Originally Posted by
alapah
From what I understand Midnight Sun Car Rental in Anchorage allows driving their cars on gravel roads. I've never rented from them so can't say how they are to deal with, how their cars are, etc. Might be worth checking out though.
Mediocre customer service and shoddy cars...perhaps that's why they don't care if they go on gravel roads.
Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, though.
There is an outfit in Fairbanks that specializes in rentals for the Dalton Highway up to Prudhoe Bay. They supply you with a four-wheel-drive vehicle with two full-size spare tires, emergency supplies (rations, blankets, etc.), and other stuff you supposedly "need" when driving that road. Based on that, I guess I should feel dumb that I did it in a 1984 Toyota Tercel with one donut spare and not much in the way of emergency supplies (other than bottled water and peanut butter and jelly), but we had zero issues.
Anyway, they might be an option for (legitimately) doing the Denali Park Road. It wasn't cheap, IIRC ($200/day?), but OTOH, cars in Alaska generally aren't cheap anyway--although prices should be coming down by the time the road opens for the lottery.