Planning Your Trip:
I chose late summer to travel to Denali and I think that's the best time to do a hike to McGonagall Pass. Pros: Fewer mosquitoes, ripe blueberries, spectacular colors. Cons: could be colder, possibly rainier, possibly more crowded and difficult to get inside the quota (more about the quota system later).
I recommend packing all of your gear and taking it as luggage and carry-on(s). I packed everything on the gear list below except for two things: Bear spray and cooking fuel, both of which can be purchased in Alaska. I checked two bags: each of which weighed approx. 46lbs. I also recommend buying a cheap ($10) digital scale to make sure you comply with the 50lb limit for the airlines.- - its much easier than waiting until you arrive at the airport - - only to find that one bag weighs 53lbs and the other 45lbs.
Items to do BEFORE arriving in Alaska: book your campgrounds as backups in case you need to shift your hike by a couple nights. Do this as early as you can!!! Book your camper bus tickets before arriving, although this is probably less important than booking the campgrounds. If you want a hotel before or after the hike - be sure to book this ahead of time.
I always flew into Anchorage, Fairbanks is technically closer but has fewer direct flights from the southland. You'll probably in the evening... around 8pm seems to be when most daily airline service arrives. I always rented a car - - although this gets pricey especially considering the car will sit unused in the parking lot for at least 5 days.
I always flew into Anchorage, Fairbanks is technically closer but has fewer direct flights from the southland. You'll probably in the evening... around 8pm seems to be when most daily airline service arrives. I always rented a car - - although this gets pricey especially considering the car will sit unused in the parking lot for at least 5 days.
Don't try to drive all the way to Denali the same night (or at least I don't recommend it). There are several options for that first night. Year 1 I stayed in Anchorage (but now consider that a waste of time). Years 2, 3, 4 I stayed near mile-marker 115 at a cheap hotel. If I ever go back I would probably drive until I get tired and pitch a tent at the Denali STATE park campground.
Do plan to leave early the next morning to complete the drive to Denali. Plan to arrive at the backcountry office by 8:45am as they open at 9. They leave the current quota count taped to the glass on the door so you can use the 15 minutes to complete the planning for your hike.
Do plan to leave early the next morning to complete the drive to Denali. Plan to arrive at the backcountry office by 8:45am as they open at 9. They leave the current quota count taped to the glass on the door so you can use the 15 minutes to complete the planning for your hike.
Costs to Do this Trip:
After questions about bears, this is probably the most common question I get. There are two major costs for this trip: 1) Travel, 2) Gear. Actual costs within Denali are surprisingly little.
1) Travel - the major costs are airfare, rental car, hotels (which are expensive in Alaska - but fortunately you don't need many nights).
2) Gear. Wow - - over the years, I guess I've spent many dollars on gear. The one thing I've found is that the lighter gear you want, the more expensive it is.
Once you get to Denali, the only costs are the camper bus ticket and any nights in the campgrounds. A little surprisingly, backcountry permits are free.
The NPS Quota System:
On my first trip, I made a conscious decision that I would sincerely try to follow ALL rules that the NPS set forth. After completing my fourth year, I can say that adhering to the quota system was the most challenging task.
Don't underestimate this: the NPS takes the quota system seriously and so should you. One thing we should expect from our government is to create fair rules and administer them consistently. Even though I think the quota system could be improved, I believe the NPS administers the rules consistently.
If you REALLY want to do the McGonagall Pass hike during late summer, you should schedule 2 or 3 EXTRA days for your entire trip and be prepared to shift your hike start day by a day or two. This could be because of the quota system or the weather. This seems to be the ONE way you can have a good chance to make it to McGonagall Pass during late summer.
If you don't care if you do the McGonagall Pass hike or not, you can easily choose another unit that sits in the over 6 million acres at Denali (if the quota of 4 people is full in Unit 20).
Plan ahead! In my fourth year, I was camping south of McGonagall Pass by some two hundred yards only to realize that Unit 87 didn't begin at the Pass and I was actually out of my unit. I failed to study the actual bounds of Unit 87 ahead of time and know exactly where the boundaries were.
My gear list for Denali
I'm an engineer, ok? So... I split my gear into 8 categories:
Don't underestimate this: the NPS takes the quota system seriously and so should you. One thing we should expect from our government is to create fair rules and administer them consistently. Even though I think the quota system could be improved, I believe the NPS administers the rules consistently.
