Backpacking Denali National Park is a bucket list item for many outdoor enthusiasts. It’s also a great way to see the park beyond the established roads and trails. In fact, there aren’t any trails in much of Denali’s 6 million acres, so backpacking here is a true wilderness experience.

Upon arrival in Denali National Park, we didn’t have any plans to spend a night in the great outdoors. However, after a few days of witnessing the vast landscape of rolling tundra, jagged peaks, and majestic animals we wanted to immerse ourselves in this incredible wilderness. Our trip into the backcountry of Denali would be our first time backpacking in Alaska.

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Backpacking Denali: A True Wilderness Experience

Before Denali was a national park, it was a wildlife preserve. Initially this rich ecosystem was protected to conserve the Dall sheep that live in the mountains here as they were being over-hunted. The park’s roots of putting wildlife first are still strong today. The National Park Service has regulations, processes, and educational programs in place to keep human impact to a minimum, so this breathtaking place stays natural and wild.

In light of these processes and the true wilderness of the area, backpacking Denali National Park requires some additional preparation compared to a typical camping excursion. We’ve put together this Denali backpacking guide to help to you plan your own wilderness adventure and share our experience in the backcountry of Alaska’s oldest national park. This guide includes information on orientation and preparation, obtaining a permit, the Denali shuttle bus system for getting into the park, and a backpacking gear list of everything you need to bring.

Planning

For purposes of this guide, we’re going to assume that you’re visiting during the summer season and have already made plans to get not only to Alaska, but to Denali National Park. For information on getting to Denali National Park, places to stay, and other things to do in the park check out our full Denali National Park Travel Guide.

Pre-Trip – Understanding Denali’s Unit System and Choosing an Area of the Park

The first thing you need to decide when planning a Denali backpacking trip is where you want to spend your time within the 6 million acres. No small task for sure, but I’ll explain the process and link to a handy planning tool.

Denali National Park is divided into 87 sections, called units. To protect the park from overuse, during the summer season 41 of these units have a limit on the number of people that can camp there per night. Each unit’s max is anywhere from 2-12 people. There are also limits on the group size allowed in each unit.

The National Park Service has a comprehensive Backcountry Unit Map to help you plan. It provides information on each section of the park including terrain descriptions, travel time from the park entrance, and area closures.

Before arriving in Denali National Park, spend some time familiarizing yourself with the park sections and identifying 3-5 potential units that you’d like to backpack in. Of course, you should also know how long you intend your backpacking trip to be. You can spend up to seven consecutive nights in a unit and up to 30 total nights in the backcountry during the summer season. You should determine whether you want to stay in one unit the entire time or travel to different units during your trip.

In Denali National Park

If you have a few days to spend in the park before your backpacking trip, you can ask the backcountry rangers for recommendations. It still helps to have an idea of what area of the park you’re interested in and the type of trip you want. For example, do you want to hike through multiple units or set-up a base camp and day hike? The rangers can provide insight about what areas would be best as well as what terrain to expect.

How to Obtain a Denali Backcountry Permit

In order to camp in the wilderness of Denali National Park you must obtain a backcountry permit for the specific unit(s) you’ll be in. Permits can only be obtained in person from the backcountry office in the Denali Visitor Center and only up to one day in advance of your departure. All your party members must be present to receive a permit.

When we visited in mid-July, very few of the units were reaching their max occupancy each day, however we heard that this is unusual. My advice is to be at the visitor center right when it opens the day before you leave. This will give you the best possibility of getting your preferred unit(s).

Permits are free as are bear canister rentals (which are required in the back country here). If you don’t have an annual pass, you’ll need to pay the $15 per person park entrance fee. This gains you access to the park for seven days.

Once you know what unit(s) you’ll be in, you can purchase topographical maps from the backcountry office. They also have free photocopies of the maps if you don’t want to purchase the actual map (or if they’re out of the map for your unit which was the case for us).

Backcountry Orientation at Denali National Park

The park service recommends allowing an hour and a half for orientation and trip planning at the visitor center and it did take us this long. Again, if you can get your permit and go through orientation the day before you leave, then you’ll be ready to hit the grounding running (or trekking at least—running with a pack on isn’t advised, unless you’re being chased by a moose, that is) on your departure day.

Orientation includes a ranger led safety talk and watching a series of films in the theater. Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll record that you’ve done so in a ledger at the backcountry ranger desk. If you’re local to the area or planning to backpack Denali National Park multiple times you only need to complete the orientation once per season.

During the orientation you’ll learn all about how to keep your impact on the land to a minimum during your visit as well as backcountry wildlife safety. Honestly, we were a bit more nervous after the orientation because it includes numerous bear encounter tales. We did however, learn a lot about what to do if we cross paths with a bear and how to set-up our camp, cooking area, and food storage using the triangle method.

Denali National Park Shuttle Buses

If you’re in one of the units near the park entrance (units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 24, 25, 26, and 27) you can ride the free Savage River Shuttle which goes to mile 15. If you want to backpack deeper in the park, you’ll need to purchase a ticket for the camper bus. It runs from early June through mid-September. The camper bus goes all the way to the end of the park road—at Kantishna—and is cheaper than the other transit shuttles.

You must first get your backpacking permit, then you can go to the Denali Bus Depot to purchase your camper shuttle bus ticket. Once in the park, you can flag down any green bus heading east and they’ll pick you up.

If you plan your trip right, you can see a whole lot of Denali’s wilderness with just one camper bus ticket. You can spend your first night in a unit near the end of the Park Road (just know that it’s a six-hour one-way bus ride to Kantishna). Then take the shuttle further east towards the entrance each day and spend every night in a different unit. This is a great way to see many different areas of the park without spending a lot of money.

