Mount Healy Summit

So here's where the trip gets really fun. We pulled our last shrimp pots, spent a few hours trying to get the boat out of the water and back on the trailer, then Alana and I ran to quickly shower before catching a tunnel out of Whittier. The only public shower in Whittier was in the middle of a grocery store, in a closet with a mop and bucket in front of it. What an adventure. 

Then we had a 12 hour drive ahead of us to Fairbanks. We decided to brea up the trip by spending the night outside of Denali National Park and doing some hiking the next day, then finishing the trip to Fairbanks. Alana and I rode with Nate in his truck, followed by Lucas and Chip pulling the boat (and consequently going much slower). We drove until 1 am and then pulled over at a Chevron gas station in a super small town to sleep. Alana and I fell asleep in the front seats of Nate's truck with Nate in the back, and then 2 hours later Lucas arrived with the boat. Alana and I groggily climbed into the boat and finished sleeping there. We all woke up at 7 am to give Lucas enough time to get his rented truck back to Fairbanks. It was a crazy night with little sleep, but Alana, Nate, and I were still planning on summiting Mount Healy today at Denali National Park!

Denali is actually the name of Mount McKinley, which is the highest point in North America. Denali means "the great one", and Dnali National Park is famous not only for Mt. McKinley, but also for having abundant wildlife like grizzly bears, moose, caribou, and mountain sheep.


We chose to do the Mount Healy Overlook Trail, which is an official trail maintained by the park. After doing more research, Alana and I discovered that there is a "social" trail that continues to the summit after the official end of the Overlook Trail. We are definitely planning on attempting the summit trail, depending on weather conditions and how clearly defined the social trail is.

So the actual Mount Healy Overlook Trail is a gorgeous 4.5 miles roundtrip, with a 1700 ft elevation change within 2.5 miles, and up to 25% grade. The social trail is an additional 2 miles to the summit and back. (wow I wish I had had all this information about hikes in New Zealand... those were far more vague. But hey, it's not an adventure if you know too much about what you're getting yourself into). 

The Overlook Trail was fantastic and rewarding! It offered gorgeous views over the Nenana River valley and Healy Ridge. I look back at my pictures and think that some of them could be paintings! Diverse landscape, an abundant mix of colors, and defined ridge lines... amazing.



When you begin on the Overlook Trail, you cross a bridge over Horseshoe Creek, after which there's a moderately steep climb through a forest of spruce mixed with aspen and alder. After a mile you reach a scenic viewpoint where you can see Mt. Fellows to the east and the Alaska Range to the south. At this point, the trail moves from stunted spruce into thickets of alder, and at the base of a ridge begins a series of switchbacks. You reach Halfway Rock, a 12ft boulder, at 1.2 miles. 


The steep climb continues, with the switchbacks becoming shorter, and at 1.6 miles you move from a taiga zone of alder to the alpine tundra: a world of moss, lichen, wildflowers and incredible views. Here you can start seeing large hoary marmots, a northern cousin of the groundhog, and the pika, a small relative of the rabbit. We saw a lot of pesky squirrel/groundhog liking guys who tried to steal our food and eat through our bags if we left our bags alone too long (haha we were complaining to Mr. Clooten about these marmots, and his response was, "Why didn't you shoot them?" Love it!).


In the final 0.4 miles the trail emerges below Mt. Healy Overlook. You then curve steeply around the ridge to emerge at the rocky bench that is the overlook. Views from here are excellent! Sugar Loaf Mountain, at 4450ft, dominates the eastern horizon, and if the weather had been clearer, we could have seen the Mt. McKinley massif, some 80 miles away. We were hoping to see Dallas sheep on the slopes, but we weren't that lucky. We saw lots of sheep droppings though! 

Above the overlook to the northwest is the actual summit of Mt. Healy. From the overlook (3425ft), we climbed another mile to the high point of Healy Ridge (4217ft). We sure reached a high point on the trail, but we're not sure if we reached the actual summit (5700ft).  It felt like we were on a ridge, but the trail had disappeared, so we stopped and admired the incredible views instead :) What an awesome hike! I love climbing mountains!