Denali National Park and Talkeetna- on the Trail of Mt. McKinley
by Paul H. Green
Denali National Park is the home of Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. You can get to the park's entrance by highway from Anchorage or Fairbanks, or by the Alaska Railway, in the summer months, June through mid-September. The park opens to the public on May 31st, Memorial Day. You can enjoy pristine wilderness, the size of the state of Massachusetts. The only way into the parks is a National Parks road, which for most of the length can only be driven by a National Parks bus and other authorized vans. The National Parks bus goes almost 90 miles into the park and drops people off at campsites and into the wilderness. It has been categorized as the “cheapest safari tour in the world”, at only $20 or so for a pass. Most cars are prohibited from the park.
You can arrive at the park entrance by train and take shuttle vans to your lodgings. Early in the morning, take the National Parks Bus into Denali. If you go a mere 66 miles into the park, not a quick task since you have only a gravel road, you can make it to the Eielson Visitor Center. If the clouds clear, you may even be able to see Mt. McKinley, 40 or so miles in the distance. You can then take the bus back towards the one entrance of the park, and get off at a campsite or a place for a park service guided walk. Don't forget to follow your instructions from the Park Service on how to not attract bears.
For your second day in the area of Denali National Park, you can take a rafting trip down the Nenana River. This excursion, just near the entrance of the park can be a great experience, and also allow you to do something if you are waiting for a campsite permit, or you are recovering from your bus trip into the park. The point of having the one bus route is to limit disturbance to the eco-system while having a limited number of people in the park at one time. The Nenana River is a perfect place for rafting both a fairly tame section of the river and a more challenging and exciting whitewater section. There is an upper portion where the water is fairly smooth, which is probably better suited for family fun. The more challenging section is in the Nenana Canyon, where there are some fairly serious rapids. These activities all have some risks, and all participants are put through a two and one-half hour session including safety precautions, as well as being loaned necessary equipment such as special dry suits. Several companies provide these rafting trips, and you can check them out at www.denalioutdoorscenter.com .
Since it is difficult to make an up to 12-hour round-trip National Park Bus ride to the area near Mt. McKinley in the park, as a day trip, the other option is to camp out in the park for at least three days. For example, there is the Teklanika River camp site, 29 miles within the park from the entrance. You can drive here, with the restriction that you can't move your car and leave for three days at least. This way you can, using the National Parks shuttle bus, really get to explore the park, be closer to Mount McKinley, and have some extra time if you have rainy or cloudy weather. You may even be able to get to within 20 miles or Mt. McKinley on a beautiful morning when the clouds clear, and get to see the magnificent mountaintop. Also take a look at www.nps.gov/dena/ the site of the National Park Service.
However, the good news is there is a way to see Mt. McKinley and avoid the crowds at the Denali National Park entrance. That is to go to the town of Talkeetna, which is over 100 miles south of the Denali park entrance, though it is actually closer to Mt. McKinley than the park entrance is. This may be your best bet in getting that coveted view of the massive Mount McKinley and its surrounding glaciers. You can get to Talkeetna by highway, shuttle bus service or by the Alaska Railroad. Talkeetna is an old gold rush town itself and has something worth seeing in town; the Talkeetna Historical Museum, noteworthy for its large model of Mt. McKinley and its surroundings.
Going to Talkeetna gives you the best chance to hire a small plane to see Mt. McKinley. This is the best Alaska opportunity in what is known as "flight-seeing". You can hire a pilot to fly you over Mt. McKinley, and also to land at the base camp at 7,200 feet at the Kahiltna Glacier, part of the way up the mountain. Other glaciers can be used as landing fields by small planes. For more on this see www.talkeetnaair.com and www.talkeetnachamber.org .