Alaska Road Trip Planning

[oldranger]

Currently planning a 6 week road trip to Alaska and cracked up when I read Markskor's latest take on doing the JMT:

What always amazes me are all these detailed plans...agendas figured out minutely - little red X's drawn on maps as where to camp day x, miles per day already charted, and zero days set beforehand. Always nice to do the homework and dream, but (as mentioned here previously), the mountain makes its own itinerary. How are you to know what's going on, where to stop, without being up there? Chit happens - plan for it.

That is exactly what I am doing for this trip but it is only because I had to make reservations for about 2 weeks on the Kenai Peninsula and a few days later 3 nights in Denali, plus I have to return by a specific date. So the minute planning has to do with figuring out how long, doing easy days, it will take to get to the first reservation. And how long it will take, doing easy days, by a different route to get back home. Using my minute calculations I will then figure out which route up we will take (because we have more flexibility on departure) and which way back (which will be a little more time constrained due to my next adventure). Having roughly figured out how many days up and how many back I am hoping to be able to have a few days going up when we can layover when we get to the right spot and at least a day or two on our return. Pulling a trailer I am planning on just a few 300 mile days with most travel between 225 (a few days over gravel even less) and 275. But want to be able to go 60 and say "wow" lets stop here! And as mark says"chit happens!"

[rlown]

Sounds like a fun trip, Mike. Are you in the camper or at lodges the whole trip, or are you also tenting it in spots?

[maverick]

Will you be visiting Huppy or Hidden Creek on the KP? Hope you get an opportunity to see Denali.

[AlmostThere]

We had a good time taking a water taxi across to hike in the park -- to the Grewingk Glacier, and to China Poot lake. We spent a night in a public use cabin in Halibut Lagoon but it would have been fun to go spend another night in the cabin at China Poot lake. Fishing was fairly good at the lake.

[oldranger]

Russ, Will be using our little travel trailer most of the time. Kathy and I will spend 2 night in a hotel in Cordova then Kathy will take the ferry back to Whittier. This trip was built around a fly in fishing trip I committed to last spring. So for about a week I will abandon Kathy and join 9 other guys (I know only 2 of them) in Cordova and then fly into a couple of floating cabins. Kathy will have that time for herself on the Kenai (with instructions to check out fishing opportunities). Thanks for the tips AT and Mav. I'll check them out. Am likely to return next year for a fishing trip that one of my daughters wants me to take her on--thinking June for big kings!

[papasequoia]

That is exactly what I am doing for this trip but it is only because I had to make reservations for about 2 weeks on the Kenai Peninsula and a few days later 3 nights in Denali, plus I have to return by a specific date. ... Having roughly figured out how many days up and how many back I am hoping to be able to have a few days going up when we can layover when we get to the right spot and at least a day or two on our return. Pulling a trailer I am planning on just a few 300 mile days with most travel between 225 (a few days over gravel even less) and 275. But want to be able to go 60 and say "wow" lets stop here!

Your post comes at an opportune moment. The wife and I are planning our own Alaska trip this summer/fall and we are absolutely overwhelmed with an overload of information. My top, top priority is a backpacking trip to Denali, but after that options abound. As a fly fisherman I would of course love to fish the Kenai, but am having a hard time figuring out the logistics of doing both. How are you getting from the Kenai to Denali?

Btw, if anyone has any suggestions about good hike/backpack spots in the park I would love to hear them. It looks like the only book that pertains mostly to hiking and backpacking in the park (Denali... by Ike Waits) is only available through second hand sellers on Amazon for $46. For now we are looking at driving to Bellingham, WA where we will visit with a son, then ferry to Haines and drive from there, through Kluane, to Fairbanks where we will take public transportation for our trip to the park then return by the same route. But so much else is possible (Kenai, Anchorage, Glacier Bay, etc. etc.) and trying to figure out what is realistic on this trip is exhausting. I was going to write my own post, so I hope you don't mind my tagging on to this one.

[oldranger]

PS

Need to purchase a "Mile Post" if you haven't already done. We are pulling a travel trailer, considered taking the ferry but decided we do the inside passage when we get old and do one of the luxury small ship tours. Anyhow Denali will be our last Major stop in AK and we will be heading directly back from there but taking a different route than our route up except between bend and the canadian border. We will go e. of the Cascades to avoid Seattle and its traffic and the busier border crossings.

[LMBSGV]

papasequoia, there’s a lot of information on the official Denali website regarding backpacking.

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/backcountry.htm

Along with all the safety issues and the fact there are almost no trails, learning the zone system for backpacking is especially important. Since you can’t reserve a permit in advance, decide and prioritize several possible alternatives and grab the best choice possible. If you want to see the Mountain, you need to be in one of the units west of Stony Hill. Here’s the unit info:

https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/ ... -guide.htm

You can get Ike Watts’ hiking guide from his website for less than Amazon. It’s an excellent guide and an entertaining read.

https://www.denaliguidebook.com/

If you decide you don’t want to backpack but camp at a campground, Wonder Lake Campground is as amazing as the hype. My wife and I spent ten days in Denali camping. If I had to do it over again (and I intend to), I would reserve Riley Creek at the beginning and end and then reserve Wonder Lake for all the other nights and then try to get spots at Sanctuary River, Igloo Creek, and/or one of the backcountry zones west of Stony Hill with a view of the Mountain. If you can buy your food somewhere besides "Glitter Gultch" do so since the prices and selection at the Sled Dog are outrageous. You can get stove canisters at Denali Mountain Works. One warning is that getting to see the Mountain is far from guaranteed. The more days in the park, the better your chances. The trip report is here:

http://laurencebrauer.com/ASITHSTripReports.html

[papasequoia]

Thank you, both!

[wildhiker]

My wife and I spent two weeks in July 2008 car camping and day hiking (no backpacking) in Alaska after flying in to Anchorage. I'll second the tip about spending as many days as you can at Denali to get a chance to see the mountain. We camped three days at Wonder Lake, but had clouds and rain (ceiling about 4,000 to 5,000 feet) the whole time. So never saw the mountain. However, the feeling of vast wilderness was great and we met lots of interesting people from all over the world at the campground.

I personally liked Wrangell-St Elias NP the best, maybe because we had better weather and could actually see those 16,000 foot mountains and their enormous glaciers!

Trip report is at http://www.wildhiker.com/alaska2008/Overview.html

-Phil