 think I read that it's the size of I know that it's three times the size of Morocco that I know for fact because I did some research and then I think that it's the size of California, Texas and Montana all combined so it's pretty huge so really planning a first trip to Alaska can be pretty overwhelming and it's important to understand too when you see it on a map sometimes you start getting into those issues where maps that aren't adjusted obviously the earth goes up to a point at the top so sometimes Alaska when they kind of inflate it out might look a little bit bigger on the top just as a result of some of those corrections that they put on maps so obviously it gets pretty close to North Pole so you can have the opportunity to get some other phenomena that come with that that I'm sure will bring up at some point here but still Alaska is very very tall north to south very wide east to west in terms of its total footprint yeah so I think it's it's naive to think that one trip to Alaska you will be able to see everything that Alaska has to offer it's just not possible and then maybe the one reasonable thing is probably to pick one region in Alaska and then do your research about this region or all of the regions and then choose what you want to do so there are five regions in Alaska there is the southeast they call it the inside passage and then there is south-central Alaska and then there is the west or southwest and then there is the interior region and then there is the far north so five sub regions in Alaska and I did mention that it's probably a good idea to go to the tourism boards website I will leave it pinned in the comments here and they have a nice interactive map where you can just choose what region and it would show you what activities can you see in every region so obviously we're not very knowledgeable around all of the regions but most of the time for people who are going to Alaska for the first time they choose to explore in south-central Alaska and then the interior south-central Alaska is where sewer then the Kenai Peninsula a lot of people choose to go and explore in the Kenai Peninsula this is just beautiful and then in the interior of Alaska is where Fairbanks pretty popular destination and then also the famous Denali National Park and then in the inside passage is where Juno the capital of Alaska is the rest is not something that I'm very familiar with to be honest uncharted territory not really but it is amazing how much of Alaska for that matter doesn't have I don't say inhabitants but inhabitants it's not civilized in the sense that there are communities or cities there's a lot of untouched area there and as a result of that Alaska is very beautiful as well so there's a lot to go see if you're willing to go look for it absolutely I was talking to someone actually just a little bit ago and they are going to Alaska for the first time and I was recommending really two main regions to explore especially if you just have a week or two weeks that would probably be sound central Alaska and then the interior perhaps Denali National Park or Fairbanks and Denali National Park can be a bit of a catch-all in terms of seeing a lot of things but it can also be a bit of a catch-and-on in the sense that if the weather turns itself on the right way you might not see the mountain you might have a hard time getting to certain areas to appreciate that like the views that you might have in such that too so Denali can really be hit or miss in that regard beautiful park don't get me wrong with lots of wildlife lots of plant life a lot of animal life but you can get cloudy and foggy real quick and then you don't have anything to really see so that's true we can talk about planning strategies yeah so we'll talk a little bit more about Denali National Park I guess next once you choose the region you're gonna be exploring obviously there are so many different ways to explore Alaska one of which is by Pogo stick I don't think that was in the script I made that part up let's say by driving great I picked the first one and that's pretty intuitive there is a separation between Seattle or between the between the northern boundary of the lower 40 80 United States and Alaska but I'll let you feel the Sun's coming across from like trying to figure out the right way like sit in it how are we doing on the audio I'm not sure if you we are really audible we have to get closer to the screen happy birthday my golly it is warm okay perfect so exploring Alaska by land this is a common way that people choose and you can either fly to Anchorage or you can fly to to Fairbank or any other available or airport in Alaska and then pretty much just rent a car and then drive on your own and go wherever you want to go you're definitely gonna have to drive if you get to Alaska at some point I mean you'd have to be filthy rich if you wanted to just travel by bush plane and be faster don't get me wrong but ain't cheap but you can also drive directly in if you wanted to drive into Juneau and again you would have to go through Canada to get from the northern boundary of the contiguous United States into Alaska but it is a very reasonable enough what I'm expecting is a very beautiful trip absolutely but you will you won't be close to Anchorage again Alaska is big let's not forget that that's gonna we're gonna say that a lot but there are obviously different modes of transportation in Alaska or within Alaska and they have the Alaska train and the train runs from Seward down in the south-central region all the way up to Fairbanks in the interior and I think correct me if I'm wrong here that there are there's a split at one point where you have the opportunity the train will take you past Denali but I'm trying to remember if when we went to Whittier if the tunnel looks like it has train stuff I'm guessing that's a different train probably yes okay let's take that away from here yeah so you can the train the railroad system that they have there is really tailored towards a lot of tourism activities we know that in winter for example you could go from Anchorage to Seward for example and then they have rides that are specific to see the northern lights and then you will have meals on board then it's a it's a wonderful experience I can only imagine but it's definitely a different way to to consider if you want to get from Anchorage to Seward or any of the other areas you can think about catching a train ride and that will definitely offer a different experience just exploring Alaska from a from a different point of view from different perspective obviously you can fly between areas but that's not it's probably not the best idea if you're in Anchorage and then try to catch a flight to Fairbanks there are so many touristy activities like catching a floating airline to get to one place to to the other and what else what are the modes of transportation in Alaska well just within the train it's kind of worth pointing out either their elevations or packages to your experience you can have on the train where you could have like a dinner and a meal provided and a bit of a fancy go at it or it could be a bit of a commuter it's still ain't cheap and I think a lot of the tickets that when we were there were looking were one way so you do have to double them and come back but a train is a great way to go when it becomes winter though you might have opportunities or there may be opportunities where a snowfall could shut down the railways so don't consider it necessarily a guaranteed that the train would be a way that you'll be able to go but when it's nice weather out the train will we'll get you pretty far and it'll take a lot of the stress out of you having to drive and pay attention to wildlife and animals you'll be able to see a lot of areas and say the train is something I would like to go do that I have not yet done anyway yeah so that's the that's for the transportation to and within Alaska I guess what do we want