Lolioli Lodge Resort and Airventures Founder Casey Long’s Spotlights the Real Alaska Fly-in Wilderness Experience

A respected Alaska bush pilot, founder-built a unique world destination lodge resort complex at Shirley Lake, and aviation-led adventure team are drawing attention from luxury travel specialists, cruise-tour advisors, outdoor travelers, and media seeking a deeper way to experience the Last Frontier.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — June 2026 — Alaska has many ways to be seen, but only a few ways to be truly felt.

For travelers searching for the real Alaska — the Alaska of float planes, wilderness lakes, sport fishing, wildlife, guided adventure, remote lodge hospitality, and backcountry beauty — Casey Long, Airventures Alaska, and LoliOli Lodge built exclusively to highest standards at Shirley Lake are emerging as one of the state’s most compelling fly-in wilderness stories.

Long, owner of Airventures Alaska and founder of LoliOli Lodge, is recognized as one of Alaska’s most seasoned and respected bush pilots. With more than 10,000 hours of flying experience, Long represents the rare combination today’s adventure travelers value most: aviation expertise, wilderness knowledge, founder-led hospitality, and a personal connection to the land.

LoliOli Lodge is not a standard resort concept. It is a way into Alaska.

Built from the ground up by a pilot, builder, outdoorsman, entrepreneur, and host, LoliOli Lodge gives travelers access to a remote Shirley Lake setting where Alaska can be experienced by air, water, wildlife, fishing, outdoor adventure, and quiet retreat.

Located approximately 120 miles northwest of Anchorage and about 100 miles from the nearest road, LoliOli Lodge sits in the kind of Alaska setting most travelers never reach. That distance is part of the story. It is also part of the magic.

This summer, the lodge and Airventures Alaska will be featured as the opening chapter of an Epic Summer Alaska Journey editorial field report series led by Jef and Amanda Huber, founders of Club Cruise and longtime cruise-tour, luxury, and adventure travel specialists with more than 35 years of Alaska planning experience across major cruise, tour, rail, lodge, and land programs.

For Casey Long and his team, the timing is powerful.

This is not simply another Alaska visit. It is a focused travel-industry spotlight on a founder-built lodge experience that deserves to be known by more travelers, advisors, and Alaska adventure seekers.

CASEY LONG: THE PILOT AND FOUNDER BEHIND THE EXPERIENCE

Every great destination has a person behind it. For LoliOli Lodge, that person is Casey Long.

Long’s background brings together Alaska aviation, construction, entrepreneurship, sport fishing, wilderness access, lodge development, guided outdoor adventure, and backcountry experience. His story is not one of a corporate resort group entering Alaska from the outside. It is the story of a founder who built a destination around the Alaska he knows, respects, and wants to share.

With Airventures Alaska, Long and his team introduce guests to the state from the air — one of the most powerful ways to understand Alaska’s scale, beauty, and remoteness.

“Casey Long represents the kind of founder-led travel story that makes a destination come alive,” said Jef Huber, President of Club Cruise. “He is not just flying guests into the wilderness. He is sharing the Alaska he knows — the lakes, rivers, wildlife, aviation, sport fishing, outdoor adventure, and personal hospitality that make the destination unforgettable.”

The connection is also personal. Long and Huber share roots in Auburn, California, a historic Gold Rush community in Placer County where big personalities, hard work, and frontier-minded ambition have long shaped local stories. Both were Placer High School students, and Huber remembers Casey as someone whose adventurous spirit dreams was already clear in those early days — a legendary cowboy personality, rodeo talent, and the kind of person who seemed destined for a bigger frontier.

Decades later, those paths now cross again in Alaska, where Long’s early sense of adventure has grown into Airventures Alaska and LoliOli Lodge. For Huber, seeing Casey build a fly-in wilderness comfort lodge at Shirley Lake brings the story full circle — from Auburn roots and rodeo dreams to one of the most authentic Alaska adventure experiences in the Last Frontier.

“Casey sees Alaska not as a product, but as a lifestyle and a legacy that he now wants to share with a few fortune others looking to escape to piece of heaven,” Huber said. “LoliOli Lodge gives travelers a way to enter that world with the right trusted pilots, the right people, and the right sense of adventure.”

LOLIOLI LODGE: A FAMILY NAME, A WILDERNESS LEGACY

The name LoliOli carries a personal story. Created as a family tribute combining the names of Long’s two daughters, the lodge name reflects both legacy and future.

That matters because the best travel experiences are increasingly the ones with a soul.

LoliOli Lodge is built around place, family, aviation, wilderness, and hospitality. It is designed for travelers who want Alaska to feel real — not rushed, crowded, or manufactured.

