The Route: Anchorage – Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward – Talkeetna – Denali National Park – Talkeetna – Anchorage
Days: 4
DAY 1: A bit of a travel dredge but I couldn’t resist driving two hours South to Seward and back in order to hike Harding Icefield with my boyfriend. The trail ends with the possibility to walk onto Exit Glacier, is rated strenuous, and checks the box of visiting a national park. All things right up our alley! The 1st half of the hike is among the trees and bug ridden but the 2nd half makes up for it– once above tree line the bugs are gone, the views are absolutely gorgeous, and the trail is diverse crossing streams and trekking through snow. Roughly 4.5hrs roundtrip with a lot of me pushing myself to keep up! After being sufficiently worked-out, we hopped back in the car and ventured back to Anchorage to grab our bags and make the final trip leg 2 hours North to Talkeetna where we spent the night in a really cute cabin right off of the town center traffic circle.
DAY 2: An early rise at 3:30am was painful to say the least but hitting the road by 4am had steep advantages. We fueled up at the gas station on the edge of town out of concern for where the next opportunity might be but, for future reference, there is at least one other closer to the park road. With very few people on the road, we had the unique chance to enjoy the spectacular sunrise throughout the entire 2.5hr trip. It was beyond breath-taking. The real gem came when we approached the South Viewpoint. With the GPS reporting an arrival 25min prior to when our bus would depart into the park, we opted for a quick pit stop. And boy was this the right option. The pictures say more than words every could.
Yes, those are dead bugs on the windshield :/ 
Denali and Friends!
We made it to the Bus Depot roughly 15min prior to our slotted departure time of 7am. We got our Wonder Lake camping permit and our two Camper Bus passes parked in Lot 2 of the Visitor Center. From there it is a 3min walk to the bus stop. Rule #1: pack your bear spray in your bag prior to getting on the bus! Apparently several people have dropped their bags or the bear spray itself and it has ignited due to the high fumes of the bus. Trust me, these drivers run a tight ship. Just get it into a bag while waiting in line to board. Overnight bags go in the back, smaller bags can fit in the overhead bins/shelves. Rule #2: No standing while the bus is in motion. Rule #3: Buckle up at all times. They are watching! Rule #4: Keep hands and cameras inside the bus at all times, even when the vehicle is not in motion and no one is passing.. Just because I guess. Don’t get me started on this one. Other than a really strict ride, the drivers are very nice and informative, we spotted bears, caribou, dall sheep, and snowshoe hares throughout the journey, and the view is nearly indescribable. The words that come to mind are: beautiful, spiritual, vast, and expansive. Though roughly 6hrs from the main visitor center to the Wonder Lake campsite due to rough roads and narrow canyon passes making for low speeds and several stops roughly once and hour to campsites and toilets scattered along the way, it didn’t feel like it at all. My lack of sleep and natural inclination to zonk out when in motion forced me to nap some. But I definitely didn’t want to. The fear of missing an animal or the gorgeous view after turning another corner was real!
Bears! 
driving on the edge… 
To our disappointment, the clouds had settled over Denali by the time we reached Eielson Center, one stop from Wonder Lake. We had hoped to hike for a view after unpacking the tent but we quickly realized that the spectacle we got with our sunrise was not common.
Finally, around 1pm we landed at the Wonder Lake campsite. We snagged a site at the end of the path that curves to the left which awarded us with great views of the valley. That said, the weather had changed again to now rainy along with cloudy. What should we do next? Nap! After a few hours of much needed rest we finished the night with a quick jaunt to Reflection Pond which reflected nothing but still allowed me to bask in the wonder that so many artists before me had the opportunity to capture. Since I’m a “see-it-to-believe-it” kind of gal, I’m still skeptical as to how the top of Denali can be reflected in a pond so far away and so low but I can’t really argue with history! Lol. After that, to fulfill my FOMO and my FOMO only, by boyfriend and I conquered the near-by McKinley Bar Trail. Though not very technical, the trail does cross three medium-sized streams and traverses over rocks and through spruce trees to land at the McKinley River. The problem was the mosquitos. Though our upper-halves were protected by mosquito-net hats and shirts previous purchased from REI, our lower-halves did not fair so well. I got destroyed. I’m talking 23 bites per leg destroyed. We were relatively miserable throughout the hike but I am proud of my closer to Zen approach to the whole thing. A few years ago I would have crossed into full panic mode and taken it all out on my companion.
Welcome to Wonder Lake! 
Reflection Pond– sans reflection… 
Spruce Forest along McKinley Bar Trail 
Along McKinley Bar Trail
But we made it. And back at the campsite we got to engage in a true camping milestone for me: cooking our own food. As un-thrilling as this sounds, bear with me. I have thus far only camped with snacks. Never being out long enough to really need to boil water and “cook” my own food, I’ve always happily relied on nuts, fruits, and power bars for day-hiking and overnight twinges of hunger. It’s always been enough. This left me pretty intimidated to purchase the “right” or “best” stove and pot. Luckily I meet Phil at Anchorage’s REI prior to our departure. Phil hooked me up! With the Sea to Summit pot, bowl, and cup set (alpha cookset 1.1, 1.2L), a Snow Peak GigaPower 2.0 stove (folds up and self igniting), JetBoil fuel, and a GSI Outdoors Essential long spoon in tow, we were ready. Food of choice: Good to Go– healthy, low sodium, low sugar, and carnivore, pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan options; just boil water, pour into pouch, stir, zip lock pouch, and wait! It was so easy. 1L boiling in roughly 4.5min. I now feel like real pro prepared to conquer days on end of camping!
DAY 3: With the original plan to hike trails at and near Eielson Center in the morning, we found the weather to again be too gloomy. Some areas along the bus ride back toward the main visitor center were so misty one couldn’t seed 20ft in front of them. I had palpitations each time the bus curved along the narrow canyon road. The weather became warmer as we got to the visitor center 1hr ahead of schedule. We purchased some knick knacks and coffee and visited both the museum and the bookstore before making our way to our final Denali Hike: Mt. Healy Overlook. Despite not being able to see Denali, we made it to the overlook in roughly 1hr and 10min. Amazing views greeted us along the entire hike and the bugs were minimal. Once at the overlook, one can continue along the ridgeline for a seemingly endless number of peaks. Being 2hrs ahead of schedule, we opted to make our way back to Talkeetna to scope out the town since we didn’t get the chance to do so the first night. We stopped at the South Viewpoint again just to see what it looked like when Denali was hidden. It really cemented just how lucky we were to have had shared that blissful morning.
After unpacking and showering at our romantic tiny house BnB on the Susitna River, we frequented the shops and bars and shared dishes at several restaurants including a cauliflower rice dish and veggie sandwich from Denali Brewhouse, amazing tofu tacos from Talkeetna Tako (open late!) and a pizza to die for from Mountain High Pizza Pie (live music on the outdoor patio).
We finished the night splitting a bottle of wine while relaxing on a picnic blanket and watching the sun set over the river.
DAY 4: Travel back to Anchorage. We halted for a moose drinking water at a pond! The usual rigamarow that occurs in Anchorage completed our Kenai-Denali excursion.