Alaskan Coast and Mountains Adventure

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8-Day Lodge-based Multi-Sport Adventure

$14995 USD

per person based on double occupancy

2022 Dates:

June – Sept by request

Deposit: $3000  Meeting Place: Anchorage, AK  Gateway City: Anchorage, AK  Age Range: 8-80

For many visitors, a trip to Alaska is a blur, typically glimpsed from the deck of a cruise ship, tour bus or sight-seeing train. The real Alaska, the largest state of the union, a vast expanse that redefines the term, “wilderness” is rarely experienced. However, ROAM has an Alaskan trip that will be sure to deliver. In one week, we’ll explore both the coast and mountains in a style that only a few ever experience.

Our trip starts in Anchorage, which is easily accessible from the Lower 48. Wedged between 5000-foot peaks and an inlet filled with salmon and whales, the Big Apple of the north is unlike any other US city. This is a city where bears are seen wandering bike paths, moose munch on neighbourhood gardens, and locals pull salmon from a creek within blocks of hotels and office buildings.

For our purposes, Anchorage is the jumping point to Homer and ultimately to Halibut Cove. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, on the south side of Kachemak Bay, Halibut Cove is a peaceful, quaint community surrounded by mountains, forests, glaciers, coastline and ocean, and is home to abundant wildlife. Based out of the lovely Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge, we’ll partake in daily kayaking, hiking, fishing and wildlife viewing excursions such as a float plane outing to a private bear viewing spot in Katmai, just 6 miles from the world famous McNeill River.

After 4 days and a myriad of coastal experiences, we head back to Anchorage in time for our private helicopter to whisk us to our next lodge, perched on a glacier at almost 6000 feet in the Alaska Ranges. Just ten miles from the summit of Denali, we’ll spend three glorious days and nights exploring the Don Sheldon Amphitheater in total style.

One of the most luxurious lodges in Alaska, and one of the most remote anywhere, the Sheldon Chalet is perched on a rocky glacier outcropping, or nunatak, smack in the middle of Denali National Park. From its wraparound windows, the Chalet’s guests—a maximum of 10 at any given time—can watch the aurora borealis dance around the sky or survey an endless horizon of jagged peaks blanketed in untouched snow. The only thing between them and the nearest summit is a sheer vertical rock wall that’s twice the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa skyscraper.

There is no set itinerary. Instead, your guides will craft the day’s explorations based on your abilities, interests and of course, Mother Nature. Common activities include glacier trekking, ice cave spelunking, crevasse exploration, sledding, snowshoeing, rappelling, curated picnics, ice or rock climbing, enjoying the rooftop firepit, sauna or simply soaking up the immense scenery.

ROAM Adventures offers the real, raw and rugged Alaska, not cruise terminal and gift shops. Let us get you well off the beaten path and into the glorious back of beyond.

Itinerary at a Glance

  • Arrive in Anchorage and explore its quirky shops and museums
  • Take a classic floatplane ride to Homer and Halibut Cove
  • Hike and kayak to glaciers, paddle among icebergs
  • Watch grizzlies in their natural habitat
  • Explore Alaskan villages, galleries, beaches and tide pools
  • Learn about oyster harvesting, indulge in fabulous Alaskan seafood
  • Paddle a chain of lakes and sea kayak on the ocean
  • Return to Anchorage before transferring via helicopter to Sheldon Chalet
  • Fly over massive glaciers and snow-capped peaks
  • Heli flight-see to Denali—North America’s highest mountain
  • Stay 3 nights on a glacier in Alaska’s most prestigious chalet
  • Explore ice caves, crevasses and a massive glacier
  • Sled, rappel, learn to rock or climb
  • Soak up the views and enjoy exquisite meals
  • Return to Anchorage for flights home

What to Expect on the Southern Iceland Multi-Sport Adventure

DAY 1 – Arrive in Archorage

Arrival into Anchorage, take a taxi to your designated hotel. Welcome dinner and cocktails

Explore Anchorage’s quirky restaurants and shops and interactive museums.

DAY 2 – Flight to Homer and Halibut Cove

Today we catch a flight to Homer, where we’ll take scenic water taxi ride to the island and Halibut Cove. Check into Ridgewood Wilderness Lodge, get an orientation and then your afternoon may include a hike, bird watching or kayaking. Tonight, we’ll enjoy a wonderful dinner and cocktails.

