Our last trip there was divided into two main 'off the path' trips.
First, we did 5 days in the back-country in Denali. Yes, there are bears. The rangers are much more concerned about the safety of the bears than the hikers. I like it that way, since most hikers are idiots. You have to go through a 30 minute training to be allowed in the back country. You have to reserve where you are going based on the section of the park. There are no trails that are man made. Each section is limited as to the number of people that can be in it. I.E. 7 people per HUGE section. so, days 1,2,3 we reserved 3 spots in section #6 (Polychrome Glacier) and days 4,5 we were in #9.
Here's a Mangelsen shot likely from the access road looking to Polychrome Pass where we hiked into...
We had a phenomenal campsite view of migration trails. We saw Grizzlies 'frolicking' up hills, fox, caribou, varmints, etcetera. Expect to ford rivers, get rained on, freaked out by huge bear prints, bushwhack, and possibly get carried away by mosquitoes. Fishing is lousy in Denali... grayling, maybe.
Next main stop was the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and we rented canoes and took the Swan Lake canoe trails to the beginnings of the moose river (maps located
here ) and then canoe down the moose river.
we also spent an evening in a rowdy bar in Homer where we heard a guy do sex pistols songs on a banjo. We also took a small charter out in Seward for silver salmon. The fishing was cool, but it was almost worth it just for the scenery.
I loved Alaska and I look forward to returning.
One thing to note... its not a Hotel kind of traveling. There are lots of state and local park campgrounds. hotels are ungodly expensive. We rented a car and carcamped when we weren't hiking. Lots of folks rent RV's.