Denali National Park and Preserve

Denali National Park and Preserve lies in interior Alaska, about 380 kilometres north of Anchorage and 200 kilometres south of Fairbanks. The park and preserve together cover about 6 million acres, larger than the US state of New Hampshire, and are managed by the National Park Service.

The area was protected as Mount McKinley National Park in 1917, largely to protect Dall sheep and other wildlife. It was greatly enlarged and renamed Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. Denali, which means the high one in the Koyukon Athabaskan language, is the highest peak in North America at 6,190 metres.

Landscapes change with height, from taiga forest in the valleys to open tundra and then glaciers, snow and bare rock. The Kahiltna Glacier is the longest in the park. Grizzly bears, moose, caribou, Dall sheep and wolves are commonly seen, and the park keeps the only sled dog kennel in the US national park system.

A single road, about 148 kilometres long, runs west into the park. Private vehicles may only drive the first 24 kilometres to Savage River, and buses run beyond that in summer. A landslide at Pretty Rocks near mile 45 closed the road beyond that point in 2021. A bridge over the slide was completed in September 2026, and bus service along the full road is planned to resume in 2027; until then buses turn around at East Fork, about mile 43.

The entrance fee is $15 per person aged 16 and over, valid for seven days, and bus tickets and campground places should be booked well ahead for summer. Clear views of Denali are not guaranteed, as the summit is hidden by cloud on many days.

The idea for the park came from the hunter and naturalist Charles Sheldon, who proposed protecting the region through the Boone and Crockett Club in 1906. Sled dogs have worked here since 1922, and the kennel near the entrance is the only federally owned sled dog kennel in the United States; rangers still use the dogs for winter patrols.

Glaciers cover about 16 per cent of the park and preserve. The Kahiltna Glacier, the longest, runs about 71 kilometres down the south side of the Alaska Range, and the mountain is still rising by roughly 1 millimetre a year. Its name has changed twice in a decade: the federal government adopted Denali in 2015, then an executive order in January 2025 restored Mount McKinley as the official federal name of the peak, while the park keeps the name Denali.

Bears are part of every trip. The north side of the range holds an estimated 300 to 350 grizzlies, along with black bears in the forested areas, so visitors should carry bear spray on trails and keep at least 300 metres from any bear. Nearly 80 per cent of the bird species are migrants that arrive in spring to nest. Climbers who want to attempt the summit need a permit and an orientation at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger Station, about 160 kilometres from the park entrance. Most visitors never see the mountain at all: commonly cited estimates say around 30 per cent glimpse it and only about 10 per cent see it completely clear.