Denali National Park Travel Guide

Denali Changes

A massive round of changes to the main Denali National Park visitor area is complete, but work farther inside the park continues. The Eielson Visitor Center, 65 miles within the park, is closed for reconstruction. A larger building is scheduled to open in 2008. During the project, shuttle buses that normally turn around at Eielson have turned around a few miles short of there, at Fish Creek Turnaround, at mile 63. An information center, bookstore, and bus dispatch operate out of tents at Toklat Visitor Contact Center, Mile 53, with all buses stopping for a 30-minute break. Upon completion of the reconstruction, buses will turn around at the new visitor center instead. Big projects can be delayed, however, so visitors will need to check for arrangements.

Orientation

Denali National Park and Preserve is rock- and ice-robed in tundra and stands of stunted black spruce, a huge slice of the Alaska Range that stands like a pivot in the center of Alaska. It encompasses 6 million acres, a roughly triangular polygon about 20% larger than Massachusetts. The only park entrance is 237 miles north of Anchorage and 120 miles south of Fairbanks on the paved George Parks Highway or the Alaska Railroad. Although Mount McKinley is visible from as far away as Anchorage, you can't see it at all from the park entrance (where you will find the railroad depot and all services accessible by private vehicle) because it's on the far side of the park. A mile north of the park entrance on the Parks Highway, along a cliff-sided canyon of the Nenana River, is Glitter Gulch, the local term for the seasonal roadside strip that's home to hotels and restaurants (boosters call it the Nenana Canyon Area). Other services are at Carlo Creek, 13 miles south on the Parks Highway; at another roadside development 7 miles south of the park entrance; and in the year-round town of Healy, 12 miles north of the park entrance. From the park entrance, a road accessible only by shuttle bus leads west 89 miles through the park, past a series of campgrounds and a visitor center, and ends at the Kantishna district, a patch of park-surrounded private land with wilderness lodges.

When to Go & How Far Ahead to Plan

Crowding is relative. Once you're out in the park, Denali is never crowded. The bottleneck created by the shuttle and tour bus system, which prevents vehicles from entering the heart of the park, protects it from overuse. What makes the July to mid-August season difficult is getting through that bottleneck from the crowded park entrance into the wilderness. At that time, travelers who just show up at the visitor center without any reservations might have to spend a day or two outside the park before they can get a desirable shuttle bus seat, a campground site, or a backcountry permit.

The flow of visitors varies greatly from year to year. After dropping for 4 years, it has been quite busy for the last few. Some years, you needed to make reservations by March for a July visit; other years, a few weeks of advance planning has been enough. To be on the safe side, get your shuttle tickets and campsites as soon as you know the dates of your visit. Lodgings also get tight in July but are not as critical to the success of your visit. Reserve as far ahead as you can, but don't worry about getting stuck in a dive if you don't get your first choice of rooms or cabins, as there are few really bad places near the park.

Summer residents come to the park beginning in early May, when snow remains; they migrate south again in mid- to late September, when winter is closing in. In the off season, fewer than 200 residents stay in the area, and sled-dog-driving rangers patrol the backcountry. The shuttle bus system doesn't begin operation until the last week of May; going any earlier is inadvisable and even early June can be iffy. The visitor season gets into high gear in mid-June and starts to wind down in mid-August. There are several weeks of relative quiet, reduced hotel prices, and easy reservations at the end of the season, a wonderful time to go to Denali. The weather gets nippy at night, and there can be surprise snowfalls, but rain is less likely, and the trees and tundra turn wonderful colors. By early September visitors are few. By mid-September the shuttle buses stop operating and private cars can drive on the park road for a few days -- the park service holds a lottery in July to determine who will get that treat.

Another way to avoid the crowds is to book a stay in a wilderness lodge. Lodges in Kantishna have the right to carry clients to their businesses over the park road in buses and vans, avoiding the bottleneck.

Visitor Information

Getting the information you need to plan your visit is especially important at Denali because of the need for advance reservations.

The most important resource for setting up a trip is the concessionaire: Doyon/ARAMARK Joint Venture, 241 W. Ship Creek Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501 (tel. 800/622-7275 or 907/272-7275; fax 907/258-3668; www.reservedenali.com). The concession is operated by a joint venture of ARAMARK, which manages affairs at many parks around the country, and the Doyon Native Corporation of Interior Alaska. They handle the reservations system for the campgrounds and shuttle buses, as well as several hotels, bus tours, a rafting operation, and a dinner theater. The best place to make in-person contact with the concessionaire is at the reservation and ticketing desks in the Wilderness Access Center, on the Denali Park Road, half a mile from the park entrance. The access center is open from mid-May to mid-September daily from 5am to 7pm; it's closed October through April. You can even buy an espresso inside to drink while you stand in line. Since there's no park entrance station, this center is also a good stop for the park map, a copy of the Alpenglow park newspaper, and other handouts. A small store offers a limited selection of conveniences and camping supplies, including hiking boots.

