Backroads Hiking Trip (Denali)

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Denali National Park (Kantishna)

June 30

We had breakfast at Pike’s Lodge again. Afterward, we met up in the hotel lobby sitting area with our two Backroads guides (Mason and Alex) and the other people on the hiking trip. There were 18 people on the trip. Most were about our age, and one teenage boy as well. Mason and Alex were in their early 30’s. There were two vans and one luggage trailer for the group. We left at around 8:30 a.m. from the hotel toward Denali National Park. It was a 2.5-hour ride to Denali. Our van had eleven people including us and the guide/driver. There were two empty seats so we could throw our daypacks there to give us some extra room.  Emilie spotted an eagle on top of a tree from the van. She gets credit from van mates for the first wildlife viewing. The van also saw moose and caribou along the way (well the others saw the moose, Em and I missed the moose). Green lush mountainous landscape reminded us of Kauai. We rode through McKinley Village, considered the gateway to Denali. It seemed so, there were lots of buses and log constructed tourist buildings, rafting and other adventure outfits, etc.  We got to our pit stop near the entrance to the park at Denali Cabins around 11 a.m. We had lunch at a gazebo and got an orientation by our trip leaders, and had an opportunity to meet some of our co-hikers. We awaited our bus for the 6-hour Scenic Bus Tour of Denali before getting to the Denali Backcountry Lodge we would be staying at for 3 nights. It was warm and partly cloudy…great weather.

We would be sharing the bus with other people besides those on our Backroads tour. So, our guides told us we need to get on first and sit on the left side of the bus to get the best wildlife viewing ops on the road to Kantishna. This was a great tip as it clearly was the better side to be on…chock one up for Backroads! The road to the lodge was a 90-mile dirt road once you pass the last ranger station along the main road into Denali National Park. Only official park vehicles and registered outback groups are allowed on this road. There are green shuttle buses that are repurposed school buses which hikers and campers must use to get any further. Our destination was the old mining town of Kantishna, the end of the road.

Along this road we saw a caribou on a snow pack, and a grizzly bear right next to the road. The bus stopped and we watched the bear cross the road right in front of us. The guide estimated it was about 350 pounds. We got great views of the snowy Alaskan range along this ride. We stopped at Polychrome Pass for awesome pics. Snowy mountains on one side, Nepali Coast-like mountains on the other! The road overlooks the Plains of Murie.

We saw Dall sheep up in the rocks above the road. Then we saw three more grizzly bears, but a bit too far away to really see well. Luckily, we then came across another mama bear with her two cubs eating berries about 100 feet from the road. We stopped and watched them for about ten minutes. The cubs were super cute and the mama was estimated to be about 400 pounds by our guide. This was an awesome close-up observation of the grizzlies. The guide was as thrilled as we were to see two spring cubs up-close. The cubs climbed a small tree and pulled it down to get the leaves. We left once another bus came by so we could give them a turn. The following bear pics were taken by our trip leader, Mason, who had an awesome camera.

We also saw a female moose in a pond about 100 yards away. The bus pulled over so we could watch it. It was active in the water, and then it just started to swim to the other side of the pond. We were all amazed, including the guide, at how smoothly and quickly it swam.
We made a few more stops along the route for vista views and photo ops. At one stop Emile and I had an argument, so we decided to duke it out with real caribou antlers available for display. These were incredibly heavy, as were the moose antler also there for handling. It’s hard to believe that these animals could support such heavy antler without just dropping their heads constantly, they are truly strong beasts. (Em scored the knockout, by the way).

We caught another brown bear along the way as well.

We got to the Denali Backcountry Lodge in Kantishna around 7:30 p.m., but wow, what a ride that was!! We got our room assignment, dropped our stuff, and headed to the main cabin for an impressive dinner, including lamb chops and Nebbiolo wine. We realized during dinner that we really weren’t roughing it here in the back country of Alaska. After dinner our trip leaders, Alex and Mason discussed activity options for the following day. We signed up for the most challenging hike for the next day and went off to our cabin for the night. Our cabin was very nice with a huge king bed. Our picture window presented us with a lush mountainside up above, and a roaring creek below. We were on the perimeter so no other cabins in view. It was a great location. Then off to bed around 10:00 p.m.

