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Denali National
Park and
environs
Question: Are there
comfortable buses at Denali?
Question: Are there
good alternatives to the Denali bus
ride?
Question: Can you
recommend good easy hikes on the way to Denali?
Question: Drawbacks of
camping at Teklanika
Question: Is there
backcountry access south of Denali National
Park?
Question: Are
there comfortable buses at Denali?
Are there
any private
bus lines offering the tour through Denali? I read
in your book
that the park buses are uncomfortable.
Answer:
All the
buses are
operated by the official park concessioner and no one else is allowed
to drive
on the road, including private bus lines. The buses are lightweight,
school-bus-type vehicles because the road cannot sustain a heavier bus.
Question:
Are there good alternatives to the Denali bus
ride?
We learn
from your
book that the trip inside Denali Park although
being a
"must" is very uncomfortable. So maybe we will go to Talkeetna (or
Healy..?) for a short night stop and then only drive 14 miles inside
the Park.
You were mentioning couple of times that the
Denali
Highway is of
unbelievable
beauty, rival to Denali National
Park. How
safe for the
rental car is this gravel road? How much time it will take to drive
from Parks
to Richardson
Highway with
reasonable photo
stops? Is there any service/restroom points on the Denali
Highway? Would
you recommend
to drive Denali
Highway instead
of taking
shuttle bus into the Denali National
Park? Is
there any bus service
through the Denali Hwy?
Answer:
At Denali,
consider the guided
wildlife tour, which you may find more comfortable. You see only a tiny
fraction of the park if you drive in only 14 miles. The dangers for a
rental
car of driving a gravel road like the
Denali
Highway are
broken
windshields, dents, broken headlights, or bouncing into the ditch. The
slower
you drive the less your chance of this kind of problem, although a
careless
driver can always hit you with a rock, even if you aren't moving. When
you rent
the car you will probably have to sign a contract saying you won't
drive on a
gravel road, and I don't know the consequences of violating that. I
have listed
rental agencies in
Fairbanks and Anchorage that
allow driving on
gravel roads. I would allow most of a day for Denali
Highway with
stops. Services
are very few; likely only one populated stop on the road, with a couple
of
other spots with outhouses. There is no bus service. The
Denali
Highway is not a
substitute
for Denali National
Park because
the park bus
ride is a wildlife safari; you won't see as much wildlife on the Denali
Highway, where
hunting is
permitted.
Question: Can
you recommend good easy hikes on the way to Denali?
We've
planned on eight
days touring by car and have concentrated our focus on Kenai and Denali. We'd
appreciate any
information about opportunities for relatively easy hiking along the
drive to Denali and also
in the park.
We walk 3 miles every day, but aren't experienced hikers, so will need
to be
advised of the difficulty of any hikes you recommend.
Answer:
There are
some short
hiking trails in Denali State Park, on the
way to Denali National
Park north of
Talkeetna. I
don't know them well, but there is a visitor center there where you can
inquire. Also, the hiking around Hatcher Pass, in the
Mat-Su area
(see the end of Chapter 6 in Frommer’s Alaska) is
terrific. The
hikes at the Denali entrance
area are generally easy. Hiking
within the park is, as the book notes, mostly off-trail. If you have
concerns
about the difficulty, I recommend joining one of the Discovery Hikes,
which are
led by rangers. You need to sign up for these at the visitor center.
It's a
good deal, because it goes on a special bus and you have a ranger with
you all
day for questions and a deeper appreciation of the park. Take the
choice that
goes farther into that park.
Question:
Drawbacks of camping at Teklanika
We would like to stay
at Teklanika
campground in Denali. Our concern is bus
travel from
Teklanika to various programs and ranger hikes. Is it a problem to
catch a bus
to these events? Would we be better off staying at Savage?
Answer:
If ranger programs and
the like
are a priority, you are better off staying at Savage. Teklanika is not
intended
for campers who want to spend a lot of time in the frontcountry area.
Question: Is
there backcountry access south of Denali National
Park?
Besides Denali Natl Park, is
there a way to
get into the back country to hike/camp and see Denali? Maybe
south of the
park? Also, what summer month are the mosquitoes the worst?!
Answer:
Denali State Park is on
the Parks
Highway south of Denali National
Park. There's
great
canoeing there, public cabins, trails, campgrounds. Go to
http://www.alaskastateparks.org
and click individual parks.
Mosquitoes are bad all summer. I think they're worst in June, but
others
disagree. They're mostly gone in September.
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