Alaska hiking options

[VikingsGuy]

My wife and 17-year-old son are planning a hiking trip to Alaska next summer for 10 or so days. They will not be fishing or hunting, just hiking. They would like to be somewhat remote but don't want to burn up their whole trip waiting on bush pilots etc. They also are looking at a mix of lodging and camping and would prefer to get gear on-site rather than fly their stuff in from MN. They have hiked and camped all over MN and the Big Horns in WY several times, but have never been to Alaska or in truly desolate places. They are both in good shape, but we are flat landers. Their stated goal is to enjoy the experience and see a new part of the world, and other than walking on a glacier they really don't have any particular must-haves. They have been trying to do a little planning but there is so much space and so many options they asked if I would post a question for them. If they had to focus on one range for the type of trip described above, should they focus on the Brooks range or Denali range? I know this is a broad ask and your answers could take them a dozen different directions, but they just don't have much more direction at this point. I assume once they pick a range they will then be able to focus their thoughts a little (and likely have more specific questions).

Thanks.

 

[mdhunter61]

Hope you get plenty of input here, but from my perspective -

The Brooks Range is far north in Alaska, a few hours' drive north of Fairbanks depending on how far up the go on the Dalton Highway. Only one road up there, and not many towns along the route, and the towns are quite small (hard to call them towns actually in our lower 48 perspective).

The Denali range (if you mean the Alaska Range) has more roads that access it, and they could fly into either Anchorage or Fairbanks. They could fly into Anchorage if going to the Brooks Range, but that would add 400-450 miles to the drive, just getting from Anchorage to Fairbanks, then several hours more to get to the Brooks.

There are a few towns along both the Parks Highway and the Glenn Highway (if they opted for the Alaska Range) that offer food, souvenirs, gas, and other amenities and necessities.

Alaska is huge and sparsely populated, you can feel very remote within an hour's hike from many spots along multiple Alaska highways. There are many known hiking trails along the highways, but they don't typically have the crowds that we see in the lower 48.