trip report for a hike in Denali National Park (part 1)

[Hiker Guy]

Trip Report - A hike in Denali
by John Curington

Some hikes are so beautiful that you revisit them in your mind for months after your return. This summer I had one of those hikes and I am writing a little trip report to give a few details. These might be helpful if anyone is planning a hike in Denali National Park next summer. There were many details about organizing a hike in Denali that I had a hard time learning about before the trip. I hope you find this description useful and enjoyable….



We started the trip with three people and three backpacks, all arriving by plane and meeting in Anchorage in late July of 2011. The airport is only a few miles from downtown and the cab ride into town was quick and inexpensive. We checked into the Spenard Hostel and were pleased to see that the hostel was clean and the staff was friendly. The common rooms were comfortable and the kitchens were well-stocked with pots and pans. We walked out into the Anchorage drizzle and had pizza at a nearby restaurant.

Unfortunately, my duffle bag with my backpack inside was lost by the airline and didn’t arrive that night. The next morning we took a cab to the Anchorage train station. The other two from my group took the train to Denali, but I stayed behind and walked back to the hostel. Because the airlines had lost my backpack, I had no sleeping bag or camping equipment. After chatting with the airline folks by phone, I had decided to stay and wait for my bags to arrive. The desk staff at the Alaska Railroad office were very nice about changing my train reservation at no charge.

The walk back to the hostel was very pleasant. There was a light rain and the air was refreshingly cool. I chanced upon several bike paths and nice pedestrian walkways. I was impressed that Anchorage seemed like a fairly livable city (at least in the summer when I was walking around). While waiting for my bags, I walked into downtown Anchorage with a nice fellow traveler from the hostel. Anchorage has a huge REI store for browsing through outdoor gear and very nearby is the fantastic Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking store. Both of these stores had a great selection of outdoor gear including tents, coats, rain pants, etc. The staff at Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking seemed super well-informed and very helpful. On the walk back to the hostel, I stopped at the Carrs grocery store and bought food for lunch and dinner. The store was huge and well-stocked with excellent veggies and fruit. We had shopped back at home and flown in all of our food for our hike, but the Carrs store is large enough and seems very well stocked; so if you wanted to do all you provisioning in Anchorage, it seems like you would have no trouble at all.

I walked back to the hostel along pleasant roads and pedestrian paths and had a nice lunch. At the hostel, I had a nice chat with an urban planner who had just taken a Green Tortoise bus trip in Alaska. The folks from her tour seemed to have much enjoyed the trip and spoke highly of the Green Tortoise system.

(continued on next post) John Curington MD, review of hike in Denali

[Hiker Guy]

(continued from previous post)

My backpack arrived at the hostel from the airlines that night, so I got packed up and ready to take the next train north in the morning. I much enjoyed the nice social atmosphere of cooking in the communal kitchen of the hostel. As usual in most hostels, the company was good and I enjoyed the pleasant ritual of chatting over a hostel meal.

That next morning, I took the 8:15am Denali Star train north from the Anchorage train station. (click here for more information http://alaskarailroad.com/OurTrains/...9/Default.aspx) The ride was lovely. The conductors gave interesting commentary on the scenery and there was even a little radiator along the floorboards of the train. My feet were chilly from walking in the rain in Anchorage, and the little radiator warmed them right up. I also enjoyed the healthy food that was sold on board. Though the prices were a bit expensive, I was pleased that there was nutritious food sold on the train. It was interesting to ride through the Matanuska Valley; I didn't know before that there was so much agriculture in Alaska. I also enjoyed the “conductor’s dome” section of the train. There you could sit on an upper level of the train car and watch the world go by. The scenery was marvelous. I saw caribou, bears, and several types of birds I didn't recognize. The train arrived on time in Denali at 3:45pm, and my little group was waiting for me at the depot. After dropping off my backpack at the Riley Creek campsite, we walked to the Wilderness Access Center and the Backcountry Information Center and got our back-country permits from a nice ranger there.

