace and bliss­ful views. 

Locat­ed with­in a 1700 acre native-owned wildlife sanc­tu­ary in the heart of Kenai Fjords Nation­al Park, the cen­tral lodge and 16 guest cab­ins of Kenai Fjords Glac­i­er Lodge have full views of Ped­er­sen Glac­i­er and easy access to wildlife-view­ing adven­tures. The ele­gant­ly rus­tic lodge and seclud­ed guest cab­ins pair mod­ern com­fort and envi­ron­men­tal stewardship.

The McBride Fam­i­ly has per­fect­ed their all-inclu­sive world-class Alaskan expe­ri­ence. Their amaz­ing local Alaskan team and pro­fes­sion­al guides will per­son­al­ize and cus­tomize your stay based on your inter­ests, the tides, and the weath­er. Your days can be qui­et and relax­ing or filled with action-packed adven­tures includ­ing sea kayak­ing, hik­ing, casu­al beach fish­ing, tide pool­ing, marine and wildlife view­ing, boat excur­sions, beach camp­fires, bird  ...more

Expe­ri­ence com­plete immer­sion in the won­ders of wild coastal Alas­ka, and stay in spa­cious, bright yurts (cir­cu­lar, rein­forced tent-like struc­tures) on a pri­vate island in Humpy Cove. Inside, the yurts are warm and com­fy with fire­places, pri­vate bath­rooms and pri­vate decks over­look­ing the cove all con­nect­ed by exten­sive board­walks. They water taxis is includ­ed along with sea kayaks, pad­dle­boards, row­boats, and fish­ing gear. All of this is just a  ...more

Whether you’re look­ing to take your fam­i­ly off-grid for a bit of Alas­ka Adven­tur­ing, or for a great fish­ing spot with your bud­dies with incred­i­ble bear-view­ing — or if you’re even an artist look­ing for inspi­ra­tion — this lodge made up of new­ly ren­o­vat­ed log cab­ins offers a cus­tomized ide­al of bliss. It’s about 180 miles from the near­est road and offers an idyl­lic perch for explor­ing both the wilder­ness of Lake Clark Nation­al Park, as well as other  ...more

Remote and exclu­sive, this fam­i­ly-owned lodge north of the Arc­tic Cir­cle offers inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers an expe­ri­ence far off the grid. The sum­mer high sea­son brings fab­u­lous hik­ing, fish­ing or float­ing under the Mid­night Sun — but you’ll still be able to relax in com­fort, and nev­er feel like you’re rough­ing it.

The North­woods Lodge is a remote lodge where vis­i­tors can find them­selves in a 45 minute flight from Anchor­age. The lodge spe­cial­izes in guid­ed fish­ing, and guests can enjoy 8 to 10 hours of fish­ing a day if they choose. Guides help you spin or fly fish for tro­phy king salmon, sil­ver and sock­eye salmon, or res­i­dent rain­bow trout, arc­tic grayling and north­ern pike

Your own idyl­lic log chalet —is sur­round­ed by more than a mil­lion acres of Kachemak Bay State Wilder­ness Park and Kenai Fjords Nation­al Mon­u­ment. Every day offers a first-class adven­ture. There are miles of love­ly hik­ing trails and trout fish­ing sup­plies are pro­vid­ed. You may ask the pilot to return and take you for a day of brown bear view­ing, or oth­er fly-out adven­ture! Immers­ing your­self in some of the best of Alas­ka involves just a  ...more

Expe­ri­ence true remote Alas­ka at this fly-in wilder­ness lodge north­east of Denali Nation­al Park. There are 12 cab­ins, each with its own en suite bath­room and plen­ty of pri­va­cy from your neigh­bors. This slice of wilder­ness is yours to explore; hike, fat-tire bike, or wan­der down to the pond to watch for moose. Hearty meals are served fam­i­ly style in the main lodge.

Kan­tish­na is a his­toric gold­min­ing dis­trict in the back­coun­try of Denali Nation­al Park. Among the most remote areas of the park, you can stay in a cozy cab­in and spend your days play­ing, explor­ing and relax­ing in the wilder­ness. Kan­tish­na Road­house is the only lodge in the area with a full-ser­vice saloon.

Alaska’s Ridge­wood Wilder­ness Lodge is a pre­mier, full-ser­vice des­ti­na­tion lodge in Hal­ibut Cove adja­cent to the Kachemak Bay State Park. Your hosts under­stand that expe­ri­enc­ing Alaska’s great out­doors is a pri­ma­ry goal for those active in mind and spir­it, so they have designed numer­ous guid­ed adven­tures to choose from, includ­ing hik­ing, glac­i­er kayak­ing & wildlife view­ing. You can also add-on a fish­ing char­ter or bear view­ing tour during  ...more

The Ulti­ma Thule Lodge offers you two extremes — though extremes of the best kind pos­si­ble. This unique and pri­vate lodge is one of the most lux­u­ri­ous places to stay in Alas­ka — they’ve host­ed both the rich and famous — but it’s also tucked inside the vast wilds of the nation’s largest, and most remote, nation­al park. Sec­ond gen­er­a­tion hosts, Paul and Don­na Claus (he an inter­na­tion­al­ly revered bush pilot, she a retired ski rac­er and first class chef)  ...more

At Camp Denali, you’ll immerse your­self in a remote back­coun­try, but with a cozy bed to set­tle into each night. Take in the qui­et of the sur­round­ing wilder­ness and enjoy the sim­ple, sus­tain­able ameni­ties for around 38 guests. Here, the bal­ance of ​“light touch on the land” and pro­vid­ing a com­fort­able stay is per­fect­ed. Refined rus­tic guest cab­ins, each of which claims a unique view of Denali, sleep from two to six people.