Is there an entrance fee to Denali National Park before May 15? (Talkeetna: hotel, home)

[localtraveler]

I'm planning to be there Monday, May 1, till Tuesday, May 2. I'll just be driving the 15 miles (or whatever) of the park road that's accessible to cars. Will I have to pay the $10/person park fee?

I know that Denali Visitor Center is not open, but there is another center across the road that is. It's not worth it to pay a fee just to drive the 15 miles into the park, and I couldn't take the bus if I wanted to.

localtraveler

[1984]

Monday is May 2nd. There is an entrance fee for the park that needs to be paid at the winter visitor center. The road is open to mile 30 now.

[AKStafford]

$10 is the entrance fee. Pretty cheap if you ask me. https://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/fees.htm

[RexLan]

Save your $$

Just look how they turned that majestic area into the chit bag it is today with a zillion regulators, range Rick behind every bush and a damn hotel on the hill. Those cute little cabins at the turnouts with all that made in China souvenir junk ... just absolutely perfect!

Back in the day when it was a dirt road you could flag down the train and ride to town, hike, drive the roads and everything and it never did get destroyed until the hugger's and do-gooders took control .... just think what they could do it they had a $20 entrance fee ... yikes!

[Frostnip]

Originally Posted by RexLan

Save your $$

Just look how they turned that majestic area into the chit bag it is today with a zillion regulators, range Rick behind every bush and a damn hotel on the hill. Those cute little cabins at the turnouts with all that made in China souvenir junk ... just absolutely perfect!

Back in the day when it was a dirt road you could flag down the train and ride to town, hike, drive the roads and everything and it never did get destroyed until the hugger's and do-gooders took control .... just think what they could do it they had a $20 entrance fee ... yikes!

lol, okay. The park road has been closed to most traffic since the early 70s. Given how many visitors there are to Denali in a year now, if even a fraction of them were taking private vehicles through the park there's no way those tenuous roads would hold up. They'd need a lot more than a $20 entrance fee to maintain a safe roadway through those high passes. That's not even thinking of the impact on wildlife.

The park is still wide open to all and the vast majority of is has no infrastructure, you just have to access it most of it with your own legs, or by flagging down a shuttle, not from the comfort of your air-conditioned vehicle.

[AKStafford]

Originally Posted by RexLan

Save your $$

Just look how they turned that majestic area into the chit bag it is today with a zillion regulators, range Rick behind every bush and a damn hotel on the hill. Those cute little cabins at the turnouts with all that made in China souvenir junk ... just absolutely perfect!

Back in the day when it was a dirt road you could flag down the train and ride to town, hike, drive the roads and everything and it never did get destroyed until the hugger's and do-gooders took control .... just think what they could do it they had a $20 entrance fee ... yikes!

Ummmm... Are you talking about Denali National Park or the Parks Highway through Glitter Gulch? There's no "hotel on the hill" or cabins with souvenirs in the National Park itself. There's plenty of that stuff out on the highway. And past mile 15, the park road is still a dirt road.
If all you ever saw of Denali National Park was the crap near the entrance, then it's like going to Disneyland and never going further than the parking lot.

[1984]

Originally Posted by RexLan

Save your $$

Just look how they turned that majestic area into the chit bag it is today with a zillion regulators, range Rick behind every bush and a damn hotel on the hill. Those cute little cabins at the turnouts with all that made in China souvenir junk ... just absolutely perfect!

Back in the day when it was a dirt road you could flag down the train and ride to town, hike, drive the roads and everything and it never did get destroyed until the hugger's and do-gooders took control .... just think what they could do it they had a $20 entrance fee ... yikes!

We are talking about Denali, not Yellowstone.

[Chilkoot]

Originally Posted by RexLan

Back in the day when it was a dirt road you could flag down the train and ride to town, hike, drive the roads and everything and it never did get destroyed until the hugger's and do-gooders took control .... just think what they could do it they had a $20 entrance fee ... yikes!

The Hurricane Turn train between Talkeetna and Hurricane still allows for flagging down the train. Many people live remotely along that area and depend on it for getting to town for supplies.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by localtraveler

I'm planning to be there Monday, May 1, till Tuesday, May 2. I'll just be driving the 15 miles (or whatever) of the park road that's accessible to cars. Will I have to pay the $10/person park fee?

I know that Denali Visitor Center is not open, but there is another center across the road that is. It's not worth it to pay a fee just to drive the 15 miles into the park, and I couldn't take the bus if I wanted to.

localtraveler

If it's not worth it to you, save your $10 for something that is. Or you can cry to the people at the entrance that the Park isn't worth it and see if they'll take pity on you and let you in for free. Fat chance. No one here can help you with your fee, though. Personally, if I couldn't afford $10 to go into the Park, I'd stay home and watch the Discovery Channel.