As with most large national parks, there are several ways to visit. You can stay close to the entrance and enjoy the amenities like the coffee shop, bookstore, laundry facilities, etc, or you can get a permit and wander into the backcountry. We spent our first night at the Riley Creak campsite near the entrance. Riley Creek Campground is the main campground on the east side of the park. There are 147 campsites, good facilities with bathrooms, and even a little area where you can wash clothes and buy simple provisions. We spent the first night at Riley Creek since the train arrived in the afternoon and it was nice to not be rushed about getting out to the backcountry. It was easy to make reservations at Riley Creek through the site http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisi...servations.htm

After settling into our campsite, we walked over the the Backcountry Information Center to obtain the backcountry permits we needed for our hiking. At the Backcounty Information Center, we had go through a little orientation and paperwork session, but it was all very reasonable. We had to watch a video about safety including tips on river crossings and bear protection, as well as chat with some rangers about our plans. The rangers seemed very friendly and gave good advice. The park is split up into 87 "units," and you have to map out which units you will be in before you can get your permit. The rangers have a huge map, and you can also see the map online ( http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/backcountry.htm), so it really wasn't very complicated. It does help a lot, though, to read about the units online before you arrive so you won't be overwhelmed with all the wonderful choices of scenery, mountain, glaciers, rivers, etc. As we picked our units, I was glad that we had already read much in advance. We made some fun plans and got permits for Unit 6, “Upper Teklanika River”, and Unit 13, “Mount Eielson." We were also issued three sturdy bear-proof food canisters. We had chosen our units based on reading and map gazing, but it really seems like there are no bad units. It all seemed spectacular and remote. The rangers had a large whiteboard set up to make sure that no single unit was too crowded with hikers. It was a slight bother to invest the time to get the permits, but it was well worth it since the permit system seemed to insure a good sparse distribution of hikers throughout the the park.

While planning our trip at home, we had several questions about the park entrance. We wondered how difficult it would be to buy provisions and whether or not we could by fuel for our little camp stove. When we arrived, though, we saw that there was no shortage of provisions. You can buy food at the Wilderness Access Center and they even had coleman fuel there. They seemed quite well stocked with basic camping provisions. The prices and selection of food are much better at the Carrs grocery in Anchorage, but if you had to, you could provision yourself fairly well right there in the park. There was also even a large bookstore (with plenty of post-cards) and a large restaurant with an espresso machine and much pre-prepared food. There is no risk of going hungry near the park entrance, though we were still glad to have provisioned in advance.

On the next morning, we took the “Camper Bus” driven by a nice guide named Allan. The camper bus seemed to be part of a nice system of shuttle buses that leave from the Wilderness Access Center and goes along the main park road. The tickets cost $31.50 per person. (click here for more information about the shuttles http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm) We were pleased to find out that they generally do not allow private cars to drive deep into the park. By using the shuttle system, the rangers insure that the traffic on the roads stays sparse and that the animals are not disturbed by too much noise. The shuttles seemed very well organized. As we rode along, our shuttle driver told us stories of Christopher McCandless, the young man who had died near the Teklanika River and about whom the book "Into the Wild" was based. He also pointed out many animals and geographic features. We were quite impressed by his knowledge. The driver had asked where we were going, and he kindly stopped to let us cache half of our food at the bear-safe lockers at Igloo Campground. Then he dropped us off at our unit. As the bus drove away, and we gazed up at Cathedral Mountain, the reality of starting our hike settled in on us. Using our topo maps, we headed east and soon we were well beyond site of any human or road. Though the backcountry units of Denali are officially without trails, it seems that many trails have formed just from the repeated footsteps of many hikers. The rangers seemed to call these trails “social trails.” We started hiking along the social trail and found the hiking to be very pleasant. Along the way, we saw fireweed (Chamerion angustfolium), arctic dock (Rumex arcticus), alpine forget-me-not (Myosoitis alpestris), much dwarf arctic birch (Betula nana), crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), and joyfully, many blueberries (Vaccinium uliginosum). We hiked south of Cathedral Mountain to a soft loamy field overlooking the Teklanika River. There was soft peat under our feet and even blueberries. The social trails eventually faded away and we were hiking through the beautiful green wilderness. It is hard to imagine a nicer introduction to Alaska hiking.

