Denali Backcountry Adventures - A Review

**Updated : August 2022**
​Earlier this month we were given the opportunity to head out on a tour with Denali Backcountry Adventures - although this was gifted to us as part of a collaboration, the following review is our complete, honest opinion. ​This post may also contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you purchase a product via these links, with no extra cost to you!

Basic Tour Information

This tour is offered through the Pursuit Collection (who also runs Denali Cabins & Kenai Fjords Tours, as well as many other Alaska adventures!). Although they normally run tours inside the National Park, a landslide has closed down the park road at mile 43 and they have switched it up to offer this new tour to area visitors while the park road is shut down! The tour takes you about 68 miles down the Denali Highway, which is located to the east of the National Park, and towards Alpine Creek Lodge. Here, you'll enjoy your included lunch and have the opportunity to go gold mining, complete a short hike, and snuggle some sled dog puppies while meeting some Iditarod champions at Rock on Racing! You can save 10% of the tour price if you book online, making the 10-ish hour tour $179 per person.

Book Online Here : Denali Backcountry Adventure

Our Thoughts

First things first, we want to clarify by saying this is NOT a tour of Denali National Park. This tour follows the old Denali Highway to the east of the park. You also won't have many opportunities to see the peak of Mount Denali during this tour (there was one spot where we stopped to see it in the first few miles, unfortunately we had a cloudy weather day and weren't able to see it here). 

If you're looking to visit Denali National Park, we recommend checking out our complete guide to Denali here for tips.

Knowing this, would we recommend this tour? Definitely. We had such a fun time on this tour! Not only did they provide SO MANY snacks to munch on along the way, we had the best tour guide who gave us so much history and fun stories about the area. It's good to know there is one bathroom stop along the way to the lodge (so plan accordingly), and during this stop they provide hot drinks (cider, coffee, tea) and snacks (cookies, granola bars, cheeze-its)!

Not to mention, we saw a WOLF! Unfortunately we didn't snag a picture - it walked across the road in front of us and stalked into the trees pretty quickly - but awesome nonetheless. Once we arrived at Alpine Creek Lodge, we were immediately provided our lunch choice and then had a few hours to go explore the kennels, snuggle with the 5 week old puppies, do a short hike, and go gold mining! (We even found a few small flakes that they sent home with us in a vial!) The most unique thing that we would recommend is going to their bar downstairs and taking their "Grizzle" shot! Such a fun experience and you get to keep a souvenir shot glass!

Watch our adventure here!

(Coming soon!)

Check out our other Alaska blogs!

• Ultimate Alaska Packing List
• 25 Bucketlist Stays in Alaska
• The Alaska Highway
• The Alaska Railroad
• Top 7 Tours in Alaska
• Anchorage
• Barrow
• Bucketlist Stays in Alaska
• Denali National Park
• Denali Backcountry Adventures
• Flow AK Rafting
• Girdwood
• Homer
• Hope​
• Juneau​​

• ​​Kodiak
• Major Marine Wildlife Tour
• Matanuska Glacier Tour
• Palmer
• Seldovia
• Stan Stephens Glacier & Wildlife 
• Seward
• Talkeetna
• Utqiagvik
• Valdez
• Wasilla
• Where to Rent Bear Spray
• Where to See Wildlife in Alaska
• Whittier

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