If you REALLY want to do the McGonagall Pass hike during late summer, you should schedule 2 or 3 EXTRA days for your entire trip and be prepared to shift your hike start day by a day or two. This could be because of the quota system or the weather. This seems to be the ONE way you can have a good chance to make it to McGonagall Pass during late summer.
If you don't care if you do the McGonagall Pass hike or not, you can easily choose another unit that sits in the over 6 million acres at Denali (if the quota of 4 people is full in Unit 20).
Plan ahead! In my fourth year, I was camping south of McGonagall Pass by some two hundred yards only to realize that Unit 87 didn't begin at the Pass and I was actually out of my unit. I failed to study the actual bounds of Unit 87 ahead of time and know exactly where the boundaries were.
My gear list for Denali
I'm an engineer, ok? So... I split my gear into 8 categories:
1. Wearing/carrying
2. Clothing:
3. Shelter and Sleeping
4. Maps and Navigation
5. Food and Cooking
6. Water
7. Small essentials
8. Packing
1. Wearing / Carrying: (total 14.8 lbs)
Hiking boots
Hiking socks
Hiking pants, shirt, undershorts
Soft shell jacket
Neck gaiter
Hiking hat or baseball cap
Paracord / survival bracelet
Camera, lens, small tripod (Gorilla-pod)
Zoom lens
Gun, clip
Bear spray
Personal Locator Beacon
iPhone & earbuds
Sunglasses (eternal optimist)
2. Clothing: (total 6.1 lbs)
Three shirts (two long sleeve, one short)
Long underwear
Wool or synthetic socks (3 pair)
Sleeping socks (2 pair)
Underwear (3 pair)
Neoprene socks for river crossing
Small towel or wash cloth
Lightweight, waterproof gloves
Winter hat
Rain jacket and pants
Gaiters
Mosquito head net
Trekking poles - telescoping
3. Shelter and Sleeping: (total: 7.2lbs)
Tent and ground cover
Extra pair of shoestrings - doubles as clothes-line in tent to dry things
Sleeping bag
Sleeping bag liner - silk
Sleeping pad
Petzl headlamp
4. Maps and Navigation: (total: 0.9 lbs)
GPS w/carabiner
Plastic bag with permits, tickets, topomaps
5. Food and Cooking: (total: 7.9 lbs)
Bear can
Cooking stove - Pocket-rocket
Cook fuel
Tin coffee cup with extendable handles
Spoon
2 Bic lighters
Medium plastic bags (3 extra)
Food: repacked into smaller bags: Oat meal (5) , Raman noodles (4), Mountain House (2)
Gorp: Trail mix - self made: heavy on chocolate and nuts, light on raisins. :)
Starbucks Via, and water add-ins.
6. Water: (total empty: 0.8 lbs, total with full water: 7.4 lbs)
2 water bottles
3-liter Camelback
Steripen water filter (Ultra small)
7. Small essentials: (total: 2.3 lbs)
Plastic trowel, toilet paper
Ibuprofen
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
Soap and deodorant
Lip balm, hand lotion
Ultra small first-aid kit and extra band aids
Binoculars
8. Packing: (total 5.4 lbs)
Backpack (I prefer Osprey Aether 85)
Backpack rain cover
The weight of wearing/carrying items: 14.8 lbs.
The total packed weight without water is: 31.6 lbs.
2. Clothing:
3. Shelter and Sleeping
4. Maps and Navigation
5. Food and Cooking
6. Water
7. Small essentials
8. Packing
1. Wearing / Carrying: (total 14.8 lbs)
Hiking boots
Hiking socks
Hiking pants, shirt, undershorts
Soft shell jacket
Neck gaiter
Hiking hat or baseball cap
Paracord / survival bracelet
Camera, lens, small tripod (Gorilla-pod)
Zoom lens
Gun, clip
Bear spray
Personal Locator Beacon
iPhone & earbuds
Sunglasses (eternal optimist)
2. Clothing: (total 6.1 lbs)
Three shirts (two long sleeve, one short)
Long underwear
Wool or synthetic socks (3 pair)
Sleeping socks (2 pair)
Underwear (3 pair)
Neoprene socks for river crossing
Small towel or wash cloth
Lightweight, waterproof gloves
Winter hat
Rain jacket and pants
Gaiters
Mosquito head net
Trekking poles - telescoping
3. Shelter and Sleeping: (total: 7.2lbs)
Tent and ground cover
Extra pair of shoestrings - doubles as clothes-line in tent to dry things
Sleeping bag
Sleeping bag liner - silk
Sleeping pad
Petzl headlamp
4. Maps and Navigation: (total: 0.9 lbs)
GPS w/carabiner
Plastic bag with permits, tickets, topomaps
5. Food and Cooking: (total: 7.9 lbs)
Bear can
Cooking stove - Pocket-rocket
Cook fuel
Tin coffee cup with extendable handles
Spoon
2 Bic lighters
Medium plastic bags (3 extra)
Food: repacked into smaller bags: Oat meal (5) , Raman noodles (4), Mountain House (2)
Gorp: Trail mix - self made: heavy on chocolate and nuts, light on raisins. :)
Starbucks Via, and water add-ins.
