For expansive views of the region near the entrance of Denali National Park and Preserve, the Mount Healy Overlook Trail is your route. This trail is rated strenuous by the park service. The trail is 2.7 miles each way and gains 1,700 feet elevation gain with an average 25% grade. The trailhead is located on the Taiga Trail, about 0.5 miles from the visitor center, which is the best place to park and creates a roundtrip of about 6.4 miles.
The Taiga Trail must be hiked to get to the Mt. Healy Overlook Trailhead
The stretch on the Taiga Trail is relatively easy and with minimal elevation gain. Once you reach the trailhead, Mt. Healy Overlook Trail begins going up immediately. It ascends through forests of paper birch, white spruce, balsam poplar, Alaska birch and larch (or tamarack). The trail is well maintained.
The beginning of the trail
View from the low part of the trail
Looking up at Mt. Healy from part way up the trail
As you continue up, the trail begins to switchback as you near the base of the mountain. The bottom switchbacks are fairly long. By the last section of the trail, the switchbacks are fairly steep and include some stone steps.
View from the Mt. Healy Trail
View from the trail
The switchbacks were steeper near the top of the trail
Once you reach the top of the trail, you are rewarded with 360 degree views of the region. Below you can see the visitor center area, the park headquarters, and the Nenana River. You are surrounded by mountains in every direction. On clear days, Denali can be viewed in the distance. Unfortunately, we were here on a slightly cloudy day. Given that we had hiked in rain for several of our previous hikes, we were glad to have partly sunny skies. We could have accessed this from our Riley Creek Campground or Denali RV Park.
View of the Visitor Center, Nenana River and Parks Highway from the Overlook
Mt Healy Overlook from below
