Alaska: Beyond Naknek

Introduction

I have been coming to work in the small town of Naknek, Alaska for the past eight years. I love how different it is from my California hometown. Naknek was just as it was described to me during the interview process; a remote small town with limited internet access. I knew what I was getting into and it was just what I was looking for! The workload and continual 16 hour shifts made it difficult to explore the area though. Each season that I returned I was able to explore the town a bit more, but by my third season I was eager to see more of Alaska.

After the end of the season in 2015, my co-worker turned close friend and I decided to visit the iconic Denali National Park. We planned the journey on a whim and with the limited internet access in Naknek we weren’t able to sort out all of the details. That added to the adventure of it all. We extended our time in the last frontier state by delaying our flight in Anchorage (this can be done at the airport by talking to an airline customer service agent) and slept at the airport while we figured out our plans. We hastily made a car rental reservation (to date, this has been the most expensive rental I’ve ever had) and looked through the scarce Airbnb options. Luck was on our side and we were able to book a small cabin two hours away from the park entrance in the cute town of Talkeetna, Alaska. The next day we set off for our adventure.

Denali National Park

The drive to from Anchorage was long and scenic. When we arrived to Talkeetna we explored the cute cafes in the area then continued onward to the park.

Once we arrived we were in awe of how vast the park was, it seemed to go on forever. In addition to having the highest peak in the United States, the park boasts 6 million acres. With limited time on our hands we checked out the visitor’s center and set out for a hike.

Even though we still had blisters on our feet and the aches that come with a 112 hour workweeks, we were eager to make the most of our time. Just like in Naknek the weather in Denali was a bit unpredictable. We went on an 8 mile hike during bright sunny weather and as we reached the highest point on the trail we were hit with one heck of a rainstorm!

Admittedly we were scared, but it was too far to turn back around so we waited it out. It quickly passed and we scrambled to finish the hike. After that we stuck to easier hikes on lower elevations.

The rest of our time in Denali was spent watching the wildlife and reminiscing on the season we just finished. We crammed as much as we could in those few days that we had. So much to do in so little time! We made it a point to stay in the park until 9PM and make that two hour drive to our Airbnb in order to make the most of our time. We did it and with a good amount of daylight. On our last day in the park we drove the almost 5 hours back to the Anchorage airport to once again spend the night at the airport and fly out the next morning. I don’t remember much about the flight back home, but I remember feeling more excited than ever to return to Alaska the following season.

    Afterthought

I have many fond memories of my time in Alaska, but being lucky enough to go to Denali National Park is at the top of the list. With over 500,000 sq miles Alaska is the biggest state in the US. There is so much to see and do beyond Nakenk.

What will you explore?