There’s a lot to explore in the great state of Alaska and there’s no better way to get the curiosity flowing than with a few fun facts.

  • The state motto is: North to the future
  • The land that encompasses the state was purchased from Russia in 1867 at two-cents per acre
  • The state is two times as large as the state of Texas
  • Alaska had a record high temperature of 100 degrees in 1915
  • The record low temperature for the state was in Tanana at minus 78 degrees.
  • Alaska is the only state to have three coastlines: Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Bering Sea and has 33,000 miles of coastline
  • The longest river in Alaska is the Yukon with 1875 miles of the total 2300 being in the state
  • The largest grizzly bear in Alaska weighed in at 800 pounds and stood 9 feet tall
  • The antler span of a moose is typically 72 inches
  • Dog mushing is the state sport and it was once the primary form of transportation in the state
  • King salmon weighing in as much as 100 pounds have been caught in the state
  • Alaska has a large deposit of jade (including a mountain filled with it on the Seward Peninsula) and jade is in fact the state gem
  • Both the polar bear and the Kodiak bear weigh in at 1400 pounds and stand a whopping 11 feet tall
  • The state’s largest lake is Iliamma and measures 1000 square miles
  • The tallest peak in all of North America is in the state Mount Denali measures in at 20,320 feet
  • Record for snow fall in a 24-hour period was a whopping 62 inches; the record for annual snowfall was a burying 972 inches