View Full Version : Denali in a weekend?
flemdawg1
09-03-2009, 22:40
I scored a cool work trip. I have to go to Fairbanks AK in a week. I might try to take a couple of days and see some of Denali NP. Can anybody suggest a 2-2.5 day backpacking trip? Or would I be better off just riding the tour bus around?
You'll be a long way from home flem. Wish I had some trail time there to suggest something but I don't. Hope you have a good one.
Feral Bill
09-04-2009, 00:52
A nice easy hike is up the Savage River valley. Hike in from the road on the west side of the river (really a creek) to where the mountains start. Camp, day hike around, then return. A similar hike from the Eilson visitor center is also nice. Be aware that it is getting to the end of the season. Busses may be gone. I found this skull up Savage River years ago, with a porcupine gnawing on it.
Fiddleback
09-04-2009, 09:30
Alaska is a great place...in both senses of the word. Everything is bigger/more extreme, it seems. The rivers, the mountains, the wildlife...even the weather changes. It is hugely different from the AT and the U.S. southeast. Backpacking and camping, therefore, is a bit different too. Temper your enthusiasm for a hurried, late-season Denali backpack with an introspection of your experience, gear and clothing.
When I lived in Anchorage, where the winter is much more temperate, the ground was frozen hard by mid-October. I don't think climate change has changed that much.;) I suspect, but don't have the experience with Denali past early September to know, that the winter cold sets in a bit earlier. With the earlier winter comes an earlier grizzly hyperphagia and a more bold behavior by the bears.
Enjoy but anticipate...
FB
The Solemates
09-04-2009, 09:34
had a buddy just get back from AK yesterday. i think you'll be fine with weather. his coldest night was only 38. temps during the days were around 50. i dont think you'll get much snow in a week, if any.
LIhikers
09-04-2009, 09:59
I scored a cool work trip. I have to go to Fairbanks AK in a week. I might try to take a couple of days and see some of Denali NP. Can anybody suggest a 2-2.5 day backpacking trip? Or would I be better off just riding the tour bus around?
To overnight in Denali you'll have to check with the ranger, and get a permit, to see what sections are available. They limit the amount of people in each section.
Now for day hikes, take the earliest bus to Wonder Lake. Keep an eye on the terrain as you go until you see a place that interests you. Then on the return trip tell the driver to stop when you get to that area. Spend the rest of the day hiking. Just make sure to get back to the road early enough so you can flag down a bus that's headed back to the park entrance.
flemdawg1
09-04-2009, 13:16
What units would you recommend checking out?
The Solemates
09-04-2009, 15:23
What units would you recommend checking out?
they are called backcountry grids i think
wonder lake, if you can get in (units 15,21)
and toklat river north (units 32/33/39 maybe)
these are great ones
I scored a cool work trip. I have to go to Fairbanks AK in a week. I might try to take a couple of days and see some of Denali NP. Can anybody suggest a 2-2.5 day backpacking trip? Or would I be better off just riding the tour bus around?I think you'll be in for a surprise (and disappointment - I was) regarding backpacking in Denali NP. As Feral Bill said, you can "stop the bus" anywhere you like, but there are no real trails. You can riverbed walk or you can tundra walk. Both are very hard on your feet and ankles.
If you want nice trails for AT-like hiking, I'd suggest heading to the Kenai Peninsula area which has trees and trails, neither of which exist in Denali.
i am pretty sure that the bus stops running mid-September. when is your trip by the way?
RedneckRye
10-01-2009, 22:26
I think you'll be in for a surprise (and disappointment - I was) regarding backpacking in Denali NP. As Feral Bill said, you can "stop the bus" anywhere you like, but there are no real trails. You can riverbed walk or you can tundra walk. Both are very hard on your feet and ankles.
If you want nice trails for AT-like hiking, I'd suggest heading to the Kenai Peninsula area which has trees and trails, neither of which exist in Denali.
I'd have to somewhat disagree with Summit. Denali, or any of my time in Alaska, has been some of my least disappointing backcountry experiences.
Trail-less travel is much more difficult, but much more interesting. Riverbed is either small gravel or big rocks, probably with wet feet most of the time. Tundra hiking is sort of like hosing down your couch and then putting it in the freezer for an hour or two.
No trails, make it up as you go along is fantastic. You can't turn your brain off and zone out like you might do on an actual trail. Cross country travel is a much more "fully involved" method of travel. When you see something that looks interesting on that ridge over there, you go check it out. When hiking on a trail, that is way less likely to happen. After all, the trail does not go over to that ridge, it heads down into the valley (or where ever, you get the idea). Off trail is a much freer experience.
I was in Denali in '03 for a 6 day trip. We headed north from the road and did a loop where we walked back to the road along the Tolkat River. We also spent a week on the north side of the Brooks Range doing a loop from off of the side of the Haul Road.
In '06 I spent 3 weeks on the glacier at the top of the MacClaren River (about 100 miles east of Denali NP), a 15 mile hike into the ice from the road and then about 25 miles back out after we came back off of the ice. You haven't lived until you've done an approach like that in plastic mountaineering boots.