Who?
Me, husband (both in early 50s), our son age 12, almost 13. First time to Alaska for all 3 of us

When?
Mid-August (Aug 12-25).
I know mid-June through July is usually the best time to visit Alaska, but is also the busiest and most expensive time. We can't go July because of my son's summer camp schedule. My mom's birthday is early august and I want to be around to celebrate with her, so we pretty much had to push this trip to the last 2 weeks of summer vacation. My son literally went back to school the following day on August 26.

Why?
My med school roommate from mid 1990s moved to Alaska 20 years ago. For the past 20 years she has been asking me when I'll go visit her. Like many people, I've always thought you can only visit Alaska on a cruise, and I'm definitely not a cruise person, so it never crossed my mind to go in my 30s. During my 40s I was busy raising a young child and Alaska is the last place I'd bring him (costs too much/ he won't remember anything). It really isn't until the past year I considered going when I finally realized there is a way to visit Alaska without a cruise if you stick to the South Central area. Also, part of my recent midlife crisis is realizing life is short, glaciers are melting, national parks/public lands are being sold off & decimated. This Fall is also our 20th wedding anniversary and I can justify an expensive trip as a celebration, so here we come, Alaska!!!

Planning timeline
I didn't seriously consider going until December 2024, which in some people's minds, it's already too late to plan! Many people plan >a year in advance. I wanted to stay in airbnbs for the most part - with the 3 of us, we get more space and can eat in, which helps with cost of the trip (which I know is going to be expensive!). Luckily there were still plenty of airbnbs to choose from.

Airplane tickets (American Airlines) bought early Jan
Rental car (Avis) reserved early Jan — the rental rate dropped $400 when I rechecked in mid-June so I changed it!
Hotel & Airbnbs booked mid-Jan
Guided activities/ Denali bus tour etc booked between early June - early August. Guided activities include

• Glacier hike at Matanuska Glacier
• East Fork Transit Bus at Denali
• Spencer Glacier / Placer River Float + Alaska Railroad out of Girdwood
• Sea kayaking / glacier hike in Homer
• Wildlife boat tour to Sedovia in Homer
• Wildlife/ glacier boat tour in Seward

What we did not do: helicopter ride or flight seeing — my spouse and I are risk-adverse and we feel it's too risky to ride on these small planes/helicopters. I also get motion sickness easily and the one time I did flight seeing many moons ago over grand canyon, I was sick the entire time. We just have to accept that we won't see those amazing views from the air.

12-day Itinerary - We drove 1500 miles (our driving route map https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/ed...to&usp=sharing )
Anchorage - 1 night (my friend's house)
Glacier View - 1 night (hotel)
Denali (Healy) - 3 nights (Airbnb)
Girdwood - 2 nights (Airbnb)
Homer - 3 nights (Airbnb)
Seward - 2 nights (Airbnb)

Packing list
We know it starts to cool off by mid-late August, and the 2 days in Denali the weather forecast was 40sF with rain. We also booked some outdoor adventure activities that I know we will get cold, so we packed warm jackets & layers

• Winter jacket
• fleece​
• rain coat
• waterproof pants
• gloves
• lots of quick dry tops and pants
• ankle-high hiking boots
• trekking poles
• beanie + sun hat
• long underwear
• warm/calf-lenght socks
• waterproof cellphone pouch & dry bags (for kayaking)
• camelbak​ water reservoir + water bottles
• ice packs + cooler bag (my friend also lent us her big cooler bag)
• medications for seasickness

My friend also lent us bear sprays and bug sprays

Now that I've gotten the basics listed, here comes the actual trip report!

Looking forward to details. You always do an amazimg job planning and double checking prices.

Looking forward to reading your trip report as they always lots of great and very useful information! And Alaska is on my list of places to go.

Thank you for the kind words!