6. Water: (total empty: 0.8 lbs, total with full water: 7.4 lbs)
2 water bottles
3-liter Camelback
Steripen water filter (Ultra small)
7. Small essentials: (total: 2.3 lbs)
Plastic trowel, toilet paper
Ibuprofen
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
Soap and deodorant
Lip balm, hand lotion
Ultra small first-aid kit and extra band aids
Binoculars
8. Packing: (total 5.4 lbs)
Backpack (I prefer Osprey Aether 85)
Backpack rain cover
The weight of wearing/carrying items: 14.8 lbs.
The total packed weight without water is: 31.6 lbs.
Bear Safety
(for Grizzly bears – not for black bears, nor moose, nor wolves)
I thought I would say a few words about grizzly bear safety in Denali. First thing to say is that I’m not an expert. It seems everyone has an opinion about this topic and I have developed my own over the course of these years. Prior to each hike, I spent a fair amount of time researching and developing a strategy if I/we were to encounter a bear. This may sound like too much of a business-like, engineered approach and I certainly understand the unpredictable nature of Grizzly bears. I also understand that there are many unknown variables and that no strategy can be 100% guaranteed. However, I think that having a strategy set/firm in your own mind goes a long way toward giving yourself the best chance to survive. In developing a strategy, one goal of mine was to [try to] eliminate the panic/fear emotion if I encountered a bear. It seems to me that the best chance of surviving a bear encounter was to NOT panic, and do exactly what others have done with some success. I did not adopt an approach which is in 100% agreement with the official NPS recommendations. For example, I did decide to carry bear spray and a firearm as last resorts, and I will explain my thoughts on that a little later. Bear whistles and bear bells are worthless (not that the NPS recommends those anyway).
The way I see it, you can encounter a bear in three ways:
1. You see the bear afar off, the bear does not give any indication that it notices you.
2. You see the bear, and you can tell that the bear has noticed you.
3. You encounter a bear at close range - - or the bear walks upon your campsite or cook site.
There is one ‘final’situation to consider: [I use the word‘final’ in the place of ‘last’, not in the sense of time :) ]
4. Lastly, regardless of 1-3 above, if a bear charges you and an attack is imminent.
There may be other ways, but the four situations above are the ones I intentionally planned for.
1. The NPS gives good advice about when you come over a ridge, or around a mountain - - that you should take a minute to survey the distance ahead for bears. I’ve been told that bears have really good smelling, fairly good hearing, but pretty poor eyesight. If you happen to see a bear in the distance, say ¾ mile away or more. First thing is don’t draw attention to yourself… don’t shout. Don’t make noises. It would be stupid to change the entire situation to let the bear know you are there [we’re assuming that the bear hasn’t noticed you at all]. Make a note of the wind direction. Are you downwind or upwind? If you are downwind of the bear [and the bear still doesn’t see you], make plans to either retreat or circumnavigate around the bear. Choose a completely different path that will ensure the bear doesn’t notice you, accounting for both vision and smell. If you are upwind, it’s likely that the bear will eventually notice you unless you change your location.
We encountered this same situation twice in 2012 along Upper Cache Creek. Two bears were directly ahead of us (on the trail) but did not seem to notice us at all. They were at least ½ mile away. We didn’t panic, but we did discuss the options we had, which were basically to retreat backward or circumnavigate around them. We had to hike up and then along the side of a mountain to get around them, but the bears never noticed us. During the second encounter we were able to stay on the path - - hiking parallel to the bears, but still more than ¼ mile away from them. The wind was favorable to us in both of the encounters. Both times, I/we ensured that our bear spray (as well as my firearm) was accessible, but we certainly didn’t have the need for either. It seems pretty useless to hike with bear spray in your backpack. The holsters are made to wear on your belt, or you can easily carry it in your pocket.
Having been through this exact situation, I can say without doubt that of the three situations above, this is the best [and probably easiest] one. Having successfully lived through this situation, I can say that encountering a bear(s) like this was one of the most thrilling and memorable events of our hikes. I even got a few pictures, but we never allowed the bears to notice us.
