July 28-31, 2024.
We were fortunate to spend several days in Denali National Park. It’s the only place I made advance reservations during our entire summer in Alaska (they fill up fast!) That enabled us to shift our plans based on the weather and to do several shorter hikes in different parts of the park. Camping at Teklanika meant we were closer to the end of the road, too (more on that at the end of the post). If I were to return to Denali, I’d feel much more confident in being able to plan a backpacking trip or a more adventurous day hike based on the knowledge we gained this year.
Mt. Healy Overlook
5.7 mi. | 1865′ ele. gain | 3:30 hr.
We arrived at Denali National Park in the early afternoon and the Visitor Center was jamming. We waited in line to get our questions answered, then we watched the park movie (always a favorite thing to do at a national park!) We also perused the extensive exhibits inside, which were quite well done. I hadn’t spent too much time in these types of ecosystems, so it was fun to learn about the plants and animals that call Denali home.
The ranger recommended the Mt. Healy Overlook for a nice afternoon hike from the Visitor Center, so after absorbing all the knowledge we could, we hit the trail.
It’s nice to be able to start a hike at 4 pm knowing there will be plenty of daylight ahead. As we hiked, I was completely distracted by all the beautiful flowers and berries, including one I looked up later (bastard toadflax). Once we climbed halfway up the trail, my gaze shifted to the views of distant, and not-so-distant, mountains. Once we reached the official end of trail, we continued along well-worn user paths along the ridge. These brought us to even more views and a plethora of ripe blueberries.
We may have had a bunch of clouds overhead, but our late start ensured we were out during the best weather window of the day. All that greenery comes from all the rain!
On the way down, we filled up my half-liter Nalgene bottle with blueberries. It’s very important to travel with an empty container or two when hiking through Alaska during berry season.
Savage Alpine Trail
4.4 miles | 1345′ ele. gain | 2:30 hr.
This trail is best done by using the bus system as a shuttle. Then you can do a one-way traverse of the entire route. We drove to the far end of the hike early in the morning, just before the road closes to personal vehicles, and parked there. The weather, as usual, was rainy and gross. We decided to hang out in the van and wait for the skies to clear up and the crowds to die down.
By mid-afternoon, we walked to the bus stop and caught a free ride to the other trailhead. This way we could walk back to the van on our own time and wouldn’t have to stand around waiting for a bus on the other end.
The timing wasn’t perfect; we hiked in intermittent rain, clouds and wind. I used the umbrella not only to protect my head and upper body but also as a wet vegetation shield. When it wasn’t actively raining, I held it in front of me like a snowplow to keep the grasses and shrubs from shedding water directly on my pants.
SO many people were heading down the trail as we hiked up. We were constantly stepping aside into the wet brush to let people pass. Stupid national parks. I’d gotten a good recommendation about this trail, and the van was waiting for us on the other end, so we kept walking.
Soon the crowds died down and it became apparent that most visitors do an out and back from the same trailhead, skipping the second half. But that was the best part. The sun even came out a bit as we romped through alpine meadows bursting with wildflowers and ground squirrels.
The nice weather was short-lived. In fact, the clouds and rain came back with a fury. We zipped up all our layers and used the rock pinnacles along the jagged ridge to shelter from the wind. It became exciting really fast. Knowing the van was not too far away, it didn’t matter much. It was so fun!
The trail quickly descended from the rocky bit toward the parking area. Along the way we were treated to a huge family of ptarmigans, goofily walking across the trail. We stopped to watch them for several minutes, until all the chicks had made it to the other side. Back at the van, we changed into dry clothes and sipped on hot cocoa. A lovely day!
Hiking from the Pretty Rocks road closure
8.3 mi. | 690′ ele. gain | 5:10 hr.
As of summer 2024, the Denali Road remains closed at mile 43 due to the Pretty Rocks Landslide. The park plans to re-open the road when the new bridge is completed. This is slated to happen sometime in summer 2026. Until then, be patient! It’s still pretty cool to hike from the road closure (no pun intended).
