Meet at the group hotel in Anchorage. A single timed transfer from Anchorage Airport is provided.

The guide will provide a pre-trip briefing over breakfast before the group boards the tour bus for the first stage of this Alaskan adventure. It's a 2-hour drive northwards to the town of Talkeetna, a place with a real pioneer feel and (on a clear day) some of the best views of Denali. There's time to have a look around the town and to make the 6-kilometre walk around picturesque Talkeetna Lakes Park. After lunch, we continue our journey on the Parks Highway for a further 2 hours through a spectacular landscape with views of the Talkeetna Mountains and the Alaska Range. Keep an eye out for wildlife such as caribou and moose, especially when crossing the open area at Broad Pass. Beyond Cantwell we reach our first campground on the edge of the Denali National Park.

At around 6190 metres, Denali is the highest mountain on the North American continent and has given its name to a vast national park which contains 6 million acres of Alaska's interior wilderness. An enormous variety of wildlife thrives here; there are estimated to be around 500 bears, 3000 caribou, 2000 moose and 160 wolves that call this region home. We may also be lucky enough to spot golden eagles and the famous Dall sheep. To keep the park pristine, private vehicles are banned from venturing into the inner national park, so we take advantage of the park's shuttle bus, leaving early in the morning for a greater chance of wildlife spotting! Guided hiking in the park is not permitted, so you will be given the necessary information and advice before setting off in your group for today's hike. There are several drop off points and numerous route options and a walk will be chosen according to the prevailing conditions. The trails can be quite indistinct, so this is real exploring and quite adventurous, with incredible scenery that you'll no doubt remember for a long time. After the walk return to the campground near the park entrance.

The Triple Lakes Trail is accessible from our campground and the guide can accompany the group on this one. We complete a 10 kilometre out and back portion of this trail with great mountain views and the possibility of spotting wildlife such as beaver, moose and bear. We then get back on the bus and head south, east, then south again on the rugged Denali Highway. Mostly unpaved and largely above the treeline, there are far-reaching views and several places where we can stop to stretch our legs and take in the magnificent panorama. Overnight at a lodge near Glennallen.

Today's classic drive on another mostly unpaved road leads alongside the Copper River and via the small settlement of Chitina to McCarthy in the Wrangell St Elias National Park. The scenery is once again amazing, overlooked by Mount Blackburn (5025m) and studded with intriguing natural rock formations and remnants of human occupation of the territory a hundred years ago. We will stop several times on the 6-hour drive to stretch our legs and to check out the best locations. In the early 20th century, McCarthy was a bustling town where the copper miners from the Kennecott Mines would come to partake in the depravity not tolerated in Kennecott. It was all-but abandoned when the mine closed in 1938. Here we find historic buildings that haven't changed much since those times and only a handful of permanent residents - fewer than 60 people call it home year round. We set up camp at a simple campground where we spend the next 3 nights.

The next 2 days will be spent exploring the highlights of Wrangell St Elias National Park. This beautiful park is dotted with massive mountains, colossal glaciers, endless forests and wild, powerful rivers and is known as an adventurer's playground. Wrangell is also home to nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the United States, including Mount St Elias (5489m) the nation's second highest peak. Locally, there are several exciting activities which can be arranged directly. Today we explore the history behind one of the remote town sites in the national park, joining the 2-hour Kennecott Mill Town Tour with a local historian guide who will entertain the group with tales of the tenacious frontiersmen and women who made their living here at the turn of the 20th century.

For those looking for a challenge, an optional longer hike can be taken today along the Bonanza Mine Trail which climbs steeply above Kennecott. It begins by taking an old mining road, where after an hour the trail breaks out above the treeline for spectacular views of the valley, eventually passing many derelict historical mining structures including an old tram system that was used to carry ore down to Kennecott. The long-abandoned Bonanza Mine is an old timber-built complex, sprawling up a steep slope of scree and commands further amazing views towards the Chugach Mountains and the Chitina River Valley. The mine's heyday was in the early 1900's and for 20 years the world's richest copper yield was extracted here. Those up for the challenge can explore the remains of this fascinating outpost before retracing our steps back to our campsite in McCarthy. Anyone wanting to take a break today can take it easy in McCarthy or Kennecott or may choose from the other enticing optional activities available locally.