to talk about next airplanes are a pretty apparent way and you would you'd pointed out already obviously flying to Anchorage or to Fairbanks which are very popular like initial landing points and then you might be able to branch out on a smaller plane from there you could clearly fly to Juneau as well depending on where you're coming from and such but I would say that you would be you'd be hearing people flying more in and out of Anchorage and Fairbanks obviously Alaska being so big there's another lighter system of smaller aircraft that get you around everywhere but everywhere's pretty accessible the only problem this year I've been receiving messages from people here and there there is a crisis in rental cars right now in Alaska June July and up until August there is a shortage the demand is very high and some people even had to cancel their trip to Alaska unfortunately because they couldn't rent a car I have heard that prices went up to seven hundred dollars a day which is outrageous because that's like that's a lot of money but I've been I don't really know if it's any different on the two row but two row is a mobile application for rental cars where you can go and see if you have any luck there and some people even opted for renting a camper van or an RV instead of a car just to to be able to still go to Alaska so there are a couple of creative things that you can do I was recommending also going to Facebook communities and you know just posting to groups to see if there are any locals who are to Alaska who are willing to rent and either their cars or their places for you to stay but I'm imagining people getting like a U-Haul van or a Home Depot van or a truck and just like sleeping in the back of the truck yeah man that's funny it's been happening I mean it's not only Alaska but even in some of the national parks here in the lower 48 it's been pretty crazy and I heard that U-Haul they put some rules around you know just their rentals for their U-Haul but you definitely want to intend to have a vehicle if you go to if you're flying into Alaska and you want to kind of experiment and see some of the areas because you won't get to a lot of the isolated hiking areas or and for arguments take off the beam trouble you'll need a car everywhere so far apart and everywhere that you want to go like you don't want to target in my opinion anchorage that should not be your destination we got to anchorage and anchorage had a couple of different personalities as you kind of slipped in that is definitely you can tell there was the landing point for all the aircraft and as a result of that there was a large sort of like different city style feel in anchorage that you could experience kind of as you traveled to the different areas of the city but the moment you got outside of anchorage you started to feel like the Alaska you were expecting so I would say as a result of that there's plenty to do with in spitting distance of anchorage yeah you should plan to travel by car so now I kind of want to touch a little bit more on what is the best time to visit Alaska because this is also a question that we receive a lot and I was I was filming the video yesterday and I think that the best time to visit Alaska is the best time for you it just go ahead I was gonna say from 11 to 3 that's the best time well no my visit sarcastic answer sorry hours of the day yeah so it really depends on what type of activities you are interested in what do you want to do in Alaska a lot of people choose to go during summertime June July are usually the best times to watch whales in Alaska if that's something that you are interested in because they just you know do their migration you can see them in Resurrection Bay and all of the areas for whale watching in Alaska Resurrection is down in the Seward area and then winter is also great although I don't see a lot of people traveling to Alaska during winter I'm sure it's a little bit intimidating with the cold but there's so many activities during winter dogs sledding and watching the northern lights which how do you increase your chances of seeing northern lights who well go north I'm gonna guess yeah and I would assume that as long as you get toward the Arctic Circle that's probably where your best chance is obviously when it be at night I'm assuming clear areas you probably don't want some crazy weather or cloud cover obstructing your view of the electromagnetic activity going on this is a question for me how we doing so far no you're doing great now obviously with the with the northern lights and don't really expect to see them in during summer chances are lower but like Alex said the further north you go the higher the chances are for you to see northern lights and obviously you have the best chances during winter time so winter will be a good time to see the northern lights usually people would go up north to Fairbanks and just exploring that's something I really wanted you and I'm kind of thinking that it might be a possibility for this year that would be really cool it keeps on coming up as something that we could sneak in points or something using flight points but could I could I point out at least though that because of in the winter time obviously the days are much long or much shorter and the night is much longer that's where you obviously have the less the least amount of sun activity solar activity in that regards and obviously with them where the magnetic poles are related to where the Sun might be coming out that you get a lot of that flair hey Mike indeed oh I'm glad you all right package lasagna indeed I got you my my favorite one the lasagna me that's my favorite backpacker meal and then who was the other winner I forgot the name Nishita Nishita yes Nishita I got her she she's the I think she's vegan got her different one anyways so I had a parting thing to say about that let's hope that I remember actually the northern lights blah blah man I totally forgot anyway so it's been long day for for the two of us but so and winter or summer really is up to you you will still have a great time forgive me they will tell you online that the window of opportunity for seeing the northern lights is probably about a month or two wider than it really is and it seems like we've you know the impression that that's just good tourism marketing yeah but it seems like the primary months are much closer to December you find where your solstice and your equinox are on the calendar right you want to find the longest night in winter December 21st I believe and that's the middle of your best window of opportunity by about a month and a half or so yeah but they pretty much say online all of the tour agencies they say up until April come on yeah just coming over you'll be able to see it but there is a mobile application I'm gonna also link that in the comment that you can use and it will tell you what are the chances to see in the northern lights in the area you are in so that's that let's talk about the knowledge oh sorry you said D I thought I was jumping in we can talk about the knowledge I was gonna say the weather weather alright yeah let's talk about the weather so I know I like I like this moment actually we're letting the wood weather speak to itself so when we went we got stuck in some rain and we're tracking pals we're always stuck in the rain I think we were there in the rainy season most areas do have a reason or rainy season I think we arrived just for it yeah but with the mountain range is obviously there's a lot of dynamic whether that can occur but there is still rainy season I'm gonna let you speak though yeah I think a lot of did this I didn't know and I didn't even notice when I was there I was just thinking that it's just gonna rain because it rains wherever we go but I heard some locals sharing in groups that August is they call it the rainy season in Alaska I don't know how accurate that is but I saw a lot of people from Alaska talking about it so they