(#6) Denali National Park
We set off on our Great Alaskan Road Trip early one Saturday in June with the goal of visiting all eight of Alaska’s national parks, many of which are located in exceptionally remote areas.
It’s the final stretch of our three-week Great Alaskan Road Trip, which includes visiting our seventh national park. So far, we’ve visited Glacier Bay, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kobuk Valley, Gates of the Arctic, and Katmai National Parks. Now, we’re onto the most popular and accessible national park in Alaska as we make our way to Denali (and hope to become a member of the 30% Club by getting a glimpse of the rare Mt. Denali 🤞).
This diary-style travelogue is dedicated to sharing ALL the adventures from this trip of a lifetime. Here's to daily recapping of an unforgettable journey… 21 days, 8 national parks, and 1 Great Alaskan Road Trip!
[Planning your own Alaskan adventure? Get our complete itinerary and Alaska Travel Guide here!]
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Day 18: Hike the Savage Alpine Trail
After one of the best nights of sleep we’ve had all trip - despite sleeping in the front seats of our car! - we wake up late.
Like, 9:15am late.
Enjoying the leisurely morning, we slowly get ready and pack up our campsite, which takes all of 20 seconds since we just have to throw our sleeping bags in the back and raise our seats. Then, we set off for breakfast in Denali Park Village. Since I drink coffee for the ambiance rather than the jolt of caffeine, I’ll be having just my third cup of the trip, so I’m really looking forward to this slow breakfast before we explore.
While waiting for a piece of avocado toast, one fruit smoothie, and a slice of banana bread, we meet a photographer from the North Pole. (And yes, we’ll certainly be telling any future children we’ve met someone from the North Pole without specifying that we mean the North Pole of Alaska. And we’ll send them a letter from Santa Claus by way of the North Pole, too!)
With breakfast and coffee in hand, we drive Denali Park Road for about 15 miles, which is as far as we can drive in a private vehicle. Beyond the Savage River Parking Lot, where we luckily find a spot, only buses or registered campers can continue.
We’re pulling into the lot as a couple is leaving, so we grab their spot to enjoy our breakfast with a view of the mountains while we eat.
Breakfast is delicious (we highly recommend the banana bread from the Black Bear Coffee House), and in about 20 minutes, we’re out of the car to begin hiking the Savage Alpine Trail. Rangers are stationed at the trailhead to let us know about trail conditions and bear safety and to make sure we’ve properly packed for the moderately challenging hike ahead.
While chatting, we find out the rangers are actually headed to Katmai for the first time in just a couple of weeks, so we swap stories and share our suggestions, having just left. We’re really just sharing logistical suggestions, though, because they’re fully prepared for what’s ahead in terms of bears. One of the rangers we’re talking to has actually survived a bear attack. It was 1986, before the invention of bear spray, when he and another ranger were mauled by a bear so severely that he still has numerous scars today. Needless to say, he’s a big proponent of bear spray and highly recommends it be carried everywhere when hiking or exploring in bear country. Had it been invented in 1986, he would have had time to use it and potentially ward off the bear before contact was made. It’s incredible he lived to tell this story.
That said, it’s not the most comforting story to hear before we start our own hike in bear country, but we do have bear spray and, as you know, we recently graduated from Bear School, so on we go. We start the 4-mile one-way trail, which begins with a steep uphill and rocky climb. We’re rewarded for our effort, though, with one of the most expansive views we’ve had of the park so far.
Moving further along the trail, we see a pika, which looks like a small rabbit or a big mouse with short ears. We also see a few arctic ground squirrels, one of whom walks close enough to Jonathan to smell his shoes. What’s interesting and pretty cool about arctic ground squirrels is how crucial they are to Denali National Park. They’re some of the most important animals in Denali, in fact, because they preserve the wildlife balance between prey and predator.
We continue working our way up the mountain before taking a break at the highest point along the trail. It’s here we meet a couple, Ed and Julie, who are full-time travelers by way of a Super C Camper and a Jeep. Come to find out, in 2010, Ed and Julie met another couple traveling full-time as retirees, and a seed was planted. They started financial planning and, two years ago, were able to retire to explore the United States full-time. It’s possible they’ve paid it forward, and another seed has now been planted, ha! 🤔
Descending down the mountain, we walk through multiple switchbacks before boarding the free park bus back to our car.
We grab lunch in town, which we cap off with ice cream and popcorn (two things we decide to get solely because walking past each store smells so good… freshly popped popcorn and recently baked waffle cones got us!). We stroll through a few galleries, then check into Denali Bluffs Hotel for two nights of luxury after three nights of camping.
It seems we lucked out with Building 26 within Denali Bluffs Hotel, as we have a second-floor room with a private balcony and what appears to be one of the best views of the mountains.
