No trip to Alaska would be complete without a visit to the Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park. Here you will find North America’s tallest peak and some of the continent’s most breathtaking glaciers and fjords.
Must Visit
Written by jimbuctu
Must dos
✔ Hike Mount McKinley
✔ Take a glacier & wildlife cruise
✔ Try fly fishing for fresh trout & grayling
✔ Sea kayak through the Kenai Fjords
DENALI NATIONAL PARK
Home to North America’s tallest mountain, Denali (or Mount McKinley) soars to 20,320 feet (6,194 metres) above sea level, making it one of the most prominent peaks in the world. It forms the centerpiece of this 6 million acre national park.
Denali National Park is an outdoor adventurers dream, with plentiful wildlife, mountaineering, backpacking and winter activities including dog sledding, cross-country skiing and snow machining. With the help of guides you will be sure to spot arctic squirrels, marmots, beavers, snowshoe hares, bald eagles, dall sheep, caribou, moose, or even an occasional grizzly. But even just hiking or campaign through the National Park you will be sure to encounter a variety of unique flora and fauna.
Glaciers cover almost one sixth of the park, the largest being the Muldrow Glacier, which stretches 32 miles long. The star attraction of the park is however Denali’s twin peaks, and of most interest, Mount McKinley. To appreciate this magnificent mountain, you must view it both up-close and also from afar. Mount McKinley soars an incredible 18,000 feet into the sky (from its base) – comparatively Mount Everest only rises 12,000 feet (from its base). We suggest visiting the Eilson Visitors Centre as a starting point, especially before attempting a climb (however small).
Getting There:
The Denali National Park is located between Anchorage and Fairbanks, accessed via the George Parks Highway. Busses carry visitors through and into the National Park from the Wilderness Access Centre (due to the park roads being mostly unpaved). The bus journey to the Eielson Visitor Centre takes approximately 4 hours.
KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK
A 3 hour drive south of Anchorage will take you through some of the best salmon-fishing country in the world, and bring you to the Kenai Fjords National Park – where the Kenai Mountains meet Prince William Sound. The park covers an area of almost 670,000 acres, and is home to the Harding Icefield – one of the largest in the USA. The icefield is home to some 38 glaciers, the largest being Bear Glacier.
Incredible landscapes aside, the Kenai Fjords National Park is also home to vast communities of sea lions, otters, puffins, bald eagles and whales, including the beautiful Orca (or Killer Whales). Several tour companies offer a multitude of ways to encounter this wildlife – including guided hikes, cruises and group sea kayaking. The less adventurous can however visit the Alaska SeaLife Centre – a marine research and rehabilitation centre that was born out of the Exxon Valdez disaster.
Getting There:
The Kenai Fjords National Park is located 130 miles south of Anchorage, near the town of Seward.
