Final Thought and Suggestions for A Future Alaska Trip

Looking back, There are things we did and things I wish we had done, but no matter where you travel to you can never see everything. So we do hope to return to Alaska and spend time doing some of the things we couldn't on this trip. We also plan on repeating some of our favorite things.
So this post is really a list of things that I think are basic add ons and deletions, and are based on our activities and interests. Not everyone will agree and so if you have additions please post them as comments. Its a list of items that we will carry with us and things we will leave down south.

Some Things to take:

Buy a good camera with a telephoto lens. Our friends both had a much better camera then we did and their bear photos are so much better, with great resolution.

Really good binoculars, we love the Cannon Image stabilizer models and have birded with them for years.

Bear spray, purchased in Canada, so you can cross the borders with it. This is only if you are planning on hiking away from the road. I know I wish we had bought some, at least to give us a false sense of security:).

A good fly rod, at least eight weight and a matching fly reel. You can get by with a long spinning or casting rod and reel but a fly rod is so superior when it comes to high sticking and that's what it was all about for us, oh and a big net, but you can buy one there.

A bigger freezer! We took and Edgestar 43 quart and the small freezer in out fifth wheel and filled them with ten salmon and two small halibut. Two days limit of reds, on the Kenai, was twenty four fish for Renita and we could have easily caught that many.

A sluice box but we are into gold prospecting and rock hounding and will spend more time pursuing these activities,(we already had and always carry gold pans).

The Kindle, loaded with books

Some things to Leave Behind, or at Least Think About:

My Guns, Unless you are hiking and staying in the back country carrying a shotgun with slugs is a waste of weight and a hassle when crossing borders. The time I was most concerned about bears was when we were panning on Walker Fork Creek and hiking through the willows. I had my hands full of pans and buckets and couldn't have carried a gun if I wanted to.

Our canoe was another item that didn't get used. Now we did find some small and beautiful lakes on the Kenai Peninsula and we might actually use it next time but the rivers were too dangerous with lots of rapids and snags, too much for our level of paddling skills.

Bikes are another item we carried and did not use. Now there are some neat rides but we were so busy we didn't use them.

Our lapidary equipment also was never used, we were simply too busy.


I could go on and on but these are a few of my thoughts for future trips and this is my last post on our Alaska Adventure. Clear skies