National Geographic called this Alaska gravel road one of the top 10 drives on earth

The drive that National Geographic couldn’t ignore

The Denali Highway doesn’t ask much of you. Just 135 miles across interior Alaska, mostly gravel, above the treeline for much of the way.

But the road cuts between two mountain ranges, crosses glacially carved valleys, and passes through land people have hunted for 10,000 years.

National Geographic Traveler put it on their list of the top 10 drives in the world back in 2010. On a clear day, you might share the whole 135 miles with only a handful of other cars.

Alaska’s first road to Mount McKinley National Park

Before the Parks Highway existed, this was the only way in.

The Denali Highway opened in 1957 as the sole road to what was then called Mount McKinley National Park. It held that role until the early 1970s, when the Parks Highway took over the traffic.

The route got quieter after that, which is most of why it still feels the way it does. But the land it crosses has a much longer story.

The Tangle Lakes region near the Paxson end holds evidence of human activity going back at least 10,000 years, when Copper River Basin Athabaskan peoples used it as a seasonal hunting ground.

Look north and count the glaciers you can see

The Alaska Range lines the northern horizon for much of the drive, and on clear days you can pick out peaks by name. Mount Hayes rises 13,832 feet.

Mount Hess reaches 11,940 feet. Mount Deborah stands sharp in between.

Near the Cantwell end, Denali itself comes into view at 20,310 feet, the tallest peak in North America. Multiple glaciers are visible from the road, including the MacLaren Glacier and the Gulkana Glacier.

The MacLaren Glacier carved the valleys, lakes, and ridges you’re driving through.

MacLaren Summit sits higher than almost anything you can drive in Alaska

At 4,086 feet, MacLaren Summit is the second-highest highway pass in the Alaska road system. Only Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway clears it, at around 4,800 feet.

From the summit, the Alaska Range fans out across the northern horizon and the MacLaren River valley drops away below. The BLM’s MacLaren Summit Trail starts near milepost 39 and pushes into open alpine tundra.

The road climbs to get here from Paxson at about 2,750 feet, moving through forest, then taiga, then open tundra where the sky takes over.

Six hundred prehistoric sites sit beneath the Tangle Lakes

Four connected lakes stretch for 16 miles near the eastern end of the highway, and below the surface of this landscape sits one of the most concentrated collections of early prehistoric sites in the Alaska subarctic.

The Bureau of Land Management has documented over 600 of them within the Tangle Lakes Archaeological District, which covers 226,660 acres and holds a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. These lakes also form the headwaters of the Delta River.

The BLM campground at milepost 21.5 puts you right at the edge of all of it, with 45 campsites and a boat launch.

Drop a line into some of the best lake trout water in interior Alaska

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game considers Tangle Lakes one of the most productive lake trout fisheries in the interior, with fish that can push past 20 pounds.

Arctic grayling show up in nearly every clear stream and lake along the highway, making the whole route a reliable stretch for fly fishing. Brushkana Creek near the western end adds more grayling water.

The gravel road crosses Clearwater streams at many points, and pullouts put you right at the bank without a long hike from the car.

Grizzlies on the tundra, swans on the lakes

The highway runs through two distinct habitats, and the wildlife shifts with the landscape. Moose and black bears stay in the forested sections.

Grizzly bears and caribou roam the open tundra. Come in late September or mid-October, when hunting season closes, and you may see large numbers of caribou moving through. Beavers and muskrats work the lakes and ponds.

Trumpeter swans, loons, long-tailed ducks, and Arctic terns are out on the water. Red foxes cross the road as they own it.

Rare birds come to this road because almost no other road goes here

Most of Alaska’s alpine tundra has no road through it at all. The Denali Highway is an exception, and birders know it.

The route pulls in Arctic Warbler, Smith’s Longspur, Long-tailed Jaeger, Gyrfalcon, Whimbrel, and Surfbird, along with nesting trumpeter swans on the lakes.

The BLM’s MacLaren Summit Trail near milepost 39 is considered one of the better spots along the route for tundra species. Guided birding tours run out of outfitters near Paxson during the short summer nesting window.

The road between mileposts 56 and 79 is built on top of old glaciers

Between mileposts 56 and 79, the highway runs along glacial eskers, ridges of sand and gravel left behind when rivers that once flowed inside glaciers melted and dropped their sediment.

The BLM considers these among the best examples of this kind of glacial landform anywhere in North America.

Near milepost 46, the road squeezes through Crazy Notch, a gap cut when a stream punched through a moraine left by the MacLaren Glacier.

Kettle ponds, outwash plains, and moraines stretch across the landscape on both sides of the road.

Two to three days on the Delta River starts at the Tangle Lakes boat launch

The boat launch at the BLM campground is where paddlers put in for the Delta River Canoe Trail.

The trip runs about 30 miles and takes two to three days, moving through connected lakes before dropping down the Delta River through canyon walls, tundra hills, and forested stretches. One portage around a set of waterfalls breaks up the float.

The Delta River carries National Wild and Scenic River designation, and the trip ends at a takeout on the Richardson Highway.

What the road actually asks of you before you go

The first 21 miles out of Paxson are paved, as are the last few miles near Cantwell. The roughly 110 miles in between are gravel, with an advisory speed of 35 mph for soft spots and washboard sections.

The highway runs from about mid-May through early October, then closes for winter. Most rental car companies ban their vehicles from this road, so confirm before you book.

Cell service disappears for most of the drive. Carry extra food, water, a first-aid kit, and a spare tire.

Two BLM campgrounds sit at milepost 21.5 and milepost 104.5, and dispersed camping on BLM land is open throughout.

The views that photographers keep coming back for

A pullout near milepost 15 puts the Wrangell Mountains, the Chugach Mountains, and the Alaska Range all in the same frame at once.

The Susitna River bridge near milepost 79 gives you one of the most-photographed views on the route. Between mileposts 87 and 104, Hayes, Hess, and Deborah line up along the northern skyline.

Near the Cantwell end, between mileposts 124 and 130, Denali appears on clear days. The light shifts constantly out here, weather rolls in fast, and the landscape changes with every mile.

Drive the Denali Highway in Alaska

You can reach the eastern end at Paxson off the Richardson Highway, or come in from the west at Cantwell on the Parks Highway, about 27 miles south of the Denali National Park entrance.

Anchorage sits roughly 210 miles south of Cantwell, and Fairbanks is about 148 miles north. The highway runs from mid-May through early October.

Before you head out, check road conditions through the Alaska Department of Transportation’s 511 service. Cell service is gone for most of the drive, so plan accordingly and go in with a full tank.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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