We slept in, had a lazy breakfast and used our Tek Pass to board the bus around 1 pm. (You could also take the bus from the entrance or another campground!) We only had to cover a dozen miles to get to the end of the road, so I anticipated a short bus ride. WRONG. The bus stopped for every wildlife sighting so every person on the bus could get a crappy iPad video of whatever was outside. There were bathroom stops and other random stops too. By the time we reached our destination I was raring to go. Bring your patience cap for any Denali bus ride as they are SLOW.
We chatted briefly with the ranger on duty at the road closure. She recommended hiking up river and connecting with the road beyond the landslide construction zone. That was just a few miles one way. Great! I thought, we’d leave the crowds behind. We walked down a set of stairs built for people to access the gravel bar from the “new” end of the road. From there, we followed a series of use paths and clearings through the soapberry bushes near the water. The ranger did warn us about a grizzly sighting on the river not too long ago, so we made plenty of noise as we waded through the bear’s main summer food source.
Back on the main gravel bar, we walked along the cliffs until they pushed us right up against the main water flow. We’d have to cross the river and cross back again if we were to access the park road up ahead. Normally, I’d say, no problem! But we didn’t bring sandals and I didn’t even bring hiking poles. Plus, Alaskan rivers are unique beasts: they’re wide and braided, cold and fast and the bottoms are made of round, slippery rocks. We argued about whether or not to cross and then, where to do it.
After much ado we found a place to cross that wasn’t too scary. Aaron lent me a pole. My feet went numb almost immediately. And once we were across, it wasn’t over. We had to figure out how to scramble up a steep, muddy and brushy hillside to get on the landmass above.
Neither of us were in a good mood when we finally reached the rolling tundra. In the distance, I eyeballed a distinctive rock feature. “Let’s hike to that,” I suggested. We picked a path through scraggly bushes, blueberries and fireweed. Potholes filled with water or mushy lichen presented occasional obstacles. We zigged and zagged until we reached the rock. From there, we navigated to another, and another. Eventually, we knew we needed to loop back towards the road. The last bus would arrive at 9 pm.
It was unclear which way would safely take us to a good river crossing. I looked in vain at options to scramble down into another river drainage, but the brush was so thick that I couldn’t see the ground underneath. We rambled along the top of the tundra ridge until we found a steep hillside to go down. It was thick with trees, but at least we could see where we were stepping. That put us back on gravel. Racing along the riverbed towards the main water flow, we still had to figure out how to read the landscape and stay out of trouble. It was mentally and physically draining.
And we hadn’t even crossed the river yet.
Anxious to just be on the right side of the water, we searched for a place to cross. Somehow we managed to pick a much better location that involved fewer challenges and easier walking. We sat down on the other side, put our shoes back on and had some snacks before the final stretch.
Almost no one remained by the time we got to the bus stop. In that respect, we succeeded; we experienced great solitude in a national park.
Cathedral Mountain ridgelines
4.5 mi. | 1670′ ele. gain | 5:20 hr.
Now that we’d spent a few days in the park, we began to feel a bit more confident about reading the weather, landscape and wildlife. We were ready to try a hike that didn’t start at an official trailhead.
Denali is one of those rare places where the rangers actually encourage you to hike off-trail. And for good reason: there aren’t many trails in the park. But a little searching on people’s blogs and even the official website will provide route descriptions that are fairly well known by both rangers and visitors. I chose a variation described in a trip report that has since vanished from the internet. I also verified some information using a few other sources. Luckily, our bus driver knew exactly where we needed to get off the bus, so when I jumped the gun on asking for a stop, she told me to wait for a better spot.
As the bus drove away, we surveyed the landscape. She was right. A user path led through what looked like impossibly thick brush and we were soon on our way. We crossed the little creek without needing sandals (which we packed after the previous debacle) and then began hiking up the steep hillside.
We played connect the dots with the GPS points I put in my phone based on others’ trip reports. Along the way, we saw two foraging caribou and lots of ground squirrels darting between burrows. The tundra here felt much more compact than the deep, squishy stuff we were in the day before. The steepness, not the softness, is what slowed our pace today.
My goal was to get to one of the many highpoints on Cathedral Mountain, knowing that the true summit was probably much too complex and distant for the time and energy we had. As we reached that highpoint, something absolutely magical happened: the clouds parted to reveal Denali.
