Denali National Park Bear Viewing Tours

Win­ter in Alas­ka is a mag­i­cal time, with few­er vis­i­tors and a serene, snow-cov­ered land­scape. If you’re here from mid-Sep­tem­ber to mid-May, you can take it in from the com­fort of the Auro­ra Win­ter Train, which runs between Anchor­age and Fair­banks. It’s an easy and mem­o­rable way to trav­el north and expe­ri­ence the auro­ra bore­alis, or even do a week­end get­away to Talkeetna.

Denali Air flights see the majes­tic moun­tain a whop­ping 90% of the time, thanks to the company’s expe­ri­enced pilots and its loca­tion just out­side the park. And, every­one is guar­an­teed a win­dow seat. Lis­ten to your pilot nar­rate while you enjoy the views.

This tour is an adven­ture­some alter­na­tive to a bus ride into the park. Denali ATV Adven­tures offers sev­er­al tours that let you explore the areas sur­round­ing Denali Nation­al Park. On your jour­ney, you’ll splash through rivers, dri­ve over tree root-rut­ted trails, and four-wheel up to some of the area’s most spec­tac­u­lar vis­tas. Dri­ve your own ATV, or be the pas­sen­ger and enjoy the ride. 

Rid­ing the train in Alas­ka is a relax­ing and fun way to take in amaz­ing sights around every bend, and many trav­el­ers choose a dome car for the best view­ing expe­ri­ence. When you’re head­ed north of Anchor­age, hop on a Wilder­ness Express pri­vate dome car for deluxe view­ing at great value.

Soar­ing high at 20,310 feet is Denali (for­mer­ly named Mt. McKin­ley after an Ohio Sen­a­tor who nev­er vis­it­ed Alas­ka). The moun­tain was renamed Denali in 2015. Equal­ly impres­sive are its near­by cousins: Mt. Forak­er (17,400), and Mt. Hunter (14,573). These three dom­i­nate the sky­line for hun­dreds of miles. You can get up close and per­son­al with the ​“Roof of North Amer­i­ca” on a flight­see­ing tour. Up here, you are sur­round­ed by ridges and peaks,…  ...more

Go on the typ­i­cal zipline and you get a love­ly ride under a canopy of trees. But with this unique zipline tour — the only one in the Denali Nation­al Park area— you ride above the tree line, so that you can take in sweep­ing, 360-degree views of miles around, includ­ing the tun­dra and the Alas­ka Range.

The only same-day ser­vice between Seward and Denali Nation­al Park! Enjoy the ride aboard a deluxe motor­coach with com­fort­able seats, pic­ture win­dows, in-seat pow­er out­lets, and an onboard restroom. Offer­ing reg­u­lar sched­uled sum­mer ser­vice con­nect­ing Seward, Whit­ti­er, Anchor­age, Tal­keet­na, and Denali, plus spe­cial cruise con­nec­tions on ship days.

Just out­side Denali Nation­al Park, the Nenana Riv­er offers a unique raft­ing expe­ri­ence: The riv­er is big and icy cold, with glacial­ly fed waters. But this raft­ing out­fit­ter based near the Park Entrance offers a soul-warm­ing expe­ri­ence on the riv­er, which makes an excel­lent coun­ter­part to a bus tour through the nation­al park. Choose a quick 3 hour trip on mild water or splash through some rapids. Or opt for a longer excur­sion rang­ing from 5.5 -  ...more

Tra­verse Alas­ka can craft ful­ly-guid­ed cus­tom adven­tures, or set you up on a trip into the Alas­ka wilder­ness arm­ing you with some know-how — and pro­vid­ing you with the inde­pen­dence to freely explore. Tra­verse Alaska’s own­er, Joe and his local team can help facil­i­tate stays in lodges, cab­ins, tents or yurts, and pro­vide the nec­es­sary gear and instructions..

Get the insider’s per­spec­tive on the Idi­tar­od Trail Sled Dog Race from vet­er­an mush­er and Alaskan celebri­ty Jeff King, who has claimed first place four times. He will regale you with tales from the trail and intro­duce you to his dogs dur­ing a tour of his sled-dog train­ing cen­ter, the Husky Home­stead. Here, for more than two decades, Jeff has offered vis­i­tors a look at what goes into cre­at­ing a cham­pi­onship team and carv­ing a life in the Alaska  ...more

For a lot of trav­el­ers, explor­ing deep into Denali Nation­al Park, far from the crowds, sounds like the ide­al way to expe­ri­ence the famous park. But not every­one wants to rough it out there — which is why this lodge is the per­fect bal­ance, a com­fort­able perch in seri­ous­ly remote wilderness.

An exclu­sive lake­side oasis with hide­away cab­ins acces­si­ble by car and only 7 miles south of Denali Nation­al Park entrance. In addi­tion to lux­u­ri­ous accom­mo­da­tions, you can enjoy the art gallery, arti­san bak­ery, and spa­cious lawn with a camp­fire cir­cle and a love­ly view of the Alas­ka Range.

At Camp Denali, you’ll immerse your­self in a remote back­coun­try, but with a cozy bed to set­tle into each night. Take in the qui­et of the sur­round­ing wilder­ness and enjoy the sim­ple, sus­tain­able ameni­ties for around 38 guests. Here, the bal­ance of ​“light touch on the land” and pro­vid­ing a com­fort­able stay is per­fect­ed. Refined rus­tic guest cab­ins, each of which claims a unique view of Denali, sleep from two to six people.

If you’re dying to try famous Alaskan salmon in a land­mark set­ting, this is tru­ly the place to do it. Known as ​“The Bake,” this restau­rant has been open since 1984. Just a mile from the park, it’s Denali’s orig­i­nal road­side attraction.

This pop­u­lar trail attracts lots of folks, so don’t expect to be the only hik­er. It’s still worth the trip. The trail begins at Mile 0.9 on the park road near the rail­road tracks. You’ll walk on a devel­oped trail down to the lake. After you reach the Over­look, the trail drops steeply. Along the way, espe­cial­ly at the over­look bench, you’ll have a panoram­ic view of the Nenana Riv­er, the devel­op­ment called ​“Glit­ter Gulch” right out­side the park,  ...more

The Black Dia­mond ATV Trea­sure Hunt back­coun­try adven­ture, just out­side Denali, offers both a skilled guide and a splash of think-for-your­self adven­ture. Your ride can be fast and excit­ing or slow and leisure­ly — it’s up to you. Unlike some oth­er ATV trips, you don’t have to do the dri­ving; a pro is at the wheel of the Polaris ATV. You’ll explore old coal-min­ing trails and the Dry Creek Riv­er Bed, where Athabas­can Indi­an arti­facts have been found  ...more

Step aboard Princess Rail, whose cars have two lev­els with 360-degree dome views, a din­ing area, and large open-air plat­forms at the rear. You may choose to ride as an inde­pen­dent trav­el­er, or with a larg­er pack­age that will include lodg­ing at the Princess prop­er­ties along the way.

