savage river loop trail

Even if you are not a hiker, this is the trail to do in Denali N.P. Hikers have seen bears, lynx, Dall Sheep, Ptarmigan and more, but the flowers are spectacular in June & July. Take a camera. Takes less than an hour.

We had taken the shuttle bus the day before and wanted to do a bit on our own and this was the perfect choice. You can drive to the car park, as far as you can go with your own car, and take your time on the looped trail. We saw 2 Dall Sheep on the rocks and went a bit beyond the trail at the junction with the footbridge for some fabulous views, spending about 2 hours. There is another more difficult trail that connects to this one and of course you can venture out on your own as you wish. Without diversions it would be an easy hour, or less, walk.

It was our last day in Denali and we wanted to do a hike, but not just an easy loop walk. We drove our rental car to the Savage River parking lot to start the Savage River Loop Trail with additional distance through the canyon. After meeting someone that said that the trail was quite icy on the right side of the river, we decided to walk over the bridge and take the trail that goes along the left side of the river, since that side was receiving more sunshine. When you get to the footbridge on this trail (easy walking to this point), look up to the ridges on the right and see if you can spot the Dall sheep against the skyline. It helps to have binoculars. There were at least nine up there when we were on our hike at 11:40 a.m. When you get to the footbridge, instead of walking back right away, continue on a hike up the more narrow backpacker trail and through the canyon. This is a hike, not just an easy walk. We continued on the trail for about 30 minutes. We spotted young Dall sheep just above us on a rocky ridge and we hiked past a beautiful waterfall and saw another across the canyon. We had the trail all to ourselves! We eventually stopped when we got to a rocky outcropping where we could see all the way to the left and down the canyon. It was quite windy and cold, so we found a protected area near the rocks to eat our packed lunch, enjoy the gorgeous view and continue to watch the Dall sheep with our binoculars. After lunch, it was just a matter of backtracking on the trail to the rest of the loop walk leading back to the parking lot. It was a GREAT HIKE for our last day in Denali!

Took this nice easy hike in Sept. when fall colours were at the peak. This is the last stop that private cars can get to. There are more challenging trails that you can do that are very nice. Hiking along the river bed was very scenic and good for all abilities, kids etc..

Upon arriving at Danali, we wanted to get out and do something. The nice thing about the Savage River Loop Trail is that you can drive to it so you are on your own schedule. It is at the 15 mile mark, the last point to which individuals can drive their own cars. The river loop is as long or as short as you want it to be. To the bridge and back is easy. We went beyond it on the less maintained trail and enjoyed it thoroughly. A great look out point about a mile further down the trail. Looking up, we were able to spot the Dall Sheep on the high hillside. Most enjoyable afternoon!

Nice hike I would rate it easy. Nice scenery, we didnt see any wildlife but the river was flowing heavy with all the rain we had.

Savage River trail is a perfect trail for people that just want beautiful scenery but don't want to walk to far.

There is a free shuttle in Denali. Its last stop, Savage River, drops you off at the trailhead. You can go further into the park but you have to pay for a different shuttle if you do. There are two pit toilets at the trailhead for us who find ourselves running the restroom every chance we have. The trail is mostly level unless you decide to continue upriver after crossing the bridge by using the social trails (trails made by animals and humans but not maintained by the park.) We did go up a little further and had a good view of a small waterfall across from us. I have to admit, there are no trees, a rather flat, shallow river, and little in the way of geography to see, but it was a pleasant walk, easy to do on our first day out, and on our way back we saw one of the most elusive animals in the park--a lynx! We were told the next day that our friendly lynx was known to hang out around the area. So normally I would give this trail three stars, but if you have a chance to see a lynx, I'd give it four stars. If you like this review, please give it a thumbs up!

Es el ultimo lugar al que se puede acceder con tu propio coche. Tiene tres recorridos, dos son muy simples y el tercero, mas duro, que es cuesta arriba. Los recorridos simples constan de ir bordeando un río, cruzarlo por un puente, y luego volver por la otra orilla. El paisaje es muy bello y podes tener la suerte de cruzarte algún animal.

Buen trail no es muy largo y no tiene elevaciones. Cuando se llega al lugar que es el ultimó lugar a donde podes llegar con tu auto hay baños y dos o tres trails- Este va bordeando el río y se llega hasta un puente y luego se vuelve por la otra margen de río. Se ve mucha fauna. Nosotros vimos un caribu que dejo fotografiarse sin problemas.