Biking the Denali Highway
Quick Facts:
Drive time: 3 hours from Fairbanks
Mileage: up to 135 miles one way
Elevation gain: ~8,500 feet
Activities: Biking
Estimated time: 3 days
For a bikepacking trip, this elevation gain isn’t actually that bad. I biked from Paxson to Cantwell along the Denali Highway in the middle of May. It was the first weekend that the highway was open to cars, so there was very minimal traffic along the road. The most elevation gain is on the first day. Climbing out of Paxson is fairly steep, but the road is paved. You then have a long downhill until you get to Tangle Lakes, where the pavement allegedly ends, but there continues to be intermittent pavement and really hard-packed dirt that makes for smooth riding. Then you have a long, grueling climb up towards Maclaren Summit. The loose gravel began after Maclaren Summit, so I took the downhill pretty slow. There will continue to be a mix of loose gravel and hard packed dirt for the remainder of the road.
Don’t sleep on the next two days, however. I was expecting them to feel much easier than the first day, but there’s still some decent-sized hills that will get you panting. Make sure to take a long break along the shore of the Susitna River once you get down there. The last day had a lot of sneaky uphill. This was definitely my fastest day, but I remember coming to two different hills towards the end that I was not expecting at all. However, the downhill into Cantwell is fast and smooth. The road becomes paved again and there’s no shoulder so I was nervous about that, but there was no traffic when I did it, so I was able to ride all the way to the Parks highway.
There are mountain views almost the entirety of this highway, and tons of wildlife. I had to stop 3 times for stubborn moose refusing to get out of the road. Biking towards Cantwell should allow you to see views of Denali on a clear day, but I didn’t get that lucky. There are 2 established BLM campgrounds along the highway, but there are dozens of pullouts that make for great free camping. The BLM has a complete guide to the highway that highlights other scenic viewpoints here. I left my car in Paxson and had some amazing friends pick it up and drive it down the highway to camp with me, and then they left it in Cantwell for me to pick up once I was done. Whether driving or biking, the Denali Highway is a must-do during an Alaskan summer.