Expe­ri­ence the thrill of rush­ing rapids or a mild white­wa­ter float through one of America’s great wilder­ness areas with raft­ing from Denali Park Vil­lage. Oper­at­ing on two stretch­es of the Nenana Riv­er for near­ly 30 years, this company’s guides not only know the area, but also are versed in its nat­ur­al his­to­ry. Their guide safe­ty train­ing pro­gram is among the most exten­sive in Alas­ka. Add to that a pri­vate river­side launch, a brand-new boathouse,  ...more

The open-con­cept pub­lic house offers clas­sic food with a shot of Alas­ka flair. The pub­lic house’s spe­cial­ty is slow-smoked brisket, but the local­ly sourced menu also offers bacon-wrapped bison meat­loaf, cari­bou burg­ers and fresh, local sheefish. Wash down your din­ner with one of 12 local brews on tap and cock­tails such as the Amer­i­can Tril­o­gy (includ­ing Alas­ka made spir­its) and a Smoked Salmon Bloody Mary.

Tra­verse Alas­ka cre­ates cus­tom tours in the Denali Nation­al Park area that allow trav­el­ers to enjoy the mag­ic of Alas­ka at their own pace. Win­ter itin­er­aries include icon­ic Alaskan cold-weath­er activ­i­ties in South­cen­tral and Inte­ri­or Alas­ka. After all, Alas­ka in win­ter is a very spe­cial time of year — qui­eter, full of snow-frost­ed trees, and frozen snow-cov­ered ground cre­ates an out­door play­ground in every direction.

The fam­i­ly-run Denali Griz­zly Bear Resort offers a vari­ety of accom­mo­da­tions, great ameni­ties, and amaz­ing views of moun­tains and the Nenana Riv­er. And its loca­tion, six miles south of the Denali Nation­al Park Vis­i­tors Cen­ter but out­side the main tourist area, means you’ll have easy park access with­out feel­ing crowd­ed. Choose from their hotel rooms, pri­vate cab­ins, or campground.

Take in the scenic views from the domed win­dows in the pri­vate McKin­ley Explor­er rail­cars by Gray Line Alas­ka. Inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers can book a seat, but most opt for a mul­ti-day pack­age includ­ing hotel and trans­fers. Enjoy excel­lent ser­vice from your car man­ag­er, who will point out sights and scenery along the way. Dine in the restau­rant locat­ed just beneath you, and don’t miss a thing as you con­tin­ue to gaze out of large pic­ture windows.  ...more

It’s 92 miles and about 5 hours from the park entrance to Kan­tish­na, the end of the Park Road. Pri­vate vehi­cles aren’t per­mit­ted after Mile 15, so you’ll need to take either the hop-on, hop-off park shut­tle bus or one of the tour bus­es. This road is only open in the sum­mer months between May and ear­ly Sep­tem­ber. Dates vary depend­ing on annu­al snowfall.

Either dri­ve your own car or take the free shut­tle 15 miles out the park road to the Sav­age Riv­er check sta­tion. This is a pop­u­lar hik­ing trail, and you won’t be alone, but at least you’re away from the entrance area and enter­ing the true wilder­ness of Denali Nation­al Park. This is a tun­dra walk on a devel­oped trail that fol­lows the riv­er. Good hike for kids, with pos­si­bil­i­ty of see­ing Dall sheep, mar­mots, and cari­bou. You can do a loop walk,  ...more

The team at Alas­ka Auto Rental offers rental cars for the most unique itin­er­ary: over grav­el high­ways, through win­ter weath­er, on one-way legs, or start­ing out from unusu­al loca­tions. It’s local­ly-owned, with employ­ees who know Alaska’s roads and their chal­lenges. You’ll get help­ful trav­el advice, a can-do atti­tude, and reli­able wheels.

This train trav­els through the forest­ed areas north of Anchor­age into the bore­al for­est, and even­tu­al­ly into the tun­dra regions fur­ther north. On a clear day the train will slow down to allow you to see beau­ti­ful vis­tas of Denali. You may also spot wildlife along the way. Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na Day Trip from Fair­banks: Denali Mul­ti-Day Trip from Anchor­age: Tal­keet­na, Denali Nation­al Park, and / or Fair­banks Mul­ti-Day Trip  ...more

For­get the trail­head on your next hike. Instead, take a short but very scenic heli­copter ride to a spe­cial wilder­ness area just out­side Denali Nation­al Park and start your trek from there. Your guide will lead your small group on a soft-adven­ture hike above the tree line, with sweep­ing views. You’ll learn about iden­ti­fy­ing ani­mal tracks and the local flo­ra and fau­na, and of course have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to spot wildlife like bears, moose, and Dall  ...more

Denali is an absolute­ly stun­ning park — full of amaz­ing wildlife and unfor­get­table scenery. And the best way to get an overview is aboard one of the park bus­es, which fea­ture a trained nat­u­ral­ist who both dri­ves and pro­vides narration.

How unique is the 49^th State? For starters, it’s the only brew­pub restau­rant here that serves Alaskan yak, in the form of a yak burg­er. Or tuck into the buf­fa­lo meat­loaf, a spe­cial­ty. Don’t miss the house­made Bavar­i­an pret­zel. And Fri­days bring a spe­cial treat — a pig roast, with a pig from a local farm, roast­ed in ale and smoked over alder wood

Dri­ve your own 4‑wheel all-ter­rain vehi­cle (ATV) on this excit­ing off-road jour­ney through the back­coun­try adja­cent to Denali Nation­al Park. Black Dia­mond puts you in con­trol: stop when­ev­er you want, take pic­tures of the spec­tac­u­lar scenery, and laugh as you expe­ri­ence Alas­ka as it was meant to be: rough and wild. Explore old coal-min­ing trails and spill out onto the Dry Creek Riv­er Bed, then head high up on Black Dia­mond Peak to take in the  ...more

To get a real sense of old-time Alas­ka, climb into Black Dia­mond’s fam­i­ly-friend­ly Cov­ered Wag­on Adven­ture for a trip through time. While guides fill you in on the area’s his­to­ry and nat­ur­al trea­sures, you’ll be pulled by two draft hors­es through the Alaskan tun­dra, with the moun­tains of near­by Denali Nation­al Park hov­er­ing over­head. Hear the his­to­ry of this coal-min­ing area as you pass through the wilderness. 

