In late July, we traveled to Denali National Park for George to speak at Camp Denali, a wilderness lodge at the far western edge of the park road. The experience in the park, and at Camp, was extraordinary. Here’s a glimpse into details of our travel in case you want to visit.
My First Impressions of Denali
Both time and space expand here. It’s if time stretches to fill the expanse between mountains and valleys.
Denali itself–the highest peak in North America–rises 20,310 feet above sea level, and towers close to 18,000 feet above the plains below. The specter of the mountain is ever present, even when obscured by weather, which is most of the time. We peer through the ever shifting clouds and fog, in hopes of catching a glimpse; a hint of rock or ice hanging in the sky. When the mountain appears, it’s a stunning surprise every single time; it appears even higher and bigger and more austere than I can possibly imagine.
The distant mountains below the peak are 9,000-10,000 feet tall. And still Denali rises yet another 10,000 feet above. The mountain looms large over everything.
Below the raw and snow covered Alaska Range the tundra unfurls. Low to the ground and springy underfoot, it spreads over pointed, craggy peaks like living gossamer stretched thin over crumbled, jagged stone vertebrae pushing out through slits in the growing fabric.
Between the park road and the peak sprawls the McKinley Bar- a swath of gravel scoured by waters draining from the Muldrow Glacier. The bar stretches a mile across; TWICE the width of Lamar Valley floor in Yellowstone. The braids of the milky, silty, opaque McKinley River, thick with glacier melt and sediment, flow 58 miles from the glacier on the slopes of Denali to the Kantishna River. The river weaves serpent-like across a wide gravel and silt highway traversed with tracks of bear, caribou, and wolves.
The space here is immense. The wilderness: entire.
This is Denali.
Day 1 Coming "Home" To Camp Denali
We arrive in Kantishna–a remote outpost surrounded by millions of acres of wilderness– after about a 45 minute flight with Denali Air from the east entrance of the park. We’re met by Red, who tells us about the area as he shepherds us to camp.
In 2021 Denali National Park closed the one park road west of mile 45, where the Pretty Rocks Landslide–with earth moving as much as 0.65 inches per hour–made continued use of the road impossible. As a result, Camp Denali is for the time being a fly-in only lodge, and the single outfitter permitted to operate between Wonder Lake and the closure. https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/nature/pretty-rocks.htm
After snacks at the lodge and we are shown to our cabin, we meet our guide Liat, who gives us a short tour of Camp and the Wonder Lake area to help us get our bearings.
Because the planes only fit 4-5 folks at a time and arrivals are staggered, we have not yet met the group, and have Liat all to ourselves. After several days of long travel, we are ready to let our hair down. The three of us are completely silly, full of questions and awe, as well as really bad jokes. Lots of laughter ensues, with Liat being a very good sport.
Liat took us on a short walk with views of Wonder Lake, our progress slow as we sampled some of the first ripe blueberries along the path. I spotted a moving bush in one of the beaver ponds down below, and we sat on top of a hill to watch the beaver swim branches back to the lodge, and a sneaky muskrat can be seen setting up a feeding area on the far side of the same lodge.
On the return, Liat introduced us to tundra walking; which George describes as traversing an overstuffed bouncy castle. It is an entire layer cake of living matter entangled with generations of past organisms that refuse to decompose. There are shrubs, herbaceous plants and lucky for us, more ripening blueberries.
At an overlook, George spots something through Liat’s spotting scope that may be a caribou, although there was some debate as to whether or not it was a moose, so we decided it was a new arctic subspecies, a “carimoose”. Ha ha we crack ourselves up. 😂
Back at Camp we have about an hour to rest before hors d'oeuvres and dinner. I lay on the bed in the cabin feeling pure joy. After four days of travel—an all day flight from Montana, two nights in Anchorage at Parkside Guest House, and an all day train ride and overnight at the park’s east entrance, the flight in—I feel like I can finally take a breath and be.here.now. No more Dramamine in the system (I get motion sickness), just the cool breeze coming through the cabin window, and millions of acres of wilderness beyond our remote outpost.
Nunatak (the name of our cabin meaning an isolated peak of rock projecting out of ice or snow) is our own little corner of the taiga, down a lightly winding path lined with fireweed and yarrow, moss and miniature cottonwoods, and tiny white and black spruce. Perched on a private patch of hillside, the log cabin is simply perfect; warm, inviting, incredibly comfortable. We have an immaculate outhouse with a heart shaped cut-out through which you can glimpse the trees (and the mountain when it’s out), and a spigot outside where we fill a basin and ewer for washing. There’s a wood stove and a stash of wood if we need it. And out the window, the spot where Denali will be when it peeks out of the low cloud cover.
After a meet and greet outside the original Camp Denali Lodge, we gather in the newer main lodge to eat. Dinner is incredible; executive chef Erin and a team of cooks and bakers serve fantastic creations with local ingredients, and Jenna (the owner) and fellow host Lee provide a welcome and orientation to Camp Denali life.
