The drive from Fairbanks to our campsite near the Denali Park entrance was only 130 miles. We crossed the Alaskan Inrterior and once again were in awe of the magnificent scenery. We considered ourselves so fortunate to have such clear weather for taking pictures.
Only two of the six Denali Park campgrounds were open for RVs. One was situated inside the entrance and the other was 29 miles inside the park. We tried getting a reservation online, but alas, both were completely booked. We settled for Grizzly Bear RV Park just 6 miles further south and weren’t at all disappointed.
Oddly, our spot was along side the campground road, so we felt a bit close to campground traffic. However, we were adjacent to the office, camp store, showers, a daily food truck, and free morning coffee. We also received a lot of friendly, passerby compliments on Arthur.
I googled coffee shops, and a Starbucks popped up directly across AK 3 from us in Denali Park Village, a high-end resort with loads of accommodations and services. During one of my walks around our park, I found a paved trail, which took us under the highway and allowed us to walk to their Starbucks. Once on the resort, we strolled through all the facilities, and I took pictures of interest. The B&W photo of the prospector was hanging in the Gift Shop, and I couldn’t resist capturing his look of mistrust of and utter disdain for the photographer.
I admit, we drove the truck more often than we walked. We drank our coffee on their outside patio and deck while enjoying views of the Nenana River.
The resort also had several restaurants, and we treated ourselves to delicious drinks, dinner, and dessert at the Gold Rush.
Denali (20,310 feet) is Earth’s third most topographically prominent and isolated peak behind Everest ((29,031 feet) and Aconcagua (22,838 feet). That said, at 18,000 feet, measured from its sloping plain base to its peak, Denali is the world’s tallest mountain*. This fact is what makes viewing it (certainly for the first time) astonishingly breath-taking in our opinions. My pictures don’t do justice to its grandeur or the involuntary verbal reaction it inspires.
* Everest, measured from its base in the high elevation of the Tibetan Plateau to its peak, is 17,100 feet at its tallest.
The Koyukon Athabaskans, living in Alaska’s Yukon, Tanana, and Kusko River basins, were the first Native Americans who had access to the hunting and fishing grounds on and around Denali. Their encampments (no settlements have been found) were discovered by various area archaeological excavations with two inside the Park dating back to just a bit earlier than 13,000 years ago. The Athabaskans referred to Denali as Deenaalee, which translates to “the high one” or “the tall one.” Either worked for us! Historically though, Denali has been named: Tschigmit, Tenada, Bolshaya Gora, Bulshaia, Densmore’s Mountain, and Mount Allen. These names were derived from the mountains location, its size, and early explorers.
William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born prospector from Seattle, wrote an account of a gold expedition he led along Alaska’s Susitna River in 1896. His account was published in The New York Sun on January 24, 1897, and in the article he wrote “We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency.” NOTE: William McKinley had no connection with Alaska or the mountain. As a matter of timing, United States Geological Survey reports in 1900 and 1911 not only referred to the mountain as McKinley, by the latter was titled The Mount McKinley Region, Alaska. After McKinley became president but was assassinated early in his second term, public sentiment strongly favored commemorating his memory. Subsequently, the name Mount McKinley was officially adopted in 1917, when Congress passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Act No. 353, “An Act to establish the Mount McKinley National Park in the territory of Alaska.” The Park encompassed 2.1 million acres at that time.
From the beginning, individuals and groups protested the mountain being named McKinley. Those who were pro-McKinley were largely loyalists to the memory of President McKinley, while those against believed the name was an insult to the indigenous peoples who first named it and were sustained by the mountains flora and fauna over thirteen millennia. In 1975, the Alaska Board of Geographic Names changed the mountain’s name back to Denali, and the Alaska Legislature officially requested the United States Board of Geographic Names (USBGN), the federal agency responsible for naming U.S. geographic features in the United States, change the mountain’s name to “Mount Denali.” Unfortunately, the request became a political football and after two years, no ruling was made. Late in 1980, President Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Denali National Park and Preserve. This law was a political compromise, because while naming the new, larger park Denali, the name of the actual mountain remained “Mount McKinley.”
