NOME SIDE-TRIP

Optional Trip to Western Alaska               On the coasts of the Bering Sea and Bering Strait

Alaska Side Trips

Superlatives aren't grand enough to capture the diversity and vastness of Alaska's geography. While we will see wondrous mountains and lakes and rivers from our RV's, the side trips that we've planned will show us the dramatic contrast of the barren tundra, treeless and vast, cold and icy, but teeming with wildlife that are a part of what we will experience in Nome, Gambell and Barrow.

Nome

Cleft on the outer edge of Western Alaska, this small native village borders the Bering Sea, quite close to Asia. Caravaners on our last visit to Nome rated it the highlight of our 70-day trip. We'll arrive just as the ice is breaking up on the coast and the inland bays. Just about everywhere we look will be migrating waterfowl and early nesters, with many species new to first-time visitors: Red-throated and Pacific loons, Gyrfalcon, Bar-tailed Godwit , Red Phalarope, Aleutian Tern, Bluethroat, Northern Wheatear and many more. Even the common species like Western Sandpiper will be a surprise, as we probably haven't seen these before in their very bright breeding plumages.

And the mammals … Grizzly Bear, Muskox, caribou and moose - seen in the tundra vastness, what an impression that will leave in our memories.

There's also a curious human interest in our visit as Shari captured in her first impression of Nome, "Have you ever seen the TV show Northern Exposure? It must have been written in Nome because all the characters are in this town." Check out our 2002 journals for more about our experiences.

For those continuing from Gambell

You will get an extra day/night of birding in Nome.  After spending a morning birding in Gambell (5th day there), we will fly to Nome, continue birding at Nome and stay the night.  Others in the group who stayed in Anchorage, will fly to Nome the next day and the schedule will commence as follows:

Schedule

• First day - fly from Anchorage to Nome, bird in afternoon and evening, stay overnight in Nome.
• Second and third day - look for birds, mammals and early tundra flowers, sightsee the tundra and coastal mountains, drive the many miles of open roads in rental 4-wheel drive vehicles, eat and sleep in Nome.
• Fourth day - revisit the best birding spots in the morning and early afternoon, fly back to Anchorage in late afternoon.

Package features:  4-days / 3-nights

• airport parking in Anchorage
• airfare to Nome
• airport pickup in Nome
• hotel in Nome (3 nights)
• Nome history tour
• 4-wheel drive vehicle rental in Nome (4 days)
• airfare to Anchorage
• services of naturalist and caravan guides

Package price (2008)

• $1255 per person (double occupancy) - or $990 in combination with Gambell *
• $1435 per person (single occupancy) - or $1230 in combination with Gambell *

* When combining Nome and Gambell, you get one extra day/night plus vehicle usage, i.e. 5-days / 4-nights in Nome.

Additional expenses not included are meals in Nome.

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Revised: November 10, 2007.