Denali

Denali National Park and Healy Alaska, 2013

We spent two nights in the Aspen View at Healy Heights Family Cabins, and could easily have spent longer. The cabins are located off the main highway on a sparsely populated road overlooking the town of Healy. Our cabin had everything we needed to relax, enjoy preparing simple meals, and was located far enough away from the hubbub just outside the park entrance to give us some peace and quiet. The owners are very hospitable and accommodating.

The Aspen View (our two night home sweet home)

We had to be up bright and early on July 17th to catch the 7:15 a.m. shuttle to Mirror Lake. You can only drive fifteen miles into Denali in a private vehicle, which is not nearly far enough to see the wildlife you will want to see. That said, the shuttles are basically converted school buses, the roads are dirt, and the day will be long. The Mirror Lake shuttle is approximately 11 hours round trip. Take bug spray, plenty of water, your lunch, your cameras and extra batteries/memory, wide-angle binoculars and a good attitude.

11 hours in a tin can, Lord there's got to be another way -- nope, there's not! Just shuddup and enjoy!

Thanks to the great advice from folks on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic, we opted to take the less expensive shuttle option over the more expensive Tundra Wilderness or Kantishna Experience tours. We had a wonderful shuttle driver, Barr (and no that's not a typo, her parents were hippies who named her Barr Bee), who was in her twelfth year of driving and sharing the wonders of Denali with her passengers. She had a wealth of information and happily answered any and all questions from her passengers. She was a jewel!

Reserve your Denali shuttle or tour in advance, especially if you are going during the high season. With 24 hour notice, changes and/or cancellations only cost 4 bucks. One neat thing about the shuttle system is that your ticket is good all day, and you can hop on and off of shuttles as you please to hike or spend longer at a particular spot. You simply flag down the next shuttle, and if they have seats, you hop back on.

We had really great weather almost every day of our trip, with the exception of Denali. It's hard to believe you could miss a mountain that is 20,320 feet tall at it's summit, but apparently we are in good company. There were many other beautiful sites to behold and much wildlife to see, so the trip is well worthwhile no matter the weather. I do wish we had listened to the advice of posters on Trip Advisor about turning around at Eielson Center if the mountain wasn't out, as the trip to Wonder Lake is a very long day and there frankly wasn't much reward for continuing on without views of the mountain over the lake. Next time ..... naw, next time the mountain is going to be out! 

We saw a ton of wildlife including grizzly bears, mountain goats, caribou, moose, marmots, ground squirrels and a variety of birds on our shuttle. It's hard to imagine anywhere else you can get so up close and personal with the animals in their natural environment without danger to either yourself or the animals. 

Later that evening, we enjoyed dinner at the 49th State Brewery in Healy. We visited the bus used in the movie "Into the Wild", then were seated for dinner. We ended up at the next table to a couple from Florida that had sat in front of us on the bus until Eielson, where they wisely bailed out. We really enjoyed dinner and conversation with Ty and Kelly. Kelly let me try her Yak burger, which was surprisingly good. We shared fried cheese curds, then I had the Healy burger with a Blonde Ale while Ron had fish tacos washed down with their IPA. I left my raincoat at the restaurant, so we were forced to return the next day (too bad) and try yet another of their great brews before hitting the road for our overnight stop in Fairbanks before exploring the Richardson Highway on the road to Valdez.

Click here for more Denali and Healy photos