Step inside and the first thing you’ll notice is the his­toric pho­tos and ani­mal pelts cov­er­ing the walls, giv­ing the place a real Alaskan feel. But this is no muse­um — you come here for great piz­za and beer, and this place deliv­ers. First off, they take piz­za seri­ous­ly: the dough is aged for 24 hours, then goes into a tra­di­tion­al oven for wood-stone hand-baking.

This inti­mate, casu­al restau­rant has some of the best-priced fine din­ing near Denali Nation­al Park. Fresh Alaskan seafood, Alas­ka-raised bison, house-made gela­to, and an excel­lent wine cel­lar are high­lights at the fam­i­ly-run restau­rant, which also has great deals on king crab. You’ll find sim­i­lar upscale din­ing at some of the area’s big lodges, but those restau­rants tend to be more expen­sive and they’re not near­ly as cozy. It’s easy…  ...more

This show at the McKin­ley Chalet Resort tells the sto­ry of the first ascent of Mt. McKin­ley. Laugh, eat, and be mer­ry while the actors and actress­es do dou­ble-duty as your servers for an all-you-can-eat meal of salmon and ribs.

Kan­tish­na is a his­toric gold­min­ing dis­trict in the back­coun­try of Denali Nation­al Park. Among the most remote areas of the park, you can stay in a cozy cab­in and spend your days play­ing, explor­ing and relax­ing in the wilder­ness. Kan­tish­na Road­house is the only lodge in the area with a full-ser­vice saloon.

Locat­ed sev­en miles from the park entrance, the com­fort­able accom­mo­da­tions at Denali Park Vil­lage are far enough from the park’s hus­tle and bus­tle that you can focus on Alaska’s nat­ur­al treasures.

Set on a hill, this 166-room hotel offers a bright, con­tem­po­rary ver­sion on the clas­sic rus­tic lodge style with native Alas­ka art in the lob­bies. The lodge fea­tures a vault­ed ceil­ing, com­fort­able lounges fac­ing a stone fire­place, gift shop, tour desk, guest laun­dry, cour­tesy shut­tle ser­vice and the Alpen­glow Restau­rant. The rooms fea­ture col­or­ful Alaskan décor and, at about 300 square feet, are some of the largest in the area. For even more  ...more

This lodge, like Camp Denali, was home­stead­ed in the 1950s, but unlike the cab­in style lodg­ing, The North Face Lodge is quaint­ly dec­o­rat­ed like a casu­al coun­try inn. The lodge can hold about 36 guests, who all enjoy mul­ti-day stays com­plete with cul­tur­al his­to­ry, guid­ed hikes, field trips and evening programs.

36 miles west of Denali (Mt. McKin­ley), Mt. Rus­sell is one of the major peaks of the Alas­ka Range — and one of the most dra­mat­ic. To give a sense for its size and steep­ness, it ris­es over a ver­ti­cal mile above the Che­do­t­loth­na Glac­i­er to the north­west in less than two miles. It ris­es two miles above the Yent­na Glac­i­er to the south in only 8 miles. Over­shad­owed by its mas­sive neigh­bors, only six ascents of the peak had been record­ed by 2001.…  ...more

Over­look the Nenana Riv­er in rus­tic ele­gance at the McKin­ley Chalet Resort, a recent­ly remod­eled upscale hotel just one mile from the Denali Park entrance. Heavy on cedar, the lodge has sev­er­al build­ings tucked into for­est, all con­nect­ed by board­walks, and this Swiss chalet feel makes it more inti­mate than its 478 rooms sug­gest. Choose from deluxe rooms or upscale, cedar-lodge mini-sites. The ​“upper” rooms at the McKin­ley Chalet have great views  ...more

One of the rea­sons Princess has risen to be the largest cruise and tour com­pa­ny in Alas­ka is the huge invest­ment they’ve made in their lodges. The spa­cious new main build­ing of the Denali Princess Lodge is a prime exam­ple with a 50-foot mur­al of Mount McKin­ley, grand stair­cas­es, and a 65-foot fire­place. The resort offers casu­al and fine din­ing, an expan­sive deck over­look­ing the Nenana Riv­er and Denali Nation­al Park, and a long list of amenities.  ...more

The Cab­in Nite Din­ner The­ater, per­formed out of the Denali Park Vil­lage, offers a true-to-life Gold Rush tale of Alaskan adven­tures in the ear­ly 1900s. Enjoy songs, dance, humor, and a large fam­i­ly-style meal topped off with berry cobbler.

These moun­tains lie in the cen­tral Alas­ka Range, rough­ly 120 miles east of Denali (Mt. McKin­ley). To the east of the Parks High­way and north of the Denali High­way (the grav­el high­way that con­nects Cantwell to Pax­son), they are rel­a­tive­ly inac­ces­si­ble and sel­dom climbed. In this video, we fol­low pilot Jim of Denali Air into the range and a moun­tain kind­gom equal­ly spec­tac­u­lar to Denali and the moun­tains to the west – just not as well known.   ...more

Explore all 92 miles of the Denali Park Road and have the entire trip nar­rat­ed by an expe­ri­enced dri­ver. Not only will you see leg­endary land­marks such as Poly­chrome Pass, Won­der Lake and Reflec­tion Pond, you will have oppor­tu­ni­ties to see the abun­dance of wildlife in the park. Enjoy a hot lunch, explore the grounds, pan for gold, or take a short walk along the creek, or relax in a rock­er at the lodge and soak up the scenery.

This is your chance to expe­ri­ence the spec­tac­u­lar scenery along the Denali High­way, a road recent­ly ranked #2 world­wide as a ​‘Dri­ve of a Life­time’ by Nation­al Geo­graph­ic Trav­el­er Mag­a­zine. You’ll be giv­en the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take the wheel, or if you pre­fer, just sit back and enjoy stun­ning views of the peaks and glac­i­ers of the cen­tral Alas­ka Range. There is a guide in the Jeep up front, but you can stop wher­ev­er, when­ev­er, and as often as you  ...more

Imag­ine tee­ing off under the mid­night sun, sur­round­ed by the Alaskan wild. The relax­ing envi­ron­ment, fresh moun­tain air, and spec­tac­u­lar panoram­ic scenery make play­ing Black Dia­mond’s nine-hole golf course a once-in-a-life­time oppor­tu­ni­ty. This course was built in 1995, right on top of the Alaskan tun­dra. The rugged grass is chal­leng­ing, but designed for easy dri­ving (via pow­er cart) or walk­ing. Haz­ards include moose-hoof prints, tun­dra marsh,  ...more

A lot of peo­ple swear to it: the best way to see Alas­ka is from an air­plane, and there may indeed be no bet­ter way to get close to the face of Denali. This one-of-a-kind flight­see­ing oper­a­tor makes it easy to see up close to the Great One with­out spend­ing a great deal of time.

