Tag: Denali National Park

This past August I met up with my best friend in Anchorage, Alaska to start our week long adventure hiking and road tripping up and down the state. She moved out to Oakland, California two years ago while I remained in Boston, and we figured it would be a great adventure to have a reunion someplace we’ve never visited before. Since Alaska was on both of our bucket lists, we thought it would be the perfect destination. After flying in to Anchorage and spending the first night at a local hostel, we drove 5 hours up to Denali National Park where we spent three nights camping within the park and hiking as much as possible. The highlight of the park was the Savage Alpine Trail, a 4 mile point-to-point hike that gains 1,000 feet within the first mile. At its highest point, the trail reaches 4,116 feet. When choosing which end to start at, we tapped into the knowledge of the experienced campground hostess, an elderly woman who spends half her year living on the campground in her jetstream, and the other half in Florida. She seemed like the kind of woman who would be a warm den mother, but threaten her babies and she would not think twice about taking you out, so we felt we could trust her. Via her recommendation, we decided to take the bus from our campsite to the far end of the trailhead, which would allow us to end our hike just across the street from the campground. Though it’s the steeper route, it would prevent us from having to wait for a bus to take us back. Continue reading “Hike Denali: The Savage Alpine Trail” →