The only plans we have for the rest of the day are laundry and an attempt to see Mt. Denali, so we’re in no rush as we set down our bags and settle in. (The rangers we were talking to earlier told us some of the best views of Denali from inside the park can be found at Mountain Vista Trailhead around 10:00pm or later since clouds generally clear as the temperature drops. Their recommendation is to hop out of the car after we park, then walk the flat, approximately .5-mile trail for the best views.)
While waiting for our evening adventure, we start on laundry and begin to unpack and organize our things. We want to switch memory cards in our camera since we’ve been using the same one since the start of our trip and there’s no doubt it’s getting full. We don’t want to be ready to take the most perfect photo and then have a “Memory Card Full” message keep us from capturing it.
As we’re switching memory cards, I ask Jonathan, “Where’s the second one from Katmai? The one we used when taking pictures with the fancy camera our last evening at the Falls?”
“Um…”
The short answer is it’s nowhere to be found.
It’s not in the camera bag, not in our computer bag, not in our backpacks, not in the glove box or car console. It’s not in our pants pocket, our jacket pockets, or in any of the laundry we just prepared for the wash.
We look through everything - our backpacks, all zippered pockets, and every bag from laundry bag to carry-on - three times over.
The memory card with some of our favorite photos from Katmai National Park, including the iconic ledge photo we spent hours getting on our last night in the park… is gone.
It takes a moment for this truth to sink in, but as it does, we’re incredibly disheartened.
All that work for a full battery after leaving ours behind… Meeting someone who was kind enough to let us borrow their ridiculously clear camera for the night… The photos we took while in a 35-minute bear jam… Capturing a bear’s face in a shot that became one of Jonathan’s favorite pictures ever taken… And spending hours watching Popeye stand on the ledge of the Falls to catch a fish…
It’s all gone.
The memory card was in a Ziploc bag, and on our last morning in Katmai, it must have been thrown away while cleaning up our campsite and getting rid of our trash.
This hurts, but I guess if we’re going to throw away a memory card, at least we throw away the card that only has one night’s worth of pictures rather than our entire trip. Right?
It’s getting pretty late after spending this time looking through our gear, so we need to finish laundry, and I head to the laundry room.
On the way out the door, Jonathan bolts up and says, “I have an idea! I’ll be right back.”
He heads to the car while I put our laundry in the washing machine, and about five minutes later, he’s knocking on the laundry room door for me to let him in.
I’m saying something as I open the door, but I can’t remember what because my words fail mid-sentence. Jonathan’s standing there with a Ziploc bag in hand… the very one containing our missing memory card and pictures.
He’s found it!!!!!! 😱😱😱
Apparently, the idea Jonathan had just a few minutes before was a good one. I ask how and where he found the card, and he shares, “I just had a thought… What if, by chance, what we think happened in Katmai - throwing away the card in the trash - happened here when we arrived at Denali Bluffs and threw out a bag of trash from the car?”
Hours earlier, when checking into the hotel, we did clean out the car and throw away a bag of trash that had been accumulating from our road trip the past week or so. Jonathan went back to the very trash can at the front of the building and, in an effort that shows just how much these photos mean to us, he dug through the can until he found the bag that came from our car.
There, at the bottom of our recently tossed bag of trash, was a Ziploc bag.
With our memory card inside.
HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?!?!
Standing in the doorway of the laundry room, I’m speechless. Speechless that he had the idea to check the hotel trash in the first place. Speechless that we actually threw away the memory card in THIS trashcan rather than at Katmai. Speechless because if we had thrown away that trash any earlier in any other trashcan along our drive, or if Denali Bluffs had emptied this can before Jon had thought to check it, the card would have been gone, never to be seen again.
Because it really wasn’t in any of our things, just waiting for us to find it. (No matter how many times we looked through our bags… or how much sense it made that we’d thrown the Ziploc away… there was still that ounce of hope that the memory card was just hiding in that one pocket we didn’t check thoroughly enough.)
That wasn’t the case, though. The card was thrown away. Yet, thanks to what feels like divine intervention and pure determination on Jonathan’s side, we have our pictures safely back in hand.
I can’t believe it!!!!
We’re finishing our laundry, prepping to head back to Denali National Park, and feeling SO grateful. Like God placed the memory card at the bottom of this trash bag and led us back to it. 🙏
Once all memory cards are safely stored, and a new one is in the camera, we hop in the car for our evening excursion into Denali National Park. It’s still cloudy when we leave, but we’ve been told later at night tends to be better for viewing Denali as the temperatures drop, so we’re hopeful and head out anyway.