Prologue

Jan 2025 — When I told my roommate we are finally heading to Alaska, she generously offered her place for us to stay, and also her spare car! I was thrilled, given that the price for the rental car I reserved was >$1800! Then I asked, what car is that? "Oh it's a 10-year-old Ford Explorer." At that time I wasn't so sure, so I kept my rental car for the time being

June 2025 — One day I decided to recheck the car rental rate. I had booked something like a Kia Soul for $1800 (12 days). Then Avis offered me a Rav4 instead for $1400. I took the offer immediately. When I asked my roommate how many miles there are on her car, she said 150k miles! I think if I were only borrowing her car for a couple of days and drive a little bit, it would have been fine. But taking it for 2 weeks and adding another 1500 miles to her car seems a bit much. I also worry about her car breaking down in the middle of nowhere, so I told her we will keep the rental car. (Her HS daughter actually uses the second car so it would also be quite an inconvenience for them if they were down to one car for 2 weeks)

Early August — one of the few times I purchased trip insurance, given how much we have paid out of pocket for the trip and that both husband and I have elderly parents who may get sick anytime.

2 days before departure — Normally I consider myself very detailed-oriented, but when I was checking our outbound flight details 2 days before our trip, it dawned on me that AA had, back in April, changed our first leg flight. Our original itinerary gave us 2h45m layover in Chicago (BOS-ORD; ORD-ANC), but now we are on a later flight with only 1hr10m layover. I didn't feel comfortable with that — if we miss the ORD-ANC flight, we won't be able to get there for at least another 24hrs. So I called AA to switch us back to an earlier flight that gives us 2h30m layover.

Meanwhile, I see that they are offering First class upgrades — our return flight ANC-ORD is a red-eye and I am absolutely miserable on red-eyes in coach. The first class upgrade offer was $280pp or 30,000'ish miles. Well, my spouse has enough miles to upgrade himself but I don't. So I asked AA if I could pay $ for 2 seat upgrades and miles for the 3rd. Unfortunately they can't and the only option is to split our confirmation into 2, so my son and I kept the original confirmation and my husband has his own confirmation. Of course as soon as we try to upgrade, I grabbed the 2 $280 FC seats but the mileage requirement went way up to >60k, so husband (for the time being) is stuck in coach.

Now feeling good about moving to the earlier BOS-ORD flight and at least I get first class on the return red-eye, I think we are ready to go!

Tuesday, August 12, Day 0 — Will we ever get to Anchorage???

Our flight departs Boston Logan at 12:35pm. Some of you may know, I detest rideshare (they are a menace to society, adding congestion and pollution, drivers ignore traffic rules etc etc) so we took public transit (16 miles) to the airport. We were lucky as we could take the morning commuter bus into Boston, then change for the Silver Line that goes to the airport. It took 1 hr and cost just under $5. We had some extra time so we went to The Lounge to grab a bite.

My biggest mistake on this trip was booking AA for the flight to Alaska. Should have gone with Alaska Air. I opted for AA because last summer my son and I had delayed flight/missed connection with them coming home from Yellowstone, and they issued us with $50 trip credit each. Not wanting the credit to go to waste, I stuck with AA.

Our BOS-ORD was delayed 20 minutes. "Deep breaths" I tell myself, good thing we have a 2.5hr layover. After boarding ended and door closed, the plane sat at the gate for another 20 minutes. Finally captain came on to say, "A hat was sucked into the engine but we were able to fish it out. We are just waiting for inspection and clearance before we can take off. Shouldn't take long." A big sigh of relief came over me when the plane finally pushed back and took off an hour late. "it's okay! We still have plenty of time to catch our connection," I tell myself.

One airborne I relaxed for about 2 hours, until... "Folks, this is Captain speaking. Some of you may noticed we have been taking a lot of L turns. There's thunderstorm in the area and all the planes are put in holding pattern. We still have enough fuel for now but if we start running low, we may need to divert to Milwaukee."

MILWAUKEE???!!!! ("how on earth am I going to get to Anchorage by tonight???")

Finally, 10 minutes later, Captain informed us we were given green light to land (in ORD, thank goodness). The FA came on the PA to assure all the connecting pax that every flight is delayed so even those who have a tight connection should be ok. I had a window seat and saw our plane taxied towards our gate (K 18), but but but the plane drove past it and took a big loop. Turns out there's lightning in the vicinity so they grounded the crew and we cannot park until lightning threat is over. 15 minutes back over to gate K18 and we passed it a second time and the same thing. We are never getting to Anchorage, are we?

thankfully, third time is the charm. After taxiing for 50 (!!!) minutes, we finally could park at the gate (1h40m late). FA asked pax to let those with tight connections to deplane first. Our connection ORC-ANC was delayed over 1 hr so we had time to catch it.

