Itinerary opinions for the land portion?

[kkbrig]

I think I've got this all worked out now, thanks to all of you! My one question is about the timing of things on Thursday, if it's too much (tight). I included the rest for context and in case there's any other glaring mistakes!

 

Monday Fairbanks

10am-12:30- Tails of the Trails

1:45- Gold Dredge 8

 

Tuesday- Fairbanks/Denali

8am-1pm- Riverboat tour

1pm-4pm- bus from Fairbanks to Denali

6pm-10pm- husband and son flyfishing; me and other 3 kids go to WAC and explore, or sign up for last minute rafting or other excursion (basically playing this one by ear)

 

Wednesday- Denali

10am- 7pm- Eielson Shuttle

dinner together

 

Thursday

10am-12:15pm- Bus from Denali lodge to McKinley lodge

1:00- 4:00- Byers Lake Walk

5:00- 7:00- Wilderness Trail ride

(Do we need to do much to check in? We won't have long from arrival to start of tour at 1:00. Can we get something to eat quickly or is it only a sit down place to eat?)

 

Friday-

8am- 12:30pm- Chulitna Raft trip (ends in Talkeetna)

Lunch, explore Talkeetna

3:45- 6: McKinley flight seeing with glacier landing

 

Saturday

8am-11am- Byers lake paddle trip

shuttle to Talkeetna and 12:45 train to Whittier

 

As always, Thanks!!

[Budget Queen]

fishing is not good near Denali. If there by 4pm, you could see the Sled Dog Demo which leaves from the Visitor Center NOT the WAC- 2 different places.

 

Verify the Princess Lodge shuttle bus times- I think there is a fee for later pick ups. You can NOT count on the Eielson shuttle bus being "on time". You can experience a WIDE range. it's a "suggested time" at best.

 

Is the Beyer's Lake "walk" a tour you have booked? Good grief- if so, Princess is scraping bottom, sorry, but no way would I ever recommend anyone pay for this.

 

The McKinley lodge has several food options, with some premade- that I last saw, last year.

 

IF your flightseeing is a priority, then you need to rethink your plan, and book this at your first opportunity. If this flight doesn't include the summit- and you didn't know the differences, may also want to take another look at what flightseeing options are available. Big difference going over McKinley summit, and maybe not seeing it on other tours.

[Budget Queen]

I now see there are 2 posters listing Beyer's Lake paddle, I thought I had already commented to you, but, in my opinion, this is a lacking so so touring choice, unless it was real cheap. I've stayed at Beyer's Lake, and it hardly more than a place to just move on from. Some really nice state park trails elsewhere, when you have your own transportation. I just can not recommend spending any big money on this.

[kkbrig]

Oh boy.

 

Let me start at the beginning.

 

Fishing- this is one of the two things that I've booked so not sure if I can change. I chose this one because it was Fly Fishing- they take you to a stream somewhere and teach you to fly fish. Hubby has been wanting to learn this. And it fit in the time slot available. The fishing trip from McKinley was one where you went on boats and is called sport fishing....I am not knowledgeable about fishing AT ALL, but I was worried that the second one was not going to be fly fishing and might be disappointing since hubby was wanting to try that. So that's how I ended up there.

 

We should be fine if Eielson is not on time as we have nothing else planned that day. I will verify shuttles.

 

Yes the Byers lake hike is a paid Princess thing- $70!! Two hours and 20 minutes hike. One of the excursions that we liked was the Denali Wilderness Hike (again, a Princess excursion) that is a 5 hour long hike and seems well reviewed on TA (if I am looking at the right thing). However, I am not the most fit person and worried that 5 hours of hiking might be too much. Plus logistically it was hard to fit that in. I chose the Byers lake option as sort of a compromise to that.

 

The paddle one I know you said was not very exciting, but there are not a lot of options available that morning. I generally like being on water and want to be active, so that's how it ended up there. The kayaking is $95. I think it might be done by Denali Southside River Guides.

 

Flightseeing- I was picking the south face Mckinley with glacier landing (with TAT) or the McKinley Experience with glacier landing with K2. Those are both the 1 hour flights, plus the landing. I have considered going up to their 1 hr 15 min flights, with landing, called Base Camp and McKinley Flyer. I guess I did not realize that we might not see McKinley with these.

 

That was my thought process....

[Budget Queen]

Oh boy.

 

Let me start at the beginning.

