Denali National Park (Zone 31-32)
Denali National Park
P.O. Box 9
Denali National Park, AK 99755
(907) 683-2294
Denali National Park & Preserve features North America’s highest mountain, 20,320-foot tall Mount McKinley. The Alaska Range also includes countless other spectacular mountains and many large glaciers. Denali’s more than 6 million acres encompass a complete sub-arctic eco-system with large mammals such as grizzly bears, wolves, Dall sheep, and moose. The park was established as Mt. McKinley National Park on Feb. 26, 1917. The original park was designated a wilderness area and incorporated into Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. The Park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. Today the park accommodates a wide variety of visitor use including wildlife viewing, mountaineering, and backpacking. It continues to provide a laboratory for research in the natural sciences. There are no trails in Denali National Park, so part of the excitement of a backcountry hike is plotting a course across the open tundra or just wandering along the many riverbanks and drainage ditches. For that reason, map and compass skills are a major plus if you plan to hike more than a mile from the Denali Park Road.
The National Park Service limits the number of backcountry permits, so you are nearly assured of a true wilderness experience. There is a large variety of wildlife in Denali, and you are likely to see moose, caribou, Dall sheep, and even grizzly bear from both the Park bus and the open tundra if you are hiking the backcountry. The route we chose through Zones 31 and 32 was a brutal one. We traveled through one canyon, two mountain ranges (including the Wyoming Hills) and forded the Toklat Rivers frequently on the last day of the hike. The scenery however, was spectacular, and we saw more wildlife on this trip than I have ever seen in over twenty years of backpacking. If you are up to the challenge, and in great physical shape, consider this hike.
- click for a video slideshow from this backpacking trip in Denali National Park
- click for a photo journal from this backcountry adventure along the Toklat River: June 30, 1995
- click for more photos from this hike in Denali National Park: June 30, 1995
- click for a detailed trip report on this backpacking trip in Denali: June 30, 1995 (password required)
- click for a Daytimer report from this hike along the Toklat River in June 1995 and July 1995 (password required)
- click for an article about the Wyoming Hills in the October 2008 issue of Backpacker Magazine (password required)
- click for a park map of Denali National Park
- click for a topographical and profile map of this loop hike in Zone 31 and 32 (password required)
- click for another hike in Denali at Zone 28 in June 2000
- click for another backpacking trip to Lost Lake this week in July 1995
- click to access the guidebook Lonely Planet: Backpacking In Alaska which has details on this hike
- click for more Alaska hiking and backpacking books
- click for more backpacking trips in the State of Alaska