Blogs from Denali National Park, Alaska, United States, North America

Today I had booked a 3 hour guided hike with Walk Denali, a local hiking company. And then I decided that wasn't enough and did another hike in the afternoon. I think I'm all hiked out now. I grabbed breakfast from the lodge because that's basically the only option for food. Pickup for the hike was to be between 7:45 and 8 so I headed up to the parking lot to wait for the guide to arrive. There were two couples on the hike plus myself. Our guide, Jeremy, has lived in Alaska for 15 years and really likes hunting. But he was also very knowledgeable about the plants, landscape and wildlife. He took us to the Three Lakes Trail, which is part of Denali NP but we used a trail head at the south end ... read more

Denali National Park was established in 1917, however it was then called Mount McKinley National Park. Apparently people were huge fans of President McKinley and thought that was a better name than the one the native people's had called the mountain. I had to look him up because I couldn't even remember his first name or when he was president. The name debate continued and in 1980 the name of the park was changed to Denali NP but the mountain was still called McKinley. Finally, in 2015, the mountain was officially resorted to Denali. The park is a little over 6 million acres and has one road that extends 93 miles into the park. The first 15 miles is paved and open to cars, the rest is by tour bus or campground bus only. However, as ... read more

Onze bestemming dit najaar is de grootste staat van de VS, waar we met een camper op pad gaan en met een cruiseboot zullen afzakken naar Vancouver. We vliegen naar Alaska via Frankfurt, waar we na 45 minuten vliegen met een 1 maand oude A320 van Lufthansa arriveren. Onze overstaptijd is 1 uur en 40 minuten, dat is op Frankfurt krap. We worden met een bus naar de terminal gebracht en moeten zoals daar gebruikelijk is erg ver lopen. Ook een douane en securitycheck kosten veel tijd. Bij de gate wisselen we nog van zitplaats, het vliegtuig blijkt ver van vol te zitten. De B767-300ER van Condor zal ons in een kleine tien uur naar Anchorage brengen. De service aan boord gaat met Duitse efficiëntie, maar beide maaltijden zijn erg smaakvol. We vliegen via de Noorse ... read more

After fishing our fingers off, we headed north again through Anchorage and up the Parks Highway toward Denali National Park and the mountain that was called “Mount McKinley” for over a hundred years. In 2015, the US government changed the formal name back to the original name, Denali, meaning “the great one”. And it is great – the summit of Denali is not only the highest point in North America, over 20,000 feet, but the mountain itself is taller than Mt. Everest, which sits on a base of other mountains. We stopped overnight in the town of Talkeetna, a kitschy little place overrun by tourists. Cruise ship passengers arrive by the busload to ride the Alaska Railroad and try to catch a glimpse of Denali. It’s a tourist train in the summer, but throughout the year, ... read more

From the same couple who did Norway in January, now rafting on the Tanana river, Denali, Alaska. Water temp, just above freezing. Grey water due to glacial silt. Steph is row 2 Bob is far side. About 3’ curls, everyone gets wet. Scenery to die for.... read more