The farm-to-table menu fea­tures fresh seafood, includ­ing weath­er­vane scal­lops and Alaskan oys­ters. And Chef Thomas Chap­man knows what to do with them. Clas­si­cal­ly French trained, he has served as chef for Team Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup and been a teach­ing chef for Sur La Table. His ethos is qual­i­ty over quan­ti­ty, only pur­chas­ing the finest qual­i­ty seafood from small fish­ing operations.

Go flight­see­ing over Denali Nation­al Park in a very unique way: via heli­copter. Lift off on a 50-minute flight —land­ing the heli­copter on a glac­i­er, putting on spe­cial boots, and going for a walk on the frozen land­scape to get an up-close look at it. Or, vis­it Bus 142, made famous by adven­tur­er Christo­pher McCan­d­less. Flight­see­ing in a heli­copter is much dif­fer­ent from in a plane — learn all the ben­e­fits of this great way of check­ing out the  ...more

Stop into Fan­nie Q’s Saloon for break­fast, lunch, or din­ner. You’ll find dish­es inspired by the area served in a mod­ern saloon set­ting. And, in the evenings, enjoy live enter­tain­ment. Pop­u­lar dish­es include Bison slid­ers and a braised pork shoulder. 

Most peo­ple who vis­it the six-mil­lion-acre Denali Nation­al Park only see rough­ly the first dozen — or maybe 50 — miles of the leg­endary park Road. But this tour takes you all the way to the depths of Kan­tish­na — the heart of the Park where you have the chance to expe­ri­ence post­card-per­fect views of Mt. McKin­ley. This tour makes for a full day — from about 6 in the morn­ing until 7 or 8 in the evening — but it’s an adven­ture of a lifetime.

This is the only flight­see­ing com­pa­ny with an airstrip in Kan­tish­na, inside Denali Nation­al Park. Because you depart so much clos­er to the moun­tain than oth­er tours, in a one-hour flight, you’ll get 40 min­utes cir­cling the moun­tain. You may also com­bine a one-way park road bus tour with a Denali flight­see­ing tour for an incred­i­ble overview of the park.

Fly Denali is the only com­pa­ny north of the Alas­ka Range with a per­mit to land on glac­i­ers inside Denali Nation­al Park. The result is a world-class flight-see­ing trip, with land­ings on Denali’s glaciers.

The Denali Bluffs is the clos­est to park entrance. The lob­by greets you with a warm fire­place and large win­dows that look out onto the patio. If it’s a nice day, sit out­side and enjoy a meal at the Moun­taineer Grill & Bar. The 112 orig­i­nal Hill­side Rooms and the new 64 room addi­tion, the RiverView Pre­mi­um Rooms, are nes­tled in to the shoul­der of Sug­ar­loaf Moun­tain, above the Denali Nation­al Park entrance. The hotel is designed to make  ...more

On a clear day, this stretch of the park road offers unpar­al­leled views of Denali and the oth­er high granitic peaks of the cen­tral Alas­ka Range. What role do glac­i­ers play in carv­ing out the ever grow­ing shape of this moun­tain range? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

If you choose an ​“Around the Moun­tain Tour” (cir­cum­nav­i­gates the moun­tain), you’ll ascend over the top of the Kahilt­na Glac­i­er and on to the north side of the Alas­ka Range. Look to the right, and you’ll see the 14-mile-wide Wick­er­sham Wall. From the peak it’s 17,000 feet down, one of the great­est unob­struct­ed ver­ti­cal drops in the world. Con­sid­ered a death route, the Wick­er­sham has been climbed only a few times. A Roman­ian ski instruc­tor skied…  ...more

Teklani­ka (aka ​“Tek”) Riv­er Camp­ground is can be found at mile 29 on the Denali Park Road. It is the sec­ond largest camp­ground in the park, offer­ing 53 sites for RVs and tents. 

This trail starts with a climb up a fifty-foot bluff then drops back down to cross Sun­shine Creek. Dall sheep are often seen on the sur­round­ing moun­tain­sides. There is a long, beau­ti­ful, rocky canyon that is a great place to camp.

Riley Creek Camp­ground is a 147 site camp­ground locat­ed just inside the entrance to the park. 

The Sav­age Riv­er was carved out by glac­i­ers, and as a con­se­quence it is a per­fect exam­ple of a braid­ed riv­er. The flat grav­el bars of the riv­er offer a great oppor­tu­ni­ty for an easy hike, and min­i­mize the chance of sur­pris­ing a bear or oth­er wildlife.

The Nenana Riv­er, a glacial riv­er, forms the east­ern bound­ary of Denali Nation­al Park and is pos­si­bly the most pop­u­lar riv­er raft­ing des­ti­na­tion in the state. It offers a vari­ety of lev­els of dif­fi­cul­ty and has a thriv­ing com­mer­cial raft­ing indus­try that oper­ates 2 hour, 4 hour and overnight trips for locals as well as out of state tourists. 

The Denali Nation­al Park Vis­i­tors Cen­ter is actu­al­ly more of a cam­pus. The cen­ter itself is the main Nation­al Park Ser­vice wel­come and infor­ma­tion cen­ter and it is sur­round­ed by oth­er facil­i­ties that include a restau­rant, bookstore/​giftshop, bag check, bus stop and the Alas­ka Rail­road depot. 

Rock Creek is the first of many water­ways that the Denali Park Road cross­es. In con­strast to many glacial fed rivers, Rock Creek is con­tained in a defined chan­nel at this point. Just upstream of the bridge is C Camp, a main­te­nance site for the area that has had ongo­ing clean-up efforts to con­tain and dis­pose of con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed soil. 

