1. I'm coming to Alaska in June. We're taking a cruise up the Inside Passage, then visiting Denali National Park. What kind of clothing should we pack?

To really enjoy the incredible scenery and wildlife viewing opportunities you are going to encounter, you'll need to get outside a lot. Even in the height of summer, Alaska can be rainy and cool. There's no need to bring winter parkas in June, but you should have layers of warm clothing and a waterproof outer layer. You'll be able to handle almost anything with a wool sweater, a warm Polarfleece-type jacket, and a sturdy rain suit. Depending on the conditions, you can wear any combination of those garments, or, if it's really cold and wet, all three. If you'll be spending a lot of time on the water or camping out, a hat and gloves aren't a bad idea, too. Everyone who comes to Alaska should pack good walking or hiking shoes--crosstrainers are great for hiking. Of course, bring some warm weather clothes, too. Highs in the mid-70s are not unusual in June.

2. We're trying to decide between a small- and a large-ship cruise. What do you recommend?

The issues to consider are the level of comfort you need and the degree of your interest in Alaska's outdoors, scenery and wildlife. The big ships offer every conceivable amenity, including discos, movie theaters, swimming pools and the like. If none of that has anything to do with Alaska, the passengers don't seem to mind--they have most of their fun on the ship itself, with short, scripted and fairly crowded visits to the towns along the way. Two of the large ship lines, Princess and Holland America also own hotels, buses and other facilities to add on a land-based package tour at the beginning or end of a voyage. My choice, however, would be a small ship cruise. Although lacking all the fancy attractions of a floating city, the boats are perfectly comfortable. More importantly, they see more of Alaska, getting closer to the wildlife and sights and allowing passengers more time in the outdoors. Two of the best are Alaska Sightseeing/Cruise West, which has its own shore tour operation, and Alaska's Glacier Bay Tours and Cruises, which specializes in Glacier Bay National Park.

3. I want to catch salmon and halibut when I come to Alaska. What's the best time of year to visit?

Any summer month is good for halibut (winter would work too, if the fishermen didn't mind freezing their fingers). The big flatfish live on the bottom and seem little influenced by what's going on up above. For salmon fishing, however, you must meet the runs of fish returning to the rivers to spawn. A run can be as short as a week of peak fishing in each stream for each of the five species of Pacific salmon, and when that week happens varies in every stream. With Alaska's thousands of salmon streams, there's salmon to be caught somewhere all summer and into the fall, but you need to be in the right place at the right time. You can get much of that information from the excellent website and free regional fishing guides put out by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They even sell fishing licenses on line. King and red salmon (also known as chinook and sockeye) generally come in the first half of the summer, and silvers (or coho) later in the summer and in the fall. Going with a guide or visiting a fishing lodge improves your chances. A booking agency in Anchorage called Sport Fishing Alaska specializes in setting up those trips.

4. Is it possible to see the Northern Lights in the summertime?

Not really. Sometimes we see a hazy green glow in the summer, but not the colorful, psychedelic spectacle that shows up in winter. Summer's midnight sun is the culprit. In Fairbanks, at the latitude where the best aurora viewing begins, the sky is light all night in midsummer, with the sunset and sunrise separated by only two hours of twilight glow on the longest day of the year (June 21). A wintertime visitor season has developed there based on the stunning auroral displays that come many winter nights, and the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute is a world center for the study of the phenomenon. Check out their website for aurora predictions, and Alaska earthquake and volcano information, too. If you don't want to come when it's really cold and snowy, the best compromise is a visit in September, when the skies darken enough to allow occasional aurora sightings. The weather may be cool, but the yellow leaves and rust-colored tundra are gorgeous at that time of year.

5. How much time should we allow for a driving vacation to Alaska?

A drive to Alaska is a great adventure, but it takes a long time. I wouldn't consider it with less than a month of vacation to justify all the time on the road. The driving distance from Seattle to Anchorage is some 2,400 miles, mostly on two-lane roads of spotty quality. It's theoretically possible to do it in two or three days, but that wouldn't be my idea of a vacation. Allow five days each way. Some of the drive is spectacular, but many hours of it pass tediously through brush and trees. Of course, it's remote country, fit only for a reliable vehicle and a prepared party. Pick up a copy of The Milepost, published by Morris Communications, at a book store before going; it gives mile-by-mile driving instructions and advertising listings from every motel and greasy spoon on the way. A winter drive isn't advisable without survival equipment to keep you safe for a day in case of a breakdown in temperatures of -[minus] 40°F. Taking the Alaska Marine Highway ferries up the Inside Passage cuts the drive to a more reasonable length, and it's a great way to see some of Alaska's most beautiful shores and quaint towns that aren't connected by road to the outside world. But it still takes 72 hours to ride the ferry from Bellingham, Washington, to Haines or Skagway, where you rejoin the highway, and for the same price as bringing your car on board you could rent a car for two weeks and leave your own car at home. (You can also start in Prince Rupert, B.C., cutting the ferry ride in half; more sailings are available from Prince Rupert, too.) If possible, plan a few days in towns along the way on the ferry. Depending on your interests, you can stop off in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, or Juneau.