I then looked up the other BOS-ORD flight that we were supposed to be on if I hadn't called 2 days earlier to change. That flight was diverted to Milwaukee! Talk about a close call! Those poor folks sat in Milwaukee for a couple of hours before the plane flew them back to Chicago, but by then it was too late to catch the flight to ANC.

While at ANC, I warned my roommate that we will be arriving late. We original arrival time was just before 10pm, but now it's looking like 11pm. I also had to call Avis - somehow they don't link your car rental to flight arrivals, so if your flight is delayed a lot, they can consider you as no-show and give your car away. I told them to push back my pick-up time by 90 minutes.

Finally we were on our flight to Anchorage - there was a noticeable number of empty seats, likely from folks who missed their connections. Because of the ground halt earlier, the line of planes waiting to take off stretches as far as the eyes can see. We taxied for 50 minutes before it was our turn to take off. We arrived in ANC at 10:30pm, 1h40m late but at least we made it and not stuck in Milwaukee! Our checked suitcase made it too! This honestly has to be one of the most stressful traveling experience i've had in recent times (except for having to sleep on the floor at JFK baggage claim 2 summers ago)

I told the guys to wait for my suitcase at baggage claim, while I took off to the Avis counter. I don't want them to give away our reserved car. There was no line and everything went smoothly. I expected a key to a Rav4 but instead I was handed a Mazda CX-90 (3-row full size SUV) While I waited for the guys to join me with the suitcase, I noticed by the car rental counters there are lots of travel maps and brochures (not unlike the 1990s when you go on a road trip and stop at a roadside service center), so I picked up a bunch of them on different areas.

My friend lives 20 minutes from the airport and we finally arrived at her house just before midnight. As she needed to leave for work at 7:30am the next day, she quickly showed us what we needed to know, the gear she's lending to us, and told us to stay as long as we want the next morning. We won't see her again until our departure day, 12 days later.

Wednesday, August 13, Day 1
"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!"

After our super long travel day yesterday (19 hours door-to-door) and basically collapsing on the bed at my friend's house, we woke up and it dawned on me that yes, we are in ALASKA, baby! We made coffee, had breakfast, then loaded up our rental car with our luggage and my friend's gear (a big cooler bag, bear sprays, bug sprays, big water bottles, Alaska wildlife and wildflower identification cards) and set off around 9:30am. Our first stop was nearby Carrs (grocery store chain) to pick up some grab-n-go sandwiches, snacks, fruits, granola bars, drinks etc. ($107 grocery bill), then we set off for our road trip!

As many have pointed out, MILEPOST is your friend when driving in Alaska. There are only a couple of highways in Alaska and all the sights are listed by milepost number. The night before at the airport car rental one of the brochures I picked up is called Barefoot. I highly recommend it! It covers all the highways and the interesting sights with descriptions, plus maps. We headed north on the Glenn Highway and turned off in at milepost 49.5 in Palmer onto Palmer-Fishhook Road to Independence Mine State Historical Site (17.5 miles). When I was looking up the Mine, I was a bit confused because I had read somewhere that part of the road is a dirt road, and that some company offers guided tours.

So here's the deets: the road is nicely paved between Palmer and Independence Mine. However, the stretch beyond the Mine and Willow is a dirt road. Here is a brochure about Hatcher Pass & the Mine. As for the guided tours, Salmon Berry company offer guided tours (for a fee) on the hour, but one can visit the site for free on your own.

The drive took us 1h45m — overall I found Google Map drive times fairly accurate — depending on the length of our drive, I usually tag on an additional 15 or 30 minutes in cases of road construction and stopping for viewpoints. We arrived at Independence Mine around 12:30pm. The weather that day was overcast and 50s, we couldn't really see much of scenery during the drive due to low-lying clouds. They charge a $5 day-use parking fee, and there are a couple of picnic tables by the parking lot so we ate our grab-n-go sandwiches there.

