TR: Camping in Denali National Park Part I
Louie Escober
I tried posting this from work, but it didn't seem to work, so I'm trying
again. This is my trip report of the first week of my Alaska vacation. It's
my
first trip report, so bear with me. I hope somebody finds this useful.
Louie
My trip planning started in June. I have actually wanted to visit Alaska -
and Denali National Park in particular - for quite a while, but wasnšt
quite sure if I would have the time or the money to go. I decided in June,
and began by looking through websites and requesting information from
various places. I e-mailed the NPS with a request for information on Denali
National Park, and also requested information and brochures from various
sites. I was planning on a 2 1/2 week trip in Alaska, with a full week
devoted to Denali.
I purchased several guide books, including Lonely Planetšs Alaska and
Backpacking in Alaska. I got a copy of Let's Go 1999: Alaska & The Pacific
Northwest because it was the most up to date, but not nearly as
comprehensive as Lonely Planet. I also ordered a copy of the Backcountry
Companion for Denali National Park by J. Nierenberg, a park ranger at
Denali, and a Trails Illustrated topo map of Denali National Park and
Preserve. I read Stephen Herrerošs book, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and
Avoidances, as well as, Dave Smithšs book, Backcountry Bear Basics : The
Definitive Guide to Avoiding Unpleasant Encounters. Herrerošs book can be
rather frightening, and Smithšs book is a fairly good guide on traveling in
bear country.
RESERVATIONS
Contrary to what my Lonely Planet guidebook says, Denali now allows you to
reserve 100% of the campsites and 65% of the shuttle buses by phone months
in advance. I had decided to travel in mid-August because I figured the
crowds would be beginning to diminish and the mosquitoes should have
abated. My plans were to leave on Saturday, August 7th for Anchorage, spend
a day supplying myself for camping, and then take the train up to Denali on
Monday. I reserved Wonder Lake for the 13th and 14th, which would leave the
10th-12th for a backcountry trip. I was going to return on the next Monday,
August 16th.
When I called the reservation number for campsites in Denali, the
representative told me that August looked wide open. I found this a bit
surprising calling in mid-June, but I was happy that I would be able to get
what I wanted. I went ahead and got my reservation for Wonder Lake on the
13th and 14th of August. It costs $12 a night to camp at Wonder Lake, $4
for the entrance fee, $5 for a reservation fee, and $15.50 for a seat on
the camper bus. This totals out to $48.50.
Given the way access to the backcountry is allocated, I felt it best to
simply leave a few days open and see what I could do when I got there.
Otherwise, I was just going to stay at Morino Campground. I could have
gotten reservations for Riley Creek, but didnšt feel like spending the $12
a night to stay there. I hear that itšs a nice campground, and may consider
it instead of Morino if I ever visit Denali again. The train tracks were a
little too close to Morino for my taste.
I then called the reservation number for Alaska Railroad and reserved a
round-trip seat from Anchorage to Denali. The ticket cost me $102 each way
for a total of $204. Princess and other companies have special rail cars
that make the same trip up to Denali and are pulled by the Alaska Railroad.
They appear to be much nicer and each one is a dome car. Theyšre used for
packaged tours by the cruise ship set mainly, and are generally more
expensive than the Alaska Railroad.
It should be noted that there are a number of van shuttle services that
costs as little as $25 one way to Denali from Anchorage. Also, when I was
there in mid-August, I noticed a number of specials and coupons in the
Anchorage Daily News that offered two-for-one deals for Princess and the
McKinley explorer trains to Denali, as well as, $99 fares. I also met a
number of people at the hostel who simply hitchhiked their way to and from
Denali with little difficulty.
8/7 SATURDAY
My flight left early on Saturday morning on Alaska Airlines out of Oakland
Airport. I had all of my gear in my backpack, which was then placed in a
large duffel bag for protection. I was only going to be in Denali for the
first week, so I had extra clothes and toiletries (such as my electric
razor) for the rest of the trip. These I also placed in my backpack. I put
all the backpacking food I was bringing in a cardboard box and used that as
checked baggage. When I was checking in, the airline person asked me what
was in the box. I said it was backpacking food, which prompted her to ask
me about stoves and stove fuel. I didnšt bother to mention my Peak 1 Xtreme
stove since it is a canister stove and I wasnšt bringing any fuel. I had
thought of bringing my white gas stove, but I didnšt want to have to buy a
fuel bottle in Anchorage only to leave it behind when I went home.