Built in 1939 by the Civil­ian Con­ser­va­tion Corps, the Won­der Lake his­toric ranger sta­tion was built to serve as quar­ters at the west end of the road. Today it pri­mar­il­ly serves vis­i­tors. The Park staff use addi­tion­al struc­tures for sum­mer hous­ing. The com­pact site has indi­vid­ual ranger bunkhous­es, a head­quar­ters build­ing, a shop, a pump shed, and a few oth­er mis­cel­la­neous small struc­tures. Eight Park rangers are on site from mid-May to…  ...more

Denali Nation­al Park is full of rivers, with many of them orig­i­nat­ing from glac­i­ers. What makes these rivers spe­cial? Why are they braid­ed and what keeps them from just straight­en­ing out?

Cari­bou trails weave back and forth across the alpine slopes above Stony Hill. These trails are evi­dence of the sea­son­al migra­tion pat­terns of Denali’s cari­bou. Find out why cari­bou under­take this migra­tion, and where you can expect to find them depend­ing on the sea­son. Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

Sable Pass on the Denali Park Road is a wildlife hotspot. The area is des­ig­nat­ed as crit­i­cal griz­zly bear coun­try in Denali Nation­al Park, so it is per­ma­nent­ly closed in order to pro­tect wildlife. 

The 20 miles before Kan­tish­na offers views of hun­dreds of small ket­tle lakes. These lakes pro­vide crit­i­cal habi­tat for moose, birds, and beavers. What are these ani­mals after and how do the lakes pro­vide? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

The scenic, essen­tial 323-mile-long Parks High­way con­nects Anchor­age and Fair­banks, thread­ing its way past some of Alaska’s most icon­ic Alaskan areas, includ­ing Denali Nation­al Park and Mt. McKin­ley. But we’ll take you far beyond what you can see from the road. We’ll also show you some of the hid­den gems you wouldn’t find on your own, like an old trapper’s cab­in that offers a glimpse into Alaska’s past. We’ll let you in on cool trails to…  ...more

From mid-Sep­tem­ber to mid-May, the Murie Sci­ence Learn­ing Cen­ter serves as Denali Nation­al Park’s win­ter vis­i­tors’ cen­ter. It’s open from 9am to 4pm and pro­vides an array of park exhibits and movies. You can talk with rangers about cur­rent trail con­di­tions, bor­row a pair of snow­shoes, and get back­coun­try per­mits for overnight trips. Head out to explore trails from the cen­ter or dri­ve a cou­ple miles fur­ther up the park road to the Park…  ...more

Take an easy hike on a well-main­tained trail from the Won­der Lake Camp­ground to the McKin­ley Riv­er. This is part of the his­toric route that climbers used to access Denali (Mt. McKin­ley). Look for wildlife along the way, espe­cial­ly when you get close to the river.

Open week­days, 6a.m. — 5p.m.

Check out our week­ly break­fast or din­ner spe­cials to plan that morn­ing or evening out. 

Veg­e­ta­tion cov­er in Denali is always chang­ing. Find out why the forests around the Tok­lat Riv­er are chang­ing, and how the Park Ser­vice uses his­toric pho­tos to doc­u­ment these changes. Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

Cross the Tokosit­na Riv­er which marks the south­east cor­ner of Denali Nation­al Park. Look for tents or rafts next to the riv­er. While dif­fi­cult to access — even by bush plane — this area is a prime place for camp­ing, explor­ing, and to begin a raft trip down the Tokosit­na Riv­er to Tal­keet­na. Out the left win­dow, you can look south to the Peters & Dutch Hills, an active gold-min­ing area since the ear­ly 1900s. A win­ter wag­on road from Talkeetna…  ...more

You enter the Shel­don Amphithe­atre, named after a bush pilot who built a view­ing hut here on the glac­i­er before it became a nation­al park. You can stay here for $100 a night. It has a wood stove and bunks 6. If you opt for a glac­i­er land­ing, this is where you’ll like­ly land. You’ll step out of the plane and onto an ice sheet near­ly a mile thick. The scale of the Amphithe­atre is hard to fath­om. You’ll feel like you can reach and out touch the…  ...more

Beavers can often be seen here, usu­al­ly ear­ly in the morn­ing or lat­er at night. The Park Ser­vice pro­vides pic­nic tables and toi­lets on the south side of the road just after you cross the bridge. Stay as long as you like dur­ing the day, but no camp­ing is allowed in the imme­di­ate area. 

This is the most pho­tographed view of Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) from the road. You’re up high, at the edge of a moun­tain pass, and there’s alpine tun­dra all around, with the road snaking towards the moun­tain in the fore­ground. And this is the first spot where you can see the whole moun­tain from base to sum­mit. On clear days, Tun­dra Wilder­ness Tours will extend their trip sev­er­al miles just to reach this spot. Stony Hill is also a great place to…  ...more

Har­ry Karstens was the first ranger of Denali Nation­al Park. He arrived in ear­ly sum­mer 1921, and estab­lished his head­quar­ters on the north­west bank of Riley Creek, an ide­al spot for mon­i­tor­ing vis­i­tors using the trail lead­ing into the park. In 1925, the head­quar­ters moved to it’s cur­rent loca­tion at mile 3.4 of the Denali Park Road. 

Sanc­tu­ary Camp­ground is a 7 site camp­ground locat­ed at Mile 23 on the Park Road. It is open only to tent campers. 

Denali Ranger Kris Fis­ter, a 30-year vet­er­an of the Nation­al Park Ser­vice, and a Camp Denali Lodge nat­u­ral­ist share some fas­ci­nat­ing sto­ries and things to look for along the Denali Park Road. 

An iron bridge cross­es Moose Creek here. If you take a moment to observe the creek you’ll notice that the rush­ing waters are clear and full of grayling, quite the oppo­site of glacial fed water­ways that appear milky due to the high sed­i­ment content.

Hike 2 miles roundtrip from the Eiel­son Vis­i­tor Cen­ter to the Gorge Creek and Tho­ro­fare Riv­er Bars. Beyond the end of the trail, you can con­tin­ue off-trail and reach back­coun­try camp­ing units with­in the park.

What you’re able to see of the Muldrow Glac­i­er from the park road is actu­al­ly just the tip of a 32 mile long riv­er of frozen ice. The Muldrow Glac­i­er is the park’s longest and it is a great exam­ple of the pow­er these behe­moth ice mass­es have on the land­scape. Much of the low­er reach­es of the ice are cov­ered in dirt and rocks that have been scoured off of the neigh­bor­ing moun­tains on the slow jour­ney from Denal­i’s (Mt. McKin­ley’s) flank.…  ...more

Pick up the trail right after you cross over Tat­ter Creek. Fol­low Tat­tler Creek upstream for ¹⁄₄ mile to a steep ravine that comes in from the left. Fol­low this ravine up until you reach a ridge that over­looks the Sable Pass restrict­ed area. If you only plan to spend time on the ridge with­out going far­ther afield you may want to stock up on water in the ravine because there are no sources on the ridge­line. From the ridge you can choose to…  ...more

Men­tion Healy and inevitably the con­ver­sa­tion veers toward the Usi­bel­li Coal Mine. It lies just a few miles east of the high­way and employs near­ly 100 peo­ple year-round. They send their coal to pow­er plants around Alas­ka and export it to Pacif­ic Rim coun­tries. Healy school chil­dren nick­named the mine’s dragline ​“Ace-in-the-Hole.” The dragline is the largest mobile land machine in Alas­ka and moves mas­sive amounts of dirt.