We finished at 1pm, which is actually when there would be a guided tour. My son and husband both were interested in taking it, but I led them to the wrong building (Visitor's Center on the map) and didn't see anybody. Turns out the Salmon Berry runs tours out of Bunkhouse No.2. By the time we realized our mistake, we decided we should just do a self-guided visit. There are plenty of info panels, certainly enough for us to get a sense of what life was like during the heyday of the Gold mine. The mines went into decline with WWII when the govt set a price for gold making it no longer profitable to operate the mine. The park preserved the state of decline of the mine, with only a few buildings restored. The rest of them are left falling apart into the landscape. We spent a good 90 minutes there. There are additional hiking trails in the area but we had to move on to our destination for the night: Sheep Mountain Lodge in Glacier View at Milepost 113.5 on the Glenn Hwy.

It was another 1.5-hr drive to Glacier View, drive was easy but again not much scenery due to clouds. We checked in at Sheep Mountain Lodge where I booked us the classic cabin (1 Q, 1 twin). The cabin comes with microwave and mini-fridge, so we stow away our lunch sandwiches for the next day. The cabins are really cute, and on a nice day, has a great view which we were not privy to today. Each cabin has a small front porch with with 2 chairs and a small table. We sat there for a few minutes but got cold quickly. The Lodge owner also operates a helicopter and offers helicopter tours of the glacier, but we didn't book that. Dinner that night was a the Lodge, and they have a fabulous restaurant. It's pretty small so if you go, try to eat early. My husband had his first of many halibut dishes on this trip, I had a foraged mushroom pasta, and our son had burger. We also shared a triple berry crisp for dessert. Dinner was $120.

~ End of Day 1 ~

Independence Mine visitors center

As you can see, some buildings were restored but others are left to decay

Our cabin at Sheep Mountain Lodge

Grey chilly day; view from the cabin front porch

My foraged mushroom pasta

Thursday, August 14, Day 2
Have you ever hiked on a glacier?

I was hoping the weather would improve, but we woke up to even cloudier skies. The entire valley was socked in fog and we couldn't even see any of the mountains we saw the night before. Hey, at least it's not raining, right?

We had breakfast at the restaurant at the Lodge. (we considered buying breakfast items at Carrs the day before, but decided we can splurge on a real breakfast). Breakfast starts at 7am and we were there on the dot. The restaurant is so small that I was worried if we showed up later, we would have a long wait. My son had sourdough pancakes, my husband had breakfast burrito, I had the "healthy start" plate which has oatmeal, english muffin, an egg, and fruit. I added a side of reindeer sausages. 2 coffees and 1 OJ = $50.5

After breakfast we packed up and checked out, as I had booked a 9:30am Matanuska Glacier Trek with MICA guides. Matanuska glacier is the largest "roadside" glacier in Alaska, you can see the massive river of ice from several pullouts along Glenn Hwy. MICA is an easy 15-min drive from Sheep Mountain Lodge. When I started looking into this Alaskan trip, I quickly realize that many activities / experiences come with a huge price tag, so I braced myself for it. If we are coming all the way to Alaska, are we just going to drive around but not do any of these things? If that's the case, then what is even the point of coming to Alaska? Trekking on the glacier sounds super fun anyway.

After we met our guide - our group is 6 people, us plus a dad & his 12-year-old daughter, and a solo female who used to be a MiCA guide - we were ushered into the gear hut where you get your hiking boots (if you need them), crampons, and helmets. Then we got on a van and our guide drove down to the glacier access point. We had to hike across a glacier lake (on floated bridges) before we can get to the moraine (dirt pile) to access the glacier. It was a very cloudy, overcast day but the glaciers are still pretty mighty. Once we get on the ice we put on our crampons. At first I was a bit scared, but after a couple steps you realize they are super grippy and you feel invincible. The route our guide picked doesn't feel dangerous, though we do have to step over some narrow crevasses. At no point I felt unsafe. I think one thing that struck me most is how much dirt the glacier drags with it as it moves forward. We spent about 2 hours on the ice before making the return trip to the office. My son was so taken by the glacier trek that he asked me to buy him a hoodie there ($40). We ate our grab-n-go sandwiches there (they have a picnic table) and then we got some ice cream and coffee from their coffee truck. Altogether we spent 4 hours at MICA. Cost of the trek was $115pp + fees, and then there is the "glacier access fee" because the land abutting the glacier is privately owned and the owner set the admission fee ($115 total). Altogether this "experience" cost $536 for the 3 of us. (Sadly almost all the activities offer youth rate for kids up to age 11; age 12 counts as adult)

