Whether looking for stark and beautiful landscapes or looking to view wildlife and birds, the national parks of Alaska have so much to offer. So parks are huge, making other parks in the US look tiny, while others are smaller and more accessible for hiking and more. The best time to visit Alaska’s national parks is between May and September each year. Here are three of the best to visit in 2023.
1. Denali National Park and Preserve
Located around halfway between Anchorage and Fairbanks, and hosting the tallest mountain in North America, Denali is one of the best. Pictured above and top, the park is readily accessible, but still has the raw pull of the wilderness and plenty of wildlife to see and photograph.
The park is within four driving hours of Anchorage and is often included as the land-based part of an Alaskan cruise tour. It is well set up and ready to receive visitors of all kinds. One of the best ways to see Denali is on special buses with driver guides, heading on one of the arterial roads, heading deep into the interior. Here you will experience sweeping landscapes of empty tundra, with only wildlife to see, including moose, bears, caribou and Dall sheep, with a background of Denali Mountain.
For mountain climbers, Denali scales 20,310 ft, while hikers can follow well-marked trails close to the entrance gate. Alternatively, take a drive on the 93-mile Park Road with the sun and stars to guide you.
2. Katmai National Park, Alaska
Katmai National Park is one of the best places to see brown bears in the wild, often seen in the river fishing for salmon. One of the best times to visit the park is at certain times between July and September. At this time, Brooks Falls, the park’s main entry point, features a traffic jam of bears waiting to capture the spawning salmon.
However, this experience doesn’t come cheap, as Katmai is a fly-in-only park. On top of this, the rustic all-inclusive accommodation at Brooks Lodge will also take a chunk of your savings. However, the once-in-a-lifetime experience that few others see makes it all worthwhile. Moreover, trips to Katmai can be organized from Anchorage.
3. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve
They say everything is big in Texas, but that state definitely has competition in Alaska. In fact, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve is larger than nine US states and a number of European countries. Moreover, the park’s permanent population is less than one hundred people.
However, for those seeking remote and wild, this is one of the most off-the-beaten-track places to be. However, with careful expert planning, Wrangell-St. Elias is surprisingly accessible. From May to September each year, visitors can catch a shuttle bus from the town of Glennallen along a single, unpaved road that branches off the Richardson Highway near Copper Center to Wrangell-St. Elias.
Meanwhile, besides the spectacular natural landscapes, this park is famous for its twin outback villages of Kennecott and McCarthy. Kennecott is a copper mining ghost town, where the jumble of buildings is protected by the national park. Moreover, one of these buildings has been turned into a retro hotel perfect for a comfortable stay with tours available in the area.
McCarthy used to be a den of iniquity for off-duty miners. However, nowadays, is a gritty subsistence-hunting community with a huddle of clapboard buildings. Among these are a couple of saloons and a hotel called Ma Johnson’s that takes you back to the Wild West. In fact, this is probably the closest example of a genuine frontier US town. Moreover, there are hiking trails to disused mining shafts, a glacier to explore and all the empty nature you could wish for.
Explore Alaska’s national parks in 2023, for the natural experience of a lifetime.