Mile 43 Denali Park Rd, small cab­in is vis­i­ble down the embank­ment on the south side of the road

It’s a 5‑hour dri­ve up to the park from Anchor­age, and you’ll find a num­ber of scenic high­lights and activ­i­ties along the way

Over­look­ing the Nenana Riv­er and Nenana Canyon, this restau­rant offers a menu with dry-aged steaks, chops and Alas­ka seafood: feast on your favorite cooked-to-per­fec­tion steak or try some of the local­ly-sourced Alas­ka seafood, includ­ing sus­tain­able jig-caught Alas­ka rock­fish. Pair your din­ner with a local craft beer, some­thing from the exten­sive wine list, or one of the hand­craft­ed sig­na­ture martinis.

The Chulit­na Riv­er flows to the south out of a huge val­ley from Broad Pass, one of only two breaks in the Alas­ka Range Moun­tains, where the high­way, the train, the geese, and the riv­er, all pass on their way to Cook Inlet. It offers a chance for a float of 75 miles and can take as lit­tle as 3 days in kayaks but can be a nice 4 or 5‑day trip. Canoes and kayaks are fun on the upper but tip­py on the low­er sec­tion. There are three forks of the…  ...more

Won­der Lake is a some­what unlike­ly lake. Learn how the lake was formed, and what makes it so unique.

The fall moose rut is an unfor­get­table part of the inte­ri­or Alas­ka fall. In Denali, the Eiel­son vis­i­tor cen­ter gives vis­i­tors a year round win­dow into this dra­mat­ic event through the dis­play of two sets of inter­locked moose antlers. How did these antlers become locked, and what like­ly hap­pened to the two unlucky bull moose? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.   ...more

At the Wilder­ness Access Cen­ter, you can pur­chase bus tick­ets and all park shut­tle bus­es depart from this build­ing. This is also the place to reserve a spot in the var­i­ous park camp­grounds. Addi­tion­al­ly, inside you will also find a gift shop, cof­fee stand, and an infor­ma­tion desk. 

A 0.3 mile loop depart­ing from the Eiel­son Vis­i­tor Cen­ter in Denali Nation­al Park allows vis­i­tors to explore the alpine tundra.

You enter the Great Gorge of the Ruth Glac­i­er — the world’s deep­est. The ice is 3700 feet deep, some of it more than a thou­sand years old. The sur­round­ing walls soar 4000 – 5000 feet above. Were the ice to melt tomor­row, you would wit­ness a spec­ta­cle twice as awe­some as the Grand Canyon — a gorge a mile wide and near­ly two miles high. Watch for climb­ing camps…These may be the world’s most impres­sive gran­ite mono­liths. You’ll stare in dis­be­lief at…  ...more

This infor­mal hik­ing area begins at the Prim­rose rest area and heads up a gen­tle ridge until you reach the bench, which pro­vides panoram­ic views of the park. Wild­flow­ers are abun­dant in this area and usu­al­ly peak between July 20 and August 10.

Hik­ers will descend bluffs and cross Inter­mit­tent Creek, Glac­i­er Creek and Crys­tal Creek. There are fresh­wa­ter streams for drink­ing water but boil all of it. There are places to camp that require an overnight per­mit. The views are spectacular. 

Denali is one of the cold­est moun­tains in the world. Tem­per­a­tures on the moun­tain can be as low as neg­a­tive 40 degrees with winds of 80 to 100 miles per hour in the sum­mer. The West But­tress, South Face and Muldrow Glac­i­er routes are the most pop­u­lar. You should trav­el in groups of four or greater and car­ry pro­vi­sions for 2 weeks longer than you plan on being there. Each per­son going should be a high­ly skilled climber in their own right. The…  ...more

The griz­zly bears of Denali can be found feed­ing in almost every cor­ner of Denali Nation­al Park. Ear­ly to mid sum­mer, these bears can be often observed from Tho­ro­fare Pass. What draws these adapt­able and per­sis­tent omni­vores to this high alpine envi­ron­ment? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

The first mile of this trail, which begins near the new Murie Sci­ence and Learn­ing Cen­ter, is mod­er­ate­ly steep, hik­ing through the for­est. The for­est even­tu­al­ly gives way to tun­dra. Trees turn to shrubs, and the land­scape opens wide. The last 1.5 miles are even steep­er. Your reward, how­ev­er, is sweep­ing views of the Denali Nation­al Park entrance area, the Nenana Riv­er Val­ley, Healy Ridge, and near­by alpine ridges. Those who want to climb to the  ...more

In Sum­mer (mid-May to mid-Sep­tem­ber), The Denali Star Train ser­vices Anchor­age, Wasil­la, Tal­keet­na, Denali and Fair­banks. Depot closed in winter.

You’ll tra­verse the spine of the north side of the Alas­ka Range for about 15 min­utes, then fly through a moun­tain pass known as the Tralieka Col, back to the south side of the range. You’ll pass by the fore­bod­ing East Face of Denali (its only major unclimbed face) and descend down the West Fork of the Ruth Glac­i­er. Look for pyra­mid-shaped Mt. Hunt­ing­ton off the right win­dow, thought by many to be the most pic­turesque peak in North America.…  ...more

There is gold in the hills above the his­toric set­tle­ment of Kan­tish­na. A com­par­a­tive­ly small gold rush in this part of Alas­ka indi­rect­ly fore­tells the estab­lish­ment of the orig­i­nal Mt. McKin­ley Nation­al Park. How did min­ing activ­i­ty near­ly push wildlife pop­u­la­tions to the brink? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.