It’s just a quick drive along Park Road to see if the clouds clear, and unfortunately, they don’t. So without getting out of the car, we turn around and head back to the hotel for a good night of sleep before a full day exploring Denali by bus tomorrow!
Day 19: Bus into Denali National Park
Another early morning and wake-up call is in store for us as we board a bus at 7:00am to head further into Denali National Park.
We’re boarding a park bus because Denali Park Road is only open to private vehicles until mile 15, which is where we parked to hike the Savage Alpine Trail yesterday. As Denali is slightly bigger than the state of New Hampshire, there’s a lot to see past Mile 15, and the hop-on hop-off bus is one of the best ways to get into the backcountry to explore.
So we grab breakfast and sandwiches for later from the cafe at Denali Bluffs Hotel, then enjoy the scenery as we travel from the Bus Depot to our turn-around point of the East Fork Bridge at Mile 43. Denali Park Road is 92 total miles long, but the Pretty Rocks Landslide occurred in 2022 and closed the road at Mile 43. A bridge is under construction to reopen the road, but it will likely take years.
Along the drive, we see a moose walking next to the road, a brown bear, and two caribou, the latter of which we are most excited about because this is our first caribou spotting of the trip!
We hop off the bus at East Fork and begin an undefined hike along the East Fork River in search of a viewpoint for the landslide. It’s a gorgeous, casual hike full of wildflowers and famous Alaskan fireweed, and I especially enjoy photographing their bright magenta colors at the beginning of our hike.
As we trek further into Denali, the river swells, and we get to a point where we’ll have to take off our shoes to cross and continue forward. We’re both not feeling this, so after multiple failed attempts to cross the river by another means, we turn around and make our way back to the bus stop. (If you’re hiking to the landslide from East Fork, we were told you cross three times; Bring water shoes!)
Getting on the next hop-on-hop-off bus, we once more enjoy the scenery and wildlife of Denali as we see six more caribou, a Ptarmigan (Alaskan state bird) with chicks, and nine dall sheep high on the mountain. (Pro tip: Bring binoculars! A gentleman sitting behind us offered his binoculars to us so we could see the sheep… and it’s incredible to watch the white, blurry dots transform to clear dall sheep as you adjust the focus and zoom!)
It’s a three-hour trip back to the Denali Bus Depot, but we hop off about 20 minutes early so we can tour the Denali Sled Dog Kennels. We want to meet the cutest national park employees in the world and learn about the only national park with a working sled dog team.
During the sled dog demonstration, we get to watch a team of Denali sled dogs run a short track and hang out in front of us while we hear about the history of dog sledding in Denali and learn about life (and work) here for the dogs.
But the best part of being at the kennels is getting to meet and pet the pups before and after the demonstration. They’re so sweet!!!
We also enjoy chatting with a ranger who’s worked at the kennels for 10 years and even adopted one of the retired sled dogs. Apparently, anyone can do this, but as you’d expect, the waiting list for each dog is long. And there are two conditions: (1) You have to live somewhere cold (sorry, Texas and Florida, are weeded out immediately, ha!) and (2) You need to live an active lifestyle and plan to be active with the dog. They might be retired, but these dogs still have lots of energy and need a lot of time outside and moving.
After our time at the kennel, we get back on the bus to finally make our way to the Bus Depot and head to dinner. As far as the bus goes, it’s worth doing to see more of the park and get into Denali backcountry, but don’t necessarily expect too much. Unsurprisingly, we prefer exploring by car, but when that’s not an option, this is your next best bet. It’s just a long day, and that’s with only being able to traverse half of the entire park road.
Our timing works out perfectly as the sled dog demonstration ends at 4:30, and we grab the first bus back to the visitor center before grabbing another bus just a minute later to the Bus Depot. Then we’re off for dinner and ready to eat, having had just an early lunch and small breakfast so far today.
We head to the 49th State Brewery in Healy, and although we prefer the food at the brewery in Anchorage, the vibes are great. We enjoy sitting at the cozy group fireplace table, chatting with two gentlemen on vacation sitting next to us. As Alaska’s summer weather feels all too similar to a Texas winter, we appreciate the warmth of the fireplace while we eat.
On our way back to our hotel, we stop in town for ice cream, including one scoop of local fireweed honey. (It tastes like floral blackberry, with a greater emphasis on the floral flavors.) It’s a local Alaskan flavor, so… when in town!
Tomorrow’s our last day in Denali, so we head to bed earlier, hoping the clouds clear for a glimpse of Mt. Denali in the morning.
East Fork, where we hop off the bus to hike toward the Pretty Rocks Landslide. You can see a park bus in the background of this photo toward the righthand side.
Fireweed along the start of the trail.
Visiting the cutest national park employees in all the land!
