Denali National Park: Sightseeing, hiking and other activities
To preserve flora and fauna, the only vehicles allowed on Denali's narrow, unpaved ninety-mile road are a few tour buses and green shuttle buses , for which you'll need to reserve well in advance (tel 907/622-7275 or 1-800/622-7275). You can try for a seat up to two days in advance from the visitor center (late April to Sept daily 7am-8pm; tel 907/683-1266), just inside the park entrance, where you can pick up a free copy of the Denali Alpenglow paper and a wide range of literature, and join ranger-led activities including short hikes and the popular, and free, dogsled demonstration held daily at 10am, 2pm and 4pm.Shuttle buses run to either the Eielson Visitor Center at Mile 66 ($23), where rangers lead one-hour tundra tours each day at 1.30pm, or to the aptly named Wonder Lake at Mile 84 ($30); round-trips take about eight and ten hours respectively. The shuttle drivers don't give guided tours, but with forty pairs of watchful eyes on board, you're almost guaranteed to see the big mammals. You can also hop off at any point for a day-hike (no permits required) and return to the road to flag down the next bus back, if it has room. Buses run 6-8 times daily, and there are also buses used mainly by campers that will pick up stragglers at the end of the day.
Overnight backcountry camping is the best way to appreciate Denali's scenery and its inhabitants. Don't expect it to be easy though, there are no formal trails, and with thick spongy tundra and frequent river crossings even hardy hikers find themselves limited to five miles a day. The park is divided into 43 units and only a designated number of hikers is allowed into each section at a time. Free permits are available, one day in advance, from the visitor center's Backcountry Desk (daily 7am-8pm), though high demand means you should be prepared to hike in the less popular areas. The Backcountry Desk will also teach you about avoiding run-ins with bears and issue you with bear-resistant containers for food storage. Special camper buses reserved for those with campground or backcountry permits cost $15. It's not a bad idea to reconnoitre the park on a full-day bus trip in order to choose where you might like to hike on subsequent days. If there's room, buses also carry bikes; cyclists can be dropped off wherever they like, but are obliged to keep to the road.
An alternative to going it alone is to join a narrated tour (tel 1-800/276-7234) along the park road: either the three-hour Natural History Tour ($37) or the full-day Tundra Wildlife Tour ($71), which penetrates as far as Mile 53, stopping frequently to observe wildlife.
Just outside the park entrance, several rafting companies offer two-hour trips down the Nenana River: all offer a gentle "scenic float" and an eleven-mile "Canyon Run" through Class III and IV rapids - they cost around $60 individually and $80 for a joint run. Denali Outdoor Center (tel 907/683-1925 or 1-888/303-1925, ) charges a couple of dollars more than some of the others but offers a quality experience and the luxury of dry-suits.
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