1st Summer in Denali NP

For those of you who do not know, Denali National Park is in the interior of Alaska. Last summer I spent a few month there working as Naturalist/Guide at Denali Backcountry Lodge. The lodge is literally at the end of a 95 mile dirt road, accessible only by special permit. There are two other lodges out there and a small flightseeing outfitter. No shops, no mobile phones, no private cars, no other roads, no concrete. However there is internet, so it is possible to spend all the money you earn if you have little or no self control!
The best part about living at the lodge is that you get to go backpacking every weekend. I did some incredible trips and managed to live to tell that tales about them and bring photo's back, although there were moments in the cold and rain that I thought I might just fall down and not get up again! Despite what people think, it's not actually that cold in Alaska in the summer time. It's mostly mild with a few hot days here and there. Perfect hiking weather!

A Little Alpenglow on Denali

The view from Wonder Lake.

It is a well known fact that the sun doesn't set in Alaska in the summer time. This took alot of getting used to at first. Waking up at 3am with the sun shining bright and you're feeling ready to jump out of bed an get the day started - until you look at your watch. You try to go back to sleep but it's useless. The sun has supercharged you and there's nothing you can do about it! However, there are some beautiful sunsets early and late in the season. Here is one of them.

At the beginning of the season there are lots and lots of mozzies at Denali. They get in your tent, your housing, your hair, your food. They even fly in you mouth and try to choke you while you're talking! Although, they are disease free due to the fact that there's no real livestock up there, so it doesn't really itch when they bite you, which is a nice concellation prize. Jessica and I did this hike very early on in the season and woke up with this beautiful view outside our tent door in the morning.

At the beginning of the season there were alot of afternoon rain showers that brought the most incredible rainbows with them. Some days while hiking with guests we could see three or four rainbows all at once. And lots of double rainbows with one on top of the other!

It was such a beautiful summer and we are currently getting prepared to head up to DBL again for a second amazing season of hard work, 24hr daylight and incredible backpacking! We both got promotions this summer, so that's exciting too. If anyone wants to visit us up there we'd love to share this amazing place with you. Just give us a call or shoot us an email.