edpaffjr.comHaving a great time touring Denali on our own the first day, we decided to go a ranger led Discovery Hike up Igloo Mountain on our second full day in the park. The rangers choose these hikes up to a week before the schedule date. Since the hikes are limited to eleven people, the park service encourages you to make advanced reservations one or two day ahead of time. Our hike was listed as strenuous, but that really only means elevation gain more than 1000 feet.
Our guide was originally from Colorado, so we had a lot to talk about throughout the hike. I was impressed to learn that he had climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers. He offered advice to us for future 14ers that should be on our list. All of the others on our hike were European, though nearly all spoke flawless English. Most of them had hiked in the Alps many times so it was cool to hear how Alaska’s scenery compared and contrasted. We hiked for most of the day, and though we didn’t summit any peaks, we had some amazing views throughout the day.