said oh it's very common it rains a lot in August so if you're going during summer other than the rain you still want to pack for winter pretty much because summer in Alaska is not like summer here you will still need to to dress warm gloves hats layers rain jacket and definitely make sure if you're going in August make sure that you have rain cover for your backpack umbrella probably rain poncho because it is going to rain sure and it's worth pointing out that we're talking more about the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas here when we're trying to profile your weather experience obviously you're gonna want to look up the weather in your area before you go and if you're going to tell me with Ukiyavik what's it really called Barrow Barrow also called Ukiyavik it's the furthest north north point in Alaska it's so funny you're saying that because I was reading about it right before you came here but obviously if you go up there things would be different and there's some fun videos that people have online about that but let us know in a comment if we should go to Ukiyavik and make a video up there I really was thinking about it was like how nice it would be to get up to the furthest northern most point in the US what did they say though like a slice of watermelon was like $44 or something like that you're like wow the detergent is like $50 if you want to get like the bucket of tide detergents really expensive I think we should go and make a video up there I think it's been I love extreme temperature more extreme cold and extreme heat but obviously I live in Arizona so I'm really not I'm okay with that I would love to see how cold cold gets and how that affects everything during the day road care all sorts of stuff with just what your daily lifestyle is what sort of professions are attracted there but I just want to see all of it it's an interesting place to go to formats do it it's because there is no road there it is no road to get to Ukiyavik or out of Ukiyavik you have to fly and because the the water they are like the further north is the Arctic Ocean so it's all it becomes all frozen during winter season so all of the food has to fly to Ukiyavik anyway so we are derailing from the topic but like the training is to happen cool cool cool so I see that we've got five people watching us let us know where are you joining us from where are you watching from we have our friend format we have hike with Mike and then obviously if you guys are liking this conversation make sure to give this video a like we're trying to be good factual so cool so and I do have a video about everything that you need to pack for Alaska for summer obviously we don't really have much to say about how to dress for winter but if we go this winter we will have more information for you say dress warm if anything we did learn while we were there that there are these little coffee shacks kind of like just a barn on this a little rock on the side of the road they just fill it with people making coffee and I am I'm just imagining that they're these just wired up people just sipping their drinking coffee and making coffee for people at the time but we loved coffee places we were there like 11 o'clock at night and they were like our go-to place and I'm sure in the winter they are I don't think they're there well I'm sure 11 o'clock at night becomes like two o'clock in the afternoon but yeah I'm assuming business hours are dramatically different hey guys hello from Virginia did you ever have to use the bear spray have to we accidentally did would you like to hear about that and how we smoked our self out of our own car how we engaged how we use the bear spray against ourselves it works it works good the birds there those bears better not be driving Kia's because I have some problems yeah all right go for the story oh I mean we've told some of the story before again I'll condense it but either way we were we were driving after we did the Harding-Eyes Field Trail we encountered a bear on the trail just sitting there eating berries like a little little happy little kid and it's probably within three feet or four feet of Habiba literally right there just on the other side of some brushes are we shaking wild wild west quick draw them down and at high noon but so after encountering the bear obviously we go up we do our hike stuff we come back and you might not know this but on the bear spray there's like a little plastic tab so it's like you stick your finger in the little hole and then your thumb sprays it right we have to pull this little plastic guard off that usually has like a zip tie that you even have to cut like they really don't want you to accidentally do this but we got them boys so you cut the little plastic thing off right and then you can slide that tab out of the way and that will allow you to then press the thing down to spray we put it back in anyway so we were ready cut off the thing pulled off the stuff got back to the car though just threw the stuff down exhausted after a long hike needless to say got back to civilization made a hard right turn at one point and the bear spray bottle just like flipped over in the back of the car and just it wasn't a long blast but I mean it did not take much we were coughing hacking wheezing the windows are down we're in the middle of traffic by the CVS everyone thinks we got COVID we think we got I was like what but wait COVID takes time to hit you how come like we just took a right turn and then we're hit by COVID or what and we're just choking it's the bear spray well now we know that it works at least yeah man and there was it was like a spritz just like walking through a makeup cloud like there's a whole bottle of that stuff remaining I pity the bear or moose I gather yeah because we were told I mean that's a good point to talk about bear spray if you're gonna be in Alaska it's bear country so you definitely want to have a bear spray with you if you are flying to Alaska you cannot fly with a bear spray and we have an insider tip for you before you buy any bear spray if you are renting your car check with the rental company because a lot of people sometimes they leave their bear spray before they fly with the rental company and we have done it in the past we just say hey we're gonna give it to you I don't know put it in your loss lost and found and if someone asks or needs one give it to them so do that and check if it expired obviously I'm sure they my problem I don't know if they've ever followed through on it because we've never been on the other end of that we have to ask next time yeah we should yeah we always forget to any noted oh yeah so and then it's when we bought one in Alaska and obviously if you can't find one you can just go to to Walmart or any outfitter outdoor store and you get one get one right when you arrive so that you don't forget about it and then also try to get the canister holder because you don't want to just throw it in your backpack you want to make sure that it's you know easily accessible because if you if you need it you don't want to you know to have to check on your bag and it's gonna be too late probably right if you have to sing the bear lullaby while you discover your your bear spray from their back pocket of your bag but anyway not be the best time when we when we bought our canister in Alaska said they told us that it works for both moose and bear I've never worked on me too humans you don't like a person no bear spray don't do that yeah that's probably that's like super mace actually don't do that but it's really it's really nice what disclaimers do I have to put down now oh man blur my face gonna get a copyright strike oh golly I'm just kidding but they told us that it works on moose and then the other thing is a lot of people are scared and worried about bears but the reality is the most of the injuries in Alaska happen because of moose because moose they just like the they look cute and nice but there