Denali
 

When is the best time to visit Denali National Park and miss most of the mosquitoes?

Jamie

Each summer is slightly different, some summers the mosquitos are worse. What do you plan to do in the park? Camp? Hike? Travel on the tourbus? I've been to Denali many times and the only time I had an issue with the bugs was at Wonder Lake. Other than that the mosquitos were no worse than in town. If you really hate mosquitos wear bug dope. I'd worry more about what you want to do in Denali and what month is best for that activity.

We were at Denali once in late June and the mosquitos were terrible pretty much everywhere.

We've been there several years (I think four) in late August and the first week of September and all but one year there were no mosquitos out that late, plus the tundra was changing color from green to beautiful shades of red and orange, the antlered animals (moose, caribou) were shedding velvet and begining to rut, and the bears were out feeding on berries to fatten up for the winter and easier to spot.

One year in late Aug it was unseasonably warm and there were many small flies but these aren't biters like the mosquitos.

For sure if you can arrange to go late Aug or the first week in Sept you'll find the park in near-peak condition, with many fewer bugs than earlier in the summer. There's a chance of snow (we almost got snowed in one year near Wonder Lake around Sept 8th, crossing the passes with chains on the bus tires) but overall this is our favorite time to visit.

Bill

We had the same experience as Bill.....late August, early September. I don't even remember seeing a mosquito.

We had the same experience as "jtrandolph" plus less people in first week of Sept.
We took the "park" bus--full day trip and saw lots of wildlife ,fall colors of tundra AND Mt. McKinley without clouds. It was wonderful

Mosquitoes are always bad and do not go away until the first snow. Just be prepared. Just stay away from lakes and most area. When you get off the bus at Wonder Lake, be prepared. A great book for the park is "Discovering Denali".

I don't go to Wonder Lake before mid August, just too significant of a bug problem for me. Going later, I've never had a problem. :)

We just came back from Alaska two days ago. We spent June 9&10 in Denali NP.We did not see any mosquitos and did'nt need to use any of our bug wipes. We did not go to Wonder Lake, we only took the bus to Fish Creek for the 8 hours trip. The weather were sunny and beautiful on both days and we got lucky and saw about 90% of Denali near Fish Creek and had a close encounter with a mother bear and her two cubs there too.

We were just there last July and asked a ranger that very question. He said that very early June is good (they usually don't get bad until the middle of June). And then they start to clear out in late July. I think we must have been there around July 26th--and had no real problem with bugs.

There also is a significant difference in going to Fish Creek vs Wonder Lake, even on the same day. I've been to Eilson mile 66 where there were NO bugs, then 20 miles further to Wonder Lake, loaded.

Wonder Lake can have "bad" bugs from June through August.

DH and I were just there last year. Took the bus tour all the way to Wonder Lake, it was the second week in June, we all had our picnic lunch at Wonder Lake and not one mosquito. I was loaded down in my backpack with repellent and never used it once the whole time we were in Alaska, which was a total of a month. Maybe we just were lucky.

Thanks for all the great input. I think we'll try to go early to mid June next year.

Jamie

If you can go very early June like from Memorial Day weekend on, then you miss a lot of the tourist crowd too.

You can not get to Wonder Lake prior to June 8, Fish Creek prior to June 1. Memorial day weekend will only get you to Toklat, mile 53.

This is the shuttle bus schedule.

We were just there June 8th on the first shuttle bus (5:30a.m.)of the season going to Wonder Lake. The mosquitoes were extremely bad and most people ended up eating on the bus. One thing about them - they are large and slow so if you're wearing long sleeves (tuck your pant legs in) and a mosquito net, you can usually smack the ones that land on your hands before they get you. As you can see from everyone's experience, there is no way to predict the mosquito situation from year to year.

To be more specific, Jamie, we went to the Kenai over the last week of May and through Memorial Day weekend. Had great prices on lodging, and small or no crowds. Traffic was minimal.

We went to Fish Creek on our shuttle trip to Denali June 4 and 5. We had snow/rain one day then clear sunny skies and great views of Denali the next day. Saw some mosquitoes at one stop, but none were biting. No clue why not.

Have fun! :)