Denali Park
May 6th, 2014, 12:48 PM
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Denali Park
There are 4 of us, sixty years old, going to Alaska for the first time in September. Have questions about Denali Park. Do we need to take lunches while in the park? Noticed there were restaurants. Are they open the first part of September? Do we ride the shuttle bus, so we can get off and on? Where is the best place to go the first day? We will be there 2 days, staying in Healy. Anything you have for us would be greatly appreciated.
May 6th, 2014, 01:05 PM
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The only way you can go into the park very far is on a bus. I personally would try for the earliest bus possible and sign up to go as far as possible into the park. The busses are really like school busses and I don't remember any restaurants when we went there, so I would bring lunch, drinks and snacks. I would probably sign up to take the park service bus both days and you can get off and take a later one if it has room.
Denali is shy and only shows about 1 day in 3, we were lucky and saw it three days in a row in September. We were lucky and saw animals close to the bus and the tundra was all pinky purple and was fantastic too.
Denali is shy and only shows about 1 day in 3, we were lucky and saw it three days in a row in September. We were lucky and saw animals close to the bus and the tundra was all pinky purple and was fantastic too.
May 6th, 2014, 03:16 PM
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There is a real paved road that goes a very short distance to Visitors Center. Some people do short day hikes from there, but it is as far as you can go with personal vehicle and there is not much to see at that point. What emalloy says I agree with - but some further details. You have 2 choices for transportation further into Denali, both school buses. One, the "shuttle" that stops and picks you up along a long road (more on that later). Or a "tour" - which is usually an all-day trip in and out, with some stops. We did the latter. The bus driver slows down when animals are sighted and makes a real stop every hour or so - for photos and bathroom break. If you take the tour which goes all the way to end of road, there is a lodge where lunch is served and there is a break for a few hours for photos and a short hike.
The bus - it is not comfortable to sit on a school bus for hours at any age.
The road - it is about 2 inches wider than a bus, with unprotected drop-offs. One meets up with buses going in the opposite direction and at some slightly wider part of the road, they pass each other. If you are fearful of heights, you may find yourself closing your eyes and praying (I did).
The trip - we went in early summer and saw quite a few animals and babies. Some grizzlies sleeping in the sun right on the side of the road, about 10 assorted size moose, and lots of birds. Good photo ops, but the number of animals per hour is small. Some magnificant views (when my eyes were open). Denali was out when we were there - beautiful. The driver sold water and I think snacks, but bring food and drink - this really is wilderness.
Glad I went - but the actual comfort and experience was not as wonderful as I had hoped.
The bus - it is not comfortable to sit on a school bus for hours at any age.
The road - it is about 2 inches wider than a bus, with unprotected drop-offs. One meets up with buses going in the opposite direction and at some slightly wider part of the road, they pass each other. If you are fearful of heights, you may find yourself closing your eyes and praying (I did).
The trip - we went in early summer and saw quite a few animals and babies. Some grizzlies sleeping in the sun right on the side of the road, about 10 assorted size moose, and lots of birds. Good photo ops, but the number of animals per hour is small. Some magnificant views (when my eyes were open). Denali was out when we were there - beautiful. The driver sold water and I think snacks, but bring food and drink - this really is wilderness.
Glad I went - but the actual comfort and experience was not as wonderful as I had hoped.
May 6th, 2014, 04:12 PM
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Heres a website with some info about the tours you can take:
http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm
Gail has given you a good description of what a tour into the park will be like, she notes you ride on a school bus and that is correct! No elegant tour busses go into Denali. LOL It is not the most comfortable ride but you will or should see some spectacular sights along the way.
We booked our tour right at our hotel and it was the Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT) and the cost is $118.50 pp, not cheap but a great tour. This is an 8 hr tour and you will pretty much be riding on that school bus w/ uncomfortable seats for those 8 hours. The bus driver gave us a wonderful narrated tour in the park and he had a telephoto lens camera in the bus so if he saw any animals he would stop the bus and tell you what to look for. He also will tell everyone not to talk loudly or make noise as it will scare the animals away. We saw bears, sheep, etc. All the info you need is on the website, how to purchase tickets, etc.
The Denali Natural History Tour (DNHT) is a much shorter tour and does not go as far into the park (think about 15 mi and turns around.) You will probably not see as many animals as if you go further into the park. Depends upon what you would like to see. If you take the first tour (Tundra) then the bus goes to the 53 mi marker and does make a stop for porta potty etc. I think that in Sept. it may be weather dependent as there could be snow then. Daylight will also be much shorter. We went in July and had almost 24 hr. of daylight so could see much more in the park w/ the longer daylight.
Food - if you do the Tundra Wilderness Tour then a box lunch is provided w/ your admission fee. We got a roll, tuna to make a sandwich, cookie and water, not all that interesting. I would really suggest that if you are doing the longer tour you purchase sandwiches before you get on the bus. You could bring an insulated bag w/ ice packs to keep your sandwiches cool or always good old PBJ would work! There are no restaurants or places to purchase any food in the park and the bus driver will stress how careful you must be about leaving any food, remnants of lunch, bottles, etc. behind as it will attrack the wild animals in the park. The bus driver had trash bags to collect everyone's trash and disposed of it when we got back to our hotel.
