Alaska Guided Hiking Trips & Lodges

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.

Embrace Win­ter on an epic cold-weath­er snow­shoe trek out of Moose Pass, a small town on the Kenai Penin­su­la, in the heart of the Chugach Moun­tains. Extend the expe­ri­ence with an overnight or 2‑night stay in a hand­made, Mon­go­lian-style yurt on the shores of remote Grant Lake.

Start with a dra­mat­ic flight­see­ing trip in either a heli­copter or ski plane and then get out onto an ancient riv­er of ice for a thrilling glac­i­er explo­ration either hik­ing or climbing.

Take a spec­tac­u­lar pri­vate guid­ed hik­ing tour in Seward — where the moun­tains meet the ocean — to explore glac­i­ers and alpine ridges. When you go with Seward Wilder­ness Col­lec­tive, you get a great tour plus a dia­logue with their knowl­edge­able guides about the impacts of cli­mate change, with liv­ing exam­ples right in front of your eyes.

If you’ve nev­er walked on a glac­i­er, this is your chance. Going with expe­ri­enced guides, you’ll leave from Ken­ni­cott, hike two miles, and spend the next sev­er­al hours on the Root Glac­i­er, safe­ly explor­ing the blue ice, blue pool, canyons, and moulins of this extra­or­di­nary nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non. Choose a half- or full-day tour and learn all about nat­ur­al and human his­to­ry from your expert guides along the way. Or ramp up the excite­ment by going ice  ...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

A third of Wrangell — St. Elias Nation­al Park is cov­ered in glacial ice, mak­ing it one of the eas­i­est places to access a glac­i­er in Alas­ka. Strap on the pro­vid­ed cram­pons and explore the stun­ning fea­tures of the glac­i­er with expert guid­ance — rivers and water­falls, crevass­es and blue pools wait to be dis­cov­ered. Or, take on the chal­lenge of scal­ing the dra­mat­ic icy walls of a glac­i­er on an ice climb­ing trip.

Fly in and out of remote loca­tions in the gor­geous Wrangell-St. Elias Nation­al Park and expe­ri­ence the true wilder­ness of the Alaskan back­coun­try. Keep­ing it min­i­mal and unplug­ging com­plete­ly, you’ll sleep in a tent and wake up refreshed and exhil­a­rat­ed by the sights and sounds of these raw wilds. Mod­er­ate mini-Back­pack­ing excur­sions for begin­ners, or point-to-point hikes for expe­ri­enced back­pack­ers that match your abilities.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of try­ing out a new sport: pack­raft­ing. Led by expert guides, you’ll leave from the town of Ken­ni­cott out to the Alaskan back­coun­try, then strap a raft to your back (it’s under 9 pounds) and set off on an inter­pre­tive walk down to a lake. Then unpack the raft and put in the water. You’ll learn how to use and maneu­ver these unique boats in Class I‑II water, and even have the pos­si­bil­i­ty of tak­ing on some Class III rapids.  ...more

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. 

Don’t just vis­it icon­ic Denali Nation­al Park, expe­ri­ence it by gain­ing a real under­stand­ing of the wilder­ness. North­ern Epics’ small-group walk­ing and hik­ing tours have an edu­ca­tion­al empha­sis so you can learn how the entire ecosys­tem fits togeth­er. Choose an easy walk, a rugged moun­tain trek, or opt for the sur­vival tour where you’ll do some off-tri­al hik­ing and learn skills like how to build a shel­ter and iden­ti­fy edi­ble berries. 

New Wave Adven­tures pro­vides expe­ri­enced guides who go beyond guid­ing your way — they enrich your jour­ney with insights into the area’s his­to­ry, flo­ra, fau­na, and geol­o­gy. Choose from 3 hikes in the Denali area: Oxbow, Triple Lakes, or Rock Creek.