The flight was pleasant enough. Good leg room, friendly flight attendants,
and the food wasnšt bad.
I arrived in Anchorage in the afternoon, and took a taxi to the youth
hostel near downtown. The taxi was about $12 with tip. The hostel was kind
of shabby, but it was warm, dry, and close to everything. Most importantly,
it was only $16 a night. There were a number of backpackers either
returning from or going on trips to Denali at the hostel, so I was able to
get some info. There were a number of tents hanging out of windows to dry,
so the word was generally rain. The hostel closes the sleeping area from
noon to 5 p.m. for cleaning, so I left my pack in storage and decided to
check out downtown. I stopped by the Public Lands Information Center to
check out the displays, look at some maps, and get any information they
might have. I had already done a bit of research, so the place was
moderately helpful.
8/8 SUNDAY
The next day, I took the bus to the Anchorage REI and Safeway to grab
whatever else I needed. I got my stove fuel and pepper spray from REI, and
picked up some fresh food and plastic bags from the Safeway. The REI and
Safeway are in the same shopping mall, but the bus trip took a while. On
the weekends, Anchoragešs buses only seem to run every hour, so I had a
long wait to get back to downtown. The Alaskan prices for some items were
high at the REI, but the discrepancy wasnšt huge for smaller items. The
Safeway was nice and large, and I didnšt really notice it being any more
expensive than the SF Bay Area. I spent the rest of the afternoon checking
out various sights in downtown Anchorage, as well as visiting the Museum of
History and Art. Later that evening, I checked out a couple of films at
their Performance Center. The one on Alaska was pretty nice, and got me
psyched for the trip. I grabbed a quick meal at Humpyšs, a pub across the
street, and then called it a night.
8/9 MONDAY
I dumped my extra clothes, electric razor, duffel bag, etc. in storage at
the Hostel, so I was able to put all the food and fuel into my pack. The
hostel charges a $1 a day to store extra baggage. The pack wasnšt very
full, but that was in anticipation of having to fit a bear canister inside.
The train depot wasnšt too far from the hostel, so I got up early and
walked down. I stopped by Blondiešs for breakfast. Apparently, the Iditarod
starts in front of this restaurant.
I checked my pack at the train, and hopped on board. The seats were fairly
comfortable and there was plenty of legroom. They had a dining car, a
snack/gift shop, and a domed observation car. There was a rail guide
assigned to each car, who would provide commentary and answer questions
about the flora, fauna, or history of the sights we passed. These rail
guides were all high school students who had received training about the
rail route and they were very knowledgeable.
The trip was 8 hours long, but it was a pleasant ride and a very civilized
way of traveling. We had short stops in Wasilla and Talkeetna to load or
unload passengers. I should have brought a lunch with me, as the dining car
was a bit expensive. The scenery was great, though it was still overcast
and I could not see the mountains in the distance. It was interesting to
see how many Alaskans had airplanes, and the nice houses near ponds where
float planes could take off. We had hoped to see some wildlife, but we
didnšt see much besides a few birds.
When I left Anchorage, it was overcast and starting to rain. The farther
north we went, the better the weather got. We had overcast skies for most
of the trip, but by the time we arrived in Denali at 4:30 p.m., the skies
had cleared. The train depot in Denali was filled with buses waiting to
pick up all the people going to the private hotels and lodges outside of
the park. Princess Tours appears to be really big around here.
I went over to Morino campground, which is a walk-in campground for
backpackers without a vehicle. Therešs a path just south of the most
southern depot shelter. It's a nice little campsite, but it's right next to
the railroad tracks, so when the freight trains go by at 5:00 in the
morning, you can hear them loud and clear. There's a large walk-in food
locker, piped-in water, and chemical toilets. Lots of people just use this
campground as a staging point for trips into the backcountry. The
campground was moderately crowded, but I didnšt have trouble getting a
site. The campsites cost $6.00 a night and are self-registering. You donšt
need a reservation, either.
After grabbing a campsite, I went over to the Visitor Center to see what
the permit system was like and what my chances were of getting into one of
the backcountry zones. The Visitor Access Center (VAC) was a 15-20 minute
walk from the Morino campsite, but they have a courtesy shuttle that makes
a loop from the train depot, the park hotel, Riley Creek campground and the
VAC.