are these crazy animals if they charge at you they're not gonna stop running and then the tip or the one thing to keep in mind out of all of this live stream is to never run from a bear but do run from moose if a moose charges at you go to the other way they're gonna stop chasing you very quickly hopefully so Mike was saying make sure you have glasses on when you use bear spray that way you don't get it in your eyes I like that too and then we also were told one or two other things there too we said I wonder if it works on alligators we should we should come down to Florida and try I don't think that we can say that I like they would it stop us now I'm going to Florida and I'm gonna try where are you going to Florida I'm going to Florida to check if this is gonna work on the crocodile I just imagine us clunking in there like one of those people pushing the carts full of soda cans with just a big old like 13 bear spray canisters like what are you doing with all those don't worry about it trying to I would imagine that it that it would piss off the alligators but not in the same way I was tear ducts I don't know if alligators have I don't know if there's amphibians or I could understand it not be anywhere near as effective but still just a pain in the face you're going to Alaska in July all right how awesome very cool you gonna I'm excited every time I hear someone saying they're going to Alaska I feel like I'm going to Alaska with them or something reserve your car now yeah did you did you have a did you have some good chances finding a car do you have a car already format I have been told that's bear spray is pretty much a very concentrated pepper spray yeah that's what we're here to yeah I think I still have to talk about the knowledge right so we covered that we covered the safety in better let's talk a little bit more about safety in bear country actually okay other than the bear spray bring it on and this son is going I could hold the chair up in front of you anyway so in bear country obviously the bear spray but you want to make noise too a lot of animals really don't want to be around you any much or any more than you want to be around them which is kind of wrong because some people really do want to be around bear don't stand too close to me like don't be one of those people with a zoom lens standing up trying to take a picture of the bears cornea give them distance right but also make your makes a noise talk to the person you're hiking with they sell bear bells which are these little teeny tiny bells that they'll sell for a dollar at the little store two dollars and you can just velcro it to the back of your backpack or something like that or maybe I wouldn't say around your waist because you don't want to dampen it but if you put it on the back of your backpack just as you walk it'll just ding ding ding ding just make a little bit of noise it's not a cowbell it's more like a little bell a jingly thing but they also have like a third strap on them that's got like a little magnet and all in all it's like a little thing and a little magnet will actually magnetize a little ball on the inside of it so it's not bouncing around in an attempt to mute it that's a free way if you're hiking solo to make noise rather than talking to yourself what is it five dollars ten dollars it wasn't I think it was not even I think it was like two two thirty nine at the hobby lobby or whatever the little convenience store was there so that I wouldn't vote for playing music on the trail just because that seems like a no-no when it comes to hiking etiquette yeah but if you're way out in the middle and it's just you and you're stuck something I mean any form of noise like that is a good way to go yeah and just be respectful for other people in the trail and know that you are beat like way if you are blasting music on the trail you are being a nuisance nuisance you are being a nuisance when I when I fix when I mix French and English and then I don't know how to say in French I don't know how to say in English anymore but it's my co-worker from you gonna be Massachusetts Massachusetts you're gonna be a nuisance for not only people on the trail but also the animals because they rely on their senses for survival so spring importance to just let them be the bears don't like dubstep so you know don't play that that's mean the other tip is if you're in a national park or a state park and there is a park ranger talk to them before you start your hike talk to them they will give you some insider information as to if there was any bear the day before what you be aware of on the trail and then what else I like to echo definitely the park rangers have been great they're really kind they're helpful rub your feet they'll give you back scratches it's probably not the park rangers are amazing I feel like every time we go Glacier National Park here in the petrified forest we became friends in the mcgolan rim too oh my goodness when we went to the mcgolan rim I talked to the park ranger and he drove with us for how long ten miles and he found like he helped us find the campsite there always helpful and then in the petrified forest the other day one of the park rangers is now our best friend and oh he's there he's invited us to to to his home and his reservations like this is amazing I we love park rangers and we love the hats too so if you know if they want if anybody knows where to get them their hats the coolest people no it's not no food no drinks when hiking you are fine if you want to talk about camping and such like that and bear bags and bear bells another bear bags and bear barrels and and how to cook away from your camp you're fine if you're going on a day hike you're fine with your food and your drinks I think Mike said just not mint they will smell it but it's not that they're gonna chase you because you have food in your backpack it doesn't work like that maybe just put them in the Ziploc but there is some etiquette if you are backpacking in their country and like Alex was saying around your campsite you don't want to cook you don't want to cook distance away from your campsite and then they have the bear what are they called bear bear barrels where you would put all of your food and toiletry and then leave it away from the camp but don't worry if it's just a day hike don't worry about food or drink in your backpack you're fine and those barrels are meant to be just like hard smooth barrels they'll sell them at REI we actually bought a bear barrel from the REI garage sale yeah I don't know if you know the garage sales work but people give stuff back for the craziest reason all the time and then people gave this bear barrel back because they said it was too hard to open isn't that the point like they should have they should have sold it for more that's exceptional at exactly what it's supposed to do but cool we've got 11 people watching welcome welcome everyone let us know where you are joining us from we are still talking about Alaska we've been going live for 35 minutes 52 seconds and we're open to any questions if not we'll continue with the coins that we wanted to tackle okay so we did address the no food and drinks that I just scrolled up to but that's what we were just here fine to have them yep what else bear countries mama bears yeah you yeah so this is pretty important you never want to to stand between a mama bear and her kids or her cubs or any other animal for that matter so when we did the the hardened ice field trail in Seward we talked to the park ranger which by the way I know that someone here is going to Seward if you're going to Seward the Key Night Fjords National Park has two stations where you can find rangers you can find rangers in downtown Seward that's where they have their main visitor center and then in the nature center at the trailhead you can also find rangers there so talk to both of them they also have signs at the trailhead to share their activity on that trail