We finally got back on the road around 1:45pm, and we have a long road ahead as we needed to drive 282 miles to Healy. So back on Glenn Hwy through Palmer, and we made a pit stop in Wasilla for Fred Meyer (another grocer chain) to stock up on more foods - breakfasts, fruits, milk, yogurt, etc (groceries $85), and filled up on gas ($29). Our Healy airbnb host told us the prices and selections are way better there than up in Healy. Then we made the long drive North on Parks Hwy, arriving in Healy around 7:45pm. It rained most of our drive and we really couldn't see much scenery due to the clouds.

Healy is around Milepost 250 on Parks Hwy, about 13 miles north of Denali NP entrance. Our Airbnb is another 11 miles north of Healy. Given how late it already was, we decided to grab takeout from the Thai Food Truck (it was still raining) and eat back at our BnB. Our son got a curry with rice, I got pad see ew and husband got Drunken noodles. Dinner was $53. We finally arrived at our Airbnb just before 8:30pm. The drive from Glacier View to Healy took about 5 hours, not including stops.

With our guide on Matanuska glacier

Even on this overcast day, you can still see the blue hue of the glaciers

Glaciers are really jagged when viewed up close!

Looking back at Matanuska glacier across the glacier lake

The glacier trek looks amazimg. What a great start to Alaska.

Friday, August 15, Day 3
Are we ever going to see the sun? ☀️

After 2 days of overcast skies with low-lying clouds, we braced ourselves for even worse weather. Temps in Denali were only reaching 40Fs as it's high, which is at least 10F degrees cooler than "usual," and cloudy again. We got up early, ate a hearty breakfast at the Airbnb, made sandwiches for lunch, and put on layers before setting out to Denali National Park for our 9am bus reservation on the East Fork Transit Bus ($67 for 2 adults; our son was free)

[Side discussion about Denali NP — as many of you know, the road has been closed beyond Mile 43 since Aug 2021 due to a landslide, and it's not expected to reopen until 2027. As a result, many advise people NOT to visit Denali until after the road fully reopens. The most spectacular scenery of the part is beyond mile 43, with buses going all the way Eielson Visitor Center (4hr ride each way). Armed with this info, I debated whether to include Denali on our trip. My conclusion is still yes because who knows if (or when) I'll return to this part of Alaska? Yes I'm sad I won't see the rest of the park, but I'll be even sadder if I never see any of the park at all.]

Anyway, the NP only allows private vehicles up to Mile 16 of Denali Park Road. Beyond that, you have to be on a park bus, either a fully-narrated tour bus (tan), or a transit bus (green) that allows hop-on, hop-off. We picked the latter, which is called the East Fork Transit Bus (East Fork b/c that's where the bus turns around at mile 43). The transit bus runs every 30 minutes all day, and when I booked our tickets in early August (2 weeks prior), the 8am and 8:30am departure were full. We grabbed the last 3 spots on the 9am. I'm sure there are more availability for later buses, so if you have several days in the park, you could wait until closer to the date for weather forecast before booking. We only have 2 full days at Denali and I didn't want to get booked out.

The entrance area of Denali NP can be a bit confusing too, as it's a big complex (map here). When you turn into the Park Road, you first come across the Bus Depot. This is where you'll check in for either your transit bus or the narrated tour bus. Another 1 mile down the road is the Visitors Center. You can walk between the 2, or you can take one of the several free shuttle buses. Another 2 miles further down the road is the Dog Sled kennels and demo. You have to take yet another free shuttle to get there.

For our 9am bus, we needed to check-in at 8:30am, which means we need to leave our airbnb before 8am as it's a solid 30-min drive. It's good that I know I'm supposed to go straight to the bus depot. We checked in and got our tickets, and we got in line. There were already 2 older ladies at the front of the line. Chatting with them revealed that they are seasonal workers at Denali — they met a few years ago while working together and stayed friends. Now one works for one of the cruise company (Princess?) and the other works for Alaska Geographic (the park store). Both have today off so they decided to go for a bus ride. They both love working at Denali 4-5 months out of a year, and they wish they had known about this opportunity earlier.

