48 Hours in Denali National Park

In June 2016, Cotopaxi sent Greg Balkin and me to Denali National Park—for the sole purpose of capturing assets to utilize for an upcoming Alaska Airlines partnership promotion where a lucky winner would get some gear and airfare so that they could explore the Last Frontier.

We had a six day window to travel to-and-fro, organize wilderness permits, get into the park, have a real experience, and capture it, and take the train from the park to our flights out in Fairbanks.

Off we went to Denali National Park. Once the logistics were organized, gear was cached, and food was packed, we boarded the bus into the wilderness; got dropped off in a zone; and began hiking cross country away from the road.

We went as far as we needed to to find a good campsite that first day. Slept in the next morning. And then continued hiking towards some snowy peaks, with the aim of getting as close to them as we could. With 12 hours left until we had to return to the road, we decided to forego sleeping, and instead continued hiking.

Eventually, around midnight, the sun dropped below the horizon. We continued hiking through the “night.” Though ambient light remained, all sorts of creatures, insects, and animals came out to play, a cacophony of sounds and activity. The sun rose again an hour or two later; we crossed the river; and returned to the road. I slept on a bench until the bus picked us back up, less than 48 hours after it’d dropped us off.