Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

After a one-night stay at the Denali Princess Lodge, where we visited Denali National Park, our Alaska land tour brought us south to the Mt. Mckinley Princess Wilderness Lodge. located above the Chulitna River, and also surrounded by the majestic Denali National Park.  While on our bus ride we had spectacular views of the Alaska Mountain Range, which were robed in misty, foggy clouds, and surrounded by deep green forests and swirling rivers.

One interesting sight along the way was Igloo City! Sadly, I was not on the right side of the bus to get a clearer photo as we whizzed past, but you can see this unusual structure sitting on the side of the Parks Highway, near Cantwell, Alaska, and midway between Fairbanks and Anchorage. Igloo City was originally constructed in the late 1970s by Leon Smith. His dream was to create a one-of-a-kind Alaskan lodge that visitors from all over the world would come to experience. Unfortunately, Leon’s dream of finishing the project and operating it as a popular igloo-shaped hotel never came to fruition mainly due to code violations and structural issues. The cost of updating the property to become structurally sound proved to be too high and he abandoned it. 

When we checked into the Mt McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge we heard the lodge boasts incredible views of Denali, also known as “The Great One,” in the native Athabascan language.  In fact, a view of the mountain was supposed to be framed by this wooden arch. As you can see the sky instead was filled with heavy clouds.  

There were many informational signs around the lodge's property, and I thought this sign answered succinctly the question as to why there are two names for the same mountain--both Mt. Denali and Mt. McKinley.

There were some interesting facts about glaciers on Mt. Denali and in all of Alaska.

I was impressed by all the beautiful flowers around the lodge buildings.  There were also outdoor fire pit seating areas and hot tubs, but again, the weather was not cooperating.  There is also a treehouse on the property with activities, but we chose to do a different evening activity instead.

We went to the main lodge and sat for a while on the large deck overlooking the mountain range, hoping Denali would peek through the cloud cover. If you click on the photo above to enlarge it you can see on the placard where Denali would be located.

We were among quite a few visitors peering onto the horizon...

hoping to see The Great One. 

I tried zooming in with my telescopic lens.....

....but look and wait as we might, Denali never graced us with a full appearance.

When it started to rain we left the deck for cover and observed a rainbow in the sky!

We warmed up for a while by a fireplace and then had a delicious dinner at the lodge's North Fork Restaurant.  We enjoyed a shrimp cocktail, mini crab cakes, crab-stuffed halibut, Alaska King Crab, and King Salmon.

After dinner, we went to Mt Mckinley's Princess Wilderness Lodge's Hudson Theater.

The theater is named after Cliff Hudson, a longtime and heroic Alaska bush pilot.  Much of travel for Alaska residents involves airplane travel. The early bush pilots of Alaska brought supplies to remote villages and encampments, as there were few or no roads connecting communities. They also ferried people and goods in and out of the wilderness. Bush pilots played a key role in the development of the Alaska Territory, even after it became a state in 1959, and are still in demand now.

One of the planes used by Cliff  Hudson was on display outside the theater--a Luscombe Silvaire. 

We saw a film called Photosymphony, a 45-minute compilation of the Alaska Aurora Borealis that is set to classical music.   Since the peak season to witness the Alaska Northern Lights is between September and April, and our visit was in June, we thought this would be the best way to experience the magic of seeing the Northern Lights. 

We also saw a fascinating talk and slide presentation about Kahiltna Base Camp, a glacier where the mountain climbers fly into and begin their descent up Mt. Denali.  

After seeing the many photos in the presentation I finally felt as if I had seen the mountain!

The next day we would be leaving the lodge and taking a bus ride to the very colorful village of Talkeetna, Alaska, where we would be boarding the train to Anchorage.  More on my next post!

You can also find me on 

Instagram Twitter Facebook 
Pinterest