Autumn is my favorite season for the Anchorage area!  Visiting during this shoulder season has many unique benefits.  In Southcentral Alaska, autumn starts in late August and generally lasts until mid-October.  It is our last big hoorah before winter - in August, the fall harvest starts the season off, followed by leaf peeping, moose rutting, silver salmon still migrating up rivers, and early aurora viewing.  Throw in some fall festivals and it’s time to party in the Great Land.

Fall Color/Leaf Peeping 

Fall color starts in the mountains, with the highest peaks getting caps of white snow called “termination dust,” meaning the end of summer.   On the mountainsides, the leaves of blueberry bushes and fireweed turn vibrant red, heralding the start of autumn.  The birch and cottonwood leaves are next, creating large swathes of bright yellow, starting in the mountains around Eklutna Lake and Eagle River.  This leaf color transition slowly moves south, progressing along Turnagain Arm generally by early October.  Yellow may be our main fall color, but it provides an impressive setting for scenic photography, both along the coast and in the mountains. 

Harvest Season 

Think truly ginormous cabbage and pumpkins; well actually, giant everything from onions to sunflowers.  It’s the best time to visit the farmers markets in town, and venturing north to the Alaska State Fair (August 16 - September 2) in Palmer.  Harvest time isn’t just vegetables either:  think fireweed honey; hot apple cider; wild cranberry scones; locally made ice cream; and wild, silver salmon still available for the catching.  As for wild berry picking, lowbush cranberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) are best picked after the first frost, making them sweeter.   

Moose, Moose and more Moose 

Bull Moose - they’re big, charismatic, and looking for girls (cows).  The blood supply to a bull’s antlers stops in August causing the antlers to shed their velvet.  Then the hormones start raging and the bulls start wandering the area enticing cows to join their harem.  The only thing standing in their way are other bulls, and so the fights begin.  It’s quite the soap opera of a show.  Usually, the bull with the biggest antlers wins, but not always. You can watch up at Glen Alps (Chugach State Park), or in any of the city’s parks and greenbelts, and sometimes even catch them just walking down major roads like Northern Lights Blvd.  Everybody loves watching the spectacle, but keep your distance or they might decide you are also competition.  If you get really lucky, you can get a photo of a big, bull moose, with fall color and mountains in the background…only in Alaska! 

Bears too! 

Go where the salmon are still migrating up the rivers, and you also have a chance to view bears catching them.  Both black and brown bears (grizzlies) are around, trying to put on that last bit of fat before the big winter sleep.  Good places to watch for them are the Potter Marsh boardwalk, Seward Highway overpass at Bird Creek, or the viewing platforms at the Eagle River Nature Center trails.  Bears are best viewed from the safety of these viewing platforms or overlooks.  Salmon fishing along the streams/rivers shared with these hungry bears can also provide good viewing, but sometimes too close for comfort. 

Bird Watching 

Most of the shorebirds and songbirds have already gone south, but August-September is a great time to catch sandhill cranes and waterfowl migrating.   Snow and Canada geese gather in good numbers along the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge, along with sandhill cranes and ducks.  Potter Marsh provides awesome bird-watching opportunities.  Trumpeter swans flock up, easily visibly from the Seward Highway and its pull-outs along the marsh.   Also, local and visiting birders will be searching everywhere for a glimpse of a rare species straying over from Asia, creating quite the excitement and even small crowds when word gets out that one is found. 

Festivals and Lights 

Dress in layers, because autumn can bring a nip in the early morning air.  It’s the last opportunity for all those famous Alaska summer outdoor activities:  bore tide surfing; paragliding; mountain hiking; and even watching beluga whales in Cook Inlet.  Then before you know it, someone mentions the word “Oktoberfest” and the warm pretzels come out, along with the locally brewed beer, tuba music, and costumes.   

In the fall, we lose about six minutes of daylight each day, which is noticeable.  However, longer nights and more clear skies bring the earliest seasonal opportunities to view auroras.  The nice things about aurora viewing this time of year are the warmer temperatures, and that the lakes can provide for reflections.  Going with a photo tour company can improve your odds and get you even better shots. 

Anchorage is considered a “winter city,” but before that happens, get out there and enjoy all the fun outdoor adventures and breathtaking scenery that is fall in Southcentral Alaska!