We set up camp in a soft field overlooking a little lake made by a beaver dam. We stationed our tents at a respectful distance from the lake and a few minutes walk to the Teklanika River. We had a nice dinner cooked over the little Trangia alcohol stove and slept very well in out tents. It rained for many hours, but it felt good to be dry and warm in our tents and bags. Good rain gear seems vital for a trip into the lush boreal forests. It was also quite interesting for us that there was so much light at night. Official sunset time was around 11:20pm. Unlike with most camping, we didn’t need headlamps at all, and it was well light again before we awoke.

On the next morning, we had our breakfast of oatmeal and coffee and then organized the day. We decided to leave the tents on the very comfortable loamy soft field overlooking the small beaver lake and hike south up the Teklanika River.



We walked south through the morning and saw a group of three bears on the east side of the river. They were fun to see, but we were happy that they kept their distance from us. We had pondered hiking to one of the glaciers at the headwaters of the Teklanika, but by 2pm we were still miles away from the glaciers and we had only walked 3.77 miles (by GPS straight bearing) from our campsite. Hiking without trails was much more arduous and time-consuming than trailed hiking we had done in the lower 48. We reluctantly turned back to walk downriver to our tents. On the way back, we decided to try river crossings with our boots and socks on. (Remember there are no trails or convenient bridges across the rivers.) During the morning, we had been trying to keep our feet dry, but by the afternoon, we saw the futility of trying to maintain dry feet with so many river crossings.



The rangers had told us it was easier just to slosh along with wet feet, but we didn't believe it until we experienced it ourselves. It really was much easier to keep the boots on and to accept the wetness. On the way back, we saw several caribou and after dinner, we saw a wolf. While we were filter-pumping water for dinner, we saw a beaver who was swimming back and forth and slapping his tail on the water. We also saw a mew gull.

That evening we made plans to hike the next day north along the east side of Cathedral Mountain.

(continued on next post)

[Hiker Guy]

(continued from previous post)

On the next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast in our lovely campsite in the loamy field overlooking the Teklanika River. After breaking down camp (we made sure the site looked untouched), we hiked downhill past beaver dams to the Teklanika. We marched north along the riverbed, doing many crossings of the braided river. We had learned on Wednesday that it saved much time to just walk through the river without worrying about getting shoes and socks wet. Though our feet were wet, it really wasn’t so bad once you got used to it. Just before the Teklanika was joined by Calico Creek, we headed west and uphill, gently sloping towards Cathedral Mountain. Navigating without trails was still a little strange, but we had topo maps and a compass and it all came together nicely. We found a lovely site just above the tree line. The field was slightly sloping, but the earth was soft and loamy and covered in tiny blueberry bushes. We were almost giddy with the joy of eating fresh blueberries from the field around us. After lunch and a little rest, two of us hiked up the peak of Cathedral Mountain. After careful consulting of our topo map, we chose a route up a nice little creek that flows down the east side of of the mountain. We had spectacular views and a little rain. Along the way, we walked through some lovely little meadows perched high on the shoulders of the mountain. We were surprised to see how fearless a little pika was in on the meadows. We also brushed across some very fragrant low plants, most likely a type of artemesia.

It was interesting that there was so much high meadow up there on Cathedral Mountain. On the way down, we took a little a accidental diversion through one of the high meadows and ended up on the wrong foot of the mountain. I usually have quite a decent sense of direction, but it was surprising how easy it was to go slightly off course when there are no trails. We had to turn back and ascend a little to go back down.

We hiked back down to the campsite, our co-camper told us that two bears had strolled through the camp. She stayed in her tent and the bears didn’t bother her. We were all glad that we have been careful about storing food in the bear canisters. (The lectures from the rangers at the Backcountry Information Center really do make sense.) We had a nice dinner and then crawled into the tents. It rained hard during the night, but we were comfortable and warm in the tents.