Other Things to Know About Backpacking Denali National Park

• There aren’t trails. While you might come across game trails, or even old wagon trails, there aren’t any maintained trails or established routes. During your orientation at the national park you’ll learn how to minimize your impact on the land but be prepared to traverse trail-less terrain (say that three times fast). This means you need to know how to navigate natural wilderness using a compass and topographical map.
• You must camp out of sight of the park road. This sounds simple enough, but in most places the park road is raised above the surrounding landscape so getting out of sight will usually require a minimum of a few miles of trekking.
• Always filter your water. A ranger told us that most of the streams and rivers in Denali have giardia so filtering and/or treating your water is essential even if it looks clear and clean.
• Prepare for Stream and River Crossings. Almost all of the routes you’re likely to take will require stream or river crossings. The river we crossed wasn’t very high or swift so I changed into my sturdy water shoes and converted my hiking pants to shorts for the crossing to keep my boots dry.
• Practice Leave No Trace Principles. As always, use leave no trace principles to minimize your impact on the area. You can learn more about how to be a good national park visitor in this post.
• Do not publish specific GPS locations, routes, or itineraries from your Denali backpacking adventure. While the park says it’s fine to share photos of your trip, they ask you not to geotag specific areas, or publish maps or guides of your route or campsite. The goal is to preserve this undeveloped wilderness and allow others to navigate it themselves. Part of the experience when backpacking Denali is finding your own way in the wild. You’re also likely to leave with gratitude for things you’ve previously taken for granted. Believe me, after a couple days of bushwhacking you’ll be very grateful for the next established trail you set foot on.
  

Denali Backpacking Gear List

I love a good checklist so here’s a comprehensive guide of what gear and supplies to bring when backpacking Denali National Park. If you’re traveling elsewhere in Alaska during your trip be sure to check out our full Alaska Packing List here.

Backpack (his and hers) – First things first, make sure you have a solid pack to put all this gear in.
Rain cover for backpack
Daypack (optional) – If you’re only going for one night or planning to hike to a new camp each day, you could forgo this. However, I always bring my daypack and use it to haul things around (or for additional treks) once we’ve set-up camp.
Trekking poles

Footwear, Clothes, and Personal Items

Waterproof boots (his and hers)
Sturdy slip-on water shoes (his and hers) – I use these for stream crossings and camp shoes when I need to get in and out of the tent quickly.
Gaiters – Wish we’d had these with us because a rainy hike out of the backcountry left us drenched from the knees down.
Hiking socks (his and hers) – I’ve been loving these Darn Tough socks lately.
Rain jacket (his and hers)
Lightweight packable jacket (his and hers)
Thermal shirt (his and hers)
Quick dry t-shirt or long sleeve shirt or both
Convertible hiking pants (his and hers)
Base layer pants or warm leggings
Underwear
Winter hat
Gloves
Sun hat with bug net
Toiletries and personal items – Toothbrush, toothpaste, contacts, glasses, hand sanitizer, deodorant (or enjoy your natural odors for a few days). Just make sure everything scented fits in a bear canister along with your food.

Tent and Sleeping Gear

Lightweight tent
Tarp
Sleeping bag rated for 20° F – Assuming you’re visiting in summer. If visiting in winter, you’ll want a bag rated for colder temps.
Inflatable pillow – Luxury, yes I know, but this pillow makes all the difference for me when it comes to sleeping on hard surfaces.
Sleeping mat

Food and Cooking

Bear canister – Available free with your permit.
Water filter or treatment tablets
Hydration bladder and/or water bottle
Collapsible water storage bag
Meal kit – This kit has all the servingware needed.
Small stove burner
Cooking pot
Biodegradable soap – Always use at least 200 feet away from water sources and watch the park orientation video for tips on avoiding soap entirely during your trip.
Rezips – I’ve been loving these in lieu of Ziploc bags to keep things organized, pack out what we packed in, and help reduce single-use plastic.
Ditty sacks
Small quick-dry cloth/towel
Fuel for stove
Leatherman and/or knife
Lighter – One of Tom’s MacGyver tricks is to wrap the lighter with duct tape so you have emergency duct tape along too. Seriously, we’ve fixed so many things with it.
Lightweight high calorie food and snacks – Make sure you bring food that fits into a bear canister along with all other scented items.

Budget travel tip: When we have access to house life, we dehydrate our own backcountry meals in bulk and save a ton of money by not having to buy them from retailers.

Other Items

Bear repellent spray
Insect repellent
Sunscreen and sunglasses – Hopefully you’ll have more use for these than we did during our rainy trip. Also, you can use the code SAVE15 to get 15% off at Sunglass Warehouse anytime. I’ve been wearing their shades for the last year. They’re some of the most durable I’ve owned, plus they’re super budget friendly.
Sanitation trowel, toilet paper, and bag to pack out used toilet paper
First aid kit
Camera or phone for photos/videos
Binoculars or monocular
Battery bank charger and cords (optional)
Dry bag
Compass
Topographical map(s) – You can purchase these from the backcountry permitting office once you know what unit you’ll be in.
Headlamp – If you’re backpacking Denali in June or July, these are probably unnecessary as it doesn’t really get dark, but we brought ours just in case.

Hopefully this guide to backpacking Denali National Park has helped you prepare for your own wilderness adventure. Is backpacking Denali something you’d like to try?

Related Posts:

• Complete Alaska Packing List
• More than a Mountain: Denali National Park Travel Guide
• Everything you Need to Know About the Alaska Marine Highway

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