I'd love to get some opinions on what are itinerary should look like surrounding our time in Denali.

We already have our bus passes for Denali, leaving the entrance at 7:30am on Sept 14th. I was thinking we would leave ANC on the 13th and drive up, perhaps stopping in Hatcher's Pass on the way and then arrive in the Denali area in the evening. I'm planning on staying at the Denali Dome B&B. That way we can get up bright an early ready for the day.

But I'm not sure what to do at the end of the day. Should we stay another night at the B&B or start our drive back to ANC and stay somewhere along the way. Any one who’s done this have some suggestions?

Thanks!

We, too, had reservations for early morning to see Denali. We left the Denali area that afternoon, heading back toward Anchorage for the night, and the next day drove toward Seward.

Are you doing the tour or the old school busses? The tour costs much more than the old school busses, and the only real difference is that lunch is provided on the tour. On the regualr busses, we had to bring our own lunch. Be sure to take a camera. We saw bears, moose, caribou, sheep, etc., and we'll never forget how beautiful everything was!

Should we stay another night at the B&B or start our drive back to ANC and stay somewhere along the way.

You didn't mention how far inside the park you are going ... it's 8 hours round-trip to Eielson (which is what I'd recommend), 12 hours to Wonder Lake, so you'd be returning to the entrance mid to late-afternoon, and probably a bit tired. So it would make sense to just stay the night at Denali and get a fresh start back the next day.

If you do decide to head south (or if you had booked a shorter bus trip inside the park) then Talkeetna is probably the most popular place to overnight between ANC and Denali. Kind of a funky little down, the model for the TV show "Northern Exposure".

only real difference (between the tour bus and the shuttle bus) is that lunch is provided on the tour.

Two other important reasons: 1) the shuttle busses go much deeper into the park (the Tundra Tour turns around at Toklat on cloudy days, and is allowed to go to Stony Hill overlook when it's clear and The Mountain is visible, while the shuttle busses can go another 40 miles to Wonder Lake) and 2) you can get off the shuttle busses anywhere except close to animals and hike or whatever, then catch a different one later, but on the Tundra Tour you cannot get off except at the bathroom breaks.

Thanks for clarifying the differences, Bill; I forgot about getting off when you want on the shuttle busses (couldn't remember the name of those, either!!)

Thanks for the replies! We are doing the shuttle bus to Eielson, the 8 hr trip. I know my husband will want to do some hiking inside- he still can't understand why in the world we are taking an 8 hr bus tour he plans to be very bored (I've tried to explain he's wrong but I'll just let him be surprised). Anyway, I figure with 8 hrs on the bus and at least a little while hiking it might be pretty late in the day before we are out of the park.

But I would love to get a jump start on the drive back to ANC. How long is the drive to Talkeetna?

Thanks again!

Sara--we took the same bus--your husband won't be bored, but as you say, we'll let him come to that conclusion himself! We were lucky enough to see the mountain so I send good wishes to you on that! Either way, it is spectacular and the drivers are great at spotting wildlife and stopping so everyone gets a chance to see and take a picture.

We also stopped at Talkeetna, which is a fun place (we were heading from the Park to Seward, another fantastic place) and I recall the drive being about 3 hours to Talkeetna.

I'm sure you know to bring your warm clothes--we were at Denali on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and we drove back to Anchorage through flurries!

Enjoy!

Mary

Mary,

I've just started looking for lodging in Talkeetna as that seems like a good stopping point. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Unfortunately, we didn't stay the night--just had lunch there at the Roadhouse which, like the whole town, is something out of a movie set. It looked like the Roadhouse had rooms, I would assume they were pretty basic. But the town is the launching point for those climbing the mountain so I am sure there is a variety of lodging--I would check out Trip Advisor and go from there.

We did spend the night in Denali after our tour and set out early the next morning for Anchorage. If you haven't been to Alaska, the roads are great (all that oil money); especially since we live in D.C. and regularly drive up and down the East Coast, the roads were amazingly nice to us and a pleasure to drive.