Day 2 Exploring Denali National Park
Each day there are three field trip options: a low impact naturalist “foray”, a moderate hike, and a strenuous hike. Some stay near the lodge and Wonder Lake area, others venture as far out the park road as is drivable, in search of wildlife and vistas. There is always the option to have a self guided adventure canoeing Wonder Lake, biking, fishing, or simply taking an easy day in Camp.
Young George chooses the strenuous hike for the next day (and each ensuing day!), heading 1500 feet up into the mist to Camp Ridge with guide Rob (who it turns out, lived in Gardiner for a while! Small world...). George and I choose the wildlife foray, heading deep into the park.
A long, drizzly, foggy, misty drive carried us into a land where behemoth land forms lurked just beyond view, showing a shoulder here or a braided bar there, only in parts and suggestions. The low cloud ceiling- right over our heads- concentrated our attention on the patterns, textures, and folds in the near tundra.
We were rewarded with a porcupine, numerous ptarmigan, swans, a juvenile golden eagle, a lone grizzly, and a griz sow with two cubs of the year. When we stopped to let two of our party out to bike back to Camp, I looked up from the roadside flowers right into the eyes of a wolf, 50 yards away! My first thought was a fox, because of the reddish fur on its face (the rest of the body below the eyes hidden in the grass), but I knew that that wasn’t right. Robina (our guide and Camp Denali’s program manager) and George confirmed it was a wolf. Once it raised its head and we could see the full face, there was no doubt.
We backed off to a safe distance by the van and watched it, just sitting there in the tundra staring at us.
I followed that by sighting two caribou- George’s first- waaaay across the valley. Robina took us to a spot where we spent some time walking in the tundra, raincoats soaked by the mist, watching arctic ground squirrels, investigating scat, and wondering at the miniature Indian Paintbrush, laden with moisture. Afterwards, Robina treated us to hot tea.
On the return trip we encountered a sow grizzly with two precocious cubs!! Watching them scale the steep hillsides was a treat.
Everyone shared trip reports and stories at dinner, new friendships forming with folks from Bozeman, Texas, Switzerland, and California, followed by George’s first presentation "Wolf Howls & Coyote Cries, Eavesdropping on Wild Conversations," which he adapted to include new Denali references.
Back at the cabin, it’s cold enough for a fire in the wood stove, which is crackling away. I am tired and content. Time expands, and I already feel as if I’ve been here for weeks.
Day 4 Canoeing Wonder Lake, and a surprise in the willows...
To be honest, I’m not sure where to begin. This place is… larger than life. Being here at Camp Denali, behind a road closure, nearly the only people in millions of acres… it defies all perspective. And then there’s the mountain, which gifted us with views of the full range this morning.
We decide to canoe Wonder Lake today, something I’ve always wanted to do. The surface was glass, the Alaska Range rising impossibly above the turquoise water, fathomless and so very very deep (280 feet!), dropping precipitously off of pebble shallows to steep, boulder strewn underwater slopes fading down to smooth sand, still as the deepest slumber. We saw a couple of loons, including one with babies, a scoter, an expired, floating trout, and a dead shrew, floating suspended on the crystal clear surface.
An Unexpected Grizzly Encounter
On his excursion yesterday, Young George got back to the van 30 feet or so ahead of his hiking group, heard a noise, peeked around the van and discovered a sow grizzly with two yearling cubs around 50 yards away hidden in the willows. Yikes! He said his vision shrunk down to a narrow tunnel, his body went hot all over, and then cold before he backed slowly down to the group as the bears moved away up the hill, huffing. Whew, that was a close encounter! Fortunately he knew what to do from growing up in griz country and backed up slowly to the group. Caitlin the guide was of course prepared with spray and an air horn.
A new group arrives today, so we’ll have a new set of friends and adventures. As soon as this rainbow subsides, I am off to bed.
Sometime around 1am I awaken to a beacon shining through the window. It’s the moon, rising over the Alaska range. It sets on the west side of Denali around 4am, just a shallow arc over the horizon in summer.
Day 5 Bears, Moose, and Bikes
The bike ride from Eielson Visitor Center (currently closed) today was crazy. We rode the van out with our guide Caitlin, looking for wildlife along the way (with Ben and Cassidy, writers from Missoula).
We barely get started on our ride back to camp when I spot a tiny bear cub, and then momma and the second cub above a curve in the road. “Bear!” I say to George, and we immediately pull over to assess the scene. She was a little too close for comfort, so we waited in the road for Cassidy and Ben, who started biking a bit later, so they wouldn’t surprise the bear, who had gone out of sight near the next bend in the road. Caitlin helped us load our bikes back on the van and shuttled us around the tight curves and the momma bear.
On the other side, we were able to watch them grazing from a distance, and witnessed an encounter between momma griz and an unsuspecting caribou! An animal stopping long enough to take a look is an indication something's going on. There is something more to the picture and we just have to use our own eyes to find it. In the midst of feeding on ripening blueberries, she stopped repeatedly and looked downslope. It took a few minutes, but we finally discovered what it caught her eye — a caribou.
All in all we saw 15 bears (from a distance), 5 bull moose (much bigger than Yellowstone moose…), 7 caribou, a bunch of ptarmigan, a porcupine, and several merlins, a type of falcon.