At Shirley Lake, guests can experience a remote lodge setting for many styles of Alaska travel, including sport fishing, guided eco tourism, and outdoor adventure, wildlife viewing, photography, private retreat travel, family trips, and pre- or post-cruise Alaska extensions.

The luxury of LoliOli Lodge is not only comfort with full amenities from 24 hr off grid solar sustainable power, private setting heat, spa like plumbed and beautiful crafted baths, Star-link WiFi, these new private hand curated villa cabins come with full grid benefits rarely scene in these remote areas. The luxury is access — access to a remote Alaska lake, access to Alaska by float plane, access to sport fishing and wilderness adventure, access to a founder-led lodge experience, and access to an Alaska story most visitors never reach.

AIRVENTURES ALASKA: THE FLIGHT IS THE FIRST CHAPTER

The LoliOli experience begins before guests ever step onto the lodge property.

With Airventures Alaska, the flight itself becomes part of the destination. From the Anchorage aviation world, the aircraft lifts away from the city and opens a view of Alaska that cannot be fully understood from a highway or cruise deck alone.

Roads fade. Waterways appear. Forests stretch toward the horizon. Mountains and wilderness begin to define the view.

For many travelers, that is the moment the Alaska trip truly begins.

The flight is not a transfer. It is the reveal.

“For ultra-high-end travelers, this is the kind of experience that can become the emotional highlight of Alaska,” said Amanda Huber, CEO of Club Cruise. “Many clients have already experienced luxury ships, Bora Bora, safari lodges, and private guides. But flying into the Alaska wilderness with an expert bush pilot and arriving at a remote lodge is something completely different. It is personal, rare, and unforgettable.”

WHY ALASKA TRAVEL IS READY FOR EXPERIENCES LIKE THIS

Alaska remains one of the strongest destinations in North American travel. In summer 2025, Alaska welcomed approximately 2.7 million out-of-state visitors, including about 1.777 million cruise visitors and 845,900 air visitors. Cruise travel represented roughly 66% of the summer visitor market, showing the continued strength of Alaska cruise and cruise-tour vacations.

At the same time, long-term Alaska travel growth shows why advisors and luxury travelers are looking for deeper, more personal experiences. Summer visitor volume in 2025 remained about 22% higher than 2019 and 52% higher than 2015, while Alaska cruise visitor volume has grown approximately 78% since 2015.

That growth creates a new opportunity.

Travelers still want Glacier Bay, Denali, the Yukon, rail journeys, Inside Passage cruising, and classic Alaska ports. But many also want something more private, more personal, and harder to duplicate.

They want special access. They want outdoor adventure. They want founder stories. They want remote settings. They want the kind of memory that defines the entire trip.

That is where LoliOli Lodge and Airventures Alaska stand out.

A NEW ALASKA ADD-ON FOR CRUISE-TOUR AND LUXURY ADVENTURE TRAVEL

For travelers planning an Alaska cruise-tour, a fly-in wilderness lodge experience can become the crown jewel of the vacation. It can be added before or after a cruise, paired with Anchorage-area travel, or used as a deeper Alaska extension for clients who want more than ports, trains, motorcoaches, and hotels.

For travel advisors, LoliOli Lodge offers something especially valuable: a fresh Alaska story with clear client appeal and strong search identity.

It is an Alaska fly-in lodge. It is an Alaska wilderness lodge. It is an Alaska sport fishing lodge experience. It is an Alaska aviation and float-plane adventure. It is a remote Alaska retreat. It is a luxury Alaska cruise-tour enhancement. It is a founder-led Alaska travel story.

WHY TRAVEL ADVISORS AND MEDIA SHOULD WATCH LOLIOLI LODGE

The future of Alaska travel will not be built only around the largest ships, the most famous rail routes, or the best-known hotels.

Those experiences will remain important. But the next layer of Alaska travel belongs to rare experiences that feel personal, authentic, and difficult to duplicate.

LoliOli Lodge fits that space.

It has the aviation story, the founder story, the family legacy, the remote setting, the Alaska wilderness atmosphere, sport fishing and outdoor adventure appeal, private lodge and retreat potential, cruise-tour enhancement value, and media appeal for travel, outdoor, luxury, aviation, and Alaska destination coverage.

For Casey Long and the Airventures Alaska team, that combination creates a story with national travel potential.

For advisors, it creates a reason to rethink Alaska planning.

For travelers, it creates a way to experience Alaska beyond the expected.