We boarded the bus and it departed promptly at 9am. The East Fork Transit bus has a schedule to follow, though the driver will slow down/stop for wildlife sightings. There is very little narration however, they will answer questions but do not expect much commentary except when there's wildlife spotted. The bus makes a 10-min bathroom stop at Teklanika viewpoint, about 1 hr into the trip. We arrived at the bridge at East Fork after another hour (2 hr from Bus Depot). Here, the bus stops for about 15 minutes before it turns around and heads back to the Park Entrance. There is a staffed pop-up ranger station if you have questions.

Now, here comes our dilemma. My plan was to hike on the river bed (which is what most ppl recommend). At Denali beyond mile 16, there are no trails. You are to hike off-trail in the wilderness. For someone like me who worries about getting lost, the idea of off-trail hiking is scary. So hiking on the river bed seems safer. At the East Fork Bridge, they have a staircase down to the river bed on the South side of the bridge. Unfortunately for today, the stairs are closed due to "animal activity," aka bears. The rangers have set up a scope for visitors to look through — 1/2 mile down the river is a grizzly mom with 2 cubs. So we asked the ranger what are our "off-trail" hiking options. They said we could either hike the river bed on the North Side (away from the bears), or hike along the Park Road, or just hike anywhere in the wilderness we want.

We definitely don't want to randomly hike into the wild, whereas hiking along the Park Road doesn't seem that interesting. So, either we hike the N side of the river bed or we get back on the bus. It was cold, windy and grey (though not raining); definitely not ideal hiking weather. We came all this way to mile 43, and it seems a shame not to hike. But since the staircase down to the riverbed is closed, I asked another dumb question, "How do we get down there?" pointing to the river bed that's 50ft below us. Well, apparently we just needed to bushwhack our way down the steep slope, which we did. I had my trekking poles but it was so steep that I skidded down on my butt for the last 10 feet.

I think we were the only people who didn't get back on the bus as we didn't see anyone else anywhere. The river bed is wide, like 1/5th of a mile wide? It's one of those braided rivers in which you have shallow channels of water crisscrossing among dry river bed. We were able to walk along the bed for 1/2 mile until the water became too deep to proceed any further. We then just stood there in the middle of the river and got out our lunch and ate standing as there's really no place to sit - the river bed is all pebbles and silt. In the silt we saw many caribou hoof prints, and along the shore we saw an Arctic ground squirrel - the largest squirrel in N America. We then made our way back towards the bridge, climbed up the steep river bank, and got on the bus that's waiting to depart (this is an hour later). At least we can claim that we have hiked "in the wilderness."

On the way out to East Fork, we saw a moose, some caribous, Dall sheep (little white dots on the mountain), ptarmigans. And at East Fork we saw the grizzly bear and her cubs through the scope. On our way back, it was more exciting. Our bus stopped as there was a grizzly mom with 1 cub on the hillside. They gradually made their way down the hill and onto the park road, passing in front of our (stopped) bus. Then we realize there are 3 hikers on the road — they have been slowly backing away from the bears. After the bears have safely crossed the road, our bus driver picked up the 3 hikers, who were super relieved to be inside a bus!

We asked the bus driver to drop us off at the Visitors Center, so we could check out the exhibits and my son can pick up his junior ranger activity book. It was only 3pm then and still no rain, so we did the Horseshoe Lake Trail leaving from the Visitors Center but ending at the Bus Depot (~ 3miles) for our car. It was around 5pm when we were done, too early to go out for dinner. We decided to check out Three Bears grocer in Healy, got some dinner items ($13) and made dinner back at our Airbnb that night.

~ End of Day 3 ~

Obligatory photo of Denali National Park and Preserve welcome sign

Hiking on the river bed at East Fork (we went as far as the patch of yellow cliff in the distance)

Caribou hoof print in the silt on the river bed

Horseshoe Lake

Really enjoying your TR! I'm amazed at how much you manage to do on your trips, impressive. Great photos.

You are covering some of the same territory we did last year, at this exact time. We were on the ground for 18 days and it rained on18 of those days.

Wowza, Nelson, it rained every single day you were there? Hope you still enjoyed your trip. Where else did you visit ?