so we read the sign and it says that there was a black mama bear with her two cubs that freaked me out but everything was fine when we were hiking we got very close to a black bear but we didn't see any cubs but if you see a mom with her cubs just be aware that's the most aggressive a bear can be is when they are with their cubs because they just want to make sure that they are protected and safe yeah I chuckled the other day because we were walking through Walmart and I was like every animal we ever talk about we're like do not get between a mother and her children and a Walmart like kids are running wild apparently humans are the exception to every rule that's funny but all right Marilyn Marilyn Marilyn from Cleveland hello Mike has got an important point Mike always has important points another important thing to remember about bears is look for signs around your campsite of bear activity I totally missed that when I had my bear encounter signs do you mean like if there are any scratches on trees or their poo poo I don't mean sign language if you see a group of bears signing to each other behind you that they've got a sinister plan in mind probably you guys probably know by now that Alex is joking I'm just a big bucket of sarcasm all right Frank hello Frank is it cold at the end of Hardin ice field trail well Hardin ice field trail at the end it wasn't extremely cold I think I was wearing my one layer and one down jacket and we were comfortably sitting there just kind of you know having a snack it wasn't extremely cold at the end of the trail we did this the Hardin ice field trail was it July or August July probably end of July yeah that sounds about right well answer your question about rainstorm it yeah I'll say it's depending on which end it's called both ends the the air blowing off of the glacier obviously it's quite cold much like air blowing across the lake and if you just go down that Habiba talks about this in one of her videos that there's the exit glacier trail which is the little like mile and a half one you can take on the bottom that takes you to the front face of the glacier and then there's a Hardin ice field trail it'll take you all the way up to the top as you can imagine when you get up to the top you're working pretty hard they didn't they have not installed the escalator yet sarcasm so usually you'll sit down you'll have a snack and usually by the time when we've ever done hikes like this I'm done snacking and I want to go like walk around is when all the moisture is evaporated off of me and I got kind of cold again so I would definitely say I have some stuff if you look at our video I think I'm walking around with an undersized sweatshirt on and some gloves by the time we're done because I was a little cool but when we were hiking up I had a lot less on but it's a glacier it's quite cold up there certainly hey I have a tip just a random tip this is a stupid issue that we had but try to have maybe like a backup jacket or backup down jacket because we went on this hike and it was pretty wet and we got so soaked and the day after we were gonna go ice climbing and we didn't have any clothes to wear because we pretty much just packed one one one one obviously our initial plan was to stay in Alaska for four days ended up staying for a month if you guys don't know already but try to have some you know backup clothing what some back try to have some backup clothing if you are going to Alaska and if you're like me instead of bringing two pairs of shoes just bring a left shoe from one pair of shoes and a right pair from another pair of shoes all right apparently we went to Alaska and I literally did that I had not matching shoes for the entire one month trip but yeah we ended up at a laundry mat throwing our shoes in the laundry mat for a bit we have a lot of people today foam mats no we had we got to answer foam at first yeah that's why I was gonna ask actually we posted this question from earlier when you were talking about the rain and wet conditions in addition to a rain cover for your packs did you use a pack liner and if so did you use an actual pack liner or something like contractor bag yeah so I so we have the we've been buying a lot of osprey equipment I gotta say love them let us down at all they've been durable they've been fantastic not to say other bags don't have their advantages osprey bags usually come with a little rain cover in it that's the right size for your bag and we've been using the osprey brand covers they're not perfect like if it rains for a downpour forever you will see some of your bag get wet but there are plenty of areas of our bag that are still dry in terms of a liner we haven't used any actual liners if push comes to shovel throw a trash bag in there yeah obviously don't want to rip a hole in it but we're not submerging our bags too much either like a beaver said we've been in wet stuff when we were portage pass it was raining a lot which got on us but it was raining and the trail was so overgrown that we were being tainted with moisture I hated so it wasn't like we were like protected from the top down with our gear but the rain was coming at us from the sides because it was on all the plants and we were just drenched when we finished that hike on portage pass which by the way few you should go to portage pass is so beautiful on the clear day you get to the face of the glacier portage glaciers wonderful but we didn't have a wonderful experience but at the end so you should do it too you should know well at the end of the hike like I was all soaked I can even like my bra was fully soaked my underwear fully soaked everything was it was amazing and the way you'd get to portage pass trail for what it's worth is there's a tunnel that separates Whittier from highway one which is a one-lane highway that you will want to keep in mind and again I think we've talked about that elsewhere so I won't belabor it now we will talk a little bit more here about we still have time about 15 minutes we'll talk a bit more about day trips but sure but let's go ahead as past those on the other side it's on the Whittier side of that tunnel and that tunnel is special in the sense that it's a narrow tunnel and traffic can only flow one way through the tunnel so at the top of the hour traffic flows one way then at the bottom of the hour traffic flows the other way so you kind of get a half hour or 25 minutes of traffic in either direction with a five five minute cool down in between you have to go the other side the Whittier side and that's where Portage Pass is but you will learn in Alaska Portage Pass did this we discovered this a little bit on Flat Top Mountain and I saw a marathon mountain and it scared the bejesus out of me in Alaska there's so many trails that you couldn't possibly pay enough of an interior park service oh I thought she's gonna say can we move on I was like no I'm excited about this we can as long once they put down fiber optic internet let's go oh boy but in Alaska though that you couldn't pay enough people to maintain all of the trails there's so many trails as it is already that a lot of the ways the water comes down so many of the mountains is how people go up Alaska trails can get steep Portage Pass does that marathon down and sewer does that but you will you'll be working on some of those trails more than you think you would be working you'll hate it during the hike but it always feels good to do fun right type 1 fun you have fun while you're doing it type 2 fun you have fun after you're done doing it I don't enjoy it when you're doing it okay so Frank has got a question did you guys go to Valdez first of all I always wonder what whether it's Valdez or Valdez because I heard people say both it's like Mario Kart Mario Kart it's Super Mario Brothers but it's Mario Kart it's the X on Valdez but it's Valdez we didn't and it's one of the places where I was like I wish I had the time to go to to go there when we left I just see