1. Juneau Jazz Festival
Classical, jazz, blues and cabaret combine to create one of the best, not-to-be missed Festival lineups -- in one of the world’s most spectacular places. For ten full days Alaska’s capital city, in all of its spring grandeur, reverberates with the sound of music.
More than 30 world-class musicians perform -- entertaining, educating and inspiring audiences with great music, personal warmth and enthusiasm.
Springtime is truly the best time in Alaska’s Inside Passage. Great weather, spectacular scenery, and some of the best, eclectic and celebrated musicians and their
2. Alaska State Fair
Spring is in the air at the Alaska State Fair, where organizers are already hard at work planning the fourth annual Alaska Garden and Art Festival. This year’s festival, sponsored by Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union, takes place at the fairgrounds on Saturday, July 19 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $5 per person; youth ages 12 and under are free.
The festival features keynote speaker Ciscoe Morris, a Seattle-based master gardener and certified arborist. Morris spent 24 years as the grounds manager at Seattle University, and now focuses his efforts on his entertaining and informative weekly radio show, “Gardening with Ciscoe,” as well as his gardening segment on Seattle’s KING 5 TV.
3. Tour Lake Clark
Lake Clark National Park and Preserve was created to protect scenic beauty (volcanoes, glaciers, wild rivers and waterfalls), populations of fish and wildlife, watersheds essential for red salmon, and the traditional lifestyle of local residents. Lake Clark's spectacular scenery provides a true wilderness experience for those who visit.
4. Telaquana Trail
The Telaquana Trail is an historic Dena'ina Athabascan route from Telaquana Lake to Kijik Village on Lake Clark. Early western explorers noted that the Inland Dena'ina were expert hikers, and trails connected all major villages in the area to each other and to seasonal camps. The Telaquana trail is part of a larger network crossing Dena'ina territory on the upper Alaska Peninsula.
In the historic period and likely before, the trail served as both transportation corridor and important subsistence area. Early visitors to the regionreported that people from Kijik village spent much of the year huntingin the mountains north of the village. Miners, trappers and explorers also occasionally used the trail throughout the 1800s and early 1900s.
Dena'ina use of theTelaquana Traildeclined in the early part of the 20th century when introduced diseases decimated the population and villages moved or consolidated. After the decline of the fur trade in the 1940s, use by trappers dropped off.Sections of thetrail were occasionally used by hunters and fishermen, but the entire route was rarely traveled.
Asinterested in the wilderness increased in the1960s and 1970s, hikers and homesteaders began to use the trail again. Today the Telaquana Trail is mostly traveled by intrepid backpackers.
In recent years there has been a renewal of interest in the rich cultural history of the Telaquana Trail.