I am enjoying your TR and remembering a trip we took several years ago. You were brave to do the “wilderness” hike.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Wow!! Your photos are gorgeous!! I agree with oldemalloy, you were brave to do the wilderness hike. And the glacier trek sounds awesome, too! I am putting Alaska on my bucket list. Hope we make it there before we are too old.

Saturday, August 16, Day 4
It's like Winter in August!

We woke up once again to grey skies, cold temps (40sF), pretty much the same as the day before except it is raining. Even though the rain held off yesterday, we couldn't see much scenery-wise on the bus due to low-lying clouds, let alone Denali. We could, however, see some dusting of snow on the higher elevations, which our bus driver said it's first time this season.

I pretty much gave up the idea of seeing Denali the mountain itself while we are there, but, it's our second full (and last) day in Denali National Park and our trip will go on! NOAA forecast predicts rain will end around 2pm, so we decided we will visit the Sled Dog demonstration in the morning, and do our BIG HIKE in the Savage Area in the afternoon.

In the summer, the Sled Dog Demo runs 3x/day at 10, 2 & 4. As I mentioned previously, the Park Service runs a free shuttle bus from the Visitors Center to the Kennels for the demo, and the bus leaves 40 minutes prior. We had our breakfast, packed our lunch, put on our waterproof layers, and got to the Denali Visitors Center just before 9:20am. The first bus was full so we took the second one which left 10 minutes later.

Luckily it was only drizzling at the Kennels. Visitors are welcome to meet the dogs before the demonstration — most are sleeping but a few are happy to meet people. The demonstration area is all outdoors while the visitors' stands have a canopy that shelters you from the rain. The demonstration lasts 30 minutes but for the most part is the Park Ranger talking. Don't get me wrong, the talk is really good. Our ranger is very passionate about what he does, about the dogs, and about the Park and Preserve. But I must say I was a bit disappointed because the dogs only pull the sled round a loop just once, which lasted about 1 minute. At the end of the demonstration, you can go back to the kennel to see the dogs for another 5-10 minutes before the buses head back to the Visitors Center

Back at the VC, we watched the Park Film, looked at the exhibit, and I sat by the gas fireplace to warm up while my son finishes his junior ranger activity book so he could earn his Junior ranger badge. We then went to the restaurant next door for some hot cocoa to go with our sandwich lunches. Next is to the Park Store to purchase our travel souvenir — a holiday ornament for us to remember our travels.

By then it was almost 2 but it was still raining (lightly). We decided to push ahead, so we drove over to the Bus Depot and got on yet another free shuttle — The Savage River Shuttle — to head out to Savage River. (I mistakenly thought the shuttle only stops at Bus Depot, but it makes a stop at the VC too, so we could have just picked up the shuttle at the VC and not have to drive over to Bus Depot.) We could have driven our car out to Savage River - that is Mile 16, the farthest point on the Park Road one can drive in a private car. But I know the Park tries to minimize the amount of private vehicles on Park Road to help preserve the environment, so that's why we opted for the shuttle bus.

We were hoping the weather would be better out at Mile 16, but no, it's still raining lightly, and snowing at high elevations. The guys were fine with tackling the hike — the 4-mile, 1500-ft elevation, Savage Alpine Trail. This trail is 4 miles 1-way, but the Shuttle stops at both trailheads so you don't have to backtrack. I picked the Savage River trailhead side to start, as it is a steeper incline but gentler descend down to Mountain Vista trailhead. It's always easier on the knees to go up the steeper side.

The trail is fairly rocky on the ascend, lots of rocky steps up. It was almost 2:30pm before we set off and we got to the first overlook in 30 minutes (0.7 miles; 760 ft elev gained). We had an okay view of the immediate valley floor but not much else. On a clear day you can actually see Denali and surrounding mountains here.

As we looked ahead, we could see lots of cloud cover and snow but we don't know how high the trail actually goes. By then we were seeing a number of hikers coming from the other direction, so we asked them about the trail. Some were pretty discouraging, telling us it is 1 mile of cold sleet and high winds; some said the trail has several inches of slush, while some were more encouraging saying it's not that bad. My husband and son were quite encouraging and said we should at least continue until we reach the snow line and then we can make a decision, so we pressed on. After the first viewpoint we hiked on the ridge which isn't that steep nor windy. 30 minutes later we reached the snow line (now 1 hr after we set off). I was leaning towards turning back, as I could see the low clouds and snow ahead could be a white-out condition and we might get lost. The last thing I want is for us needing to be rescued. OTOH, the thought of backtracking and going back down the steep, wet rocks is not appealing either.

