Story and photos by Lisa Maloney One simply does not dispute Valdez’s place in the pantheon of Alaskan adventure cities. Sure, only about 4,000 people live here, and it’s at the literal end of the road. But that drive – about a six-hour drive northeast from Anchorage, or southeast from Fairbanks, to the shores of …
Story and photo by Lisa Maloney The small town of Talkeetna, Alaska is rightly famous – or perhaps more accurately, infamous – for three things in particular. The first is its honorary mayor: A cat named Denali, successor to the honorable Mayor Stubbs (also a cat). Talkeetna is also widely credited as the inspiration for …
Story and photos by Lisa Maloney The more remote the Alaska community, the more conscious people tend to be that our mutual survival depends on facing obstacles together. That might be one of the factors at play in the near-Arctic city of Nome, a surprisingly cosmopolitan community that straddles the line between regional hub (providing …
Story and photo by Lisa Maloney If you walk anywhere in Homer, Alaska, it won’t be long before you receive a smile and a warm “Hi! Where are you visiting from?” It’s not that the entire city’s population acts as de facto ambassadors, although in some senses they do. It’s just that anyone who’s lived …
Where in the West Should I Go? • 52 Places to Visit in 2022 The Whale Bone Arch is found on the beach near the Cape Smythe Whaling and Trading Station in Utqiagvik, which is home to one of the largest Inupiaq settlements in Alaska. The town of Utqiagvik (formerly called Barrow) is the northernmost …
Mount Ballyhoo is a place for adventurers with its spectacular views, beautiful lightly-trafficked hiking trails and rich history. It’s impressively one of the tallest peaks in the region of Unalaska Island at an elevation of 1,634 feet. Mount Ballyhoo offers a moderately difficult three-mile hiking experience with two separate trailheads that are easily accessible. Each year the Ballyhoo Mountain Run takes place, where participants race up and down the mountain. The winner is recognized as “king of the hill.”
Kenai Fjords National Park boasts views of about 40 glaciers cascading from the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the United States. It has an average snowfall of 60 feet per year and the ancient, jagged ice takes over more than half of Kenai Fjords.
Fairbanks, Alaska’s third largest city, is a hotspot for artwork that travels back through ancestral history to over 2,000 years ago. From ivory carvings created by Alaska Natives from the Iñupiaq culture to Aleut and Alutiiq headdresses, the city is packed with Alaska Native art history.
From cities and towns to national parks and lesser-known landscapes, this inaugural special section has your 2022 travel through the West covered! We’ve curated a list of 52 places to visit this year – four in each of the 13 states we cover. If you travel at a breakneck pace, that’s one a week. Let this guide serve as inspiration and enjoy the West!