6. What is the best destination to see browns bears for visitors on a budget?

Those incredible pictures you see of brown bear catching salmon from a waterfall come from a few places in Alaska where bear viewing is absolutely fool-proof: Katmai National Park, Kodiak Island, the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, and Pack Creek, on Admiralty Island. Each of these places requires a float plane or other travel that cost at least several hundred dollars per person to get to where the bears congregate. Denali National Park doesn't have the same near certainty of seeing bear, but I've never missed seeing at least one grizzly on a trip into the park, and these bus safaris cost only around $20 per person. The attraction isn't an exceptional concentration of bear--Denali's Interior location isn't especially rich biologically--but the National Park Service has managed the park well to protect wildlife viewing opportunities. That means the only way into the park is on a many-hour-long bus ride, as private cars would spoil this park just as they have so many in the Lower 48. Without being intimidated by tourists in cars, the animals carry on naturally while buses drive by. Also, most of the park is above treeline, so you can see the bears from a great distance.

7. We want to visit Southeast Alaska, but we don't want to take a cruise. What are the options?

Many visitors seem to think cruising is the only way to Southeast Alaska, but, of course, that's not how residents get around. They fly or take the ferries operated by the state's Alaska Marine Highway System. Two popular Southeast communities, Haines and Skagway, are connected to the road system, but most of the towns have no highway links, including Juneau, Alaska's capital, Ketchikan, its fourth largest city, and Sitka, the Russian capital and most historic town in Alaska. Each of these, plus Wrangell, Petersburg and Gustavus, is served daily by jets operated by Alaska Airlines, and commuter airlines connect them and smaller towns. One great way to do a Southeast Alaska trip is to fly into a hub on Alaska Airlines then explore with the ferry and the smaller airlines. The ferry takes longer, but is less expensive and the passing scenery is unforgettable. The boats have cabins, which you should book well ahead for summer trips, and restaurants that serve meals (although bringing a picnic aboard is a good idea for added variety and flexibility). You can even camp on deck, setting up your tent behind the top deck solarium. (Bring a roll of duct tape to hold down your tent in case you get a windy spot.) Bicycles and cars are for rent in each little town along the way, and you can book fishing trips, sea kayaking and whale watching tours in almost any of the larger communities.

8. We want to see the Arctic and learn about Eskimos and their culture, but we aren't interested in roughing it. Any advice?

Two Arctic communities, Kotzebue and Barrow, offer encounters with their Inupiat culture for visitors who only have a day or two to spend and want to learn in comfort. Each town will surprise you with a fascinating mix of traditional Eskimo culture and modern lifestyles. Barrow, the farthest north community in North America, also offers the chance to stick your toe in the Arctic Ocean at an extreme tip of human settlement in the Arctic. They've recently built an impressive Inupiat Heritage Center, which serves both as a museum and as a cultural center for local artisans to share and demonstrate their work. Tundra Tours (800-882-8478 or 907-852-3900), a Native-owned company, offers bus tours of the town and rides to the ocean, including a visit to the heritage center, dancing and a blanket toss. In Kotzebue, in Northwest Alaska, Native-owned Tour Arctic (907-442-3441) offers a daily tour through the community and visit to their NANA Museum of the Arctic, where they show a high-tech slide show and demonstrate dancing and the blanket toss. You can add on a side trip to Nome or to a smaller Bush village from Kotzebue. Alaska Airlines Vacations offers each of the trips as packages including air fare from Anchorage or Fairbanks. Expect to pay around $400 for the day trip. Know in advance, however, that these are scripted package tours.

9. Which summer month has the best weather for a visit to Alaska?

Alaska's summer is brief, with the peak visitor season lasting only eight weeks, from mid-June to mid-August. June tends to be dry, but in the north and a high elevations the snow doesn't melt until late in the month. Night time temperatures can be cool. August is the wettest of the summer months, although warmer than June. July is the driest and warmest month of the summer, but also the time when you'll find the highest prices and the biggest crowds. The shoulder season extends into May and September, and, increasingly, October. May can be gorgeous, but you can run into cool weather, muddy and snowy hiking trails, and some attractions that don't open until Memorial Day. September also can be crisp and spectacular. The leaves turn yellow and the tundra red, making the Interior and the Arctic their prettiest. It's also a rainy month, however, and camping can be frosty. October is really pushing it. Snow often comes at mid-month in the Southcentral and Interior regions. Cruises still run in Southeast Alaska, but the rainy season there is in full swing.

10. I'm interested in earning some money for college while traveling in Alaska next summer. What are the job opportunities?

Many a college student has paid for a trip to Alaska and a little bit of tuition by working in an Alaska fish cannery. Hillary Clinton recalled her college days on the slime line when she visited Alaska a few years ago. It's hard, smelly work, gutting and cutting fish for long hours of overtime, but you can certainly bank some of your earnings by camping out or sleeping in a company dormitory. Working at sea is not a good idea. The factory processors are miserable, dangerous places to work, and quitting is impossible until they return to shore. Fishing boats rarely hire inexperienced deck hands, so your chances of becoming a commercial fisherman for a summer are small. Many hotels, tour companies, restaurants and other visitor industry employers hire large numbers of summer workers. It's a good idea to line something up, or at least have a good idea of what's available, before coming north. The best place to start is the Alaska Department of Labor Job Service website. They offer listings by region and specialty.