Providing active learning experiences and fostering stewardship of the natural world through a tradition of excellence, community, and place.
Ginny Wood, co-founder of Camp Denali, said that in building Camp Denali, "the land told us what we should be." Our founders agreed that they should not intrude on nature any more than they had to. Their goal was to create a place for visitors that "didn't care about luxury accommodations, but wanted to be close to the land."
After two transitions in family ownership, we uphold what we learned from our founders: stay small, maintain a minimal footprint on the land, and provide hospitality to a level of comfort that allows visitors to fully experience the wild nature of Denali National Park.
While one of our often-employed taglines is "family-owned and operated," we don't pretend to think that we run the show. Hardly the case. Our summer staff of 30 and our hard-core, year-round crew of five do extraordinary work day in and day out, effectively running the show. What owner-operated means to us is that we believe in the value of working, and playing, alongside our staff.
This hands-on ethic has been our tradition: on any given day of summers' past, you would see Wally with his sleeves rolled up and on his back, fixing something underneath a bus, or Jerryne with her backpack on and binoculars at the ready, filling in for one of the naturalist guides. This, in addition to being hosts to a group of guests, puzzling over the staff work schedule, and paying bills in the wee hours of a long, mid-summer night. Nowadays you will see Simon and Jenna in these roles, just as 70 years ago these characters would have been Ginny, Woody and Celia.
Providing active learning experiences and fostering stewardship of the natural world through a tradition of excellence, community and place.
Our longstanding family ownership is committed to preserving and refining the fundamental elements of our mission: excellence, community, and place.
Your Camp Denali experience is personal. It is a unique blend of camaraderie among fellow adventurers and staff in a wilderness environment without parallel.
At the core of our guest experience is a chance to live close to the land and, in exploring Denali's wilderness, to learn about its ecology and history. More than facts and figures about Denali, we hope our guests return home with new ways of seeing, understanding, and taking care of the natural world in their own backyards.
In addition, we hope that our continual improvements to the environmental sustainability of our operation will provide an opportunity for our guests, staff, and other small business owners in Alaska to learn about viable alternatives to the status quo.
For us, providing excellent hospitality is not about attending to every luxury or amenity; instead we strive to ensure our guests' comfort, meet their needs, and surpass their expectations.
At Camp Denali, you are welcomed as personal houseguests into our community of 30 staff. Our summertime staff live, work, and play together. Our ability to get along and work effectively together depends on the strength of our community. Maintaining a healthy, supportive community is a major part of our daily work.