Explore Denali Nation­al Park with Alas­ka Geo­graph­ic on an edu­ca­tion­al day tour led by a sci­ence edu­ca­tor. Dive into the park’s ecosys­tem, his­to­ry, and wildlife through hands-on expe­ri­ences, off-trail hik­ing, and unique sen­so­ry engage­ments. Suit­able for any­one aged 8 and up, the tour includes stops at sig­nif­i­cant sites like the East Fork of the Tok­lat Riv­er and offers inti­mate insights into the sci­ence and research of Denali. Enjoy a  ...more

For­get the trail­head on your next hike. Instead, take a short but very scenic heli­copter ride to a spe­cial wilder­ness area just out­side Denali Nation­al Park and start your trek from there. Your guide will lead your small group on a soft-adven­ture hike above the tree line, with sweep­ing views. You’ll learn about iden­ti­fy­ing ani­mal tracks and the local flo­ra and fau­na, and of course have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spot wildlife like bears, moose, and Dall  ...more

Small group back­pack­ing and base­camp hik­ing adven­tures in Denali, Gates of the Arc­tic, Wrangell St. Elias, Kobuk, and Lake Clark Nation­al Parks. Begin­ners with a high lev­el of fit­ness are wel­come but hav­ing com­plet­ed at least a few back­pack­ing trips is rec­om­mend­ed. Your guides are high­ly trained trip lead­ers who have glob­al moun­taineer­ing expe­ri­ence and wilder­ness med­ical training.

South­east Alas­ka is home to the Ton­gass Nation­al For­est, where near­ly 17 mil­lion acres of glac­i­ers, moun­tains, rivers, and fjords com­ple­ment old-growth forests of spruce, cedar, and hem­lock. Walk among these giant sen­tinels, some well over 500 years old, and breathe in the pris­tine air that they pro­vide in one of North America’s largest car­bon sinks. Expe­ri­ence this world-renowned gem of a rain­for­est on a guid­ed hike or an SUV tour when you stop  ...more

Board a rigid-hull inflat­able boat for a 20-minute ride out to a seclud­ed island. Weave through a series of small islands with mas­sive cliffs that rise hun­dreds of feet out of the ocean, check out active bald eagle nests and look for sea lions and seabird rook­eries along the way. Once at the island, you’ll climb out on the beach, break out into small­er groups, and set off on a stun­ning hike on a board­walk that snakes through the rainforest.  ...more

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!

Glac­i­er trekking, kayak­ing, ice climb­ing, and oth­er activ­i­ties are even more spe­cial when com­bined with a spec­tac­u­lar heli­copter ride through Alaska’s dra­mat­ic scenery. Thanks to key part­ner­ships with oth­er expe­ri­enced Alaskan tour oper­a­tors, Palmer based Out­bound Heli Adven­tures is able to coor­di­nate seam­less out­ings of a life­time! And, they pride them­selves on offer­ing the most amount of flight time with their excursions.

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.

Expe­ri­ence the wilder­ness of the Chugach Nation­al For­est from sev­er­al dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives. Com­bine a heli­copter ride, alpine hike, glacial lake tour, and train ride all in 9 – 10 hours! It’s one big and bold Alas­ka tour de force with Chugach Adventures.

Dis­cov­er Alaska’s scenic gem, Portage Val­ley — just an hour from Anchor­age with Glac­i­er City Raft­ing & Hik­ing. Offer­ing small-group tours guid­ed by knowl­edge­able locals, and explore glacial lakes, snow-capped peaks, and wildlife.

Walk­ing out across the ice of Alaska’s largest road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er is an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence that you can take advan­tage of year-round — and it’s just a two-hour dri­ve from Anchorage.

Lift off in a heli­copter for an incred­i­bly scenic 15-minute flight over the Knik Riv­er on your way to the Knik Glac­i­er. Once you’ve land­ed, your guide will help you get equipped with all the gear you need to make your ascent up the glac­i­er wall or down into a glacial moulin, includ­ing rope, har­ness, hel­met, boots, cram­pons, and ice tools. Nev­er ice climbed before? No problem

Tak­ing a TEM­SCO heli­copter tour shows off the Gold Rush lands around Skag­way in a new light, reveal­ing gor­geous, glac­i­er-filled val­leys, tum­bling water­falls and peak after icy peak at the north end of the Juneau Ice­field. Then land on a remote glac­i­er for an excit­ing guid­ed jour­ney on ice that was formed thou­sands of years ago!