On the next we hiked northwards along the green skirt of the mountain. Then we hiked through the black spruce and willow thickets the Igloo Creek Campground. There we picked up the food we had cached and waited for the bus to take us further west - deeper into the park. The bus system on the park road seems to work very well. The buses can get you out to your unit, and the forbidding of cars keeps the traffic down and protects the animals. While waiting for the bus, we met a nice young man from eastern Australia. He told us of his travels up the west coast of the US and about hiking in Tasmania and Australia. After waiting for about 45 minutes, a bus stopped and allowed us to throw our packs in the back and hop in. We had much enjoyed our three nights in Unit 6.

We took the bus westward along Park Road until the Eielson Visitor Center. There we feasted on our cached food and enjoyed being warm and dry. It felt like such a luxury to eat on an indoor table. There we planned our route through Unit 13. We asked a few rangers for advice on getting down to the Thorofare River basin and the consensus seemed to be to walk along the park road for the first few miles to avoid slogging along the river bottom. We cached a bag with a near-empty bear canister in the convenient lockers at the Visitor Center and then walked west along Park Road until just before spot called “grassy plain.” We were hoping for some views of Mount McKinley, but there was no break in the clouds. Then we did a muddy descent south along a social trail into the gravel bar of the Thorofare River. The river crossings were sloshy and wet, but we made it across to the cottonwood grove just south of the Thorofare River near where Glacier Creek joins the river. From there, we bushwhacked up the bench of Mount Eielson where we camped in a nice but rocky little meadow. We had dinner of corn meal, dried peas, dried tomatoes, and nuts. I found a tiny little streamlet where I pump-filtered water for breakfast and made it back into the tent before the rain started again. Once again, it rained much during the night, but we stayed nicely dry in our tents. Once again, good rain gear seems vital for this type of hiking.

On the next day, we awoke in the beautiful field on the northwest skirt of Mount Eielson. After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, we headed south along the lush green bench the skirts the west side of Mount Eielson. The walking was wonderfully easy (no river crossings!), but our boots were still soaked by the moisture in the grasses and the blueberry bushes. As we turned east to drop into the wash of Intermittent Creek, we saw three grizzly bears foraging in the willows down by the creek. We were able to find a comfortable rocky outlook to perch upon to watch the bears from a safe vertical distance. The rangers at the Backcountry Information Center gave a very clear set of instructions about bears, and when we came close to bears we understood well why the rangers so carefully stress for hikers to keep at a safe distance. Grizzly bears are huge! We were lucky to come across a ledge that keep up separated by a very safe distance vertically, but still close enough to see the bears from up above. I have never been so close to a wild grizzly bear and I much enjoyed the experience. The smell of the bears was quite strong and primal to my nose, but my two co-campers didn’t seem to notice the smell at all. It is interesting that the fur on their backs is so much lighter in color than the dark brown fur on their bellies. We were also somewhat amused by the lumbering gait of the hind legs of the bears.



From our high perch, we saw a hiker walking south along Glacier Creek. He was quite far away, and he didn’t seem to notice us or the bears. Most likely the bears were shielded from his view by the willow thickets. As we descended from our perch southeastwards into the basin of Intermittent Creek, we kept a very respectful distance between us and the bears.

Our trip up Intermittent Creek was quite pleasant. The effort to carry the packs uphill kept us warm in spite of the sporadic drizzle. It felt good to walk uphill and we kept up a slow but steady pace. As we neared the saddle (after about two hours of uphill hiking), the way became much less clear. There were many flattish meadows the seemed like they could be the true saddle, but there was no clear path eastwards through the meandering fields. We were also fogged in by thick clouds and couldn’t triangulate any peaks. At least the way was beautiful – we walked across fields of mossy rocks and soft springy loam underfoot. Something about the scenery made me think of an idealized image of the British Isles in the days before humans. I much enjoyed the walk even though it was hard to know exactly where to go. Finally, the clouds broke a little and I was able to use a compass and topo map to identify Wolverine Creek. We kept heading northeast until we came upon Contact Creek. Just before Contact Creek, we met another hiker who confirmed our location. It had taken us a total of about 3 hours from the bottom of Intermittent Creek to the top of Contact Creek where we began our descent.