Our wildlife loving hearts were happy! But by far, the most incredible thing was simply biking through the tundra, the only ones on the road for millions of acres. The changing light, the smell of willow and balsam poplar and flowers. The feeling of being on the landscape, seeing it in an immersive way, using all our senses and feeling at least a little more than we could in the bus.
Jenna's husband Simon, and Camp Denali co-owner, warned us that the bike ride is "net downhill," which true to form meant that the ride felt more uphill than down. We make it back to camp just in time for dinner.
Day 6 A Crystal Clear Denali Day
I swear I’m going to take a day to “do nothing” besides just read and catch up on my journal. I’ve barely slept; it’s light outside all night. We don’t seem to even think about bed before 11pm, I wake several times in the night thinking it’s already morning, and then my alarm goes off at 4 or 5am to try and catch alpenglow on the peak. Camp Denali provides eye masks, and we could pull the curtains… but… what’s the fun in that? Carpe Diem!
The day dawns clear and blue, the mountain rising above all, filling the day with potential. Sigh. So much for resting! I decide to hike to “Camp Ridge”, 1500 nearly straight vertical feet above camp, where I collapse on the ridge, soaking in 360 views and a light breeze keeping the mosquitos away. For perspective, Camp Denali is at the very bottom right of the image.
I stay for a couple of hours, do a quick painting in my journal, and see no-one but a flock of pipits and families of ground squirrels. On the way down through VERY thick trees and bushes, I encounter two HUGE berry filled bear scats. Oookaaay I think, making a ridiculous amount of noise and holding my bear spray in my hand ready to go.
I do have a few hours to read and shower before dinner. 9 year old Avery and her new grown up friend Maureen sing a song about their day for their trip report to the tune of “Partridge in a Pear Tree”. George presents "Animals, Art and Meaning," sculpting live while recounting the story of Yellowstone wolf 42’s last litter of pups to a captivated audience of guests and staff, emphasizing the power of storytelling in our own lives as a way to share the importance of wild places.
Day 7 Hiking McKinley Bar and Saying Goodbye to Camp Denali
It’s our last full day at Camp Denali :(. We are rewarded with Liat as our guide once again, a perfect bookend to our time here. We are joined by baker Abby and her sister Megan, little George, and Frank, a wolf watcher who frequently visits Yellowstone! We hiked to McKinley Bar, chatting about frozen frogs (wood frogs freeze solid in winter), wild flowers, and Russian writers. We follow a fat porcupine through the “drunken” spruce forest to the mile wide swath of gravel and braids, meandering our way to the main channel where milky gray water charges forcefully downstream, a changing landscape in motion right before our eyes. We can hear rocks rolling beneath the surface, and chunks of gravel bank collapse and fall in as we eat lunch. George throws a large rock in to gauge the depth, which starts a group rock toss, curiously satisfying watching large rocks get swallowed up by the roiling current.
In the sand and mud spaces between gravel bars, we witness spectacular grizzly, wolf, and caribou tracks, almost picture perfect as if plucked straight from a field guide. George, Liat, and Frank have an impromptu tracking lesson. George spots a caribou skull. We make up a very silly song about our excursion to share at dinner, dubbing ourselves "The McKinley Bar Flies" and making up lyrics to the tune of 1980's rock songs.
The Camp Denali Family
Without exception, the guides and staff we meet are exceptional. Owners and stewards Jenna and Simon deliberately cultivate a strong community, a necessity when living at a remote lodge in the wilderness, creating a true sense of family that extends to the guests. Many staff we meet are children of former staff members, creating a generational legacy and carrying on the family tradition. Some staff have worked there 10 years or more, and a few who worked there when younger have returned in retirement.
Flying Out of Camp Denali
It takes about 30 minutes to fly from Kantishna back the east entrance to the park. On the flight we marvel at the endless tucks and folds and meandering river valleys as we say a reluctant goodbye. The landscape is simply stunning, and so very wild. We spot several Dall sheep!
'Til next time, Denali. 💕
Want to plan a trip to Denali?
There are a number of different ways to visit Denali National Park; we'll elaborate on what we did in case it's helpful to your future planning.
We flew from Bozeman to Anchorage, where we spent two nights at Camp Denali's Parkside Guest House (where Carly was a gracious host) in order to have a chance to visit downtown museums and shops-the Alaska Public Lands Information Center is well worth a visit. There is a great coastal path right downtown, you can walk it or rent bikes nearby. Many people will rent a car for the most flexibility; but since the car would sit unused for a week we took the Alaska Railroad (splurge for the Gold Star service if you can-the glass topped cars are fantastic) on the way there and the Park Connection bus (very clean and modern) on the way back.
Before heading in to Camp Denali we stayed overnight at the Denali Education Center where George gave a talk. They offer a variety of great educational programs for all ages.
Camp Denali staff are very helpful in suggesting travel, accommodations, etc. and handle all the transportation to Camp. There are a couple of other lodges in Kantishna, but none of them can operate beyond Wonder Lake, making exploration into the park difficult.
At the park's entrance, be sure to visit the sled dog kennels and demonstrations, as well as the visitor center.
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Images © Jenny Golding
