| NATIONAL PARKS QUICKLINKS |
The Kesugi Ridge Trail is an easy-to-navigate 29-mile route just outside Denali National Park, no reservations or bushwhacking required. The 20,320-foot massif of Mt. McKinley dominates the blue sky with its layers of ice, rock, and snow. You could hike the broad ridge known as Kesugi—“the ancient one” in the native Tanaina dialect—in a long weekend, thanks to the well-marked trail and open terrain. But we did it in five days, and were glad to have time to linger in patches of fat, ripe blueberries (best in August), whip out cameras for bear and moose sightings, and pick the choicest tundra campsites, like the one near a crystalline pond just past Skinny Lake and another atop Ermine Hill.
Season Summer to early fall
Contact (907) 745-3975; 1.usa.gov/kesugi
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