Well, my husband and son had more faith in me than myself; they said we could do it, so we continued on. For the next 30 minutes we hiked in the snow with sleet coming down on us. The worst part of the hike was just before reaching the second viewpoint. We had gone over the ridge and some hikers told us we would go up the trail for the viewpoint, but I saw that all the footprints were headed downhill, so I followed the footprints. It was super windy, I could barely keep my eyes open due to the wind and icy rain, the slush was slippery, and snow cover made it hard to tell where the actual trail is. Luckily that was the correct direction, the second "ViewPoint" is actually slightly downhill. I put it in quotes because we couldn't see anything due to white-out conditions. This was the only time on the hike that I thought "oh no, this is how we meet our end. Stupid tourists getting lost in a snowstorm in white-out conditions!" Luckily, this stretch wasn't that long (though slippery due to slush and I was so thankful I had my trekking poles.) Next we rounded the bend to the more sheltered side of the mountain. The wind died down, the trail less snow-covered. From there on, it was an easy (albeit long) downhill trek in the rain. We made it down to the Mountain Vista Trailhead in 2.5 hrs, which I'm super proud of, because the estimated hiking time provided by the park was 3 hours for this trail.

My husband was the only one who had true waterproof gear; 2.5 hrs in the rain and snow and he was still mostly dry underneath. My son's windbreaker jacket was wet but his inner hoodie was fairly dry. His brand new pair of LL Bean hiking pants was water resistant. I fared the worst: water has soaked through my LL Bean rain jacket, and partly through my LL Bean winter jacket underneath. My quick-dry hiking pants were soaked through. Thankfully, my thick leggings underneath were still mostly dry. Water also seeped through my Merrill hiking boots and thick pair of Bomba socks. All the contents in my Osprey hiking backpack were wet too.

We didn't have to wait long for a warm shuttle bus to pick us up at Mountain Vista and dropped us back at our car. I was able to shed all the wet layers in the car and put on a dry fleece jacket. By then it was close to 6pm so we drove straight to Healy for dinner at the 49th State Brewery. Unsurprisingly the place was packed and we waited a while for a table. Husband had Sockeye Salmon melt, son had a pepperoni and cheese flatbread, I had beer-battered halibut tacos. 1 beer + 2 drinks. Dinner was $103

Quite an adventurous day and we lived to tell the tale

~ End of Day 4 ~

I didn't take many photos today because I was trying to keep my balance on the hike and also keeping my phone dry in the rain


A compare and contrast of views from the first viewpoint on Savage Alpine Trail! Top photo is mine; bottom photo taken from an online travel blog.

Slush and snow covered trail just after passing the second viewpoint

1h50m - On the day down to Mountain Vista side; more sheltered, less snow, but still raining

My beer-battered halibut taco; seated in front of a fireplace

Evening view from our Airbnb... golden sunlight bathing the mountains. Apparently the sun finally came out at 9:50pm 😅

Yep, it rained at least some of every day, some days all day. Your Day 4 description pretty much sums up some of our days, except we never had snow! But it was a great trip, we would return without hesitation, with our good rain gear that we basically lived in the entire time!

We spent most of our time in Kenai, long story but our plans had to be altered while we were there because the boat couldn't get to our back country lodge, where we were to spend six days. So I scrambled to make a bunch of new reservations on the spot. We were in Cooper Landing, Seward, Girdwood, Talkeetna, Denali State Park area, and Anchorage. We got good, albeit brief views, of Denali at the State Park.

We had two dinners at 49th Street Brewery in Anchorage. That was cool how you posted the comparison photo with your view.

Thinking about it all makes me want to return. Thanks for posting, You guys are tough cookies!

Yikes, what a hike.
sorry the sled dog demonstration sounded disappointing. We've been away from NH sled dog races for a long time but mid distance races might still be held and I bet your family would habe fun volunteering on trail crew. The race we liked the best used to be Sandwich Notch 50. Checkpont volunteer might have been the most fun. Although road crossings were interesting to see how well dogs took verbal commands to make turns.