Yet the political debate about changing Mount McKinley to Denali continued. Over the next 35 years, advocates made multiple requests for changing the name, while those opposed went as far as introducing stand-alone legislation to prevent the name of Mount McKinley from ever being changed. Interestingly, the 1975 name change proposal to the USBGN was still pending. In August 2015, President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior announced the mountain’s name would be changed to Denali, claiming federal law authorized the Secretary to name geographic features if the USBGN did not do so in a reasonable period of time. Forty years was considered long enough, and President Obama officially changed the name in September 2015. Frankly, we agreed wholeheartedly with the decision and celebrated the recognition of the Athabaskan peoples and their long history.
Today, the Park encompasses 6.1 million acres and entertains 600,000 visitors annually. We should have been more knowledgeable about park rules and conditions, so we were somewhat surprised with those we encountered. Denali Park Road was the only access road to the park interior. It ran 92 miles west from the entrance to Kantishna on the west side of the Alaska Range and 30 miles north of Denali Peak. However, private vehicles were only allowed access to the Savage River checkpoint at mile 13 and could go no further without a permit. The paved portion of the road ended at Savage River. For additional fees, visitors could take National Park or concessionare-operated transit buses beyond Savage River. The latter provided narated tours. But because of the Pretty Rocks landslide (more on this later), Denali Park Road was closed to all visitor traffic at mile 45.4 in 2021. This effectively prevented us from accessing the northwest side of the Alaska Range; and therefore, missing what was purported to be some of the best scenic views in the Park. Everything I’ve just explained was covered thoroughly in The Milepost, but frankly, I hadn’t reviewed it in sufficient detail beforehand.
Unphased by the constraints, we headed to the Savage River Checkpoint. At mile 13, we stopped at the Mountain Vista Trailhead. After using the excellent facilities, we hiked the 0.6-mile trail with expansive views of the tundra and Alaska Range mountains.
Along the trail, we read interpretive placcards, which described when tourists for the first time had access to the Park via the Alaska Railroad, completed in 1923. They came to “rough it” in the arctic by camping in tents and cooking over open fires. Actually, Park employees provided the food and did the cooking for these early high-paying tourists. I took videos of what they saw 100 years ago.
We drove the final 2 miles to the Savage River Checkpoint where I got better of pictures of Denali. Too hard to pick the best one, so enjoy them all.
MFI stayed in the truck, waiting for a parking spot while I hiked a portion of the Savage Alpine Trail looking for more beauty to photograph. I found it with views of the Savage River, the mountains, the tundra and Denali.
We stopped at the Visitor Center on our way out. It was very nicely appointed inside with art pieces and displays for all ages.
I mentioned earlier the Pretty Rocks Landslide, and its importance and impact deserve further discussion. The Denali Park Road was built in 1930 and crossed a known geological landslide feature located in the Polychrome Area. The first signs of movement were detected in the 1960’s and the repeated cracks that appeared required repairs every couple of years. Between 2014 and 2016, officials noticed movement of the roadbed had increased to the point where a slump had occurred, and they began a monitoring program with frightening results. Movement of the roadbed was accelerating and evolved from inches per year to inches per month by 2017, inches per week by 2018, inches per day by 2019, and up to 0.65 inches per hour by 2021. Hence, the decision to close the road in August 2021. This time-lapse video captures the subsequent damage.
Officials claimed that mean temperature increases associated with climate change combined with increased annual rainfall were causing the movement. To solve the problem, the Federal Highways Administration and the National Park Service (NPS) developed the Polychrome Area Improvements plan to restore reliable road access west of Pretty Rocks. The plan includes construction of a steel-truss bridge to span the Pretty Rocks Landslide zone. The project was estimated to cost $10 million, and federal funding was authorized. Construction began in Summer 2023 and is expected to be completed Summer 2026; however, public traffic beyond mile 45.4 is not expected to resume until Summer 2027. These renderings sourced from the NPS website characterize the landslide area and what the bridge will look like.
While shopping at the Park’s Gift Store, we saw four professional photographs of Denali taken from the currently inaccessible western portion of Denali Park Road. I took pictures of these photographs so there are reflections, which couldn’t be avoided. This is what visitors have been missing since August 2021 when that part of the road was closed.
If you are planning a trip to Alaska, include a visit to Denali National Park and Preserve, and if possible, consider these recommendations to optimize this once-in-a-lifetime experience:
- Complete your planning about a year in advance.
- Spare no expense and save accordingly.
- Don’t limit your vacation time. One week won’t be enough.
- Delay your trip until the full length of Denali Park Road is open.
- Consider taking the Alaska Railroad to access the Park from the south.
- Decide which activities interest you and make required reservations as early as possible (see first recommendation).