Today we head back towards the west with a stop off again at Chitina where we can see the fishing contraptions (fish wheels) that the Alaskan people use to catch prized Copper River red salmon during the summer season. Chitina has thousands of years of indigenous peoples' history, but many of the buildings are from its time as an Alaskan railroad transportation hub in the early 1900's when the population briefly swelled to over 3000. We continue our drive on the renowned and scenic Glennallen byway, following a valley left behind by the receding Matanuska Glacier. Every turn during today's 5-hour drive reveals breathtaking scenery, with the mountains of the Chugach Range rising up on our left-hand side. Once again, we will have several stops to admire the scenery. We overnight at a hotel in the town of Palmer in the Matanuska Valley.

It takes a couple of hours this morning for us to drive to the outskirts of Anchorage, where we stop off to visit the Alaska Native Heritage Centre; a welcome opportunity to learn a bit more about the history and culture of Alaska's indigenous peoples. After our visit we continue the drive alongside the inlet known as the Turnagain Arm and southwards onto the Kenai Peninsula and to the small coastal town of Seward. Situated at the end of Resurrection Bay, a magnificent fjord, cutting deep into the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is overlooked by Mount Marathon a steep little hill that hosts a famous running race each year on the fourth of July. We overnight here for the next two nights at a campground close to the shore.

Seward is at the southern end of the Alaska Railroad and was the starting point of the original Iditarod Trail. It is a quirky little town with all amenities; shops, cafes, galleries and the impressive Alaska Sealife Center. It's a great place to spend the day. Highly recommended are easily bookable (your guide will sort this out) half-day and whole-day scenic wildlife cruise into Resurrection Bay and the Kenai Fjords National Park. Whales, otters, Steller sea lions and puffins are regularly seen and you can get up close to glaciers calving into the sea. We spend a second night at our Seward campground.

This morning we will take a short and quite steep hike up to 'top of the cliffs' on the Harding Icefield Trail. It's 4 kilometres out and 4 kilometres back with 750 metres of elevation gain and leads past Exit Glacier to an excellent viewpoint across the Harding Icefield (3000 square kilometres). Returning to the bus, we'll drive towards the western end of the Kenai Peninsula, to the town of Homer. We have some free time to explore the town and perhaps take a stroll along the beach where, at low tide, the locals go clam digging and foraging the shore; one of the region's most popular outdoor activities! With a bohemian atmosphere and astonishing panoramas along its windswept waterfront, Homer will be the location of our campsite for the next two nights and a paradise for lovers of fresh seafood.

From Homer we take a water taxi and cross Kachemack Bay to reach Glacier Spit, situated at the mouth of Halibut Cove. The bay is a pristine natural environment, and from the deep, blue waters to towering mountains we may see sea otters, eagles, cormorants and puffins. Upon landing at Glacier Spit, we disembark and set off on the Grewingk Glacier Lake Trail, through the cottonwood and Sitka spruce forests. After a short while, we emerge at a large alluvial plain and the stunning view across Grewingk Glacier Lake. The glacier winds its way down to the lake and at times spews icebergs from its snout which float serenely on the surface. Bald eagles and the odd solitary bear have been spotted here. We continue our trek back to meet our water taxi return crossing to Homer.

Leaving behind Homer, we set off northwards. We reach the historical village of Kenai, a mix of wooden fishing huts, churches and buildings and spend some time exploring the area. We continue our drive on roads that wind their way through dense, ancient forests to the trailhead for Tern Lake where we hope to spot the famed arctic tern, boasting one of the longest annual migrations of any animal on Earth. Every year, arctic terns migrate from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle-a round-trip journey of about 30,000 kilometres. In the afternoon we drive to Anchorage where we check in at our hotel.

Departure day. A single-timed group transfer to the airport is provided.