2. So if number 1 was the easiest, the situation gets more complicated if the bear notices you. The approach I was going to take in this case is fairly similar to the approach I would take in situation #3. That is, don’t panic, don’t shout, and certainly do not run (I learned in Africa that a predator instinctively knows that anything that runs is ‘food’). Stand up and stand your ground at first. Begin slowly waving your arms above your head (don’t wildly thrash them – that would only make the grizzly more curious), begin speaking in a low, calm voice and let the bear know you’re a human and not to be messed with. The human voice is not mistakable, but a whistle or bear bells could only make the bear more curious. You don’t want to give the bear a reason to investigate. Begin slowly retreating, do not turn around and walk, keep your eyes on the bear at all times. Move as far away from the bear that you can – ¼ mile is minimum.
3. The closest I’ve ever been to a bear in the wild is about 20 yards. Steve, Clint and I were in the process of eating supper along the Toklat River (see 2011 hike chapter). I happened to see a bear cub just 20 yards behind Steve and Clint. It was frightening, but I would not classify it as terrifying. I was glad to experience that the first emotion I felt was not panic. I did have a giant rush of adrenaline however! I saw the bear first - - and I think I said something like “Ok, there is a BEAR right behind you”.
The sense that each of us had was that we needed to take action immediately. Steve immediately rose to his feet and turned to face the bear(s). When Steve stood up, we saw the mother bear just yards behind the cub. We both began raising our arms over our heads and speaking in low, calm tones. “Hey bear”, “hey bear”. Clint did the right thing - - which was to quickly finish the candy-bar he was eating (no joke), and to secure his bear can lid. The bear cub did rise up on his hind legs to see us better, but the mama never looked up at us. The bears simply walked away on their own without us having to retreat from our cook site. After the bears left, we investigated the area where they were grazing and found berry bushes. There is a picture in a previous chapter of our cook site. Clint is standing exactly where the bear cub was.
The lesson of course is that if a bear is immediately upon you – either while hiking or at camp - -to make yourself known as something different than a caribou or moose. By raising your arms, [supposedly] the bear sees something taller than itself and may retreat. By speaking in low, calm tones, the bear knows you’re not a moose. Sounds funny I know, but we did exactly what the NPS ranger recommend, and the bears behaved exactly the way we were told they would behave (they left).
When we were back at the Toklat rest area – we were telling a ranger about our encounter, and I made the same statement: “We did exactly what we were told to do and the bears behaved exactly the way we were told they would”. He smiled and gave me a high-five.
4. Ok, so far, so good. In the case of a charge or an imminent attack my approach does differ somewhat from the NPS recommended approach. I understand a charge is often a bluff to get you to retreat or simply to learn more about the threat level you present. In the case of a charge that gets ‘too close’, my planned approach is to use bear spray as a first line of defense. I intend to hold my ground until the bear gets within 10’. Yes, I might not be able to do that, but it’s my intention. The spray is effective within 30’ (by the label on the can), or more likely within 20’. The rangers state that bear spray is statistically the most effective deterrent to an attack. Having once inhaled just a little bear spray at Glacier in Montana, I can attest to its strength and effectiveness (on humans at least).
But as to the ‘final’ seconds before an imminent attack, I differ from the ‘drop and play dead’ approach that the NPS recommends. I simply don’t see myself doing that (some others might be able to do this). I’m very glad to say that I’ve never been in this situation and hope to never be. However, my plan (remember - - this is a strategy) is to use deadly force (on the bear)before any contact occurs between me and the bear. I realize that this is difficult to think about and that many will disagree. It’s ok to disagree. Others have disagreed with me and said they would begin shooting during a charge, say while the bear was still 20’away. I reject that plan as too strong of an approach. The goal is to dissuade the bear from coming any further, not to kill a bear. Remember how much trouble people have gotten in to for shooting within a National Park. For that matter, you’d better know and understand the laws of carrying a firearm within any national park boundaries, as well as rules that apply to carrying firearms on planes and/or buses. The laws changed in early 2010.
Last word on this subject: I will repeat that I’m not an expert; I’m just a person that has thought it through. One thing is certain in my mind: the subject of bears in Denali is too important to let human prejudices enter the discussion – either way. America’s fight to increase gun control is one which I’m not actively engaged. However, it’s clear that many anti-gun people would like to outlaw my firearm with a 13-shot clip, because Piers Morgan thinks its not necessary.
Click on this link to continue to Chapter 6 - Other Wildlife Pictures