THE EPIC SUMMER ALASKA FIELD REPORT SERIES

The upcoming Alaska field report series will begin with Casey Long, Airventures Alaska, and LoliOli Lodge before continuing into broader Alaska land, rail, Yukon, and cruise-tour coverage.

The series will include destination insights, advisor notes, travel planning takeaways, and firsthand reporting designed to help travelers understand how Alaska can be experienced at a higher and more personal level.

The opening focus on LoliOli Lodge is intentional.

Before the rail, before the cruise, before the larger Alaska route, the series begins with the place most travelers never reach — the fly-in wilderness lodge.

“After more than 35 years in Alaska cruise-tour planning, we still believe Alaska has new stories to tell,” Jef Huber said. “LoliOli Lodge is one of those most spectacular stories. Casey and extensive team has built something truly special, and this is the kind of experience that needs to be seen, experienced, reported, and shared.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

Casey Long has built more than a remote Alaska lodge.

He has built a way into Alaska.

Through Airventures Alaska and LoliOli Lodge, Long is giving travelers access to the Alaska most visitors never reach — the Alaska of float planes, wilderness lakes, sport fishing, wildlife, guided adventure, backcountry scenery, campfire stories, and personal hospitality.

For travelers seeking an Alaska fly-in lodge, Alaska sport fishing lodge, guided hunting access, remote wilderness retreat, Alaska flightseeing adventure, luxury cruise-tour enhancement, or private-style Alaska adventure, LoliOli Lodge deserves attention.

For travel advisors, it is a new Alaska story to know.

For media, it is a feature waiting to be told.

For luxury adventure travelers, it may be the missing piece of Alaska they did not know existed.

Because some Alaska stories are not reached by road.

They are reached by float plane.

How to Book:

Contact Amanda at the Alaska Adventure Desk at Club Cruise & Travel: 1-800-CLUB-SEA or Visit www.LoliOliLodge.com

ABOUT CLUB CRUISE

Club Cruise is a Northern California-based travel agency and cruise-tour brokerage founded by Jef and Amanda Huber. With more than 35 years of experience in Alaska cruise-tour planning, luxury travel, adventure travel, ocean cruising, river cruising, escorted tours, and customized vacation planning, Club Cruise helps travelers design more meaningful journeys through trusted advisor guidance and firsthand destination expertise.

Club Cruise has worked across major Alaska cruise, tour, rail, lodge, and land programs, helping clients compare cruise lines, land extensions, Denali and Yukon experiences, Inside Passage itineraries, and specialty Alaska adventure opportunities. The agency’s Alaska coverage focuses on helping travelers combine iconic cruise-tour routes with authentic, higher-value experiences such as fly-in lodges, wilderness stays, sport fishing, wildlife viewing, and luxury adventure extensions.

www.ClubCruise.com
CST 203380-40

ABOUT LOLIOLI LODGE

LoliOli Lodge is a remote Alaska fly-in wilderness lodge located at Shirley Lake, Alaska, approximately 120 miles northwest of Anchorage and about 100 miles from the nearest road. Accessible by float plane, the lodge offers travelers a rare opportunity to experience Alaska’s wilderness through fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, nature adventures, outdoor recreation, scenic beauty, and peaceful lodge-style retreat travel.

Founded by Casey Long, LoliOli Lodge was created as a personal family legacy and wilderness destination. The name LoliOli combines the names of Long’s daughters, reflecting the lodge’s family foundation, founder-built character, and long-term vision for sharing Alaska with guests seeking something real, remote, and memorable.

LoliOli Lodge
Shirley Lake, Alaska
Website: LoliOliLodge.com

ABOUT AIRVENTURES ALASKA

Airventures Alaska is an Alaska aviation and wilderness adventure company operating from the Anchorage and Wasilla areas, including Lake Hood in Anchorage and Lake Lucille in Wasilla. Led by Casey Long, Pilot/Guide Host and Alaska Hospitality team provides aviation-supported access to Alaska’s remote wilderness, including float plane experiences, fly-in adventure travel, fishing access, bear viewing, glacier touring, backcountry access, drop-off float trips, hunting transportation, and lodge-related travel services.

Casey Long has more than 38 years of flying experience and over 10,000 hours of flight time. Airventures Alaska operates as an FAA Certified Air Carrier and supports travelers seeking memorable Alaska experiences by air, water, wilderness, and lodge access.

Airventures Alaska
Lake Hood, Anchorage, Alaska / Lake Lucille, Wasilla, Alaska
Website: AirventuresAlaska.com
“Come Explore Alaska with Us

The post Lolioli Lodge Resort and Airventures Founder Casey Long’s Spotlights the Real Alaska Fly-in Wilderness Experience appeared first on citybuzz.