Shim­mer­ing lakes, snow-capped peaks, water­falls, old-growth rain­for­est, and stun­ning views: Ton­gass Nation­al For­est is filled with gor­geous, remote spots that are icon­i­cal­ly Alaskan. And the best way to see them is on foot, dur­ing a pri­vate, per­son­al­ized hike with Ton­gass Treks, on the trails around Sit­ka. It’s an inti­mate, authen­tic expe­ri­ence with lots of amaz­ing pho­to ops! 

If you’ve nev­er walked on a glac­i­er, this is your chance. Going with expe­ri­enced guides, you’ll leave from Ken­ni­cott, hike two miles, and spend the next sev­er­al hours on the Root Glac­i­er, safe­ly explor­ing the blue ice, blue pool, canyons, and moulins of this extra­or­di­nary nat­ur­al phe­nom­e­non. Choose a half- or full-day tour and learn all about nat­ur­al and human his­to­ry from your expert guides along the way. Or ramp up the excite­ment by going ice  ...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

Small group back­pack­ing and base­camp hik­ing adven­tures in Denali, Gates of the Arc­tic, Wrangell St. Elias, Kobuk, and Lake Clark Nation­al Parks. Begin­ners with a high lev­el of fit­ness are wel­come but hav­ing com­plet­ed at least a few back­pack­ing trips is rec­om­mend­ed. Your guides are high­ly trained trip lead­ers who have glob­al moun­taineer­ing expe­ri­ence and wilder­ness med­ical training.

A third of Wrangell — St. Elias Nation­al Park is cov­ered in glacial ice, mak­ing it one of the eas­i­est places to access a glac­i­er in Alas­ka. Strap on the pro­vid­ed cram­pons and explore the stun­ning fea­tures of the glac­i­er with expert guid­ance — rivers and water­falls, crevass­es and blue pools wait to be dis­cov­ered. Or, take on the chal­lenge of scal­ing the dra­mat­ic icy walls of a glac­i­er on an ice climb­ing trip.

Fly in and out of remote loca­tions in the gor­geous Wrangell-St. Elias Nation­al Park and expe­ri­ence the true wilder­ness of the Alaskan back­coun­try. Keep­ing it min­i­mal and unplug­ging com­plete­ly, you’ll sleep in a tent and wake up refreshed and exhil­a­rat­ed by the sights and sounds of these raw wilds. Mod­er­ate mini-Back­pack­ing excur­sions for begin­ners, or point-to-point hikes for expe­ri­enced back­pack­ers that match your abilities.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of try­ing out a new sport: pack­raft­ing. Led by expert guides, you’ll leave from the town of Ken­ni­cott out to the Alaskan back­coun­try, then strap a raft to your back (it’s under 9 pounds) and set off on an inter­pre­tive walk down to a lake. Then unpack the raft and put in the water. You’ll learn how to use and maneu­ver these unique boats in Class I‑II water, and even have the pos­si­bil­i­ty of tak­ing on some Class III rapids.  ...more

This fam­i­ly-owned, fly-in lux­u­ry wilder­ness lodge is 200 miles north of Fair­banks and 60 miles above the Arc­tic Cir­cle. Stays are all-inclu­sive and exclu­sive — they only accept one group at a time. Go dogsled­ding, snow­shoe­ing, or scan the skies for the north­ern lights. The lodge’s huge pic­ture win­dows make it easy to keep a look­out for the auro­ra from a warm, com­fort­able interior.

North­ern Alas­ka Tour Com­pa­ny offers sev­er­al tours that trans­port vis­i­tors to the Arc­tic Cir­cle. You can fly, dri­ve, or do a com­bi­na­tion of the two, depend­ing on your trav­el pref­er­ence and how much time you have. The most pop­u­lar tour is the fly-and-dri­ve excur­sion, which gives you incred­i­ble views from the air and a tour of the town of Cold­foot, fol­lowed by a dri­ve back to Fairbanks.