Overnight Ridgewood

DAY 3 – Glacier kayak or hike, wildlife and cultural tours

Choose from a plethora of activities such as kayaking with glaciers, various hiking routes in the national park, a birding, wildlife viewing and cultural tour, oyster farming, glacier kayaking, paddling lake chains and fishing, m national park hikes, kayaking. Wander the beach and check out the intertidal pools or sip a drink on the deck.

Overnight Ridgewood

DAY 4 – Bears and more bears

After an early breakfast we take a float plane across Cook Inlet to the Alaska Peninsula and spend a full day with our guides exploring and following the bears through the tundra and along the rivers. June to mid-July finds us on the coastal sedge flats, watching bears as they beachcomb and browse on succulent spring grass. It’s mating season and you may see large males pursuing females. It’s also time when cubs are introduced into the population. Late July through August the rivers fill with salmon returning to streams where they spawned, and our local bruins will be waiting as the fish fight their way upstream. In autumn, we find the bears fat and sleek as they bounce between salmon rivers and abundant berries on the hillsides, as they get ready to den.

Overnight Ridgewood

DAY 5 – Flight to Anchorage, Sheldon Chalet

Today we’ll catch our flight back to Anchorage, where we will be whisked by helicopter to the heart of Denali National Park. Arriving at Sheldon Glacier leaves most people speechless. This is Alaska’s most outrageous hotel and is exclusively yours for the next three nights. Upon arrival your guides will go over all the activity options available.

Overnight Sheldon Chalet

DAYS 6 & 7 – Glacial explorations

If just being at this location is not enough, the next days will be filled with exciting excursions and explorations out on the glacier. Ever wanted to try rock or ice climbing? How about glacier trekking and exploring ice caves and crevasses. It’s literally “Glaciers 101” as your guides allow you to pick and choose your activities.

Overnight Sheldon Chalet

DAY 8 – Sheldon Chalet to Anchorage

After breakfast, we’ll jump back into our magic carpet and take a final flight seeing tour of the park and all the way to the coast and Anchorage, for flights home or other adventures that await.

 

 


Accommodations

 

Ridgewood Lodge

Indulge your senses for whales, porpoises, sea otters and seals from the decks that surround this handcrafted timber frame lodge. Spacious rooms with en suites and large windows, offer panoramic views of the bay, mountains and beach. Enjoy the views from a comfy deck chair while our hosts, and long-time sourdoughs, Ken and Lucinda Sidelinger, share their stories of pioneering oyster farming or trekking this land with their favorite Llamas.

Halibut Cove is a small island community in a majestic setting. There are approximately 100 summer time residents and visitors who enjoy the 1 local restaurant, boardwalks, and 2 art galleries that culminate on one end of the island.  Even Alaskans vacation to this part of the state to remind themselves of why they moved to Alaska in the first place.

Sheldon Chalet

The lodge is an architectural wonder, built in honor of the late Don Sheldon who pioneered travel into this area and secured 5 acres in the middle of the national park. It’s truly a one of a kind not to be replicated. Sheldon Chalet is an upgraded vision of that decades-old vision. Guests arrive via helicopter—a ride that takes them zooming through narrow slots in the surrounding canyons—and are greeted with Champagne and Alaska seafood hors d’oeuvres. It’s extravaganza upon arrival, as your brain can’t quite comprehend what your eyes are seeing. Most folks need a few breaths to take it all in.

Inside, there’s a living room called the Commons, anchored by a special Finnish fireplace that doubles as a high-efficiency, clean-combustion heating system. A family-style dining space is built around a beautiful, birchwood table handcrafted in Talkeetna. The rooms are sparsely designed, with faux fur throws and panoramic views, to keep guests’ focus squarely on the beauty outdoors. The Sheldon’s want the property to be carbon-neutral and believe they’re close to accomplishing this, thanks to generous solar panels and a runoff-powered water supply.

The lodge itself houses 10 guests in five rooms all with spectacular vistas and luxurious adornments. There’s a massive deck with a 360 degree view, fire pit and sauna. One of the hallmarks of this trip is that there is no set itinerary, which ensures that each day will be different. Once you arrive at the Sheldon Chalet, your guides will design each participant’s experience based on their fitness and interests. Daily activities can include glacier travel, spelunking, exploring ice caverns, sledding and even ice or rock climbing for those who desire to give it a try.