We made a day of our drive from Anchorage to the Denali area. Travel time from Anchorage is about 4 hours but we made a day of it (and it took us 8+ hours).
First stop/Detour: Independence Mine Historic Park & Hatcher Pass
We arrived late morning to Independence Mine. It was a bit chilly with a beautiful misty fog dipping over the tops of the mountain tops. I was in absolute awe of the beauty of the surrounding mountains. After we paid for parking, we layered up to explore the Gold Cord Lake Trail. In July, it did have several muddy spots and snowy areas but very doable. The lake at the top was still frozen and the views were breathtaking!! There are several hikes in Hatcher Pass area and its difficult to pick just one.
We drove through Hatcher Pass (this is only open during a few summer months). It is a beautiful scenic drive and there are a lot of places to stop and explore if you have the time. We spent enough time at the Independence Mine so we were headed for our next stop: Talkeetna. When I was researching and deciding on our stops, Talkeetna always came up – it is a cute little town with cute shops but it felt closer to more of a “tourist trap”. I think this quaint little town used to be just that but it was plum full of tourists (large buses dropping off tourists from the cruises) and the restaurants were on the pricier side for sure.
Talkeetna
After a stop in Talkeetna for lunch, we hopped back into the car and headed to Healy. The hotel prices in the area of Denali National Park are on the higher side so I do recommend booking early. We managed to book the Aurora Denali Lodge. It was nothing to write home about (and didn’t have air conditioning so the second floor rooms were a bit warm) but had everything we needed.
Denali National Park
The next day we explored Denali National Park. The park can only be accessed by bus (except for the first 15 miles) so we booked a transit bus. You also have the option to book a tour bus with varying topics of narration but we thought we may want to hop off the bus as some point for exploration. Unfortunately, we found out that if we do hop off there is a chance it may be a long while before we are able to get back onto a bus so we stayed on the bus for the entire 4 hour journey. We did spot some bears in the distance and a caribou up close but other than that the bus ride wasn’t as eventful as we had hoped. When we returned to the bus depot we headed to the Visitor Center to explore. We enjoyed the the various displays in the visitor center, Dog Sled presentation and the trails around the area.
After a full day at the park we found a delicious pizza place, Panorama Pizza Pub, and headed back to the lodge for some R&R. The next day, we booked an ATV tour with Black Diamond Resort (sister resort to Denali so we were able to get a 10% discount!). It was an AMAZING tour and well worth the sticker price. The staff was very organized, friendly and accommodating. Our tour guide was wonderful, the scenery was stunning, and we had an absolute blast. The tour also included lunch and it was absolutely amazing as well.
After our tour was over, we headed back to our home base of Anchorage (about 5 hour drive). After we rested and recovered in Anchorage, we decided to head the other direction to explore Whittier and Seward. See Exploring Portage Valley & Kenai Peninsula for a fun itinerary/activities.