Remote, exclu­sive, and all-inclu­sive, this fam­i­ly-owned lodge locat­ed north of the Arc­tic Cir­cle on the edge of Gates of the Arc­tic Nation­al Park caters to inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers look­ing for com­fort off the beat­en path. The sum­mer sea­son offers hik­ing for all fit­ness lev­els, fish­ing, boat­ing, and canoe­ing under the Mid­night Sun. Only one group is booked at a time, and a ​‘concierge guide’ is includ­ed for the dura­tion of your trip.

Small group back­pack­ing and base­camp hik­ing adven­tures in Denali, Gates of the Arc­tic, Wrangell St. Elias, Kobuk, and Lake Clark Nation­al Parks. Begin­ners with a high lev­el of fit­ness are wel­come but hav­ing com­plet­ed at least a few back­pack­ing trips is rec­om­mend­ed. Your guides are high­ly trained trip lead­ers who have glob­al moun­taineer­ing expe­ri­ence and wilder­ness med­ical training.

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.

A tour aboard a TEM­SCO heli­copter offers beau­ti­ful views of Alaska’s Cap­i­tal City, and up-close explo­ration of Menden­hall, one of the state’s most acces­si­ble glac­i­ers. Look out on alpine lakes, moraines, and crevass­es before you land and check out the Juneau Ice­field for yourself.

Canoe across a lake to Menden­hall Glac­i­er glac­i­er, Keep­ing an eye out for arc­tic terns, moun­tain goats, and ice­bergs float­ing in the water. Then, land on the glac­i­er beach and walk about a mile along­side the glac­i­er, explor­ing as you go — there may even be ice caves to check out.

Expe­ri­ence the ulti­mate Alaskan adven­ture with Above & Beyond Alaska’s Fly-In Glac­i­er Hike & Pack­raft tour! Explore glac­i­ers in a 5‑hour jour­ney, includ­ing flight­see­ing, hik­ing, and pack­raft­ing. Max­i­mum 6 peo­ple per tour.

Feel the tru­ly unique thrill of walk­ing on an ancient glac­i­er. This unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence begins with a canoe trip to the glac­i­er, where you’ll don cram­pons and explore the gor­geous blue ice…no expe­ri­ence required!

North­star Heli­copters oper­ates out of Juneau and caters to all styles of explo­ration. The curi­ous glac­i­er observ­er can sim­ply fly to the glac­i­er and snap pho­tographs from flat or rolling ter­rain. You can also choose to hike on the glac­i­er itself. If you’re very adven­tur­ous, you can even learn how to climb on the ice walls. No mat­ter which option you choose, North­Star Heli­copters will guide you all the way, mak­ing sure you get the most out of this  ...more

Lift off in a heli­copter for an incred­i­bly scenic 15-minute flight over the Knik Riv­er on your way to the Knik Glac­i­er. Once you’ve land­ed, your guide will help you get equipped with all the gear you need to make your ascent up the glac­i­er wall or down into a glacial moulin, includ­ing rope, har­ness, hel­met, boots, cram­pons, and ice tools. Nev­er ice climbed before? No problem

Glac­i­er trekking, kayak­ing, ice climb­ing, and oth­er activ­i­ties are even more spe­cial when com­bined with a spec­tac­u­lar heli­copter ride through Alaska’s dra­mat­ic scenery. Thanks to key part­ner­ships with oth­er expe­ri­enced Alaskan tour oper­a­tors, Palmer based Out­bound Heli Adven­tures is able to coor­di­nate seam­less out­ings of a life­time! And, they pride them­selves on offer­ing the most amount of flight time with their excursions.

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

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of heli-flight­see­ing year-round by fly­ing with the expe­ri­enced pilots from Heli Alas­ka, out of Wasil­la. Just 40-min­utes north of Anchor­age, you’ll take off from a dock and be on your way to see Alas­ka from the air, look­ing down on glac­i­ers, tun­dra, and wildlife. Many tours even include a glac­i­er land­ing to explore these ancient rivers of ice on foot.

