A collection of the best Alaska travel stories featured in The Statesider US Travel Newsletter
Also see: Pacific Northwest, Mountain West
Alaska Travel Stories
Welcome to the Land: Adam Karlin heads north — as far north as you can go in the US — into a land where passing a truck requires a CB radio, catching salmon requires a two-by-four, and filling up your tank means staying on bear alert. We love how this story captures the wildness, weirdness and wonder of the very far north. 👉 Don’t miss this Statesider Original from the top of America 👈
Here in Alaska: It’s a newsletter, it’s a podcast, it has…the Alaska Dog of the Week! Your new source for all things Alaska: Jenna Schnuer, Here in Alaska
Fasting in the Land of the Midnight Sun: With a fast from sun up to sun down, how do Muslims observe Ramadan in Alaska when the sun barely sets? Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Radio
Bering Witness: St. Matthew Island, a 24-hour journey by sea from the closest settlement, might just be Alaska’s most remote place. Humans have tried to tame it. The island always wins. Sarah Gilman, Hakai Magazine
Letter from Alaska: Terrain’s Letters to America is delight, a mix of poetry and lyrical essays to our complicated home. Start with this one about the last frontier, then get lost in the rest of the series. Kim Heacox, Terrain
Alaska: The state ferry system is in trouble. If it folds, it’s not just tourists who will suffer — the marine highway carries all kinds of goods, services, and people throughout southeast Alaska. Marc Fawcett-Atkinson and High Country News, The Atlantic
This Land is Whose Land? The little-known US-Canada border war that has been simmering for 116 years.Diane Selkirk, BBC Travel
Arctic, Responsibly: Traveling in Alaska’s Arctic north can be life-changing. It can also be Arctic-changing — not just to the landscape, but to the people who call it home. Jenna Schnuer, National Geographic Traveler
Where Cars Go to Die: Which US city has the most taxis per capita? Bethel, Alaska — a town that can’t even be reached by car. Anna Rose MacArthur, 99 Percent Invisible
You Say Potato: The Sitka tribe of Alaska has partnered with the US Forest Service to cultivate a potato suited to Southeast Alaska’s climate. It’s thriving. Ari Snider, Raven Radio
Mushroom Mystery: Are you a fun guy? Or fun gal? Help identify Alaska’s mystery mushrooms. Zachary Snowdon Smith, Cordova Times
ANWR: What’s at stake in the fight over development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? A caribou herd, and a culture that relies on it. Eva Holland, Longreads
Ice Breaker: It’s break-up time — the end of safe travel on ice — and it has been coming earlier and earlier. Julia O’Malley, New York Times