Mt. Denali is the highest mountain in North America which is also known as Mt.McKinley and it has a stunning national park called ‘Denali National Park’. It is located in interior Alaska. You can see a variety of beautiful mountains and large glaciers in Alaska.
Denali National Park covers six million acres of wildland along with wild mammals like bears, wolves, etc. Visitors would love to see the low-elevations, taiga forest with tundra at middle elevations, glaciers, snow, and bare rocks at high elevations. They provide many activities in this park-like snowmobiling, dog sledding, cross-country skiing on winter days.
Entrance to Denali National Park
There is only one entrance to the Denali National Park. From this entrance, Denali Park Road meets Alaska Highway 3 which is about 240 miles north of Anchorage and 120 miles south of Fairbanks. The Denali Park Road is about 92 miles that run from east to west and travels through high mountain passes and low valleys. Along the road, you can see beautiful landscapes at every turn and there are many places allotted to see Denali. The wildlife can be often seen in these places.
In the month of late May through early September, in summer days, you can take a drive-by private vehicle to a place called Savage River in the first fifteen miles. But the road of Savage River is kind of paved and there are many pull-outs where you can stop and click some scenic pictures.
How to reach Denali National Park
In Alaska, there are many rural locations and they use a mile marker on a road that denotes the physical address. The entrance of Denali National Park is at Mile 237, Highway 3. You can also use a GPS device for navigation.
Car
There is only one entrance to the Denali National Park, Alaska Highway 3 which is about 240 miles north of Anchorage and 120 miles south of Fairbanks, and 12 miles south of Healy. You will find Denali’s mountaineering headquarters which is about 140 miles south of the park entrance and 100 miles north of Anchorage in Talkeetna.
Train
The state-owned railroad of Alaska connects Anchorage to Fairbanks that runs directly through the Denali’s entrance.
Plane
The easiest way to get to Alaska is by air travel to either Anchorage or Fairbanks. Then you will have to take a car, train or bus to reach Denali.
Types of Bus Trips
All the bus routes in Denali travel through the park’s sole road that turns around at a particular landmark location. All the buses are operated by the concessionaire.
- Narrated tour buses
On the tour buses, your driver will be your narrator and they will provide a detailed program to accompany your journey along the Denali Park Road. These buses will stop for the restrooms and they will pause for wildlife and scenery viewing. All the tours will offer full lunch or a snack. And there are three tour buses of different lengths.
- Non-narrated transit buses
Non-narrated buses are cheaper than any other buses and are more flexible. These buses are called transit buses. The transit bus drivers will help you to experience the park on your own. These buses will stop for the same restrooms as the narrated buses, wildlife, and scenery viewing. You have four choices for non-narrated buses at different lengths.
- Free buses
There are three types of free buses that are operated on a public-drivable area of Denali Park Road. These buses are for visitors without vehicles, or for the visitors who wish to park their vehicle behind, for visitors who want to travel between various facilities, campgrounds, trails, and day-use areas. These buses don’t require reservations and it is for free.