all these beautiful photos about Valdez and I'm crying inside all right hike with Mike many times can you please read many times what we think are misadventures over time or looked back as great adventures that's true like the bear spray I love that format by the way by the way we need to do this we need to do this all the time format is our YouTube member who's been very supportive so thank you for Matt that's why you guys see that he's got a green logo next to his name we do have membership on YouTube where we would share with members exclusive content and early access to some content as well as possibility to reach out directly and chat from time to time so just throwing it out there if it's something that you guys are interested in what's the question yeah I was asking because Osprey makes a pack liner and I know you're both Osprey fans like myself so I didn't know if you had one I'll probably just use a contractor bag heavy-duty trash bag for now we don't wish that we should go at least check them out well I mean one of the one of like the most poisonous things you can do I don't mean in a bad way is consider every possibility when you're starting to go and then like you end up having everything in your bag balance a contractor bags fine trash bag like that they're easy is put them in your bag anyway so I'd say definitely go for that and especially in Alaska I get a lot of mountains a lot of variety in the weather as a result of that and Denali National Park is another good example of that I'll sneak in on my little blurb about Denali I just saw format comment he said if you join the channel you get to see an awesome video of Habiba hiking in a tree and Alex being a not so supportive partner I've been great I so Habiba no this that's just for the member and our car is another way okay all right so let's talk a little bit more about Denali National Park which and we just pretty much sharing what we read online because we did not make it to Denali National Park we got up to Talkeetna we went over to Matanuska and that's where we did our ice climbing adventure we took our helicopter ride above the glacier which was great but the weather was not good for us there and that's one of our warnings here you may not see Denali I mean even if you're driving through the park you're still like a hundred miles from where the base of Denali mountain is let alone Denali itself and the the park itself is about the size of New Jersey so when we go back to that statement we were making about how big is Alaska Denali Park is as big as New Jersey really that is tiny compared to the entire state is the state is huge right but obviously all sorts of wildlife there and you can see wonderful views if the weather is not in your way but if the weather is in your way and it's pretty dynamic it seems like I don't think I could plan a trip ahead for good weather with more than like 60% certainty right and we could shout out some other channels if we'd like of people that have done that but anyway Denali National Park is great and it's one of the main wonders there it's just north of Anchorage so you'd probably want to fly into Anchorage would be my vote and then rent a car and drive north up four hours and or you can take the long way they call it like the Denali Road which is like seven and a half there's a loop and you get like a better view of the mountain one way more scenic than the the regular four I think it's seven eight hours mostly dirt road but a lot of people say it's they call it the scenic route if I'm not wrong but when you go to Denali National Park and you can't drive your car around the park unless you have reservation which there is an annual lottery system and for people who get picked as part of that lottery you can drive your car wherever you want if not you will have to join and go in a shuttle that's going to drive you around the park but Denali National Park is a beautiful National Park you will see so many wildlife there can I shout out the bikers sure mediocre amateurs is a great channel and there's some stuff more than mediocre let's say that if they are mediocre we're nothing I'm just ants on a pogo stick but anyway so that they bike the 93 mile road and it inspired us to want to do so at some point I think they do it all in one day but that'll give you a good sense of what it means to take the Denali Road which becomes an off-road trail at some point just to get to the trail and you can see in their video they look at Denali and it's still far away so I mean you could see conceivably Denali peak from Anchorage there's a little ocean side sort of it's an inward-facing area but there's a trail that runs along the ocean boundary of Anchorage and if you're sitting at the right spot just over there by the airport on cloudless days you could see Denali but it's very infrequent that that happens I've gathered and you probably guys already know Denali is it's a great national park and it's where the mountain Denali mountain mountain Denali is which is one of the seven summits one of the seven summits and God bless all of these high mountains 20,000 feet or 20,320 feet you said they all they all have like some pattern of numbers that you can start to remember at some point but big it's a big mountain there is a big is Kilimanjaro that we're doing and I mean a bigger than Kilimanjaro and it's more technical than Kilimanjaro definitely you want mountaineering skills to get up that mountain and if you want to go with the tour guide it's not a cheap thing to do now in Denali national park a lot of people choose to stay in Talkeet night it's a beautiful quaint town in in the area and then it's very a lot of people choose to take one of the helicopter rides to see Mount Denali from from the top which I'm sure can be a great activity in Alaska as well the other feeling that's got to be like a little nerve-wracking to like I'm guessing it's windy up there yep okay so we have been going for 50 minutes so far do do we have any other questions about Alaska also we next Thursday I have already set a live stream for us just like today 6 p.m. and next week we are going to be celebrating hopefully two thousand subscribers on our YouTube channel which is very exciting we are very close we're not there yet I think we are at 1,930 so we're 70 subscribers away hopefully by next Thursday we will be there and we will have a nice live chat just casually chatting and we will do a lot of giveaways just like we did the other time we will be giving away some backpacker meals or gift cards or aria gift cards so be sure to join us next Thursday and also if you can help us get to two thousand subscribers that will be great maybe by sharing this with people who are passionate about hiking and adventure traveling or Alaska to be specific yeah so I wanted to address Frank had some questions going by there all right let's go back and such and I can read them out for you yes we're still here oblivious dude oh no I'm sorry oblivious and then Frank we're saying stuff oblivious dude said I love your hiking video okay oblivious dude said we are going to last in August and we love your videos wait wait we're still here who still have 10 more minutes to go right oh no yeah we're not going away I thought you were actually calling me out for almost inverting the heights of Kilimanjaro and Denali sorry about that any I love your hiking videos but how much experience the doing long hikes does one need to have to do them we don't do as many long long long hikes in an unsupervised way we've started to do them and we have heavy packs and and some stuff that's really been helpful for us yeah I mean not multi-dip but long touche I may have misinterpreted that that's a fair point dude you don't need the experience comes by doing things I feel like you know it's just gonna be a matter of starting with something small getting comfortable with that I know five miles and then ten miles and then try to go to hikes that are more