Planning a trip to Denali National Park Region

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, 2445 W. Dunlap Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021 (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 visitor services 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 (reservation desks don't open until 7am); it's closed October through April. 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.

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 Denali Visitor Center, near the railroad depot at mile 1.5 of the park road on the right side. It's open summer daily 8am 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 and Fairbanks and Tok. The park's nonprofit publishing arm is the Alaska Geographic, Denali Branch, P.O. Box 230, Denali National Park, AK 99755 (tel. 907/683-1272 summer, or 683-1258 off season; www.alaskageographic.org). They operate the shops in the park visitor centers, and you can use their website to order books, maps, and the Alpenglow before coming.

The Reservations 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 Doyon/ARAMARK Joint Venture.

Reservations online, or by phone, fax, or mail, open for the whole summer on December 1 of the preceding year. Phone lines are answered daily from 7am to 5pm Mountain Standard Time (that's 2 hr. later than Alaska Standard Time, where the hours would be 5am-3pm, and 2 hr. earlier than Eastern Standard Time, where they would be 9am-7pm). Using the Internet (www.reservedenali.com) allows you to reserve any time. You will need a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover Card. You can pay by check if you're reserving by phone, mail, or fax; payment is due within 10 days. But this option is not available within 30 days of the date you are arriving. If using mail or fax, you will need to go online or call anyway to get a form.

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

For Walk-Ins -- Walk-in reservations begin 2 days out, offering the 35% of shuttle-bus seats that are held back for those visitors and any leftover car-camping sites (usually none), and all sites at Sanctuary and Igloo campgrounds. Desirable shuttle reservations may be snapped up early in the day, so 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 good shuttle seat on the same day.

Fast Facts

Bank-- The region's only bank, First National Bank Alaska, is in Healy, 12 miles north of the park. A couple of ATMs are in the Glitter Gulch (Nenana Canyon) area, including one at the Lynx Creek Store and Deli.

Emergencies -- For emergencies, dialing tel. 911 will work inside the park, but be sure to tell the operator you are within Denali National Park. However, cellphone coverage reaches only along the highway, and there are no telephones except at the developed areas. Bus drivers on the park road are equipped with radios.

Gear Rental -- Denali Mountain Works (tel. 907/683-1542; www.akrivers.com), a clothing and outfitting shop, rents binoculars, sleeping bags, tents, backpacks, and stoves. It is right across from the McKinley Chalet Resort. Bikes are for rent at Denali Outdoor Center (tel. 888/303-1925 or 907/683-1925; www.denalioutdoorcenter.com);

Hospital -- The seasonal Canyon Clinic at Denali (tel. 907/683-4433) is among the big hotels near the park entrance. It is open daily 9am to 6pm, with help on call 24 hours. In Healy, 12 miles north of the park entrance, the year-round Community Interior Health Center (tel. 907/683-2211) is open Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm. Neither clinic has a full-fledged doctor.

Police -- Alaska State Troopers (tel. 907/683-2232 or 768-2202) have a post in Healy, 12 miles north of the park, and in Cantwell, 28 miles south.

Post Office -- The post office is just within the park entrance, before the Riley Creek Campground. The bulletin board has news of local events.

Stores -- You should do major shopping before leaving Anchorage or Fairbanks, but there are handy stores at Denali. Riley Creek Mercantile (tel. 907/683-9246) is at the Riley Creek Campground, near the park entrance. It's open daily from 7am to 11pm in the summer. Besides convenience groceries, they have firewood, some basic camping supplies, RV supplies, a dump station, fax and copy service, binoculars rentals, showers, and laundry. On the highway, near the Denali Salmon Bake, the Canyon Market and Sled Dog Liquor is open 24 hours a day during the visitor season, is well stocked and reasonably priced, and has a deli with good sandwiches.

Taxes -- The local room tax is 7%. There is no sales tax.

Getting Around

If you take the train or bus, you'll find that most accommodations have arrangements to get you around, although this becomes less convenient as you get farther from the park entrance. Ask how courtesy transportation works when you book your room. There are cabs available, too, but they are an expensive option. If you must rely on cabs, get a firm quote when you call. Try Denali Taxi/Shuttle (tel. 907/227-0936 or 683-4765 www.denalitransportation.com. A few cars are for rent at the park from Keys to Denali, operated out of Denali Dome Home Bed and Breakfast in Healy (tel. 800/683-1239 or 907/683-1239; www.denalidomehome.com).

If you drive to the park, you'll still need to take the shuttle bus, described below, to get into its heart, except under certain circumstances. You can drive past mile 14 on the park road only if you have a 3-night camping permit at Teklanika Campground, 29 miles in; then your vehicle must remain parked at the campground for the entire 3 days. The rules loosen at the end of the season, when winners of a drawing can drive the road for a few days in late September (check with the Park Service for lottery details). After the permit driving is over, the road is open to anyone as far as mile 30 until the snow flies; then it's maintained only as far as the headquarters, 3 miles from the entrance.

Bicycles have unlimited access to the park road, but you must still pay the park entrance fee.

When to Go

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. During past busy years, you needed to make reservations by March for a July visit; other years, such as during the recent economic downturn, 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 a room as far ahead as you can, but don't worry about getting stuck in a dive if you don't get your first choice, as there are few really bad places to stay 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.

