Trip report: Six Alaska national parks in seven days
My friends and I recently visited six of the eight national parks in Alaska over seven days. It was part of a trip to Alaska from Washington, DC, that totaled 10 days.
Since I’ve previously looked to Reddit for advice on a trip like this, I figured I’d share our itinerary and costs here in case they can be helpful to anyone planning a similar trip. Our priorities were to hit as many NPs as possible over 10 days and to have memorable experiences inside of them, whether it be hiking, camping or other sightseeing.
I should note that we got lucky with weather and had minimal disruptions due to it. Of course you should always remain flexible with weather in Alaska. And the longer summer days, especially north of Anchorage, were definitely helpful with packing in activities.
We started our trip by flying from DC to Fairbanks and spending the night at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge. The lodge is close to the airport and has a shuttle you can call 24/7.
Here was our itinerary for the next seven days:
Day 1: Kobuk Valley NP and Gates of the Arctic NP
We hired Golden Eagle Outfitters* to fly us into Kobuk Valley NP and Gates of the Arctic NP out of Fairbanks International Airport. The trip took about eight hours and included ground stops in each park for 30-45 minutes. We landed on the sand dunes in Kobuk Valley NP and in a river valley in Gates of the Arctic. There was a third ground stop in Bettles for refueling. We were able to visit the Gates of the Arctic ranger station during this stop.
Day 2: Denali NP
We did not plan much on this day in case our trip to Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic had to be postponed. In the afternoon, we drove from Fairbanks to Denali NP, where we hiked the Savage Alpine Trail. We spent the night at Savage River Campground.
Day 3: Denali NP
In the morning, we further explored Denali by taking the park bus to the functional end of the road right now (Mile 43), where we got off and hiked off-trail for an hour or so. We took the bus back to our car at the campground and then drove to Anchorage, where we spent the night at an Airbnb.
Day 4: Kenai Fjords NP
In the morning, we drove from Anchorage to Seward. In the afternoon, we hiked Harding Icefield Trail in Kenai Fjords NP. We spent the night at Exit Glacier Lodge, which is just outside the park boundary in Seward.
Day 5: Kenai Fjords NP
We took a six-hour boat tour of the Kenai Fjords NP coastline through Major Marine Tours. We drove back to Anchorage afterward and spent the night at an Airbnb.
Day 6: Lake Clark NP
We did the Lake Clark Resort day trip package to see Lake Clark NP. This began by flying from Merrill Field in Anchorage to Port Alsworth using Lake Clark Air. Once we arrived, we had about seven hours on the ground. We hiked the Tanalian Falls and Kontrashibuna Lake trails until we crossed over the park boundary, which was 3-4 miles in*. We hiked back to Port Alsworth for our return flight to Anchorage. We spent the night at an Airbnb.
Day 7: Katmai NP
In the morning, we flew from Anchorage International Airport to King Salmon on Alaska Airlines. We took the Katmai Water Taxi** from King Salmon to Brooks Camp in Katmai NP. We saw the bears along the Boardwalk Trail and at Brooks Falls. We spent the night at the Brooks Camp campground (permit required).
We returned to Anchorage the following day using the Katmai Water Taxi and Alaska Airlines out of King Salmon. The next day, we flew home to DC from Anchorage.
Costs (excluding flights between Alaska and DC, lodging, meals and rental car)
- Golden Eagle Outfitters flight tour of Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley NPs: $2,550/person***
- Denali NP bus: $33.50/person
- Major Marine Tours boat tour of Kenai Fjords NP: $265/person
- Lake Clark Resort day trip package: $665/person
- Katmai Water Taxi between King Salmon and Brooks Camp, roundtrip: $410/person
- Alaska Airlines flights between Anchorage and King Salmon, roundtrip: $550/person
- Total: $4,473.50
*This is an important point for the NP junkies. Port Alsworth is not actually inside Lake Clark NP. You can see on the map here that the Kontrashibuna Lake Trail ends just inside of the park boundary.
**The water taxi tickets include a shuttle from the King Salmon airport to the dock where the taxi leaves, which is a 10- to 15-minute drive.
***They have a credit card processing fee, so I’d recommend bringing a check or cash to pay.