 

Fishing- this is one of the two things that I've booked so not sure if I can change. I chose this one because it was Fly Fishing- they take you to a stream somewhere and teach you to fly fish. Hubby has been wanting to learn this. And it fit in the time slot available. The fishing trip from McKinley was one where you went on boats and is called sport fishing....I am not knowledgeable about fishing AT ALL, but I was worried that the second one was not going to be fly fishing and might be disappointing since hubby was wanting to try that. So that's how I ended up there.

 

We should be fine if Eielson is not on time as we have nothing else planned that day. I will verify shuttles.

 

Yes the Byers lake hike is a paid Princess thing- $70!! Two hours and 20 minutes hike. One of the excursions that we liked was the Denali Wilderness Hike (again, a Princess excursion) that is a 5 hour long hike and seems well reviewed on TA (if I am looking at the right thing). However, I am not the most fit person and worried that 5 hours of hiking might be too much. Plus logistically it was hard to fit that in. I chose the Byers lake option as sort of a compromise to that.

 

The paddle one I know you said was not very exciting, but there are not a lot of options available that morning. I generally like being on water and want to be active, so that's how it ended up there. The kayaking is $95. I think it might be done by Denali Southside River Guides.

 

Flightseeing- I was picking the south face Mckinley with glacier landing (with TAT) or the McKinley Experience with glacier landing with K2. Those are both the 1 hour flights, plus the landing. I have considered going up to their 1 hr 15 min flights, with landing, called Base Camp and McKinley Flyer. I guess I did not realize that we might not see McKinley with these.

 

That was my thought process....

 

I'm assuming you are not open to change, but there is a very good ranger led hike, FREE from Eielson if you get there earlier. In some cases early starts can offer the most opportunities. The ranger hike at Savage River is also very good. All the details are listed http://www.nps.gov/dena

 

I would absolutely NOT bother doing touring at Beyer's Lake twice. Once will be enough. It is a state park, with a trail around the lake. I suspect that is what the hiking "tour" will be. they also may walk you up the hill to the Veterans Memorial. Only my opinion- this is not by any stretch- good hiking compared to other possible areas. With limited opportunity- this still certainly may be the right choice for you. Just a comment and my "ranking" experiences, I guess.

 

An alternative- would be to head to Talkeetna early on departure day and get an excellent breakfast/lunch at the Roadhouse. :) Have a look at the Park Service visitor center.

 

With the flights- there are times, the peak is not viewable unless you are above it. The tours nicely will describe "summit views" etc but your flying elevation is way lower with having to look up, if possible to see. The ski planes are interesting to fly in, but you won't have much if any "ice" views, will be mostly snow.

 

I'm a clear advocate of stressing the differences which sometimes aren't realized or wrong assumptions made.

[rslinky]

Don't know how old the kids are but Eielson is long bus ride. If you don't see much wild life, will the kids get bored looking at mountains for 8 plus hours?

[kkbrig]

Budget Queen- I hear you on not going to Byers Lake twice. Those both ended up on there because they were very well reviewed, they were some of the more active excursions without being too strenuous, and they happened to fit in the time slots available. I will think about the option that you suggested of breakfast in Talkeetna that last morning. We will have a couple hours in between the Chulitna rafting and the flight to eat lunch and explore Talkeetna, as well as the potential for dinner and more exploring after the flight, if desired. Should I plan more time there on Saturday? I have no idea how much there is to see as for time needed.

 

Another possibility is to drop the walk, move the horseback riding up to mid afternoon instead of late afternoon, and then keep the kayaking on Saturday morning. That would eliminate my worry of not having enough time to eat any real food from 10am-7pm that day, as I do worry with the original proposed schedule.

 

The trouble is, without our own transportation, we are kind of limited as to our options. Excursions through Princess or excursions that we catch out of Talkeetna and book ourselves. I have tried to explore that latter option, but have not seen a lot of other choices.

 

Is there any hiking to do around McKinley Princess lodge itself, for something to do?

[Alaskanb]

Coming from the desert southwest Byers Lake looks lovely. The "hike" is listed as an easy guided nature walk --something that I really enjoy.

Budget Queen: Is there something, apart from the cost, that I am missing to elicit your response?

[Northern Aurora]

kkbrig: We've stayed at the McKinley Princess; the last time we were there was ten nights ago when we stayed there when returning home to Fairbanks from Seward.

 

From an Alaskan point of view I wouldn't call the paths around the McKinley Princess property "hiking trails." I see them as paths which can be done with sneaker type footwear.

 

It is unclear to me how much time you have scheduled for Talkeetna. While some people find it charming I remember what it was like twenty years ago, and to me it has become a tourist trap sort of community.