Ever have a National Park entirely to yourself?

No? Well, you can on this trip.

The nearly hundred-mile road into the Denali National Park is currently closed to vehicle traffic at mile 42. That leaves more than half of the distance inaccessible to the vast majority of travelers. But on this trip, we are going there!

In collaboration with Camp Denali, one of the finest lodges in Alaska, we’ll fly past the closure and spend 5 days photographing and exploring the western portion of the park. Camp Denali is the only lodge in Denali that has permission to use the road for interpretive excursions. So we’ll have the ability to use the road beyond the closure to our heart’s content, heading out each day in a van with one of Camp’s excellent naturalist guides.

On normal visits to Denali, photographers find the park a hard place to photograph. The limits of the shuttle bus system mean finding the right perspective and light for the scenery and wildlife is tricky. But not for us. We will have all the time we want to spend with the moose, caribou, bears, and mind-boggling scenery. Too, we’ll head out early at least one morning to try and catch the sunrise from one of the classic Denali viewpoints.

After spending 4 nights in Denali, we'll fly back to the eastern end of the park for the night before returning to Fairbanks the following morning. 

I can’t emphasize enough how unique this trip is. There is no better opportunity to photograph the wildlife and landscape of Denali National Park and the Alaska Range. Don’t miss it.

This is a small group trip with no more than 5 participants. So sign up now!

Meet at Pikes Waterfront Lodge in Fairbanks, Alaska. We'll have a group dinner where we can discuss the logistics for the trip and our upcoming adventure, before settling in at the hotel for a good night's rest.

It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Fairbanks to the Denali National Park Entrance. We will depart Fairbanks in the morning, giving us enough time to make a few photo stops on the way. We’ll pull into Camp Denali’s headquarters, where we will get our bags weighed before heading across the street to the flight service. There, we’ll load up in Cessnas, and take off for the western part of Denali National Park.

Depending on the weather, we may take a route that will take us up and over some of the glaciers that pour off of Denali’s north face, giving us extraordinary views of the Great One. But no matter which way we fly, it will be beautiful. The bulk of Denali National Park is mountains, and our trip should coincide with the peak of autumn color.  The landscape passing below will be scarlet, gold, and orange; otherworldly and incredible.

About 45 minutes later we’ll land at the airstrip in Kantishna where a van from Camp Denali will be waiting to shuttle us to the lodge. We will be introduced to the staff there, and have a bit to settle into our cabins (each with a view of Denali). Depending on our arrival time, we will take our first excursion that afternoon, a walk around the north end of Wonder Lake, where we can get our cameras clicking.

We’ll return to Camp before dinner. It’s amazing that I’ve made it this far in the trip description without mentioning the food! Yeah, it’s really, really good. A diverse menu featuring local Alaska specialties and much of the produce is grown on-site at Camp Denali’s greenhouses!

After breakfast each day, we’ll climb into a van with a driver/guide and head out for a day of photography on the empty Denali Park Road. Each day is different as wildlife comes and goes and the weather changes. But big, bull moose, caribou, and grizzly bears are likely wildlife targets. And we can’t ignore the landscape! Denali itself at 20,320 feet is by far the tallest mountain in North America, and when it’s out, absolutely dominates the landscape. With a full week, our odds are very good at seeing and photographing it. But the moody weather of the Alaska Range is a photographic asset. Constantly shifting weather and sunlight mean infinite variety and the opportunity to create unique images of one of the wildest landscapes in the world.

With the park road closed, we essentially have from the Toklat River west to Camp Denali almost entirely to ourselves. When I experienced this in the fall of 2023, it felt like magic. An entire National Park with just us! No buses, no visitors, just our group, the bears, caribou, moose, and the sweeping, wild landscape. The silent wilderness is unique and worth every bit of effort and expense to get there.

The days will pass too quickly, and before we know it, our days at Camp Denali will be wrapping up. On the final day, we’ll head back to the airstrip, load up again, and fly back toward the busy world of roads, people, and chiming cell phones. But our adventure isn't over. We'll spend the night near the park entrance, giving us the opportunity to experience the eastern end of the park, before returning to Fairbanks on the following day. 

We'll depart for Fairbanks late morning after making the drive into the Savage River area in the eastern end of Denali National Park. This part of the park has a very different feel from the isolated west, and it's well worth seeing before we turn our wheels north. We will arrive in Fairbanks by mid-afternoon in time for evening flights home.