populated where by way of having other people on the trail you have more confidence that's sure I sometimes I get a little bothered when there's too many people but I will say if you're driving a car somewhere don't like be generous with yourself on what you take with you if you're not confident throw everything in the car it's a car it's big like you got space and you can figure out exactly what you might need to evaluate the weather and such when you get there I'd say that a water filters a great thing to have because obviously if you put all your water on your back that can be heavy and take up space and if you get comfortable filtering your own water either with a gravity system or a Sawyer filter on like I'm pretty sure the smart water bottles are pretty well sought after because their nozzle on the top fits a Sawyer filter which is pretty helpful but being able to filter your water is a good thing to do and other than that for me it's things like that like like sunscreen like don't get burnt if you get burnt that ruins your trip and you don't want to do that on day one it'll make everything miserable and then just learning what food it's about kind of tolerations what glamour can you give up at that point and and still take some stuff with you and that's part of the excitement of being outdoors to kind of gives you that appreciation and attachment but yeah here you definitely do it I think yeah I think he's got oblivious that you have a follow-up question I think that helps okay hold on let me see so like if we are used to shorter day hikes with less elevation gain would it be crazy to take on the hikes you depicted right and so like reeds lake or crow pass be well equipped and leave plenty of time but folks who are just in average good shape should be cool yeah we're hardly fast hikers in that regard too but yeah if you have to get up early get up early I mean when we did crow pass the glory of Alaska especially were the time that we went is the days are so long that we could work for eight hours during the day and then at six o'clock go out on flat top mountain hike yeah like two thousand and then some of those areas it can get a little windy or exposed up top and you can feel a little bit uncertain I mean if you're not feeling it like find a spot on the top of the hike and take a picture I mean if you have to obviously if you try to push yourself further than you're comfortable going that's when you start making dumb mistakes yeah but yeah I think go with a friend or something like that's a good way solo hikers find somebody on the trail we make friends on the trail all the time I think even if you are an average hiker which I think we're an average high average hikers as well reads Lake I don't know what else to show but pretty overweight this year too but and reads Lake reads Lake was moderate a hard and ice field trail was a hard work crow pass was the just a slog not in a bad way it was just continuous read like the same effort again and again you just had to keep beautiful yeah but if you watch our video if you watch the crow pass we didn't do the whole backpacking point to point and we did the crystal lake barns trail or whatever I can send you the information if you send me an email but crow pass was not super difficult and like Alex said because the Sun doesn't go down early you still have time and I feel like I have confidence when the light is out there just make sure that it's very important especially I think on reads Lake because you're gonna be doing some water crossing just make sure you have some dry clothes in your backpack just in case you fall into the water or something like that take hiking poles hundred percent I can't believe that we didn't take our hiking poles with us but on crow pass hiking poles because we crossed some areas with thick patches of snow and I was just like oh my god I'm gonna fall and then on reads Lake as well with water crossing take your trekking poles hundred percent yeah that's that's almost what they're made you will be fine you know you'll be fine don't worry about a fortitude and how strong of a hiker I think reads lake crow pass you can do them even had an ice field trail if you just push and you give it the whole day and start early you'll do great yeah yeah I think that's definitely true parting this field trail is probably the longest hardest one reads like a variety you start off in the bottom just kind of in the fields you then switch back up the side and then you're hopping across rocks and you have no idea where the trail is you know actually shout out your all-trail stuff too for all of these things when you go out to Alaska you're gonna be away from internet a lot yeah so go to Google Maps if you use Google Maps and download an offline map of the area GPS still works while you're out there so you can even use Google Maps in a bind and if you use all trails you have the pro or some of the other trail apps like that and you pay use the paid forvers and they'll usually let you download a map yeah but you can kind of use it'll give you a little bit of assistance because it's probably that those moments of confidence that you need you want to make sure that you're still on the trail or that you're going the right way but hardened ice field trail pretty straightforward you're not gonna get lost I don't think you I don't think you can get lost on the hard and ice filter unless you're doing it in winter that's a different story but when the trail was clear it's straightforward Reeds Lake was Reeds Lake straightforward Reeds Lake when we were hopping across the rocks for a while plenty of areas where you wanted to be very intentional about where your footing was going corpus was clear too corpus was great there are two little routes on crow pass and we took the high road up and the low road back down and we had to go skip across some running water corpus is where we got engaged yeah check out her finger halfway through the video it's a little heavier no corpus will be always special all right we've got comment from Frank thanks for the great videos thank you thanks for the great stuff Frank no questions just planned a trip in September and don't even know what to ask just learning Marilyn we got you covered we have so many videos about first time visits to Alaska what to wear in Alaska there's a video that actually released as we speak right now tips for first time in Alaska so just go in there you'll find so many videos and reach out to us our email is we are trekking pals at gmail.com and we have been answering every single email so whatever questions I find so much joy from talking about Alaska mmm so just send me an email it will probably take me a day or two but I will send you an answer there a live use dude okay so we talked about that airline I'm going on a cruise to Alaska what is the appropriate attire for that time so I'd say if you're on the water ever I mean obviously yeah like even here in Arizona they used to use something called swamp cooling and it's just when they when the wind blows across the water it gets colder right I would say if you're on a cruise I would I would definitely have something that can keep me warm on deck but like if you're talking about when you land yeah I think for Arlene for being on a cruise ship I know I think it just depends on how sophisticated the cruise ship because sometimes they ask I think they ask that you wear like classic wear for their shows and such so I don't know much because we've never been on a cruise before something that we should try but I have a video in which I talk about what to wear in Alaska during summer and it pretty much just talks about when you are in land and when you are hiking and it talks about the layering system down jacket rain covering so on so you can go check that video just type what to wear in Alaska and it's gonna come up on YouTube search but when you are in the ship I personally would definitely make sure that I have some