Getting There

By Train

The Alaska Railroad (tel. 800/544-0552 or 907/265-2494; www.alaskarailroad.com) pioneered tourism to the park before the George Parks Highway was built in 1972. In summer, trains leave both Anchorage and Fairbanks daily at 8:15am, arriving at the park from Anchorage at 3:45pm and from Fairbanks at 12:15pm, crossing and going on to the opposite city for arrival at 8pm in each. The basic fare from Anchorage to Denali is $146 one-way for adults, from Fairbanks $64, half price for children ages 2 to 11, free 1 and under. First-class Gold Star seats are $85 more per leg. The train also stops in Wasilla and Talkeetna; visit the website for details. The full train runs only from mid-May to mid-September, with somewhat lower fares in the first and last few weeks of the season. During the winter, the Alaska Railroad runs a single passenger car from Anchorage to Fairbanks and back once a week -- a truly spectacular, truly Alaskan experience.

Train Choices -- Alaska Railroad executives know that their fares are high for a simple ride to Denali. As one told me, "We're selling entertainment," and that's how you should judge your choices. So, to review the entertainment: All the cars are luxurious, and some are grand and highly memorable; the rail line follows a historic, unspoiled route through beautiful countryside; there's a good chance of seeing moose and caribous; and the food is good. There are disadvantages, too. The train is very expensive. You can rent a small car for a week for the same price as one Anchorage round-trip on the train. It's slow, adding 3 hours to a trip from Anchorage to the park, and when it's late, it can be very late. And once you arrive, you have to rely on shuttles and courtesy vans to get around outside the park.

After you decide to ride the train, you have to choose which part of the train. One set of Alaska Railroad locomotives pulls the Alaska Railroad cars and other sets of cars with full glass domes owned by cruise lines, two of which have seats for independent travelers (although 90% or more are filled with their older cruise-ship customers). The two cruise lines are both owned by the same company. Princess Cruises and Tours (tel. 800/426-0500; www.princesslodges.com) has tall, all-dome cars with table seating upstairs and dining rooms downstairs; there's plenty of head room and large balconies at the ends of the cars on the lower deck, where you can ride outdoors. Gray Line of Alaska, a part of Holland America (tel. 888/452-1737; www.graylinealaska.com), has newer cars that are even better than Princess's. They're huge and comfortable, with all seats facing forward upstairs -- an advantage over table seating -- and dining rooms below that are large enough so only two seatings are needed for each meal. (All meals are served at assigned seatings in the cruise-line cars.)

The Alaska Railroad offers two classes of service. The basic service is in traditional railroad cars. They're clean and have big windows and forward-facing seats. Passengers stroll around and dine when and how they please rather than at assigned seatings. Old-fashioned Vista Dome cars provide a limited but adequate number of shared dome seats. By paying another $85, you can upgrade to Gold Star service, with your own full-dome seat for the entire trip on custom-built double-decker cars like the cruise lines', with a sumptuous white-tablecloth dining room downstairs (eat when you like). These are my favorite cars on the train. They're decorated with original fine art and are very luxurious, but you still know you're on a train, not a cruise ship, and you're not treated as a herd animal. Also, the cars have large outdoor vestibules on the upper deck. The views and open air there are incredible.

All passenger seats are assigned on all the cars. You can't walk from one company's cars to another, but you can walk between cars in your own train section. Fares on all three options are similarly high, but they're more advantageously priced as part of lodging and tour packages, which you can buy from the railroad or the cruise lines.

By Car

Renting a car and driving from Anchorage or Fairbanks is far cheaper and far faster than taking the train. It's easy to average 65 mph on a good two-lane highway, making the drive about 4 1/2 hours from Anchorage and 2 1/2 hours from Fairbanks. (The train averages 40 mph and takes 7 1/2 hr. to get from Anchorage to Denali.) Many of the views along the Parks Highway are equal to the views on the train, but large stretches, especially in the Matanuska and Susitna valleys, near Anchorage, have been spoiled by ugly roadside development (which you don't see from the train). A long but spectacular detour around the mess leads through Hatcher Pass on a mountainous gravel road open only in the summer. Farther north from Anchorage, the Parks Highway passes through Denali State Park. If the weather's clear, you can see Mount McKinley from the pullouts there. The state park also contains several campgrounds, public-use cabins, hiking trails, and a veterans' memorial. Byers Lake is a nice stop with a good campground and with canoe and kayak rental from Denali Southside River Guides (tel. 907/733-RAFT [7238]; www.denaliriverguides.com) -- the company also offers guided river rafting, kayaking, and fly-fishing. The park has a visitor contact station at the memorial, at mile 147. For information, contact the Mat-Su Area Park Headquarters (tel. 907/746-5000; www.alaskastateparks.org). From Fairbanks, the drive is pleasant but rarely spectacular. Allow an hour to stop in the quaint riverside town of Nenana, where you can see an old railroad depot museum.

By Bus

Several van and bus services inexpensively connect Anchorage and Fairbanks to Denali. Most will carry bikes and other gear for an additional fee. The Park Connection Motorcoach Service (tel. 800/266-8625; www.alaskacoach.com) runs big, comfortable coaches to Denali from Anchorage and Seward, with two buses daily in each direction. The Anchorage fare is $90, Seward $145. Children 11 and under ride for half price; those 4 and under need a car seat. Alaska/Yukon Trails (tel. 800/770-7275; www.alaskashuttle.com) also offers daily service from Anchorage and Fairbanks, with stops at any other point on the way. The one-way fare is $75 from Anchorage, $55 from Fairbanks.

By Air

McKinley Flight Tours, also known as Talkeetna Aero Services (tel. 888/733-2899 or 907/683-2899; www.talkeetna-aero.com), offers the only scheduled air service to Denali from its base in Talkeetna, or from Anchorage (summer only). Flights are 1-day packages that include flightseeing on the way, a bus tour at the park, a box lunch, and ground transfers. It's the only way to "do" Denali in a day. The package from Anchorage is $595, from Talkeetna $495; they need at least four passengers.