The Alaska Range: Still the Great One

Clouds part over the Alaska Range to uncloak 20,320-foot (6,194-meter) Mount McKinley just one day in three on average, making a peak sighting something of a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair.

Early conservationist Charles Sheldon caught his glimpse in 1906, prompting him to write that the "great mountain rose above me desolate, magnificent, overpowering . . . no words can describe my feelings." Luckily, Sheldon did manage to put into words a proposal for what would become Denali National Park, assuring that millions would have a chance to fall speechless—or just enjoy a great photo op—before "the Great One."

New Frontier
Scouting the Iditarod
While most guides focus on Mount McKinley, Bill Merchant has his eye on another part of the 400-mile (644-kilometer) Alaska Range: Rainy Pass, famous as part of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Much of the 1,150-mile (1,851-kilometer) Iditarod route slogs through wetlands and across bogs impassable to summer hikers, but at Rainy Pass the trail climbs skyward to broach the Alaska Range.

Merchant, owner of Alaska Ultra Sport and a former dog musher himself, leads 45-mile (72-kilometer), seven-day treks from Rainy Pass Lodge to the Rohn Roadhouse using the Iditarod Trail as a framework ($1,995, including bush flights to and from Anchorage; www.alaskaultrasport.com). The route leads through high-country tundra spangled with wildflowers, along mountain streams that mushers never see, and near the infamous Dalzell Gorge—the ruin of many sled racers. Think of it as a taste of the Iditarod without the frostbite and the minus 40ºF (minus 40ºC) temperatures.


Classic
Hiking Denali's Empty Quarter
To secure a permit for Denali's vast backcountry, hikers must choose between 87 separate divisions, wait out temporary closures due to bear sightings and river floodings, and nab a pass just one day in advance with no reservations accepted (www.nps.gov/dena). Consider it minor bureaucratic penance for a chance at wilderness heaven. To choose a route—a challenge in its own right in a 6.1-million-acre (2.5-million-hectare) wildland without trails—pick up the classic Backcountry Companion: Denali National Park and Preserve by Jon Nierenberg at the permit office near the park entrance or online ($9; www.earthsonglodge.com).

Opt for the Sanctuary River and Anderson Pass Loop, a weeklong trek that starts when you step off the backpackers' bus at Sanctuary River on Sheldon's beloved north slope. The winding route teeter-totters across both sides of the Alaska Range through Foggy Pass and Easy Pass before ending at the headwaters of the West Fork of Glacier Creek. You'll spot grizzly tracks, tufts of wool from Dall sheep, and alder thickets bulldozed by moose, all the while keeping your eyes wide open for the mountain to make an appearance through the clouds.
 
Need to Know: Old-timer's guide to bear identification: If it climbs the tree to kill you, it's a black bear. If it knocks the tree over first, then kills you, it's a griz.