Day 20: 30% Club, Talkeetna
I can’t believe we’re on Day 20 of our Great Alaskan Road Trip! It’s both flown by and feels like our time in Glacier Bay was forever ago.
We’ve done our best to soak up each moment and memory so that while the trip has gone quickly, it’s also felt long and immersive. And I can’t believe all of the incredible things we’ve done and seen thus far!
I’m clearly in reflection mode this morning as we have one of our only quiet mornings of the trip. While Jonathan sleeps in, I pick up a coffee from the cafe at our hotel and proceed to the balcony with our gorgeous mountain view. Slowly sipping on the hot drink in front of me, I reflect on our trip. I’m having one of those cup-filling moments, and I’m grateful that even during an adventurous, incredible, sometimes exhausting 3-week trip, we’ve been able to find pockets of moments to sit back and soak it all up.
At home, the tendency is to think I need hours of downtime to feel refreshed, but this trip is requiring us to lean into much smaller moments of rest, whether just 10 minutes to enjoy harbor views our final morning in Seward or an hour to sip coffee on a beautiful balcony in Denali.
Today is our final morning in Denali National Park, then we head to Anchorage to complete our Great Alaskan Road Trip.
We’re not yet in the elusive 30% club, as it’s been cloudy and overcast since we arrived. The weather app was calling for clear skies and sunshine this morning, but that’s not what we’re seeing as we load into the car for one final short hike and viewpoint in the park.
There’s a mama moose and calf on the road as we drive Denali Park Road to the Mountain Vista Trailhead. The rangers a few days prior mentioned this as one of the best places to view Denali from the first 15 miles of the park road. We can see why as we get the tiniest glimpse of the base of the mountain, but the clouds don’t clear up for us to get any further views in the park.
Check-out time for our hotel is nearing, so we head back and pack up in 12 minutes (a new record and a big pro to packing light!) and then make our way south, cautiously optimistic the weather will clear as we drive.
On our way, we pick up cinnamon rolls from Creek Side Cafe because here you can order a “Texas-sized” roll or an “Alaska-sized roll,” the latter of which is about 2.5 times bigger than the former. (Guess Alaskans are making it clear what they think about the claim that everything’s bigger in Texas! 😜)
We keep driving George Parks Highway from Denali to Anchorage, and as we turn around a bend and climb a hill, we’re greeted with a stunning view of an entirely snow-capped mountain in the distance.
I point toward it and question, “Is that… it!?”
As we drive closer, it’s confirmed we’re seeing our first full view of the grand and imposing Mt. Denali! First, just the North Peak is out, then a few minutes later, the South Peak appears in full as well. It’s magnificent, so we find the nearest pull-off to take pictures at each new vantage point along the highway.
There are two official viewpoints - Denali View North and Denali View South - along George Parks Highway, but we find the best views are from the various pull-offs along the highway itself, particularly as you make your way toward Anchorage. Denali is stunning, and we’re stoked to officially become part of the 30% Club, which alludes to the fact that just 30% of visitors see the famed mountain while in town.
About two hours from Anchorage, we stop in Talkeetna for a quick walk through town and another ice cream. This time, I pick the local flavor of ‘Northern Lights,’ which is a mix of strawberry, cherry, passion fruit, and blueberry, and it’s delicious! We walk through a few galleries, which is one of our favorite things to do as photography hobbyists, then walk along a short trail to stretch our legs.
Arriving in Anchorage around dinner time, we check out Kincaid Park and a gorgeous beach trail, then eat at what is clearly our favorite spot of the trip. In our defense, we’re craving some comfort and sameness after so much traveling, moving around, and newness… So we head to 49th State Brewery and sit at the bar.
Among other things, we place an order for nachos. After finishing the appetizer in its entirety (our third time doing so in three weeks), we realize we’ve hit our nacho limit for the foreseeable future. For us, bar nachos are one of those foods that are SO. GOOD. in the moment, but then almost immediately regretted because you can’t stop eating and abruptly find yourself WAY. TOO. FULL. once done. (What’s that food for you?!)
After dinner, we make a stop at Walgreens for tomorrow morning’s breakfast bar and grab water. Now, it’s time to sleep… in our car… at the airport. 😅 We’ve got an early morning flight to our final national park of the trip, so we’re keeping it simple with a parking spot in a garage nearby.
Rainbows and bald eagles have been our Alaskan caretakers, showing up when we need them for comfort before an adventure. So as we’re pulling into the airport to park for the night, feeling a mix of emotions about our last and final stop of the trip, we’re grateful for a sun rainbow that appears over the road to the garage.
Tomorrow, we visit Lake Clark National Park! 🐻
Alaska-sized vs. Texas-sized cinnamon rolls. Yum! 😋😋
One of the stops we made along George Parks Highway to take in Denali Mountain!