Getting lost in the last frontier: even in Alaska's less populated areas, there's always something to do.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: TOURISM

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For many, Alaska is the place to go when they want to get away from it all. But what do you do when you want to get away from all of the people who are getting away from it all?

In a state as big as Alaska, it's easy to find incredible places that are off the beaten path, whether you're looking for a place to relax resort-style, or are hop ing to find a little more adventure ice climbing on a glacier. You can even take a relaxing stroll through a rainforest.

"Even the trail system in Alaska is phenomenal--you can hike to a lot of places where there aren't a lot of people, and never be too far from the city," said Rebecca Coolidge, public relations specialist, Anchorage Convention and Visitors Bureau.

FLY

Alpine Air, which is based out of Girdwood, can also provide a bird's-eye view of the Chugach National Forest from helicopters which provides a panoramic view for fliers. "Just by the helicopter's sheer design, it's like watching an IMAX movie," explained office manager Amanda Adams. Tours lasting 30-, 60- and 90-minutes enable visitors to see tidal, alpine and hanging glaciers, with the longer tours providing a chance to land on a glacier either in the Lake George Glacier area or in Prince William Sound.

Alpine Air also offers a trip to the Punch Bowl Glacier, where guests can take dog sled tides and meet the mushers who train them. "There are up to 60 dogs on the glacier at a time," said Adams, "and the mushers live there all summer long."

CLIMB

For those travelers who would rather use their own leg power to blaze new trails, Ascending Path Alaska Co., located in Girdwood, offers glacier trips and ice climbing tours for the more adventurous at heart. "We take folks out into the backcountry all the time," explained owner Matt Szundy. "One really unique off-the-beaten-path experience is our ice-climbing trip to Byron Glacier in Portage. We hike about a mile to avalanche debris, then hike another one-and-a-half miles up onto the glacier where we climb vertical ice walls."

The daylong trip, which is accessible to first-time ice climbers, features a four-to-one climber to instructor ratio, so there are no crowds and each climber gets a lot of attention.

HIKE

Other Ascending Path offerings include interpretive hikes on the Alyeska Glacier where visitors can learn about glaciology and mountaineering, and a rainforest hike on the Winter Creek Trail in Girdwood, featuring lessons on local flora and fauna. "To really avoid...