Pedersen Glacier and the Kenai mountains create a picture-perfect view from the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, an ecotourism hotel in coastal Alaska. Located in a national park, the 3,000-square-foot lodge and its eight cabins are accessible only by sea. Photo by Don Mankin

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There is more to Alaska than Denali and the cruise up the Inside Passage. In the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, a vast but accessible wilderness region in south central Alaska just a three-hour drive from Anchorage, you’ll see some of the most beautiful scenery in the state.

Nearly two million acres in size, Kenai is like a mini version of Alaska, with spec­tacular lakes, glaciers and mountains — perfect for hiking, kayaking and wildlife viewing, especially eagles, moose, whales and bears.

I traveled to Kenai in June to explore some of its most remote attractions via Alaska Wildland Adventures’ weeklong tour. Our group of a dozen people, from three multigenerational families, ranged in age from 11 to 84. As the oldest, I was traveling with my 28-year-old grand­nephew, Aaron, on the latest in a series of joint adventures.

We stayed in three remote lodges built by the tour company: the Kenai Riverside on the Kenai River, the Kenai Backcoun­try on Skilak Lake and the Kenai Fjords Glacier, the only lodge in Kenai Fjords National Park. The last two are the only human-built structures for miles around.

Kenai Riverside Lodge

Our journey started with a drive in a roomy van down the Turnagain Arm, a long fjord lined by mountain peaks and dense forest. We arrived in the late after­noon at the Kenai Riverside Lodge on the banks of the fast-flowing Kenai River. Sit­uated just off the highway, it’s the largest and busiest of Alaska Wildland Adven­tures’ lodges.

Although most guests were there to fish, we used it as a convenient jump­ing-off point to visit the other two lodges.

We began our trip by floating on a raft down the Kenai River to the Backcountry Lodge, past dozens of fishermen in chest-high waders standing in the glacier-fed river, casting their lines and hoping to hook the much-prized king salmon.

It was a mellow float, with occasional runs of Class II whitewater, past thick forests with the occasional eagle survey­ing the scene from a high perch in the trees. In the distance, mountain ridges were still streaked with the remnants of the past winter’s ice and snow.

Kenai Backcountry Lodge

When we reached Skilak Lake, we transferred to a small boat to take us across to the Backcountry Lodge, a rus­tic retreat accessible only by boat. The lodge was originally built in 1935 as a hunting cabin and expanded many years later. In the two days we spent at the lodge, I saw no other signs of human life except for one other boat.

The lodge and nine guest cabins are scattered throughout the edge of forest near the beach. The log buildings are ba­sic but comfortable, with heat, private baths, comfortable beds, a deck with rocking chairs and at least a partial view of the lake.

On the beach are chairs and tables for hanging out. I spent the rest of that first day lounging by myself on one of the chairs with an ice-cold beer, gazing at the 15-mile-long lake, lush, forested hills and snowy mountains.

After dinner, I moved to the rocking chair on our porch. There were no sounds other than birds chirping and waves lapping on the beach. It is for mo­ments like this that I work so hard to reach the planet’s most isolated places.

That night I slept very well.

The main activity the next day was an uphill hike on a rough, rocky, root-strewn trail through the forest to a scenic over­look above the tree line. We kept our eyes peeled for bears and moose and were both relieved and disappointed that we didn’t see any. Our guides carried bear spray just in case.

After a mile or so, the geezers in the group, including me, decided to head back to the lodge. The others continued uphill for a view of the lake.

When they returned, I asked a very tired Aaron about the rest of the hike. “We were the only people in sight,” he said. “It was a lot of work getting there, but it was worth it.”

Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge

On the last two days of the trip, we stayed at Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge in the heart of Kenai Fjords National Park.

In Seward, the gateway to the park, we hopped on a small private boat for a four-hour ride to the lodge, pausing along the way to check out otters, whales, moun­tain goats, puffins and the Gulf of Alas­ka’s coastline of jagged cliffs, sheer sea stacks and yawning sea caves.

We landed on a beach and walked a mile to the lodge on a sandy, rocky trail. On the way, we spotted a bear in the tall grasses and weeds less than 50 yards away. Fortunately, he was more inter­ested in the grass and weeds than us, so our guides’ bear spray stayed holstered.

On the deck of the main lodge, rocking chairs overlook a lagoon with a glacier and a line of mountain peaks in the dis­tance — one of the best views of the trip.

It wasn’t long before we were in a ca­noe, paddling around the lagoon. We spotted at least three bears on the shore during our one-hour paddle. Another bear moseyed on the lawn in front of the lodge shortly after dinner.

The highlight of our visit to the lodge, and possibly the entire trip, was our all-day kayak to Aialik Glacier, a massive tidewater glacier about a mile wide and 300 feet tall. We ate lunch in view of the vast glacier, swathed in silence except for subdued chatter and the occasional thun­derous crack as huge chunks of ice calved off the face of the glacier and crashed into the water.

The eerie pall of the cloudy day cast a surreal glow over our surroundings. The quiet, broken up by occasional claps of glacial thunder, the rhythm of the long paddle back, the satisfying weariness of muscles exerted for a good cause — days like that are the reason I travel great distances and endure physical pursuits that sometimes make me feel as if my lungs will burst.

Every time I start to think I’ve had enough travel — enough packing, air­ports, crowded flights and jet-lagged sleepless nights in strange beds — I take a trip like this that reminds me there is more to see, more wonders to experi­ence, more beauty to contemplate. Then I start thinking about my next adventure.

I am sure there will come a time when I’ve had enough. But not quite yet, not quite yet.

If you go

Roundtrip airfare to Anchorage with one stop is about $700, while a nonstop flight on United is almost $1,200 in the summertime. We stayed at the quaint, conveniently located Copper Whale Inn in Anchorage before and after the trip (copperwhale.com).

The cost of the seven-day Alaska Wild­land Adventure Collection trip starts at $6,995 for adults, $5,695 for children (alaskawildland.com/adventures/alas­ka-wildland-collection). Aaron and I were hosted by Alaska Wildland Adventures.