sophisticated or classy wear for the the evenings or for shows and stuff like that that's just my guess again I thought we've never been on a cruise before hi there yeah please all right so hi there just joined thanks for doing the series and this is by Shab Jane okay tell me if I if you have a better pronunciation for me would you have any tips on getting the rental car seems like a common vendors are sold out I was wondering if you guys had faced the same problem now we didn't have that problem when we went we were there in the heart of COVID we were getting tested and following the rules we were following the rules we really were actually we follow the rules so much we got tested three times three times I lost our test my nose was like give me a break so our we had we made some joking recommendations but the fact of the matter is if they're out and they have low inventory that's just kind of the way it is you could either drive there rather than fly now do one way to have a car rent well I'm not saying that's the easy thing I'm throwing it out but it's not it's probably sorry go ahead we joked about what it would mean to go to a home depot and rent a u-haul truck or other things to the fight to that some camper van areas might have rentals for RVs and other things which might allow you I guess for right now three things that I would say go to the mobile application to row to row is for rental car see if there's anything available otherwise go to Facebook groups there is a Facebook group called Alaska lifeline group Alaska travel lifeline or life help something like that yeah just go to Facebook groups for locals about Alaska and just ask the questions sometimes you'd be surprised how many people are willing to you know just rent their own car and then perhaps if you don't have any other option may be see if you can rent an RV or camper van and pretty much just drive it and sleep in it and then just rough it for however long you're saying Alaska I don't know what else you can do but this is this is has been a problem for a lot of people lately do you want to search really quick and on says we believe that I don't have the Facebook you know what I will I would put it on I would put it on the in the comments or chief if you if you want to know what group I'm talking about just send me an email we are tracking files at gmail.com I think at the end of the day I mean it's kind of like watching for a flight you just kind of a check on a daily basis and if you can get a reservation and get it in and even at that point they might not be guarantees I don't know how to speak about that too or how to plan but wow we've been running for we are running over time actually which the plan for these live streams on Thursday 6 p.m. is to be for one hour we've been going for 63 minutes yeah but not having the Facebook app I know right and well I was gonna say something was I gonna say yes I was gonna say if you are enjoying this conversation I see that we have nine people joining please make sure that you are giving this video a like because it helps us or it helps the algorithm push this to more people this way we can help more people out who are planning to go to Alaska tell your father tell your baby get them all on here make a Facebook account and don't forget to join us next Thursday next Thursday 6 p.m. Arizona time we will be celebrating 2000 subscribers milestone and we will have a fun giveaway we will be giving away a lot of stuff so make sure to to join us for that all righty give an insight yeah I'm trying to decide like how strict do we stick to the line here would you have any insight on the budget or possible to share your budget experience possible to make a video on it yeah yeah I mean again the car thing was way different for us and that's one of the two major budget elements yeah I don't think so I thought about sharing our budget but I don't think it's gonna be relevant for a lot of people because our plan was this is how we went for us we went to Alaska with the Alex planned the trip to Alaska for you know so that we get engaged planned it for four days that was the initial plan we got there we had our laptops and then we decided heck this is beautiful we're just gonna work from there and then we stayed for one month and we had to have one stationary Airbnb for one month so it's not going to be the same experience for everyone so I think our budget is not going to be relevant that much but we can talk about activities and how much we spent on activities and flying to Alaska and such I would like to clear my name however as well I didn't plan to go there for four days but I did just plan to wait until she said yes to decide if we were staying longer it wasn't like I was just gonna take an elastic train right out and come back alright what a memory he said no give him back the keya um well I mean we stayed for a month though we used an Airbnb so we stayed in a hotel for the first night or two and then we use an Airbnb for long-term staying and we use the the rental car we just rented one from the airport and then we rented it for a day or two and then just extended it but other than that yeah I mean restaurants and food and other things like that we were constantly bouncing around just doing local things and at that point it's just kind of like living but I don't know what their standard is for your month we were there late June early July so the days were pretty long still but think about it though at the same time the solstice right is when the days are the longest or the nights are the longest and the equinoxes where they're equal right and there's 12 months and you go through those points against with three months for each we were there for a month we went from like 20 hour days to like 16 hour days over the course of our stay there like the days change fast so we were there late June or early July if you're gonna be there late July to August you're gonna be approaching like almost regular length days again it just might be like long summer days at that point so just keep that in mind too for the availability of activities that you're planning and as a result of that too how many people might be there to try to capitalize on that but so let me let me think about it I will I will think about it and see if I can put just a rough budget for how much you can spend on a trip to Alaska maybe one week or two weeks I will see if I can put something together but we're gonna have to to wrap up here pretty soon thank you so much for joining us today this livestream was dedicated to Alaska and then we go live every Thursday 6 p.m. Arizona time to talk about different topics every Thursday is a different topic and we have our Monday livestream 6 p.m. Arizona time where we talk just about climb in Mount Kilimanjaro this is a project that we're working on for this summer we're going to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro and we're gonna be talking on the Monday livestream just about Kilimanjaro so be sure to join us if it's something that you are interested in and be sure to subscribe to the channel check the other videos about Alaska and if you have any questions for us about Alaska do send us an email we are tracking out at gmail.com or send me an email over on Instagram if you follow us over there very much enjoy this conversation let me just check the last two comments can I Mike yes that is true Sunsets after 10 p.m. after midnight some days and Mike I only meant to say that when we arrived there some was going down at 2 30 in the morning and by the time we left yeah it was down to about 10 o'clock 11 o'clock at night for us but yeah well thank you thank you so much for Matt thank you Mike thank you Rishabh Oblivious dude thank you Arlene Marlene Fred Fred Frank Fred Frank actually not Fred Frank and everyone everyone who joined us today we really enjoyed this conversation and looking forward to seeing you in the next live stream thanks everybody have a good day