Alaska & Canada: Venture Into The Wild with Entrée Destinations
August 13, 2019 by Lark Gould
Traveling to the frontier of Alaska and Canada are riveting journeys filled with natural discovery. With the help of Entrée Destinations, a bespoke travel company which specializes in spectacular experiences, we’ve round-up six extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime trips to Alaska and Canada that will leave clients in awe. While connecting them to the local community, land and wildlife through curated journeys.
Alaska Trips Like None Other
Wilderness Lodge & Bears Experience:
For those who want to get off the cruise ship and step into the conifer forests of remote Alaska, Entrée Alaska’s six-day Wilderness Lodge & Bears Experience offers a deeply immersive experience. The itinerary starts in Anchorage where you will stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and spend some time at the Alaska Native Heritage Center to learn about Alaska’s fascinating Indigenous tribes.
The next morning, guests will head to Lake Hood to catch a flight to Winterlake Lodge following remote scenic route along the edge of the great Alaska Range. On the following day, a helicopter takes you to Alaska’s back country where outdoor enthusiasts will feel right at home rafting, fishing, hiking a ridge top or treking across the glacier. Visitors can paddleboard on the lake or head for a picnic hike on the Iditarod Trail. Cooking classes are available using your fresh catch of the day and or savor wine tasting at night. Yoga is offered for those looking for a more restorative way to start your day.
After three nights, guests board a floatplane and head to Redoubt Bay through the scenic Tordrillo Mountains and Triumvirate Glacier to see Alaskan black and brown bears which call this area home and come here for feeding due to the abundant salmon population in the nearby Big River Lakes. Trek with an experienced naturalist guide for the day to take in the incredible scenery or kayak Big River Lake. The Redoubt Bay Lodge is set on the Kenai Peninsula in a charming rustic hand-hewn lodge set within a 171,000-acre grounds.
The next day, you’ll board another floatplane heading to Lake Hood where a private SUV is waiting for your clients to head back to Anchorage International Airport.
Active adventurists will want to go for the stars in the Luxury Mountain Retreat Alaska journey. The eight-night tour runs from Anchorage to Judd Lake and onto Sheldon Chalet on Ruth Glacier in Denali National Park. Accommodations are in the only luxury property inside the park.
From their cabin at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge in Judd Lake, guests will be able to have their choice of ongoing activities, from yoga and stand-up paddle boarding to jet skiing to wake surfing to taking it easy and casting lines from the lawn. Guests can also take a half day photo tour of Talkeetna. The next days are filled with heli-adventures to remote spots where wildlife roam as guests picnic amid wildflowers. Heli-biking, heli-rafting and heli-fishing are onboard to fill the hours over the next two days. Finally, at Sheldon Nunatak, guests can go ice trekking and dog-sledding often under the moonlight or hues of the brilliant psychedelic lights of Aurora Borealis. From Sheldon Chalet, a private helicopter will transfer you back to Anchorage.
While catching the Aurora Borealis is always an elusive undertaking, catching them at the Lodge at Black Rapids in the heart of the Alaskan winter is quite possible and sublime. The six-day Alaska itinerary starts at Fairbanks and immediately heads to the Lodge at Black Rapids by the mighty Tanana river on the site of a restored Alaskan roadhouse. There, you pair up with your sled dog and hit the trail with knowledgeable guides and mushers for days of discovery. Quiet time is spent in meditative ice fishing on the frozen lake and witness the Northern lights.
Canada Trips to Worlds Beyond
Travel with the Supernatural Spirit Bear on this six-day trip from Vancouver, B.C. to Bella Bella and the ocean-front Spirit Bear Lodge. The location is among the Kitasoo and Xaixais people who believe the supernatural powers of Spirit Bears guide their fate. The white spirit bears are sacred reminders of eras when glaciers covered the lands. For visitors, it will be about watching the bears and visiting estuaries, wandering remote waterfalls and rivers where spirit bears dwell. Kayaking and rainforest walks complete the experience, which also includes guided time in Vancouver.
This one-day bucket list opportunity may be the most perfect add-on to any trip one is making to Vancouver. A private seaplane whisks guests to Robson Bight Eco Reserve for a short and helpful primer in kayaking before paddling off to one of North America’s premier habitats for resident killer whales. Following riveting Orca encounters, the guests are delivered to Alert Bay for a salmon barbeque on the beach and cultural time with the U’mista people before returning by seaplane to Vancouver.
Arctic Canada: North of Extraordinary:
For those looking for a remote escape, Entrée Canada’s North of Extraordinary journey takes guests 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle to The Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge, the most northernly lodge on earth. It is an extraordinary wilderness resort with an otherworldly setting of open tundra shared with beluga whales and muskox.
Guests arrive in time to explore Yellow Knife before catching a charter flight the next day to Somerset Island set in the remote Arctic Watch. Activities are bountiful from fat biking on the sea ice to ATV runs over the tundra to paddle boarding amid belugas, fishing for Arctic char, polar bear watching and observe other wildlife such as the Arctic fox, snow geese, and sandpipers. Meals are gourmet and bring touches in each presentation of each Canadian province.
Contact:
Entrée Destinations
134 Abbott Street, 7th Floor
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6B 2K4
Telephone: 604.408.1099