The National Park Service can be reached at P.O. Box 9, Denali National Park, AK 99755 (tel. 907/683-2294; www.nps.gov/dena). Make contact in person at the spectacular Denali Visitor Center, near the railroad depot at mile 1.5 of the park road on the right side. It is open summer daily 9am to 6pm.

Besides the centers at the park and the website, you can get park information on the way there at the interagency Alaska Public Lands Information Centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Tok. The park's nonprofit publishing arm is the Alaska Natural History Association, Denali Branch, P.O. Box 230, Denali National Park, AK 99755 (tel. 907/683-1272 summer, 907/683-1258 off season; www.alaskanha.org). They operate the shops in the park visitor centers, and you can use their website to order books and maps before coming.

The Reservation System

Here's the system for reserving shuttle-bus tickets and sites at the developed campgrounds. This section may look long, but paying attention to the details of the reservations system greatly improves your chances of a good visit to the park.

For Advance Reservations -- Sixty-five percent of shuttle-bus seats and all campground sites (except Sanctuary and Igloo) are offered for booking by Internet, telephone, fax, or mail; the balance is held back for walk-ins up to 2 days before the trip. Use the Doyon/ARAMARK Joint Venture.

Reservations by Internet or mail open for the whole summer on December 1 of the preceding year. Reservations by phone open in mid-February. Lines are answered daily from 7am to 5pm Alaska time (remember, that's 4 hours earlier than Eastern Standard Time, where the hours would be 11am to 9pm). By using the Internet (www.reservedenali.com), you can get a big jump on those who call for reservations. The site has been redesigned and is easy to use. You will need a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card. You can also pay by check if you're reserving by phone or mail; payment is due within 10 days. But this option is not available within 30 days of the date you are arriving. It's also possible to reserve by fax, but I'm unable to think of a reason for doing so.

A confirmation will be sent out within 2 days of making the reservation. Take it to the "will call" desk at the Wilderness Access Center or to the camping check-in desk at the Riley Creek Merchantile, near the Riley Creek Campground, exchanging the confirmation for a camping permit and bus ticket. The center closes at 7pm and the Merchantile closes at 11pm. If you'll be even later, call tel. 907/683-9274 to avoid losing your site or shuttle seat.

For Walk-Ins -- Internet, mail, and fax orders are not accepted the day before the visit starts (in fact, they're mostly sold out weeks earlier), but walk-in reservations begin 2 days out, offering 35% of the shuttle-bus seats that are held back and any leftover car-camping sites (usually none), and all sites at Sanctuary and Igloo campgrounds. (Igloo is currently closed, but may reopen.) If it's a busy time of year, desirable shuttle reservations are snapped up early in the day. That means you may not get a good reservation for the day of your arrival or even the day after, only the next day after that. That's why it's so critical to reserve in advance.

On the other hand, don't despair if you arrive without reservations, as the flow of visitors rises and falls unpredictably. It's perfectly possible that you'll walk into the visitor center and get a shuttle seat on the same day.

Fees

Park entrance fees are $20 per vehicle (up to eight passengers) or $10 per person, good for 7 days. There is no entrance station to collect the fee, but it is automatically added to your bill when you make shuttle or campground reservations. If you have one of the national passes for senior citizens, those with disabilities, or frequent park users (now called the "America the Beautiful -- National Park and Federal Recreational Lands Pass") mention it when you reserve to get your discount. Entrance fees are in place year-round and are collected at the Murie Science and Learning Center during winter months.

Campground fees are $16 to $20 per night for car or RV camping, $12 for walk-in tent camping sites at Riley Creek Campground, and $9 at Sanctuary Campground and Igloo Campground (if open). A reservation fee of $4 is charged for the first night of stays in campgrounds other than Riley Creek and Savage River. A $4 fee is charged for canceling or changing a campsite or bus ticket, except for free children's tickets. You can cancel until 5pm for campground reservations or 2 hours before departure for shuttle tickets. Tundra Wilderness Tour reservations can be canceled only 7 days or more in advance.