hobo13

We're going to ANC for a pseudo Mileage Run / weekend in Alaska during the middle of September. After booking the tickets and beginning to read about Denali NP, I realized that this was Road Lottery weekend, and we just HAD to secure a permit. Soooo, being enterprising Flyertalkers, we calculated that 7 entries would give us about a 75% chance of winning one permit, which seemed acceptable. So we did it. And we won!

Now we're trying to figure out the logistics. Our permit is for Sat. We'll drive up to Denali on Friday and spend the night somewhere between Cantwell and Healy. Sat we'll do the drive through the park. And probably spend Sat night at the same place as Friday night.

Then what? Our return flight out of ANC leaves around midnight on Monday night (i.e. very early Tuesday AM), thus we have all day Sunday and Monday to explore, before getting back to ANC for our flight.

So, what should we do? I've seen very very little of Alaska -- a few nights in Fairbanks on sort of a business trip and that's it. My wife has seen a bit more. though not a lot. Should we spend our two additional days around Denali? What else is there to do / see at this time of year considering that the shuttles into the park won't be running, and our driving permit is only valid one day? We're generally the high-adventure type (hiking / mountaineering) but we'll have Hobo Jr along (4 months old) so any hiking would be short.

One thought was to drive down to Kenai on Sunday, spend the night there, and see the area on Monday (including possibly a day cruise) before returning to ANC. Sure, it's a lot of driving, but it'll be scenic, and we like to road trip.

Options:

A. Stay in Denali for 2 more days
B. Drive down to Kenai for Sunday and Monday
C. Your suggestion

What else do I need to know? (Yes, we live in Colorado -- we'll be prepared for any weather and happy to drive on unpaved roads in our rental car! And I know -- this is not enough time to see Alaska..... this is just an extended Mileage Run!)