Alaska - Hiking Denali
I have to find few day trips in Denali state park or national park, where we can hike. The problem with Denali National Park is that there are no marked trails, so have to get nice map and don’t forget the compass.
Denali National Park (http://www.nps.gov/dena)
Of course Denali can not be missed just because of the McKinley alone, but it is not good enough just to see it from the shuttle bus.
There are lodges and hotels just before the entrance and seems like few wild lodges in the Denali, I’ll cover that later, when start looking for a place to crash.
You can not drive in the park, just take a bus, which should be reserved and seats fill in fast. The best way to reserve it to call:
- Nationwide: 800-622-7275
- Outside the U.S.: 907-272-7275
- In Anchorage: 272-7275
Or online: http://www.reservedenali.com/
More information at Denali web-site
There is a schedule of the buses at official Denali site
There is also a lottery which lets lucky 1600 drivers drive their cars in September during four days.
If you do not get a seat on the bus, you can still hike in the Denali NP right from the entrance.
This site lists some of the many trails at the entrance, though they all seem kind of small, we need to find something more challenging: Alaska.org
The following site has few more trails of Denali park: Trimble Outdoors
And just few more trails from GORP
But other than that - get a nice topographic map and follow your own trail : ) I’m sure they have some nice maps for sale there, but to plan on computer I have Garmin US Topo (the new 3D version) and DeLorme US Topo maps - both of which are really nice and show a lot of details. Also a paper map, like DeLorme topo atlas is good, but the scale and details is not enough to hike safely.
I’ve just read, that you can take bikes with you on the bus. So it will be a great idea to ride the bus in the morning somewhere far away and then bike back … if you get tired, then get on the bus again - the views should be awesome!
Denali State Park (http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/denali1.htm)
Denali State Park is located a little bit downwards on the highway and is much easier accessible than National Park. The views of Mt. McKinley are actually as good, if not better, than from Denali NP. The good thing is that there are more marked hiking trails.
This web-site lists just few of the trails.
More information about hiking trails can be found on the official site.
We will probably a day here, just hiking around on some nice trail.