Alaska: The Last Frontier

Fifteen nights across Alaska, ridden self-guided, with the bikes supplied from Anchorage. It is a wilderness trip with real gravel in it rather than a scenic tour.

Anchorage starts it with bike collection, a welcome dinner and a bear-hazard briefing, which sets expectations accurately. The Turnagain Arm and Chugach State Park follow, then the Kenai Peninsula with its volcanoes and coastline, and Girdwood, a ski resort with its own gondola.

Talkeetna comes next, with optional off-road over Hatcher Pass and a brewery dinner, then the George Parks Highway with Denali overhead, crossing the Alaska Range to Fairbanks. An optional rideout takes the first leg of the Dalton Highway towards the Arctic Circle, the haul road made famous on television, or the day can be spent at the local hot springs instead.

Paxon follows for the Denali Highway, 135 miles of gravel ridden there and back, which the operator rates five out of ten for difficulty: deep gravel, potholes and a 30mph limit, with a burger stop at the Clear Water Mountain Lodge halfway. McCarthy comes next, the most famous ghost town in the state, reached down sixty miles of gravel and then across a narrow footbridge, so the last stretch is on foot or two wheels only. Thompson Pass, the snowiest place in Alaska, closes the route. The price is quoted per rider, and no wildlife sighting can be promised. Self-guided works here because there are very few roads to choose from and the route notes are supplied, but the gravel sections and the remoteness mean this is not a first adventure trip for anyone.