The hiker we met in the saddle was the person we saw walking along Glacier Creek; he had walked around the south side of Mount Eielson while we were walking over the mountain. He seemed like a nice guy and we hiked with him down Contact Creek. We found a nice campsite on a green field overlooking the beginnings of the Thorofare River. The other hiker told us of his recent hiking of the Appalachian Trail.

(continued on next post)

[Hiker Guy]

(continued from previous post)

We had a nice meal in the field and pleasant conversation with the hiker. Then we got ready for bed and I filter-pumped some water for our breakfast. I was impressed with how often the pump filter clogged – most likely from the copious glacial silt in the water. I was happy to get back into the tent before the rains started. We slept snugly in our tents and the cold rain poured down again.

The next morning, we awoke to fresh snow on the slopes of the mountains around us.



We left the other hiker, still comfortable in his tent, and we walked from the east side of Mount Eielson overlooking the Thorofare River towards the Eielson Visitors Center. After our first crossing of the Thorofare River, we came across a few fellow hikers. We had seen very few people in the backcountry. We crossed the braided sections of the Thorofare several times – our feet getting soaked in the process. The water was glacier cold and refreshing. I was saddened to see a couple of caribou (what looked like a mother and a faun) with the older caribou having a limp. It’s likely that this caribou will be eaten and the faun will be orphaned. This does seem to be the way of nature, though it's still sad. We also heard wolves as we hiked north down the Thorofare. I smelled bear again, ( I had smelled bear quite strongly before we saw them near Intermittent Creek), but we didn’t see any bear that day. We were all tired as we walked over a lovely green mountain foot to the riverbed just below the Visitor Center. The walking, even on the foot of the mountain, was quite sloshy and our feet stayed soaked. We found a trail up the slope to the Visitors Center, and from there, we took a bus back east to the Wilderness Access Center. We had spent five lovely days in the backcountry of Denali and we were all tired and cold and wet and happy.

On the next day, we went to a ranger talk at the Denali Visitor Centers in which the speaker mentioned that the arctic tern travels from Antarctica to Denali annually by flying along the coast of the Americas. After the talk, we took the Denali Star Train back down to Anchorage. It was a very relaxing trip and we had a lovely meal in the dining car. The service was excellent and the food was good. It was so pleasant to eat in the elegant dining car and watch the world roll by through the windows. The Susitna River provided a quiet but lovely nature show as the train went winding downriver during our dinner. The meal was a little expensive, but it seemed quite worth it for the experience.

We stayed in a hotel in Anchorage and then flew back home. I hope this trip report gives a little flavor of a hiking trip in Denali. The key images that resonate joyfully in my head are the huge expanses of land with no other people - just miles and miles of beautiful hiking. Also, I am still smiling at the richness of wildlife - caribou, grizzly bears, wolves, beavers, pikas… It felt like an honor to walk amongst these creatures in their homes. We were thankful to our ancestors for preserving this land and thankful for today's park rangers for giving such good advice and organizing a system to enjoy the land without overrunning it.

- John Curington


For more information, see the sites below:


Train information from Anchorage to Denali
http://alaskarailroad.com/OurTrains/...9/Default.aspx

Information Denali National Park in general
http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm

Information about the bus system in Denali National Park
http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisi...ing-denali.htm

Information about Backcountry Camping, including getting permits
http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/backcountry.htm

John Curington MD

[goathair31]

Thank you for posting this! Alaska really does sound like about as close you can get back to that untouched wilderness that modern civilization has lost. Hearing about the details like seeing bears and whatnot is a bit disconcerting, but making the trip up to Denali really does sound manageable and worthwhile. I don't think I would have the courage to do it alone, but perhaps it would be less intimidating if I gathered some friends to join me there as you did. Great photos btw!

[GDeadPhans]

This looks like a great trip! I would love to go to Alaska. Great photos! I can't believe this slipped my radar. Great write up.