Denali Highway Birding Roadtrip

Denali Highway Roadtrip (3 full days, 6 participants max) – Start and end in Fairbanks

With an early morning departure from Fairbanks, we will drive south down the Richardson Highway. It’s about a four hour drive to the eastern end of the Denali Highway at the community of Paxson, but along the way we’ll stop to check out some great birding spots. As we drive south we’ll enter the Alaska Range and cross from the Yukon drainage into the Copper River basin.

We’ll spend our first night at some lovely cabins in Paxson, right at the junction with the Denali Highway. That evening, we’ll spend some time birding along the upper Gulkana River looking for American Dippers, Northern Waterthrush, and other riparian species.

Early the following morning, we’ll head out on the Denali Highway itself, driving west.  We’ll wind our way up the road while keeping our eyes open for birds. There will be numerous stops, and we will make special effort to find the small nesting population of Smith’s Longspurs. Arctic Warblers are abundant on this end of the highway and we will likely encounter many.

Around Tangle Lakes we’ll have lunch while glassing for loons and waterfowl before continuing on. At Maclaren Summit we will park and walk up onto a rocky alpine ridge where may encounter Horned Larks, Northern Wheatears, nesting Surfbirds, or ptarmigan. That night we will spend at the rustic but friendly Maclaren River Lodge, where we can bird the riverside and watch the resident colony of Cliff Swallows.

The final day we will drive the western end of the Denali Highway, where, if it’s clear, we will catch a glimpse of Denali itself. The habitat grows more forested and we’ll be looking for species like Olive-sided Flycatcher, Bohemian Waxwing, Boreal Chickadee, and Three-toed Woodpecker. In the village of Cantwell, we will stop for gas before turning our wheels north and heading back to Fairbanks. If all goes as planned, you’ll make it back to your hotel in time for dinner.

Peak Season: 20 May – 15 July