Why we can’t wait to visit again: Well, we’re
not visiting Fairbanks itself. We’ll touch down at the local
airport and then bundle into a taxi headed for Borealis Basecamp, a
cluster of glass-ceilinged domes shrouded in a maribou boa of
feathery mountain pines. After days spent kicking up powder on
snowmobiles, put a couple of bottles on ice and settle in for cosy
nights under the stars. Last time we were here, the Northern Lights
made an appearance.

Where we’re staying:
Borealis Basecamp

Before you go: Read
True North: Contemporary Art of the Circumpolar North by Julie
Decker. It paints a picture of northern identity by considering the
works of artists from Alaska, Russia, Canada and Scandinavia.

Why we can’t wait to visit again: Just look at
that vista. To put it into numbers, that’s 25,000sq km of parkland,
sugar-capped mountains – 6km-high Mount McKinley being America’s
tallest peak, by the way – and (not pictured) approximately 1,800
moose. We’re gutsy but sensible, so we’ll conscript the help of a
mountain ranger to keep us on track as we zig-zag across the park,
hiking poles in hand.

Where we’re staying:
Grande Denali Lodge

Before you go: Read
Yuungnaqpiallerput/ The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of
Yup’ik Science and Survival to see how Alaska’s native people
survived such harsh conditions.

Why we can’t wait to visit again: There’s no
point scanning your finger over a map: if you’re looking for The
Middle of Nowhere, this is it. Ultima Thule Lodge is 100 miles from
any paved path and so remote that even the surrounding mountains
have yet to be named. When we’re not revelling in all the glorious
nothingness – tuning in and out to the soundtrack of wind-whipped
long grass and trickling glacial river water – we’ll be literally
dipping into some of Alaska’s most remote crevices on board the
lodge’s tiny propellor-powered plane.

Where we’re staying: Ultima Thule Lodge

Before you go: Push your musical boundaries by
adding
this record of Indigenous circumpolar Hip-Hop to your
collection.

Why we can’t wait to visit again: Homer’s the
place for those who like their nature breaks served with city
comforts. We’ll catch a water taxi across the bay to Seldovia,
Halibut Cove or Kachemak Bay State Park – unofficial rehabilitation
centre of the stir-crazy, where kayaks or bicycles can be hired for
a small fee, so you can get deep into Alaska’s unspoiled
wilderness. As the sun sinks into the gaping mountains, we’ll spend
our evenings stopping in at the galleries and boutiques staggered
along the Homer Spit back in town.

Where we’re staying: Baycrest Lodge

Before you go: Keep tabs on Bunnell Street
Arts Center. It’s an unassuming not-for-profit gallery tucked
in a residential building just of Bunnell Avenue.

Why we can’t wait to visit again: The name
alone makes us giddy. There’s not much by way of civilisation at
this sandy cove on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, though the dystopian,
steely vestiges of Resurrection Bay’s WWII defences are worth
checking out. Thankfully, we’ve checked in to one of the yurts at
Orca Island Cabins, so days will be spent kayaking, hiking and
keeping a lookout for whales from our private deck.

Where we’re staying: Orca
Island Cabins

Before you go: Read
Moments Rightly Placed: An Aleutian Memoir by Ray Hudson – a
fascinating first-hand account of life in an Aleut society, written
by an outsider.