moving to nearest town by Denali/family of four (Fairbanks: for sale, travel)

[lwrence]

can anyone give me more info on the areas available to buy or rent in McKinley or Healy?

[lwrence]

husband worked at Denali in summer of 07. wife and two children want to come and live in McKinley or Healy during work season each year. We have some connections but would appreciate more info from residents if possible. We are grandparents that are wanting to work in Denali each summer and have our two grandkids we have been raising for 13+ years would like good christian community to bring them to.

[stiffnecked]

Haul a travel trailer up and camp out. Remember your competing with the 5000 college kids that work up there each summer for housing spaces. I'd find a lot for sale and park my travel trailer on it.

[skansie]

Hi, my husband lived in Fairbanks for years in the 60's, 70's and part of the 80's then we lived in Wasilla in the late 90's. He worked for Aramark in Denali in 2003 and we are planning to go back up in the spring. We are older parents ages 69 and 53 and have 2 sons ages 11 and 12. We are Christians, too. We plan to travel by camper and then once we get up there we will decide if we will stay in it or find a place. Email me at skansie@comcast.net and let's talk. Connie

[nope]

Hi--I worked in Denali for 7 summers and for several years my husband stayed in a camper with our small child in Cantwell, Alaska. I had housing in the park through the company and they spent the days exploring the Denali Highway. On my days off or sometimes in the evenings, I would drive to Cantwell. Some days they would come to the Park and we would hang out by the Nenana River. It really worked for us for a couple of years. Not for everyone, and there were a FEW campgrounds closer to the Park entrance(don't know the availability of long-term campsites), but my husband really liked the Cantwell campground because he could see our little girl at all times--even when she went into the bathrooms/shower area by herself(he could also monitor who was in there with her). The campground was not a pretty place--just a huge flat gravel pad with drive-through hook-ups--but it worked for our purposes.
I'm not sure of what's happening in the campground these days. I know it's under different ownership, but probably still operating. Anyway, they seemed to have a pretty nice Christian community. The little church was right next door and quite active, and one year my child went to Bible Camp and did the camp activities, etc. You'd probably meet people at church. Cantwell also allowed us to use the library services at the school. It was a bit of a drive from the Park to Cantwell(we had two vehicles) but the days are long and the traffic light.
It was a wonderful time in my life. Hope this helps you!

[Bob The Builder]

Why not contact the park service and see if you can volunteer. Then you can explore the area. Don't get eaten by a bear.