This road which is named after the highest peak in North
America will actually take you to the close proximity of the Denali. It was
built, as you can guess, to get you to the Denali National Park where the
Denali is located.
It is a gravel road which was pretty much retired after
Parks highway was built to speed up travels between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
These days it serves as a gateway into the wild, well at least in my mind. It
stretches about 130miles between villages Paxson and Cantwell. One thing which
remained same is the remoteness of the road. There are only three main lodges
and couple hunting camps along the way.
It was loooong overdue plan of mine to bikepack the Denali Highway
and so it happens that Memorial Day weekend was just the perfect time to do so.
I kept advertising my plan for several weeks, but nobody was as excited for
this adventure as me so I ended up gravel grinding by myself. And I loved it!!!
After initial what ifs such as what if I get attack by bear,
moose, trigger happy hunter or one of the RV’s, I embark on my way with
probably about 50 pounds of gear to take care of any remaining “what ifs” which
might happen out there. Lucky me, no “what if” occurred! It had perfect weather
with only pleasant encounters with wild life or humans.
I was kind of on tight schedule so when I got on my bike I meant
business. I did 160miles the first day, which took me all the way to Cantwell
and 45 miles back up into the wild where I had a good sleep for 8 hours. Next
day I finished up the remaining 70 miles back to my car. If the mileage did not
add up to you that is because I started on mile 20 at Tangle Lakes. The first
20 miles on the Paxson side is paved and I did not want to ride that so I drove
in. Anyhow, it still ended up being 230miles, 13,000 feet of elevation gain in
one and half day with very sore butt as a result.
The nature out there is just amazing, you really feel like
you are part of the true wild Alaska which comes with a lot of respect and humbleness.
I took several breaks to just sit and watch all the nature around and you can
just see how small you are compare to what is around you. It was Epic!
Definitely will come back again!
