You guys are awesome. So we decided to rent a camper van and camp in Denali at Teklanika River for 3 nights. We'll take the bus around and hike for a few days. We'll then drive south to either Talkeetna and stay a night or keep going down to Kenai area and camp in some combination of Whittier/Seward/Homer areas, total of 4 nights. We haven't planned out exactly what we'll do after Denali. Probably try to kayak one day in Kenai. Maybe go fishing another, maybe try to get one of those flights and buzz Denali. We'll finish with a day in Anchorage before flying out. AlaskaSU, thanks for the offer! Unfortunately, no trip to Juneau this time around, trying not to spread ourselves too thin, which is a mistake we have made a few too many times.
Ahh shoot, sorry I totally spaced this. My memory has been shot lately.
I've heard some good things about the campground at Teklanika river. Don't worry about the whole "once you park the camper, you can't drive it out of the park again until you leave" thing. Shuttles run all day throughout the park. You can literally just start walking down the road, toss a thumb out, and the next bus will pick you up. If you do a bus tour of the park, make sure to sign up for a narrated bus. My 2nd time in the park we accidentally signed up for a non narrated bus, and it was horrrible.
Salmon bake is a great place to eat, right there in Denali Village. Met a few board members down there last summer for dinner. If you get a craving for pizza, Prospector pizza is the way to go. Lynx creek pizza (I think it's the name) is garbage lol.
Depending on your crew, 49th state brewery is a must. Great food, great beer, and a ton of whiskey. Hang by the fire outside, or the fire inside, normally always live music. It's about 10 minutes out of town but again, shuttles will get you there, and I believe they have uber running down there. 49th state has the bus used in the movie "Into the Wild" Swing by in February/March sometime and I'll take you to the real one.
Denali village has a ton of activities. 4 wheeler adventures, jeep adventures, white water rafting, ziplining, heli tours, flight tours, and a ton that i'm forgetting.
Denali village now has a marijuana dispensary!
Let me know your dates, and I might be able to swing down and grab a cocktail with ya. We shoot down there quite a bit for music/camping at the brewery
Talkeetna is a real cool little town to check out. We swung in there to do some ziplining a few years ago.
I don't know much about Whittier/Seward/Homer, as I still need to get down there for the first time myself.