Denali National Park

July 1

Up at 6:45 a.m. for an excellent and hearty breakfast in the main lodge before meeting for our 9-mile loop trail hike up Wickersham Dome at 8:00 a.m.  We got to meet some more of our trip colleagues at breakfast as well.  We signed up for the Wickersham Dome hike because it was the “challenging” hike option for the day out of the lodge with naturist guides. There were 12 of us on the hike, and our guide was highly knowledgeable of the flora and geology. It definitely was challenging. It was a steep, difficult hike for the first 2.5 miles. The path was tightly bordered by bush for a good part of that first leg. The weather was nice but it was cloudy, and so there was no sight of Mt. Denali or anything of any height. We eventually hit tundra, covered by very soft moss ground cover. So, now the upward hike was spongy and therefore even more tiring than hard ground.

 

At about 3000 feet we hit cloud, and then it rained. We put on our raincoats and pants that we had in our shared backpack, which I was carrying.  After about 4 hours we staked a spot on the wet tundra to eat our lunch. Not long after that, we got to the 3,800-foot summit of our trail in the wind and a soft rain. Word of the day was “epic”. Our guides called the weather epic, and the hike epic. It was exhilarating to be in a cloud at the top, with a strong wind, and a mist, even if we had no views. On a clear day we were told we would have had a nice view of Denali. We felt like climbers, not hikers.

After about 15 minutes at the top, we started down. Without our guide we would have been lost. We were glad he was there and experienced with this trail enough to lead us in the right direction down. Once down at about 2:30 p.m., we joined a 45-minute walking tour (30 minutes of it remaining) to where gold pioneer Quigley lived, right near the lodge. After that, I signed up for a massage at the spa for 3:45.  We hung our hiking shoes up on some pegs in the “Drying Room”, which was a dingy room off to the side of the restaurant and activity center where the lodge generator was located and giving lots of dry heat. It was a very efficient drying room for sure. We went for 5:00 p.m. hors d’oeuvres and social in the bar and then had dinner at 6:00 p.m. Dinner was quite nice…again. They fed us very well, quantity and quality in this remote back country lodge.  After dinner we strolled around the grounds, including the foot bridge over Moose Creek, enjoying the midnight sun.

Off to bed around 10:00 p.m., and asleep very fast.

Denali National Park

July 2

Up at 7:00 a.m. for another hearty breakfast in the main lodge. On this day we signed up for the moderate 5-mile up and back hike to McKinley Bar. The weather was much clearer than the day before, and it was warm…a beautiful day. There were 12 of us on the hike.

This hike started with a 15-minute shuttle van ride to the trailhead. About 10 minutes out we came across our first view of Mt. Denali! A truly awesome, white spectacle that just TOWERS over the other more visible peaks along the Alaskan Range, as it should, being the tallest mountain in North America. The trail guide who was driving the shuttle van pulled over so we could get out and get pics of this main attraction. Everyone was pretty psyched, including the driver, since being able to see Denali in whole is a rarity, at any time.

We then went on past the beautiful Wonder Lake with Denali as a backdrop for more pics, and then the shuttle took us a couple more minutes up to Reflection Pond to see Denali and its reflection in the water. But in these few minutes the clouds rolled in and began obscuring Denali. Interestingly, at the Reflection Pond were four Mennonite women in traditional dress, and backpacks, enjoying the view. We exchanged taking each other’s pics.

After about 20 minutes of delay in order to observe Denali we finally arrived at the McKinley Bar Trail trailhead.

This was a fairly easy trail with no elevation gain. Along a good chunk of it we could see Denali playing hide and seek through the clouds. We could see the top section of it at times spiking through the clouds.  Along the way we passed trail maintenance workers securing planks and supports along the wet sections of the trail. That is hard work, especially knowing there are brown bears around! We made our way to the trail’s end which was at the McKinley River. It was moving fast and it was very wide. If it was clear this would have provided an awesome view of Denali, as this is the closest hiking point for non-climbers to Denali at 20 miles, but, no luck. Though the lower peaks and the glacier-induced moraine landscape that were in view were quite beautiful.

On the way back, from the van, we stopped to watch a huge bull moose wading in Wonder Lake very close to the road.  (Now, remember this moose in a minute)

In the afternoon, we took a 3:00 shuttle from Denali Backcountry Lodge to Wonder Lake with bikes that were provided by the lodge. Our intent was to hike nearby Wonder Lake on our own, and then bike the 6 miles back to the lodge.

