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Alaska Excursions

Wide range of glorious day trips throughout Southcentral Alaska.

Iditarod 40

Photos and stories from the last great race.

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Photos of Alaska

PHOTO GALLERY

Birds of Spring 2012

Snow geese land on the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, April 19, 2012 in Anchorage, Alaska. Snow geese migrate toward the Beaufort Sea coastal region in northern Alaska and Canada in spring. (Photo / Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News)

Resident and migratory birds are busy feeding, courting and preparing for nesting as spring arrives at thawing Westchester Lagoon, the Cook Inlet shoreline and other ponds and lakes around Anchorage.

PHOTO GALLERY

Twelve musk oxen have been born so far this season at the Musk Ox Farm. Staff at the farm are busy combing the animals to gather quviut which will be made into hats and scarves by Oomingmak, a cooperative of craftspeople. The Musk Ox Farm officially opens for the season on Mother's Day, May 13. Mothers are admitted free to the annual open house.

PHOTO GALLERY

Fall Colors

Fall colors in Southcentral Alaska.

Ice climbing along the Turnagain Arm

Scotty Vincik climbs on the PFM ice climb while his partner Matt Suddock belays him along the Seward Highway across from Turnagain Arm on Saturday January 12, 2008.

Recreation is key to surviving Alaska's long, dark winters. Truly ambitious outdoor enthusiasts have pounced on a vault of creative opportunities, including making use of the frozen waterfalls for ice climbing along the Seward Highway.

Sledding

People braved the icy conditions at Russian Jack Springs Park to go sledding on a brisk Sunday afternoon.

Ice storm

A car rear-ended a school bus due to icy roads Monday morning, Nov. 22, 2010, on the Johansen Expressway in Fairbanks.

A warm front brought rainfall to Alaska stretching from Southcentral on up to the Arctic Coast. Check out how Alaskans handle extreme winter weather.

Dall Sheep on the mountain

Dall Sheep ram on the cliffs above the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm on Tuesday November 16, 2010. The Dall Sheep mating season is from late November to early December. The full curl of a Dall Sheep ram takes eight years to grow.

Surfing the bore tide

A group of Stand Up Paddle Surfers rode the bore tide along the Turnagain Arm near the Seward Highway on Friday September 10, 2010 with the Kenai Mountains in the background. The paddle surfers led by Scott Dickerson with SurfAlaska out of Homer, AK rode the incoming tide from Peterson Creek to as far as the Twenty Mile River at sunset. Dickerson and Mike McCune also tried to catch the bore tide near Bird Point but the bore did not develop at that point.

A rare phenomena, a bore is a long wave that forms from an incoming tide, and then travels long distances up a river or inlet. In Southcentral, the Cook Inlet bore tide along the Turnagain Arm is a sight to behold and on good days, paddle and wind surfers dot the inlet hoping to catch a ride.

Whitewater rafting

The Six-Mile-Fest whitewater kayak and pack raft festival on Saturday August 21, 2010. The whitewater event featured Kayak and pack raft time trials, mass start races and and a rodeo at the Boston Bar with beer and food and camping at the bar.

Whitewater rafting is a passion hard to quench, but the Six Mile River near Hope on the Kenai Peninsula offers class 4 and 5 whitewater.

Glaciers

Crust skiing on Portage Lake

A cross country skier takes in the view of frozen Portage Lake and Portage Glacier during an early ski on Friday, April 9, 2010.

Mt. McKinley

Scattered clouds can't hide Mount McKinley in this view from an Alaska Airlines flight from Fairbanks to Anchorage recently.

Alaska Aviation

An American Airlines Boeing 757 passenger jet is silhouetted by the setting sun on after taking off from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

Springtime ice melt

After six months of a cold, dark winter, the extended sunlight in Alaska begins its work on the frozen-over region, melting away the ice and giving everything a glossy sheen.

Turnagain Arm

Ice is broken up along the shoreline of Portage Lake.Warm winter weather in the area diminished much of the ice and snow south of Anchorage. But what remained gleamed in the sunshine on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

Warm winter weather diminished much of the ice and snow south of Anchorage. But what remained gleamed in the sunshine on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, along Turnagain Arm, in Girdwood and on Portage Lake.