Fly­ing down the medi­al moraine of the Ruth Glac­i­er is mes­mer­iz­ing. This 25 – 50 foot high ridge of rock debris looks like an exca­va­tion pit that extends for miles down the cen­ter of the glac­i­er. Keep on the look­out for deep blue pools of ice melt. Look for lat­er­al moraines on the sides of the glac­i­er and the ter­mi­nal moraine at the toe of the glac­i­er… You’ll know the ter­mi­nus of the Ruth when you see it: the con­tor­tions of earth and ice resemble…  ...more

Denali Nation­al Park’s pop­u­la­tion swells each spring with an influx of sea­son­al employ­ees. They work for the park ser­vice as rangers, vis­i­tor cen­ter and muse­um staff, groundskeep­ers, and oth­er pro­fes­sion­als, as well as in pri­vate tourism-relat­ed busi­ness­es. But a hand­ful live here year-round and they see a dif­fer­ent side of Denali in when most of the park’s vis­i­tors have gone. Con­trary to pop­u­lar belief the park does­n’t com­plete­ly shut down…  ...more

Spindly spruce trees lean this way and that, look­ing as if they’re drunk. The actu­al cause of this odd align­ment has to do with their shal­low root sys­tems, which get read­just­ed by the near­ly con­tin­u­ous expan­sion and con­trac­tion of per­mafrost under the tun­dra sur­face. Per­mafrost is a lay­er of frozen ground, some­times more than 6 feet thick, that nev­er thaws. With­out it, much of the tun­dra would be com­plete­ly impassable. 

The Sav­age Riv­er camp­ground is laid out in a patch of trees that are just below the tree­line. Weath­er depen­dant, you can see Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) far off in the distance. 

This high-ener­gy restau­rant at the Denali Princess Wilder­ness Lodge offers some pret­ty laid-back pur­suits. Sit out on the deck and watch rafters float down the Nenana Riv­er while sip­ping Denali Red, a beer brewed specif­i­cal­ly for Princess by Alas­ka Brew­ing Com­pa­ny. Or dig into a gourmet burg­er while soak­ing up late-after­noon sun­shine and views of the Nation­al Park and Healy Moun­tains. Of course, the inside of the restau­rant is pret­ty nice…  ...more

You can begin hik­ing at Mile 231 Parks High­way, on the west side of the road, where there is a small pull­out for park­ing. The trail climbs steeply, and cross­es the Alas­ka Rail­road tracks. Then, the trail mod­er­ates and emerges from the for­est to a grand view of the Nenana Riv­er and the Alas­ka Range look­ing south toward Windy Pass. From there the trail loops around the ridge and fol­lows a series of three scenic lakes. Even­tu­al­ly, the park plans  ...more

It isn’t until you actu­al­ly dri­ve past the head­quar­ters area that you will begin to enter the wilder­ness for which you have real­ly come. Dur­ing the win­ter months, the road is closed at this point. Only non-motor­ized trav­el­ers, such as mush­ers and skiers can go fur­ther. This is taiga for­est, filled with white spruce and black spruce, inter­spersed here and there with quak­ing aspen, paper birch, bal­sam poplar and tama­rack. This is moose habitat…  ...more

Last view of Denali dur­ing first few miles of Denali Park Road

Here is the junc­tion of the Parks and the Denali High­way. The Denali High­way is approx­i­mate­ly 135 miles long stretch­ing from Pax­son to Cantwell, con­nect­ing the Richard­son and Parks high­ways. Before the Parks High­way was com­plet­ed in the ear­ly 1970s, the Denali High­way was the only road access to Denali Nation­al Park. 

Only 33 miles from the sum­mit of Denali, and at an ele­va­tion of 3300’, Eiel­son offers some of the most spec­tac­u­lar views of Denali (for­mer­ly Mt McKin­ley). There are many activ­i­ties you can do here, includ­ing ranger-guid­ed hikes up to near­by Tho­ro­fare Pass and self-guid­ed expi­ra­tion of the high-alpine tun­dra environment.

Igloo Creek is one of three tent-only camp­grounds in the park. Sit­u­at­ed right next to the creek, it is a great place to relax and enjoy the wilder­ness and the area around the camp­ground offers great hik­ing opportunities.

Once you leave the Won­der Lake camp­ground, you’ll pass the apt­ly named Reflec­tion Pond as the road begins its descent towards the north. From here you can get fan­tas­tic pho­tos of both Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) and Forak­er reflect­ing off the sur­face of the pond, espe­cial­ly ear­ly and late in the day when the water is the smoothest. 

This flex­i­ble alter­na­tive to the stan­dard bus tour is a great option for inde­pen­dent trav­el­ers. Get off any­where, spend a few hours hik­ing, then catch anoth­er bus back to the park entrance (as long as a seat is avail­able). You can take a short ride before start­ing your adven­ture, or trav­el out to Kan­tish­na, at the end of the park road. 

This hike does not require cross­ing any glac­i­ers or dan­ger­ous streams, which makes for a good overnight hike for those who car­ry an overnight camp­ing permit.

Ever been curi­ous to expe­ri­ence life as a home­stead­er? You’ll get a taste of it at this lodge set on 14 acres south of Denali Nation­al Park. Choose from hand­craft­ed lodge rooms or indi­vid­ual cabins.

Head either direc­tion on the Teklani­ka Riverbed. The riv­er bar is real­ly wide in this area so the going is gen­er­al­ly easy, even though you’re still below tree-line. Choose to go as far afield as you like. There are numer­ous route options.

This north­ern­most sec­tion of the Parks High­way, paved and open all year, takes you through small towns and stretch­es of wilderness.

The Kahilt­na Glac­i­er is the longest in the Alas­ka Range — a 45-mile long riv­er of ice! You’ll cross it 35 miles up it, at an ele­va­tion of 5500 feet above sea lev­el. See any dark specs on the sur­face of the glac­i­er? Those are the climbers and tents of Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) base­camp! Most climb­ing expe­di­tions begin here. A base camp man­ag­er coor­di­nates com­mu­ni­ca­tions between climbers and air taxis. Dur­ing the busy climb­ing sea­son, there can be…  ...more

If you’re head­ed to the dog demon­stra­tion at the ken­nels, or if you just want to stretch your legs, try walk­ing this wide, com­fort­able trail through the for­est, up to head­quar­ters from the Vis­i­tor Access Cen­ter. It basi­cal­ly fol­lows the road, occa­sion­al­ly wan­der­ing out of sight of the traf­fic. Length: 1.8 miles Ele­va­tion: 300 ft. Time: 45 – 1 hr. one way 

In a strip of restau­rants pump­ing out good meals, 229 Parks stands alone as cre­at­ing fine din­ing-qual­i­ty meals using the fresh­est, high­est qual­i­ty ingre­di­ents. They are com­mit­ted to qual­i­ty, and the menu changes often to reflect what is fresh or in sea­son. That could be berries, mush­rooms, fish or greens. Their sal­ads are excel­lent, as are the entrees. If you order small plates, you’ll get to sam­ple more of the menu! They also do pas­tries and  ...more

This sec­tioned bridge sits at an ele­va­tion of 2,655 feet. Park at the rest stop a few hun­dred meters before the east edge of the bridge for great views of the struc­ture and the sur­round­ing area.

