Jennifer’s Denali Area Guidebook

Easy... 1+ miles **a FAVORITE** McKinley Station Trail starting from Riley Creek Day Use Area. This section is about one mile (one way) paralleling Riley Creek. Very scenic with a great view of the train trestle. You can continue past this section and hike in the historic district all the way to the Visitor Center. Or you can connect with the Triple Lakes trail (my recommendation) and continue hiking along Riley Creek and cross a really fun suspension bridge. The short sections before and after the suspension bridge on Triple Lakes trail are easy and wheelchair accessible.

Easy (in this direction)... 1.8 miles one way Roadside Trail starting from Park Headquarters/Dog Kennels area. This is a nice, mostly downhill hike that takes you to the Visitor Center area. Forested hike with nice views along the way.

Easy... 2 miles round trip This lovely walk along the Savage River is very popular and has limited parking at trailhead...go early. Trail leads you towards a narrow canyon where a bridge allows you to cross the river and hike back towards the parking lot. Trail has some uneven and rocky surfaces, sometimes slippery or muddy when wet and is often cooler and breezy there. Possible bear, moose, caribou, dall sheep, marmot and ptarmigan sightings.

easy... 1.5 miles roundtrip This is a very nice hike with great views of the Nenana River. It's located about 7 miles south of the Park Road on the east side of the Parks Highway across from the Triple Lakes Trailhead. During summer of 2022 there is a lot of highway construction going on in this area that makes trailhead access a little tricky but worth the extra effort!

moderate... about 3 miles round trip/250 ft. elevation gain **a FAVORITE** This was Denali's first trail and is one of my favorites. There is one short, steep hill but its worth it and trail has great footing. The lake is pristine and beautiful, the trees are big and plentiful, and the beavers are constantly changing the layout. Moose sightings are frequent also.

Strenuous... 4 miles one way/1500 ft. elevation gain **a FAVORITE** This is another favorite because it gets you up into the high country and on the alpine tundra. Great views of Denali when weather allows. The trail starts or ends at the Mt. Vista parking lot and travels to the Savage River parking lot. I prefer to start from the Savage River parking lot. It's a steeper climb up but easy on the knees than if you were to go down those rock staircases. Check the free Savage River shuttle bus schedule beforehand and time it to where you can get a ride back to your vehicle.

Strenuous... 9.5 miles one way/1,000 ft. elevation gain This is my other front country favorite. It starts or ends near the McKinley Village (7 miles south of the park road) and travels to the Visitor Center. The three lakes are closer when starting from the Village trailhead if you want to just do an out and back hike. Lots of berries on this entire trail during the fall. Great wildflowers early to mid summer. Beautiful views along the entire hike. The steepest sections are on the visitor center side, climbing up to the ridge.

Strenuous... 2.7 miles one way/1700 ft elevation gain This is a great hike with great views and the option to continue hiking on the ridgeline past the end of the maintained trail. Also, a popular trail.

The tan tour buses are more expensive and the drivers are required to give you a narrated tour. The green shuttle buses are cheaper and drivers are not required to give a narrated tour but most of them do anyways because they love the park and want to educate people. Also, you are not allowed to get off the tan tour buses to hike so if you want to hike somewhere then take the green shuttle bus. You can get off the shuttle bus anywhere, go hiking, then walk back to the road and flag down the next green bus for a ride.

You can start seeing the northern lights as early as mid-August when the skies become dark enough that we can see the first stars since April. The sky needs to be mostly clear and it also depends on recent solar activity. In mid-August the darkest sky occurs between 1-3am. The northern lights can be predicted (just like the weather) so search Google for a forecast.