Denali divides up its backcountry into zones and limits the number of
people that can enter each zone. It's how they control usage. You can only
reserve any particular zone one day in advance, but once you've reserved a
zone, you can reserve other zones on consecutive days. They have a couple
of large wall maps with the backcountry zones defined, as well as, areas
that have been closed due to wildlife concerns. The backcountry ranger
mentioned that whenever they find a zone with a fresh kill, theyšd usually
close the area to backpackers. Sometimes this means that backpackers will
have to take a long way around to avoid the closed areas. They also had a
quota board behind the desk that listed how many vacancies were available
for each zone. Most were filled for the next day. They also had a copy of
the Backcountry Companion, which is a booklet that describes each zone, as
well as further information in some binders. I had already purchased a copy
of the Backcountry Companion, so I was generally familiar with some of the
zones.
When I went to the backcountry desk, there didn't seem to be anything I
wanted to go into. I did notice that they had one opening for zone 9 for
Wednesday. This is a pretty good zone - at least according to the
guidebooks. I figured that not many people would be willing to go solo, so
I could afford to wait a day to reserve it. They also had openings for zone
10 on Thursday. I considered stringing together a two-night trip in the
backcountry, but since I was going to Wonder Lake on Friday, I would have
to carry 4 days worth of food. I wouldnšt have been able to go out and
re-supply. Given that I was unfamiliar with the local terrain, unused to
trailless travel, out in bear country, and going solo, I thought it prudent
to keep well within my abilities. So, I settled for an overnighter into
zone 9.
So, I looked around the visitor center, checked out the park hotel, made
dinner and went to the 8:00 ranger program. The program was a slide show
about Denali in the winter, and was pretty good. The program began with a
talk about bears and the proper way to behave around them. They also talked
about food storage. As I was to learn, they begin every program with a talk
about bears. The rangers continually remind people of proper behavior in
bear country - which seems to me to be a good thing. I went to bed fairly
early since I wanted to get to the VAC as early as possible.
8/10 TUESDAY
Next morning, I got to the visitor center just as it opened up and reserved
Unit 9. I was a bit worried that the one spot might have been snapped up,
so I made sure to get to the VAC early. This unit comprises a valley with
the East Branch of the Toklat River. The river flows from South to North,
and I would be headed up river into this valley. There are a couple of
glaciers at the headwaters and the valley itself is broad with plenty of
visibility and a wide gravel bar to walk up.
They make you watch a video that covers various backcountry situations,
such as river crossings and bear encounters. Then the backcountry ranger
talks to you and quizzes you about different things. They then issue you
one of the bear canisters and a backcountry permit. In order to reach most
backcountry zones, you have to take one of the park-sanctioned buses into
the backcountry. Fortunately, if you have a campsite reservation or a
backcountry permit, you can get space on one of the camper buses.
Access to the backcountry of Denali is by way of a single road that goes 86
miles to the end. Only park buses or certain commercial tour buses are
allowed into the park after a certain point. Some of the established
campgrounds allow you to drive your RV into your campsite, but not to drive
it anywhere else. The tour buses can get booked up very quickly, and you
must stand in line to make your reservations. Only 65% of the tour buses
are open for early reservation. The rest can only be booked one day in
advance at the VAC. The camper bus cost me $15.50, and I didnšt have to pay
the entrance fee since I had already done so when I reserved my site at
Wonder Lake, and the backcountry permit was free. I went to the small
bookstore in the VAC, and got the topo maps that covered Unit 9. They have
all the USGS 1:63,360 series maps for the park.
I hiked around some of the trails near the park entrance just to check out
the scenery. I did the Mt. Healy overlook trail and the short trail out to
Horseshoe Lake. There was a beaver pond in Horseshoe Lake, but I didnšt see
any beaver activity. I also went by the parkšs sled dog demonstration. They
hold one at 10:00, 2:00, and 4:00. Therešs a courtesy bus that picks people
up at various places half an hour before the demo starts. Apparently,
Denali National Park is the only park with working sled dogs. The rangers
use them in the winter for patrol. I thought the demonstration was very
good. I had had a full day and got to bed early to get ready for my
backcountry trip.