How busy is the road to Denali?

[curiousl8y]

Please confirm my dearest illusion - I am imagining a long open road with photo ops around every curve, and rarely a car to be seen or heard on our drive from Anchorage to Denali at the end of this month.

 

On the other hand, I live in So Cal, so I am more accustomed to sitting in long lines of cars waiting to drive through Yosemite Valley. :(

 

Will the road be busy, or wonderfully empty?

 

Linda

[gazingm42]

We we drove they alaska highway from Anchorage to Denali we did not see

an other car for an hour or more. We saw more wildlife than humans/cars.

 

Its the only highway in america I think that you can make an U-turn at any

time so you can get a better photo from a different angle... :)

 

We stayed in Talkeetna and used it as home based. Using highway 3 from base

camp to daily sights it was amazing photos opps.

 

Have fun!

[Cruiser Nonna]

We just did this end of July 07- we are from Northern Ca - and it was a wonderful highway without much traffic - HOWEVER - I was still able to find probably the only state police officer on the road - very nice however - gave me a warning (he was from Palm Springs)to SLOW down and let me go - so although not a lot of people - still follow the posted signs which change a lot - we stopped for photos a lot -

 

Enjoy

[mytime53]

Well, it depends. Week day or weekend? Once you are past Willow, traffic really thins out. But we don't have too many roads, and we do have to get from place to place. You will encounter other visitors such as yourself, hunters, kids going up to Fairbanks to college (and down to Anchorage to college), truckers, berry pickers, etc. Just like any other place. But compared to what you are used to, you will probably find it wonderfully empty.

But there certainly is a photo op around every corner.

[Budget Queen]

Necessary- have a copy of THE MILEPOST with you. Overall, it is a pretty free flowing road. BUT you can get behind slow moving RV's and watch out for construction, which can add a lot of time.

 

Key is to have plenty of time, to be able to stop and enjoy the many opportunities. My opinion, the road isn't especially scenic, unless you are into trees. If McKinley is out, certainly it's a spectacular drive, but the odds are against it. Do your homework and get off the beaten path perhaps??

 

Especially recommended drive by me, is Hatcher Pass- Palmer to the mine.

[Yukon]

Wow - there must be a highway between Anchorage and Denali that I haven't been on yet, because I've driven the Parks Highway a couple of hundred times and the descriptions I've read so far aren't it! No vehicles for an hour, u-turns anytime you want, photo ops everywhere?? Not on the highway I drive :( - it's got heavy traffic on the first hundred miles, then lots of trees, RV caravans and speeding 100-foot-long semis, with a few pull-offs offering great views for most of the rest. Once you get to Broad Pass things slow to a reasonable level, but it's still the 2nd-busiest highway in Alaska (the Seward being the worst).

 

Murray

[curiousl8y]

LOL, ok, thanks guys. Regardless, it still HAS to be better than the L.A. freeways!

 

BQ, I'll definitely have my Milepost with me, and thanks for the Hatcher Pass tip. We're also stopping in Talkeetna for flightseeing with K2Aviation if weather permits, or on the way back several days later if weather doesn't permit.

 

Linda

[LarryF]

I think it may depend on the time of year. We drove to Denali from Palmer on May 30 and drove back from Denali to Anchorage on June 2. We did not encounter any traffic delays either way. McKinley was out on the return trip and the views were magnificent. We had an encounter with a moose on the side of the road on our way back about 30 miles north of Talkeetna and parked on the side of the road for at least 20 minutes and only 2 cars came by in either direction during those 20 minutes (it was about 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning).

 

In fact we had very little traffic on the Seward Hwy., Glenn Hwy or Parks Hwy during our week of travel.

[jrw]

...but it's still the 2nd-busiest highway in Alaska (the Seward being the worst).

 

Murray

 

Everything is relative. Busiest and second-busiest in Alaska (I've been on both of these, as well as the Dalton Highway -- not even paved -- all the way up to Prudhoe Bay) would be considered a rare treat in any major US city in the "lower 48". It sure won't be bumper-to-bumper, miles-long gridlock. Anything less than that, to those of us who live that daily grind, is an absolute pleasure. Not to mention, you don't have the road rage to contend with, either. In comparison, even the busiest road in Alaska is sheer bliss...with the added bonus of wonderful scenery. Sure beats stinky, smoggy, city highways, littered with billboards. :)

[Yukon]

Everything is relative. Busiest and second-busiest in Alaska... would be considered a rare treat in any major US city in the "lower 48".

 

Point taken. Having just come from Seattle and Vancouver I should have thought of that - what a horror that is to us bushbabies. I will fly every possible leg from now on :D