Sam­ple a vari­ety of Alaskan activ­i­ties year-round through this orga­ni­za­tion that’s all about show­cas­ing the com­mu­ni­ty of Two Rivers. The sig­na­ture Taste of Two Rivers Tour includes a dog sled demon­stra­tion, gold pan­ning, and an oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet & pet rein­deer. Oth­er sum­mer tours include hikes with rein­deer and vis­it­ing a peony farm. In win­ter, go dog sled­ding (day or mul­ti-day expe­di­tion) and view the north­ern lights. 

Vis­it the world’s old­est Siber­ian Husky ken­nel any time of the year with tour options rang­ing from a cou­ple of hours in the sum­mer to mul­ti-day win­ter adven­tures explor­ing Fairbanks.

Embrace Win­ter on an epic cold-weath­er snow­shoe trek out of Moose Pass, a small town on the Kenai Penin­su­la, in the heart of the Chugach Moun­tains. Extend the expe­ri­ence with an overnight or 2‑night stay in a hand­made, Mon­go­lian-style yurt on the shores of remote Grant Lake.

Scenic vis­tas, glacial lakes, and Gold Rush his­to­ry come togeth­er in the Moose Pass area, just north of Seward, mak­ing it an ide­al spot to kayak, pack­raft, and hike. Trav­el with the experts of Moose Pass Adven­tures and you’ll expe­ri­ence this mag­i­cal area on a day tour or overnight get­away to a back­coun­try yurt with an inti­mate group with expe­ri­enced, pas­sion­ate guides.

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

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.

Explore Alas­ka on foot — take a scenic day hike into the South Denali area. Choose one of 3 great hikes; from an easy, 2‑mile stroll to a mod­er­ate­ly stren­u­ous 5½-hour hike. You’ll get spec­tac­u­lar views and see plen­ty of wildlife as you trek with your expe­ri­enced nat­u­ral­ist guide. Depend­ing on the hike you may pass pris­tine lakes, see an old pioneer’s cab­in, catch a glimpse of Mt. McKin­ley, and even have the chance to spot for­ag­ing bears. These  ...more

Go hik­ing in the Alaskan wilder­ness, but book­end your hike with a spec­tac­u­lar heli­copter ride. Lift off from Tal­keet­na for a short, scenic flight into the bore­al for­est around town. Then get ready to start hik­ing with your expe­ri­enced nat­u­ral­ist guide. You’ll get great views of Denali, the Alas­ka Range, and count­less moun­tain peaks as you walk through the alpine tun­dra of the South Denali area — it’s a hiker’s par­adise only acces­si­ble by chopper.  ...more

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!

There’s climb­ing a moun­tain – and then there’s climb­ing an ICE moun­tain. Regard­less of your climb­ing abil­i­ty or expe­ri­ence, you’ll end the day feel­ing ful­filled and inspired. MICA also offers short, guid­ed hikes and longer treks if you pre­fer a more leisure­ly explore of the glac­i­er and its grandeur.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of walk­ing or climb­ing on a glac­i­er. The Matanus­ka is Alaska’s largest road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er, and it’s just 90 min­utes from Anchor­age, so it’s an easy way to get up close and per­son­al with these amaz­ing nat­ur­al won­ders. You don’t need to be expe­ri­enced in either activ­i­ty — just be in good shape and up for adven­ture. You’ll either walk around on the glac­i­er with cram­pons or learn how to use an ice axe and safe­ly work your  ...more

Walk­ing out across the ice of Alaska’s largest road-acces­si­ble glac­i­er is an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence that you can take advan­tage of year-round — and it’s just a two-hour dri­ve from Anchorage.

Enjoy remote Alas­ka at its best. Go with this small, fam­i­ly-owned com­pa­ny in Homer for a mag­i­cal kayak­ing expe­ri­ence and a gor­geous hike to an ice­berg-stud­ded glac­i­er lake!