What to Do in Healy, AK
People looking to visit Denali National Park in the summer and stay at EarthSong Lodge have one thing in common with all other park visitors…they want to know what to do, where to go, and how to best experience the park. With the great variety of park visitors, from organized cruise ship tour groups to independent travelers, there is also a variety of answers to that question. But visitors staying at EarthSong Lodge are generally cut from a different cloth than the casual national park tourist, so this short piece will be geared towards them.
The EarthSong Guide to Denali
Average park visitors stay in the Denali area for 1-2 nights, but at EarthSong it is usually 2-4 nights. Our guests have a greater drive to see more of what the park has to offer. It seems reasonable to give a national park the size of Denali, six million acres, at least two or more nights for your discovery. After living in the area since 1982, I still find things to discover in this amazing place.
Above all, the number one activity at Denali for EarthSong guests is taking a shuttle bus into the park interior. This is the best way to see wildlife and the rugged terrain of the park. Summer tourists have a choice of guided tour buses or shuttles, and for independent travelers and families, along with hikers, the shuttle is by far the best option. All buses travel the same park road, and all stop equally for wildlife. What you get with a shuttle is flexibility to extend your day (get off and go hiking or picnicking) or shorten your day, and not be locked on to a bus for the entire trip. Shuttles are far less expensive, so for groups and families it makes even more sense.
Views You’ll Never Forget
Visitors can do a mixture of day hiking and paid activities. Great day hikes include Savage River Canyon and Mt. Healy Overlook, and a trip up Primrose Ridge can be considered if you want something that will take up the day, and get you close to Dall Sheep. Whitewater and flatwater rafting is offered by many companies for trips down the Nenana River, and is a great run and excellent value. Flightseeing around Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley is one of the best scenic flights anywhere in the world.
There is a choice between fixed-wing airplanes and helicopters, and I would strongly recommend the fixed-wing option. You can see much more of the park and actually fly around Mt. McKinley, so save the helicopter flight for another park or Hawaii. The staff at EarthSong are happy to make rafting and flight seeing reservations for our guests, and we can help you a bit by checking weather forecasts before booking.
Slow Down & Explore
We have a few good activities at EarthSong that would warrant an extra day in the area. At the lodge itself we offer daily sled dog kennel tours, free to our cabin guests, every morning. Evening slide shows at the coffeehouse are a nice way to enjoy dinner or an evening snack. Day hiking on the tundra is difficult if you are looking to make mileage, but excellent if you wish to check out life on the permafrost…a must for all naturalists! Most guests looking to do some hiking in the area will drive to the pullout above 8 Mile Lake, at the end of our road, and go walking down the old mining trail. The pullout there is the best view of the Stampede Valley, and a view of Mt. McKinley when the clouds are thin.
But we cannot forget berry season! Mid-July will find the Cloudberries in season. An historically important berry for natives, our area has some of the greatest concentrations of cloudberries in the Interior. Some natives will set up camps and pick for a week, filling five gallon buckets. Blueberries come out by the middle or end of August, and we usually see a great crop. Low bush cranberries are ripe around Labor Day.