The Don Shel­don Moun­tain House may be the world’s most spec­tac­u­lar­ly sit­u­at­ed cab­in. Perched on a 4.9 acre rock and ice cov­ered out­crop locat­ed at the 5,800 foot lev­el, in the mid­dle of the Don Shel­don Amphithe­ater just above the Ruth Gorge, it is sur­round­ed on all sides by tow­er­ing gran­ite walls and glac­i­ers flow­ing off the flanks of Denali, less than 10 miles away. It’s used pri­mar­i­ly from March through Octo­ber by pho­tog­ra­phers, skiiers,  ...more

This is an unmarked, unmain­tained trail and can be dif­fi­cult to fol­low, but is a good exam­ple of the real out­doors in Denali Nation­al Park.

Although most view­points along the Park Road can only be accessed by pri­vate tour bus­es or park shut­tle bus­es, you can dri­ve to this view­point (the first 15 miles are open to pri­vate vehi­cles). The dense spruce for­est opens up here, giv­ing you the first view of Denali, as it is called in the native Athabaskan lan­guage (for­mer­ly Mt. McKin­ley). The moun­tain is rough­ly 72 miles away and you’re only see­ing the top 8,000 feet or so. Still, it’s a  ...more

A great place to catch a glimpse of Dall Sheep, Igloo Moun­tain is also where the first dinosaur tracks in the park were dis­cov­ered. You can see them your­self, if you go on one of the many easy day hikes that start here.

Expe­ri­ence the back­coun­try of Denali Nation­al Park in a way few oth­ers do. You’ll board a bus from the Vis­i­tor Cen­ter and dis­em­bark just before Sable Pass and then immerse your­self in the wild Alas­ka land­scape. Rec­om­mend­ed for inter­me­di­ate back­pack­ers and begin­ner packrafters.

The Alas­ka Rail­road was respon­si­ble for open­ing this nation­al park to the pub­lic since it pro­vid­ed the only access to the park for many years. The Rail­road owned and oper­at­ed the McKin­ley Park Hotel from its ear­ly begin­nings and even­tu­al­ly turned over to the Nation­al Park Ser­vice for oper­a­tions. After a fire destroyed the hotel, rail sleep­er cars pro­vid­ed a nov­el lodg­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for visitors.

Only a few miles from the end of the Denali Park Road (85 miles in, about 5 hours by bus), this is the clas­sic Denali view from the north side, made famous by Ansel Adams’ pho­tographs. 25 sites.

Poly­chrome Pass gets it’s name from the col­or­ful vol­canic rocks that you can see from the over­look, but the name could also be applied to the col­or­ful veg­e­ta­tion, streams, moun­tains and glac­i­ers that make this spot unique. This high over­look is a great spot to watch bears, moose and cari­bou from far enough away that you won’t risk dis­turb­ing them.

If you’ve ven­tured this far into the park, why stop here? In this area of the park you are encour­aged to use old min­ing roads and estab­lished trails to get around. Sky­line Dri­ve takes you up into the Kan­tish­na Hills, pro­vid­ing access to Quigley Ridge and the Wick­er­sham Dome. You will be pass­ing through chunks of pri­vate prop­er­ty that were grand­fa­thered into the park so it is best if you don’t leave the road until you are on the ridge. Once you…  ...more

Not far from the Tok­lat Riv­er Bridge you’ll find your­self at the top of High­way Pass, the high­est point on the park road at 3,980 feet. The vis­tas are expan­sive and wildlife view­ing can be great. 

Tat­tler Creek is named for the Wan­der­ing Tat­tler, a large shore­bird that you may be lucky enough to spot. The first Wan­der­ing Tat­tler nest known to sci­ence was found at Denali Nation­al Park. The first nests of the Arc­tic War­bler and Surf­bird were also found here.

The Alas­ka Rail­road offers scenery, wildlife, and his­to­ry; get our audio guide to all the high­lights along its route.

Orig­i­nal­ly con­struct­ed by the Alas­ka Road Com­mis­sion in 1924 – 1925, the Sav­age cab­in and inter­pre­tive trails are now used as part of liv­ing his­to­ry pre­sen­ta­tions in the sum­mer months. Dur­ing the win­ter the cab­in become strict­ly util­i­tar­i­an by pro­vid­ing shel­ter for patrols.

Blue­ber­ries and moun­tain views dom­i­nate Broad Pass. Watch for moose and cari­bou, too. And berry pick­ers in the fall. This is the high­est point on the Parks Highway.

Both peaks of Denali (Mt. McKin­ley) are vis­i­ble to south­west, framed by Dou­ble Moun­tain and Sable Moun­tain. At this point on the dri­ve, taiga dis­ap­pears into tun­dra and waist-high thick­ets of wil­low and birch. That in turn stretch­es into alpine tun­dra that includes lichens and mosses. 

This bridge is the con­nec­tion between south­cen­tral Alas­ka and the inte­ri­or of the Ter­ri­to­ry. The bridge rep­re­sents an engi­neer­ing mar­vel for the day and age it was con­struct­ed, and is as strong today as when it was con­struct­ed near­ly a cen­tu­ry ago.

Sable Pass on the Denali Park Road is a wildlife hotspot. The area is des­ig­nat­ed as crit­i­cal griz­zly bear coun­try in Denali Nation­al Park, so it is per­ma­nent­ly closed in order to pro­tect wildlife. 

Igloo Creek is one of three tent-only camp­grounds in the park. Sit­u­at­ed right next to the creek, it is a great place to relax and enjoy the wilder­ness and the area around the camp­ground offers great hik­ing opportunities.

This hike does not require cross­ing any glac­i­ers or dan­ger­ous streams, which makes for a good overnight hike for those who car­ry an overnight camp­ing permit.

The griz­zly bears of Denali can be found feed­ing in almost every cor­ner of Denali Nation­al Park. Ear­ly to mid sum­mer, these bears can be often observed from Tho­ro­fare Pass. What draws these adapt­able and per­sis­tent omni­vores to this high alpine envi­ron­ment? Audio tour by Camp Denali Wilder­ness Lodge.