I’d read that only 30% of park visitors get the privilege of seeing Denali. Despite being a truly enormous mountain, it is often blanketed by the clouds that it produces. It’s also buried way back in the park. So we hadn’t seen it yet, either from Denali National Park or from the adjacent areas that alleged to have a view.
We sat on our little summit enjoying every second we got to spend with Denali. It was clear how big it was, since even at such a great distance, it appeared much larger than the peaks adjacent to Cathedral Mountain.
Revved up from that experience, I asked Aaron if he was interested to explore a little further. A beautiful ridge enticed us deeper into the Cathedral Mountain massif.
Up and down and up and down we went, traversing hillsides of brown, red, orange, yellow and other impossibly brilliant colors. Even more impossible were the rugged poppies shooting up from the scree slopes near the tallest points. How?! As we contemplated our return route, we noticed a couple of people emerge from one of the canyons leading down towards the road. Hmmm, we thought, if they made it up then that means it goes through. We decided to loop back via that canyon.
Before committing fully, we sat in a meadow atop the narrowing gorge and did some painting. The weather was crazy beautiful. We hadn’t seen such blue skies in a while. I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.
The hike down that canyon was a blast. It never got too steep or sketchy and there were no surprise waterfalls drops. It reminded me of the canyon adventures I’d done in Eastern Oregon and in the Southwest. What a treat to find this in Alaska! The canyon led straight back to the park road. We sat on the guardrail and waited for the next bus to arrive. It seemed the bus always had enough room to take 2 passengers, at least during our visit! We hopped on and rode it…almost…to our campground.
There’s an annoying bathroom stop just over a mile from Teklanika Campground where you have to wait 20 minutes. I looked at the topo map and decided we could probably walk along the riverbed from that stop all the way back to camp. We told the driver we weren’t coming back on the bus and walked along the river. We had to ford the braided rivulets on the edge of the main flow several times, but hey, we had our sandals! No problem! It ended up being a fun way to return to camp and it was our last hike in the park.
Camping at Teklanika
Here are some tips for planning a trip to Teklanika Campground. I wish that I had known all this before I went there I hope it saves you some Googling.
In order to drive your vehicle to the campground, which is at mile 29 of the Denali park road, you need to reserve a site for at least 3 nights. Otherwise you’ll need to take the bus in. Since we wanted to camp in our vehicle, I booked a 3-night reservation. I did not have to do this a zillion months in advance like most other sites in Denali, but I also didn’t wait until the last minute. If you can book a mid-week stay, you’re more likely to get the dates you want.
If you want to use the bus system during your stay (you do) then you’ll also need to buy a “Tek Pass.” If you’re confused by the reservation website, you can also call and have someone talk you through it. That’s what I did! Once you have your pass, it’s good for the entire time you’re staying at Teklanika Campground.
Before driving to the campground, you MUST check in at Riley Creek Campground first! We did not do this and had to drive back to the main entrance, wait in line, listen to 20 minutes of rules, drive back to the mile 14 checkpoint and continue another 45 minutes to the campground. It was a HUGE pain in the ass and I was so angry this information wasn’t plastered in big red letters on the top of my reservation.
I found all the rules and permits and advanced planning to be so tedious. However, once we got to the park and spent some time there, everything settled into place. It’s definitely not a park you want to show up at without any idea how things work, so do take the time. If you’re already making the effort to get to this remote part of the country, it’s worth your while to navigate the park website and read some blogs. Here are a few resources you can use to get started:
Denali National Park: the official website from the National Park Service is a great way to get updates on current closures, view the park map and learn all the basics. Start here and bounce back and forth between this page and some of the sites listed below in order to try and wrap your head around this massive park.
Denali National Park Entrance Trails: Lee Petersen’s blog helped me immensely with trails and wildflowers across Alaska. You’ll find a lot more great info on this site.
How to visit Denali National Park: from Ordinary Adventures, which includes how to schedule guided tours as well as strategies for visiting on your own. Also check out Jennie’s Alaska Uncovered podcast with TONS of helpful tips about traveling to and within Alaska. I highly recommend listening!
Plan your visit in Denali National Park: from Handpicked Alaska, updated annually with information that impacts your upcoming travel.
The Ultimate Guide to Denali National Park from Adventures of A + K has hiking, camping and navigation tips for visiting the park.