Questions about backcountry permits
Q. How far in advance can I reserve my backcountry spots?
A. No advance reservations may be made for backcountry units. You must come in person to the Backcountry Information Center (BIC) no more than one day in advance of the day you wish to begin your trip. All members of your party need to be present in order to have your spots reserved and to receive your backcountry permit.
Q. I'm staying at a park campground, and then starting a backcountry trip. Do I have to come all the way back to the BIC after staying in my campground, to get a backcountry permit?
A. There are normally six campgrounds open in Denali. Two of these (Riley and Savage) are located within the first 15 miles of the Park Road. If you are staying in one of these campgrounds, you must have all members of your party come to the BIC to reserve your permit, no more than one day in advance.
However, if you are staying at one of the other four campgrounds, which are west of Savage River (i.e., Sanctuary, Teklanika, Igloo and Wonder Lake), you may get a backcountry permit as early as one day before you begin your stay at the campground (i.e., if you are camping at Wonder Lake on Thursday night, and want to begin your backcountry trip immediately afterward, on Friday, you may come as early as Wednesday to get your backcountry permit at the BIC).
You must show proof of a campground reservation in order to obtain a backcountry permit in this manner.
You may not leave your vehicle overnight at Teklanika while in the backcountry. If you are driving to Teklanika, you must return to the park entrance at the end of your stay in the campground, park your car, and come to the BIC for your permit.
Click here for parking information.
Q. Are permits required for day hiking?
A. No permits are required for day hiking.
Click here for more information on day hiking in Denali.
Q. How long does the permitting process take?
A. The process usually takes about an hour, but may take longer or shorter depending on how long it takes you to plan your itinerary. Generally, when visitors first come to the BIC, they spend time planning their iterinary (i.e., which units they wish to stay in on which nights), based on unit availability. Then all members of the party must watch a safety video (about
30 minutes long), listen to a safety briefing from a ranger (about
5 to 10 minutes), purchase and/or mark maps with unit boundaries and wildlife closures, buy a camper bus ticket (must be done
15 or more minutes before scheduled bus departure), move their personal vehicle into overnight parking adjacent to Riley Creek Campground and then catch their bus.
Q. How much does a permit cost?
A. All backcountry permits are free. The only cost of spending time in Denali's backcountry is the price of a camper bus ticket, plus the park entrance fee.
Q. Which is the best unit?
A. There are 2.5 million acres of land in the Denali Wilderness, and thus each of the 43 backcountry units encompasses thousands of acres. Some units experience more use than others for reasons such as quick access from the Park Road and hikers' familiarity with certain areas. This does not mean that these units are "better" than others. Backcountry rangers can provide information about terrain, vegetation and wildlife you will find in different areas of the park. Backpackers equipped with a positive attitude and a love of the outdoors will rarely have anything but an amazing wilderness experience.
Q. Can I make reservations for a unit and not use them?
A. When one party says that they are in the backcountry, they are occupying spots in the unit quota that might otherwise go to a different party. Therefore, to make backcountry reservations and purposefully not use them may deprive others of taking the trip they would like. However, if you are in the backcountry and decide to come out early for any reason, all you must do is return your BRFC, thus freeing your spots from the unit quota. You may not "double book" any night (i.e., have concurrent reservations in more than one unit or a unit and a campground site). Always cancel unused reservations when you change your itinerary.
Q. How do I know which areas are closed to hikers?
A. You must mark closures on your map during the permitting process. Rangers at the BIC will provide you with recent closure information, and
it is your responsibility to be aware of their locations. Closures are often marked with signs only on the most obvious travel routes - but you must avoid them, even if they are unsigned. The best way to do this is to have maps of the area of appropriate scale, so that you may judge the boundaries of the closure by the topographic features of the land.
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