Denali National Park and Highway

Ahead of Till and me lay a beautiful route through Denali National Park and along the Denali Highway. Two very beautiful sections of my trip so far.

His arrival went perfectly. The 100 km stretch to catch Till's flight back to Whitehorse was a tough one. So I won't be alone for three weeks.

From Fairbanks to the mountains

Our first stop was for shopping, and then we headed out of Fairbanks with two big climbs of over 5 km each. Unfortunately, the second descent was blocked by roadworks, so we had to take the truck. To refresh ourselves after 90 km, we reached a small, somewhat crooked bar in Nenana. There we found a nice group of people who told us about village life and bears. After that, we wanted to drive a bit further since it was supposed to be flat from there, but we only had a strong headwind. Since it was swampy terrain, there were hardly any places to stop, but after 119 km, completely exhausted, we found an abandoned gravel pit.

The second day with Till was much more interesting, as we headed into the Alaskan mountain range, almost reaching Denali National Park. Since there was only a convenience store at the entrance and not much else was planned for the rest of the way, we had to do a big shop in Healy. Ideally, we'd buy enough for six days, but I couldn't possibly fit that much in. We spent the night just before the entrance, behind a pile of gravel by the river.

Denali National Park

I'd already seen Denali from the south, but I wanted to get closer to it in the national park. Right at the entrance, the first moose were crossing the road. We got a backcountry permit, which also allowed us to camp in the park. For this, we had to attend a roughly 30-minute training session on behavior and safety. We chose a sector in the park where we had to camp, one that ran along the road for a while since we didn't know how far we'd get. We drove for two hours in an empty camper van, as far in as we could go. That alone made it worthwhile.

Three years ago, the road at milepost 43 was washed away, so the bus couldn't go all the way to the viewpoint and had to stop before it. I knew from other cyclists that you can bypass this landslide by pushing your bike through the riverbed. Even though the bridge is almost finished, we weren't allowed to cross it. Therefore, 2026 will be the last year that hikers or cyclists will have the road beyond the landslide to themselves.

After three hours of pushing, five knee-deep, icy river crossings, and eight kilometers, we reached the road. It was beautiful and incredibly quiet. I don't think I've ever heard such peace and quiet. After 15 kilometers, we found a quiet and relatively flat spot to sleep.

In the morning, we had blue skies but with clouds on the horizon. So we decided to just take some food and continue cycling. After a short climb, we reached snowfields that still covered the road ankle-deep, but we had a good view of the cloudless Denali. We had breakfast there and watched as the clouds slowly obscured Denali. Afterwards, we cycled back to the tents, packed up, and headed back to the riverbed and the bus. On the way, we first met three French people who wanted to try to get behind the snowfields, and then, on a downhill stretch, we slowly cycled past two grizzly bears. The two were only 6-7 meters away but just as startled as we were.

The return journey through the riverbed only took us 2.5 hours, and we arrived back at our starting point in the evening. We then stayed at the campsite and treated ourselves to a pizza in the village.

Denali Highway

The next highlight was just a day's ride away: the Denali Highway. Half gravel and the rest potholed asphalt. From the Denali National Park campground, we rode with a tailwind to Cantwell, the start of the highway. At the gas station in Cantwell, we stocked up on tortilla wraps, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Nutella for four days. Then, suddenly, the asphalt ended and the gravel began. We got quite dusty at times, but with only one car per kilometer, it wasn't too bad.

We had originally chosen a campsite, but it was so infested with mosquitoes that we only filled up our water there and continued on our way. This turned out to be the right decision, because a few kilometers later we reached a hill from which you could see the entire mountain range. There was a parking area on the hill that was far enough away from the road and next to it was a lake for swimming. Most importantly, no mosquitoes! 😅

On the second day on the highway, we continued along the mountain range with beautiful views. We passed lodges for lunch and dinner, where we could grab a bite to eat – a welcome surprise when we weren't expecting it. We also had breakfast again at the second lodge. The third day began with a long climb. At the top, the weather changed from T-shirt weather and sunshine to down jackets and rain. Some of the lakes were still partially frozen, but there was hardly any snow left.

In Paxson, we finally reached the highway again. There, we followed the pipeline coming from Deadhorse, heading north. By evening, it was dry again, and we were able to pitch our tents by a river. While we were eating our pasta, a moose suddenly swam by. You don't see that every day 🫎.

After all the dust and exertion, we booked accommodation in Delta Junction to do some laundry and enjoy a proper bed. Unfortunately, no restaurants were open on Sunday, so Subway was the only option. The employee even treated us to a drink from the gas station next door. On the way back, two moose strolled through the settlement.

Conclusion

Despite the gravel road and river crossings, it was definitely worth it. We had such fantastic views in (almost) perfect weather on this section that I can highly recommend these highlights to everyone. Even though Till drove at a different pace, it worked out well and we quickly found our rhythm.

Next, we'll head to Canada 🇨🇦 via the Alaska Highway.

And now, visible only to my sponsors, a picture of my pizza in front of Denali National Park. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture in front of it this time because we were so hungry 🙃. But believe me, it was delicious. I'll remember to take one next time. Thank you all 😊