The Inside Passage - Southeast Alaska

The Southeast region, the seat of Alaska's government and timber industry, is a 500-mile-long vacation paradise of forests, wildlife, rock and water long famous as the Inside Passage. About half of the tourists who come to Alaska arrive or depart on cruise ships that make their way through the islands of the Inside Passage to Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and other destinations.

The Tongass National Forest, America's northernmost rain forest, is the dominant feature, bringing under federal control much of the region's mainland and islands. The Tongass, while logged in places, protects wilderness and is used for recreation. Two parts of the forest are preserved as national monuments: Misty Fjords and Admiralty Island; land in those areas and elsewhere is designated wilderness.

Southeast has two big national parks, Glacier Bay and Yakutat-area Wrangell-St. Elias (which is so big that it spreads into the Southcentral region). These parks, at the uppermost part of Southeast, join with Canada's Kluane National Park to form a World Heritage Site. There are also two smaller national historical parks in Southeast Alaska: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway and Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska's first capital city.

Wildlife viewing, kayaking, glacier watching, hiking and birding can all be part of any trip to Southeast Alaska.

The Inside Passage is one of the planned stops on Rawhide Travel and Tours' "Kick Ice Alaskan Glacier Route Super Cruise".  Join us  August 22-31, 2012. Call (602) 843-5100 for more information.