Denali Excursions

[Ber2048]

Has anyone taken the ATV side by side excursion, or the Covered Wagon excursion in Denali?

 

How was your experience, and what month did you take the excursions?  We will be there mid May, and I understand there could be some snow. 

We will be staying at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and looking for something to do the afternoon and evening of our arrival. The next day we are booked for a Park Tour on the only one available for mid May. 

 

What other excursions did anyone take during mid May before the park buses started running?

[Paula_MacFan]

I haven't done those excursions but when I was researching our upcoming cruisetour I looked for reviews and found many on TripAdvisor which is a sister company of Cruise Critic. You might check there. 

[wolfie11]

Depends on the weather.  I haven’t taken the wagon ride but I was there once when it was pouring rain and the people on it looked miserable.

[Ber2048]

Thanks for your reply.That is a good point.  I guess weather means everything. I imagine it is the same for an ATV tour, and walking the trails. At least you are enclosed with the bus or car. You never know what Mother Nature will do. 

[AKStafford]

Just realize those tours do not actually go into the National Park.

To actually go into the Park, use the transit buses: https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm  Although, depending on your exact dates, they may not be running yet.

[IBin2crusin]

We have done the ATV excursion on our July 2016 trip.  All ATV’s follow one another, so you only go as fast as the leader is taking you.  (Hubby a bit disappointed by that).  We went through beautiful trails, hills and to a river bed.  
if you have a few hours available, I’d go to the Dog Kennel area.  I can’t remember if we hiked or took a bus there, it was free and interesting.  

[Ber2048]

Thank you. So many things to see. Slow seems good to me. Unfortunately, the dog kennels are only open on weekends in mid May when we will be there. We are arriving on a weekday. Good information, though. 

[Ber2048]

Thank you, AK  Much to my disappointment, the transit buses will not be running. We will be on a Princess Land Tour, and looking for something for one afternoon/evening. They do have the History tour scheduled for one day. Trying to fill up the other. You can drive your own car to Mike 30. It’s either an excision outside the park or renting a car and driving ourselves. That is why I was looking for excursion reviews. Your information was helpful. 

[oaktreerb]

Jeff King’s Husky Homestead may be operating tours.  In the past they picked us up at the hotel (round trip).  The national park has exhibits at the visitor center.  There is a great bookstore at the visitor center.  Have you checked for rafting excursions?  (they are fun). You can do some short hikes.   There may be a dinner show that can be fun for first timers.  It really depends on your interests.  

Edited February 9 by oaktreerb

[Ber2048]

Thank you for your information. Unfortunately except for the dinner show and short hikes, the other things you mentioned aren’t available mid May. The main visitor center isn’t open either. I think the science Center is the visitor center?

The trails look like a plan. I appreciate your information. 

[oaktreerb]

I would not expect Princess to offer cruise tours to Denali when so few activities were available.  We did the Natural History Tour on our first visit to Denali (August).  It was raining pretty hard but we did see two moose and some Ptarmigan along the road.  We were off the bus when the moose walked by.  We got some good pictures.   Maybe some activities will open up at the Lodge.  Glitter Gulch is across the highway but those stores will just be getting ready for the season.

 

There is a science center in a separate building from the visitor center at Denali.   The sled dogs work in the park all winter but it sounds like visitor’s are only welcome on the weekends.  (?)

Edited February 9 by oaktreerb

[donaldsc]

I find it interesting but not surprising that Princess offers cruise tours early in the season that include Denali when park activities are basically not open at that time.  I assume that they did not tell you of this when you booked or if they did it was in the cruisetour fine print.

 

DON

[Ber2048]

They did not tell us that the Park activities and buses were not  running. I discovered it on my own. 
I guess to some folks it doesn’t matter. 
There are back country ATV rides. I would prefer to get farther into the park, though. 
At lleast we have the history tour. Hoping Mother Nature cooperates.

[LynKev]

Look at a company called DogGoneIt tours - we booked this on a cruisetour with HAL and I see that this company has tours starting in mid-May.

[Ber2048]

25 minutes ago, LynKev said:

Look at a company called DogGoneIt tours - we booked this on a cruisetour with HAL and I see that this company has tours starting in mid-May.

Thank you. I’ll check it out!

[wolfie11]

You will likely see moose on the NHT.  Around mid-May the pregnant females start hanging out close to the entrance before giving birth in late May.  They want to be around people because bears will stalk them and attack the newborn calves.  Bears don’t like being around people.  I saw one give birth in the roundabout for the train station one year.

Edited February 18 by wolfie11

[Ber2048]

3 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

You will likely see moose on the NHT.  Around mid-May the pregnant females start hanging out close to the entrance before giving birth in late May.  They want to be around people because bears will stalk them and attack the newborn calves.  Bears don’t like being around people.  I saw one give birth in the roundabout for the train station one year.

 

3 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

You will likely see moose on the NHT.  Around mid-May the pregnant females start hanging out close to the entrance before giving birth in late May.  They want to be around people because bears will stalk them and attack the newborn calves.  Bears don’t like being around people.  I saw one give birth in the roundabout for the train station one year.

That would be nice to see a moose, and some of the other wildlife. We were in Yellowstone in September, we saw wildlife, but not a moose.