Going to Denali, suggestions? We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In...

saparoo Loc: Atlanta, GA

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

jsharp Loc: Ballwin MO.

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

Wildlife abounds bear, moose, foxes and mountain sheep. I hope you get to shoot Denali on a clear day. Must visit Talkeetna and go to a sled dog breeder, or raft the river.It's a very nice small town I saw a small air plane land on a grass strip in the middle of town.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

Take your "blinders" with you, the sun never sets! All day sun, the eternal "golden-hour". Really strange the first time you experience it, not too fatal!

wizard Loc: Naples Florida

A visit to the town of Talkeetna is a must as is a telephoto lens and a flight over DNP with a landing (ski plane) on Ruth glacier. A wonderful experience.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

The full-day Denali bus tour is worth it. Lots of wildlife, frequent stops for photography, and the guide (at least the one we had) was great. Just as you get inside the park there is a small lake called Horseshoe Lake. A short walk down to the lake - we watched a moose feeding for about half an hour and saw some beaver. Very pretty spot. In Seward the hike up to Exit Glacier is nice. We also hiked a trail along the bay which was actually in a state park. It was a boring hike of 90 minutes or so but led to a spectacular point looking across the bay to the glacier-covered mountains.

Clothing: layer, layer, layer! It can be warm and sunny and then get breezy and very chilly.

Robin Poole Loc: Missoula, Mt

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

There is lots of wildlife in AK take as big a telephoto as you can handle plus tripod and 1.4 extender..It's cloudy and rainy in June. You'll need lots of luck to get a clear pic of Mt Denali. There's so much pretty scenery in AK you'll go nuts trying to figure out what to shoot let alone next.
I went to Denali last year and got a pic If the salmon are in the bears will be out. As long as the salmon are in, the bears are pretty indifferent to people. Have fun

Chris F. Loc: San Francisco

Rest up now. We love Alaska and have been on a few occasions. You will be there over the Summer solstice it sounds when there will be daylight 24 hours / day. Photo ops galore and I find I don't sleep that much at night staying up photographing and even going into Denali past midnight. Then on the run with the family all day. I needed a vacation when I got back to rest and sort thousands of photos.

You will have fun, Alaska is a fantastic place.

Chris

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

jab49 Loc: Central Pa

While in Anchorage have breakfast at Gwennies close to Lake Hood (larges Floatplane Airport in the world). In the evening drive around the regular airport Moose, bear and other wildlife abounds. Sourdough's inside looks like an old mine with rocks coming through the wooden walls and the ceiling fans are belt feed from one motor. Spent 3 weeks (mid Aug - 1st week of Sept) with my buddy who had retire from there.

MtnMan Loc: ID

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

Buy full face mosquito nets. You can get some that come with a hat. Plus long sleeves and gloves.

WillieAnn

Nobody else has mentioned to take a lot more media storage than you think you will need. To buy sd cards etc. in Alaska is mind boggling and photo ops are also mind boggling. I, too, highly recommend the bus tour at Denali, and a visit to Telkeetna. We did not have time to visit the aquarium in Seward, but I'm told it is outstanding. How will you be traveling? Tour, car, plane????

jerold222 Loc: Southern Minnesota

Not sure what you are taking for a camera, but super zooms with IS are useful. In Denali your best wildlife shots will be from inside a bus. No tripods , and even a Mono pod are impracticable. I really recommend something like an SX50 for getting the best shots in Tourist type situations. We were there for three months in 2010, and my camera was the SX10 and got thousands of memorable pictures.

Enjoy your trip, I wish we could go back again.

MtnMan Loc: ID

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

Halibut fishing! Expensive but great.

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

saparoo wrote:

We are headed to Alaska in mid June. Staying in Denali 3 nights, then back to Anchorage one night, then Seward two nights. Any suggestions for photos? In Denali, we will be at the North Face Lodge and will be hiking some. In Seward, taking an 8hr cruise, whale watching, etc. More suggestions?
Thanks....

We were in Alaska the end of last August into September. Fortunately we had no mosquito issues the whole trip (must have had an early frost), but be prepared for them and for rain.

The 8 hour Denali bus ride is a must. As mentioned by another poster, the guides are knowledgeable and very happy to stop for photos. They seem to have radar for spotting wildlife. A long zoom or telephoto is recommended. Be prepared to open and close the bus windows frequently. Another good excursion for us was a river float in the park. We did not see much wildlife, but the scenery was outstanding. Be careful of your camera equipment, as Class 2 and 3 rapids are encountered.

We also took the Seward cruise. Unfortunately it was rainy and the seas were rough so half the passengers got sick. My wife and I did not and voted to go on to the glaciers in Kenai Fjords, but the majority won out and we had an abbreviated cruise. I still managed photos of sea otters, Puffins, Coastal Mountain Goats, eagles, and Stellar Sea Lions.

I am sure you will have a great time.

Dsrapa Loc: Outside of nyc

We were there last summer. Most needed was a long fast lens for whale watching (Juneau) and fast moving bears. And birds if you do that. Extra memory cards, mosquito net hats if you like to hike around lakes. I ended up using my backup lumix zs30 because it was long and fast. Don't need low light, rarely dark enough. Also do some white water rafting! Great fun, not threatening.
Make the whale watching reservations now. Small boats fill fast. Have a great trip!!

FredCM Loc: Central Illinois

Bring rain gear, we had 2 days of drippy rain, never saw the mountain, or any wildlife while on the park tour. We were there around the end of June, 1st of July. 60ish temps, I only had a hoodie and rain proof windbreaker and was cold most of the trip. It was odd, the farther south we went the cooler it got. It was 85 in Fairbanks and 55 in Ketchikan.