Best Hiking Trails in Denali National Park

Sug­ar­loaf offers fun, steep, and chal­leng­ing ridge hik­ing above the hotels and restau­rants of the com­mer­cial area North of Denali Nation­al Park. It’s a great place to scram­ble freely in this region’s semi-arid alpine zone or to enjoy a long mid­night sun­set. The broad, west fac­ing peak of Sug­ar­loaf Moun­tain is a reward­ing sum­mit, and once you’ve climbed the steep­est trail sec­tion at the begin­ning you’ll like­ly have the rest of trail to yourself,  ...more

A road­side hike that gains quick ele­va­tion and leads to soar­ing views? Count me in. A lit­tle trav­eled creek that rush­es into one of the wildest white­wa­ter rivers in Alas­ka? Hmm. Yes, please. A trail all to your­self just a few min­utes from Denali’s busy front coun­try area? Now you’re talk­ing. Drag­on­fly Creek has all this and more, and you’ll only just be get­ting your feet wet.

This pop­u­lar trail attracts lots of folks, so don’t expect to be the only hik­er. It’s still worth the trip. The trail begins at Mile 0.9 on the park road near the rail­road tracks. You’ll walk on a devel­oped trail down to the lake. After you reach the Over­look, the trail drops steeply. Along the way, espe­cial­ly at the over­look bench, you’ll have a panoram­ic view of the Nenana Riv­er, the devel­op­ment called ​“Glit­ter Gulch” right out­side the park,  ...more

This hike intro­duces you to the best that Denali has to offer. The Bison Gulch trail is all about stun­ning views of steep riv­er canyons, a sol­id, well-bro­ken trail through alpine tun­dra, and an excit­ing sum­mit scram­ble for those that reach it. For those with less time, this hike is favored for its quick access to high alpine views direct­ly off of the Parks High­way. No need to go all the way to the sum­mit if you haven’t the time or moti­va­tion; the  ...more

The first mile of this trail, which begins near the new Murie Sci­ence and Learn­ing Cen­ter, is mod­er­ate­ly steep, hik­ing through the for­est. The for­est even­tu­al­ly gives way to tun­dra. Trees turn to shrubs, and the land­scape opens wide. The last 1.5 miles are even steep­er. Your reward, how­ev­er, is sweep­ing views of the Denali Nation­al Park entrance area, the Nenana Riv­er Val­ley, Healy Ridge, and near­by alpine ridges. Those who want to climb to the  ...more

You can begin hik­ing at Mile 231 Parks High­way, on the west side of the road, where there is a small pull­out for park­ing. The trail climbs steeply, and cross­es the Alas­ka Rail­road tracks. Then, the trail mod­er­ates and emerges from the for­est to a grand view of the Nenana Riv­er and the Alas­ka Range look­ing south toward Windy Pass. From there the trail loops around the ridge and fol­lows a series of three scenic lakes. Even­tu­al­ly, the park plans  ...more

If you’re head­ed to the dog demon­stra­tion at the ken­nels, or if you just want to stretch your legs, try walk­ing this wide, com­fort­able trail through the for­est, up to head­quar­ters from the Vis­i­tor Access Cen­ter. It basi­cal­ly fol­lows the road, occa­sion­al­ly wan­der­ing out of sight of the traf­fic. Length: 1.8 miles Ele­va­tion: 300 ft. Time: 45 – 1 hr. one way

This infor­mal hik­ing area begins at the Prim­rose rest area and heads up a gen­tle ridge until you reach the bench, which pro­vides panoram­ic views of the park. Wild­flow­ers are abun­dant in this area and usu­al­ly peak between July 20 and August 10.

Head either direc­tion on the Teklani­ka Riverbed. The riv­er bar is real­ly wide in this area so the going is gen­er­al­ly easy, even though you’re still below tree-line. Choose to go as far afield as you like. There are numer­ous route options.

Only 33 miles from the sum­mit of Denali, and at an ele­va­tion of 3300’, Eiel­son offers some of the most spec­tac­u­lar views of Denali (for­mer­ly Mt McKin­ley). There are many activ­i­ties you can do here, includ­ing ranger-guid­ed hikes up to near­by Tho­ro­fare Pass and self-guid­ed expi­ra­tion of the high-alpine tun­dra environment.

This hike does not require cross­ing any glac­i­ers or dan­ger­ous streams, which makes for a good overnight hike for those who car­ry an overnight camp­ing permit.

This is an unmarked, unmain­tained trail and can be dif­fi­cult to fol­low, but is a good exam­ple of the real out­doors in Denali Nation­al Park.

You’ll like­ly see plen­ty of oth­er hik­ers here, since this is a pop­u­lar main­tained trail, but you’ll get plen­ty of scenery, too. You start by fol­low­ing a creek, walk­ing beneath alders then hik­ing up out of it onto tun­dra. Dinosaur fos­sil foot­prints were found here, and today you can hear plen­ty of song­birds, too. Ter­rain goes from peb­bles to squishy tundra.

Either dri­ve your own car or take the free shut­tle 15 miles out the park road to the Sav­age Riv­er check sta­tion. This is a pop­u­lar hik­ing trail, and you won’t be alone, but at least you’re away from the entrance area and enter­ing the true wilder­ness of Denali Nation­al Park. This is a tun­dra walk on a devel­oped trail that fol­lows the riv­er. Good hike for kids, with pos­si­bil­i­ty of see­ing Dall sheep, mar­mots, and cari­bou. You can do a loop walk,  ...more

Hike 2 miles roundtrip from the Eiel­son Vis­i­tor Cen­ter to the Gorge Creek and Tho­ro­fare Riv­er Bars. Beyond the end of the trail, you can con­tin­ue off-trail and reach back­coun­try camp­ing units with­in the park.

A 0.3 mile loop depart­ing from the Eiel­son Vis­i­tor Cen­ter in Denali Nation­al Park allows vis­i­tors to explore the alpine tundra.

Take an easy hike on a well-main­tained trail from the Won­der Lake Camp­ground to the McKin­ley Riv­er. This is part of the his­toric route that climbers used to access Denali (Mt. McKin­ley). Look for wildlife along the way, espe­cial­ly when you get close to the river.