As emalloy states, Denali is shy and does not always choose to have you see her. We were lucky the day we went and got to see a portion of her.
If you are going to be staying in Healey, then there are lots of other things you can do on your 2nd day. I do not think you would want to go back into Denali unless you are hikers. We went to see the dog sled training camp on our 2nd day and found that to be interesting.
If you search these forums you will find lots of info to give you ideas. Also check out the Cruise Critic forums and go to the Alaska boards for info. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Denali and I would go back in a heartbeat!
http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/bus-tours.htm
Gail has given you a good description of what a tour into the park will be like, she notes you ride on a school bus and that is correct! No elegant tour busses go into Denali. LOL It is not the most comfortable ride but you will or should see some spectacular sights along the way.
We booked our tour right at our hotel and it was the Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT) and the cost is $118.50 pp, not cheap but a great tour. This is an 8 hr tour and you will pretty much be riding on that school bus w/ uncomfortable seats for those 8 hours. The bus driver gave us a wonderful narrated tour in the park and he had a telephoto lens camera in the bus so if he saw any animals he would stop the bus and tell you what to look for. He also will tell everyone not to talk loudly or make noise as it will scare the animals away. We saw bears, sheep, etc. All the info you need is on the website, how to purchase tickets, etc.
The Denali Natural History Tour (DNHT) is a much shorter tour and does not go as far into the park (think about 15 mi and turns around.) You will probably not see as many animals as if you go further into the park. Depends upon what you would like to see. If you take the first tour (Tundra) then the bus goes to the 53 mi marker and does make a stop for porta potty etc. I think that in Sept. it may be weather dependent as there could be snow then. Daylight will also be much shorter. We went in July and had almost 24 hr. of daylight so could see much more in the park w/ the longer daylight.
Food - if you do the Tundra Wilderness Tour then a box lunch is provided w/ your admission fee. We got a roll, tuna to make a sandwich, cookie and water, not all that interesting. I would really suggest that if you are doing the longer tour you purchase sandwiches before you get on the bus. You could bring an insulated bag w/ ice packs to keep your sandwiches cool or always good old PBJ would work! There are no restaurants or places to purchase any food in the park and the bus driver will stress how careful you must be about leaving any food, remnants of lunch, bottles, etc. behind as it will attrack the wild animals in the park. The bus driver had trash bags to collect everyone's trash and disposed of it when we got back to our hotel.
As emalloy states, Denali is shy and does not always choose to have you see her. We were lucky the day we went and got to see a portion of her.
If you are going to be staying in Healey, then there are lots of other things you can do on your 2nd day. I do not think you would want to go back into Denali unless you are hikers. We went to see the dog sled training camp on our 2nd day and found that to be interesting.
If you search these forums you will find lots of info to give you ideas. Also check out the Cruise Critic forums and go to the Alaska boards for info. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Denali and I would go back in a heartbeat!
May 7th, 2014, 07:05 AM
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Agree w/ vincenzo - and not edible IMO! As I suggested, purchase lunch b4 you go and put in a cooler (would advise a small one). There are overhead shelves above the seats and if the bus isn't fully occupied, then you could use another seat to put on.
Forgot to mention to bring binoculars and of course, your camera to get some great photo shots. Maybe mosquito spray although we didn't meet any!
Hope you have a great trip!
Forgot to mention to bring binoculars and of course, your camera to get some great photo shots. Maybe mosquito spray although we didn't meet any!
Hope you have a great trip!
May 7th, 2014, 08:08 AM
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We did the park shuttle bus. Same old school bus as the tour buses and it DOES stop for wildlife viewing. We've done it twice and they highly encourage riders to be on the lookout for wildlife so they can stop. Good commentary also. There isn't much stopping and starting to let people on and off, even though that's what it sounds like. They make several potty stops.
Every time we passed a tour bus it seemed like they were packed. We had plenty of space to spread out both times we went.
The road can be very dusty and you will probably have the windows down. Protect all your belongings in a sack or duffle bag. Camera, binoculars, water, snacks/lunch and I enjoyed having a wet wash cloth in a sandwich baggy the second time we went to wipe off with.
It was well worth the uncomfortable ride in our opinions. After all, we went back and did it again on our second trip to Alaska.
Every time we passed a tour bus it seemed like they were packed. We had plenty of space to spread out both times we went.
The road can be very dusty and you will probably have the windows down. Protect all your belongings in a sack or duffle bag. Camera, binoculars, water, snacks/lunch and I enjoyed having a wet wash cloth in a sandwich baggy the second time we went to wipe off with.
It was well worth the uncomfortable ride in our opinions. After all, we went back and did it again on our second trip to Alaska.
