Denali and McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge Free Afternoon activities

[Jerold]

We have a Free afternoon at Denali and McKinley Wilderness Lodges.  

Any recommendations?

Is there a shuttle from the Denali Lodge into the park?  Would love to get out a do a hike if the weather is good.

 

Thanks, 

[donaldsc]

I assume that you know that the Wilderness Lodge is in the middle of nowhere and 99 miles from Denali Village. Google maps which notoriously underestimates AK travel times says that it 1 1/2 hours to get from the hotel to Denali.  That's 3 hours of travel time. 

 

DON

Edited April 24 by donaldsc

[AKStafford]

The McKinley Princess Lodge is in the middle of no where, built to warehouse Princess CruiseTours. There's an hour shuttle ride into Talkeetna where you could do a Denali flightseeing trip or a Mahay's Riverboat advernture.

And just an afternoon at Denali National Park doesn't give you much time to get into the park. It the Natural History Tour or Tundra Wilderness Tour park of your package?

[wolfie11]

At Denali you can take a hotel shuttle to the visitors center or the sled dog kennels.  There’s also a free shuttle from the bus center to Savage River which has several good hiking trails.

[Jerold]

We do have the Natural History tour.

 

It looks like at Denali there are a number of options(Dogs and shuttles to Savage River).

 

Any hiking around McKinley that you can get to by shuttle or other activities?

 

thanks,

[Northern Aurora]

The McKinley View Princess does not have what I would describe as a "hike" but does have some simple walking paths.  Their shuttle is to the community of Talkeetna which is 45minutes to an hour away (assuming no road construction delays).

[donaldsc]

3 hours ago, AKStafford said:

The McKinley Princess Lodge is in the middle of no where, built to warehouse Princess CruiseTours. There's an hour shuttle ride into Talkeetna where you could do a Denali flightseeing trip or a Mahay's Riverboat advernture.

And just an afternoon at Denali National Park doesn't give you much time to get into the park. It the Natural History Tour or Tundra Wilderness Tour park of your package?

 

I will add that once you take the shuttle into Talkeetna there is not that much to do there besides the aforementioned flightseeing and riverboat trip.  Basically your stay at the lodge is a totally wasted day on your trip.

 

DON

[Jerold]

Looking at taking a flightseeing trip from Talkeetna.  

Would it be best to book through Princess or book on our own?

 

Thanks,

[corgigrl]

We stayed at the Denali Princess lodge last year and booked a flight seeing tour for our free afternoon. It was pricey, but oh sooo worth every penny. We booked privately with Denali Air and OMG it was beyond awesome. They picked us up from the lodge. We had perfect weather for our flight. Highlight of the entire trip.

 

 

[frugaltravel]

On 4/24/2024 at 2:37 PM, Jerold said:

We do have the Natural History tour.

 

I would strongly suggest that you either upgrade to the Tundra Wilderness Tour or just skip the natural history tour and book the East Fork Transit shuttle bus on your own.  The transit shuttle bus will cost less than the upgrade.  Both the TWT and the transit shuttle bus go to the same place - mile 43 of the park road.  If you are interested in hiking, I would strongly recommend the transit shuttle bus and hike off trail.  It is a very unique experience.  You need to take the free shuttle from the Denali Princess lodge to the bus depot where you board the transit shuttle bus.  Well worth it.

 

The natural history tour only goes 17 miles into the park and you could replicate 90% of that tour on your own for free.