Two other couples from our Backroads group were on board as well. Once there, we looked for the bull moose we saw there a few hours ago, but we didn’t see it. So, we dropped our bikes at the trailhead of the Blueberry Hill trail and proceeded to hike the .5-mile trail which peaked to a perch overlooking the lake. We saw a willow ptarmigan (a gamebird and state bird of Alaska) right in the trail. We got nice views of the lake, but again, no Mt. Denali. After our hike we went to the dock along the lake. Here, one of the other couples from our group was there fly fishing. I then changed into the swimsuit I had in my pack and went for a very quick swim in Wonder Lake. The other couple turned their heads while I changed into my swimsuit, but I definitely put on a show for the three people now atop Blueberry Hill and looking down on us…oh well. The water was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be. The water hole we jumped in at Glacier NP two years ago was way colder.

I dried off while the other couple began their way back to the road about 30 yards away. After changing back into my clothes (giving my Blueberry Hill fans another show) we started towards the road, too. But out at the road, just across it in the small pond opposite Wonder Lake we encountered presumably the very same huge bull moose we saw 3 hours ago from the shuttle van, and which we were looking for. It was about 20 yards away, drinking and eating in the pond, and with a massive antler rack. Along with the other couple with us we huddled close together to appear large, and slowly sneaked past the huge moose. Emilie and I walking our bikes, and Emilie taking video. The moose pulled its head above the water just as we passed directly in front of it, he looked right at us for a couple of seconds, and then swung around the other way, splashing, and kept on eating. Luckily, he was not interested in us. It was kind of terrifying, especially those few seconds where he contemplated us…but an awesome experience. Check out Em’s video:

Em and I then started our way back on our bikes while the other couple proceeded to the shuttle pick-up point. The shuttle was coming soon, which is why we had to get past the moose, so the other couple wouldn’t miss the shuttle.  After about a mile or two on the road, the shuttle bus, with the other couple on it came by, and we decided to hitch a ride with them…missing the uphill portion of the bike ride (damn)! Part of the reason we hitched the ride was so were sure to get back to the lodge in time to reserve a spot on a plane ride above Denali for that evening after dinner.

We had hors d’oeuvres and then dinner.  The weather was still beautiful and we were hoping Denali would be in view for the plane ride. When the plane tour representative from Kantishna Air Taxi came by the lodge at 7:30 p.m. she said things looked promising, but they never promise. We were shuttled to the airstrip about five minutes away and boarded a 5-passenger plane about the size of a large coffin with 3 other members of our Backroads group. I sat directly behind the pilot (a Yankee fan who didn’t appreciate my Red Sox ballcap), and Emilie was next to me.

The flight turned out to be truly spectacular. The mountain was out and the sky as clear as could be. We got as close as 1/4 mile from the mountain. We saw dramatic snow packed ridges, jagged slopes, glaciers, and 360-degree views of the mountain and the adjacent Alaskan Range mountains.  This was awe inspiring! Well worth the $500 for the two of us for an hour tour. A lifetime experience, both exhilarating and terrifying. The stark white beauty of the range and the mountain are impossible to describe second-hand.

Upon returning to the lodge we went to the bar for a final drink at the lodge before early bedtime since we had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning to begin our departure from the park. We sat a while on the porch overlooking the river below. A nice unwind from a busy and exciting day.

Denali National Park

July 3

Up at 5:00 a.m. and on the rickety green school bus for our 6:00 a.m. departure from Kantishna. We were fortunate to have very clear weather and full views of Mt. Denali for the whole 90-mile ride out of the park. The driver stopped at Reflection Pond because the mountain was actually reflecting in the pond! This view is one of the iconic photo shots of the mountain that is seen everywhere, but it is rarely visible. We all took lots of pics of this spectacular view, but phone cameras and iPads just can’t do it justice. The clarity of the whole mountain even made the guide/driver giddy, she couldn’t stop smiling. We saw more moose and caribou from a short distance, but the most entertaining was us following a fox trotting down the dirt road for about a half mile. The. Fox had a ptarmigan in its mouth. We stopped at a Visitors Center along the road and got a terrific group photo with Mt. Denali in the background.

Next: Backroads Hiking Trip (Talkeetna/Girdwood/Chugach)