The easiest route to the glacier erratics is from the sled dog kennels at the Denali National Park Headquarters.  You will park your car in the parking lot and hike down to where the park shuttles make a loop near the kennels.  Go to the west of the parking lot, hike up the embankment and you will see a lightly trodden grassy path which you need to follow for a little ways until you come to the “Spring Trail” sign.

When you see the “Spring Trail” sign follow the trail a little more ways to about .66 miles and then you will need to bushwhack to Hines Creek.

It doesn’t seem like there is a spur trail to Hines Creek.  We found a short moose path but it quickly disappeared into willows.  We just made our own way to the creek by bushwhacking a little ways.

Be very careful when you cross Hines Creek.  The water was definitely higher due to the recent storms we have had.  We found a shallow place to cross and helped each other cross safely.

Once across you will find nothing but lots and lots of trees and bushes to traverse through.  Always remember that there will be no trail going up to the erratics so keep travelling up and you will eventually come to the open hillside where the erratics are located.

Luckily, we found a very used moose trail which led to the top of the hillside.  If you follow my GPS trail map you will most likely also find this path.

At the top of this hill we found a meadow with tons of blueberry bushes.  We planned our route from here and decided to just choose the path of least resistance.

I can’t emphasize enough how slow we were hiking.  Hiking uphill on tundra, through bushes, and trees is very difficult.  When we would find a narrow moose trail we would take it for as long as it would go and then bushwhack some more until the next moose trail.

Just keep hiking up and up!

If you are hiking in late summer or early fall, you will most likely find blueberries, crowberries, low-brush cranberries (lingonberries) and cloudberries.  Cloudberries weren’t too common until we were at higher elevations.

We were finally making enough progress to get to where the bushes were lower to the ground and we were beginning to see smaller erratics along the way.

When we did this hike, we always tried to travel in a southwest direction, uphill the entire way.  Eventually we made our way to large patches of willow trees.  Always be cautious about moose and bears in the area, especially in willow trees.

We eventually found fields of cloudberries and blueberries.  Some of the cloudberries were old and tasted awful but the ripe ones taste like apricots or even baked apples.

After what seemed like forever, we came to the open hillside area which continued to slope upwards.  We could see evidence of other large erratics to the east but we only wanted to see the main attraction.

We followed this hillside all the way up until we could see the glacier erratics in the distance.  The only reason we knew which direction to take was because we had the GPS coordinates on our phones.

These erratics are as big as a house!

The glacier erratic boulders are chipped, chopped, cut, and sliced in every direction – and that is what makes them so interesting.  Glacial erratics are basically rocks that have been cut and carved by prehistoric glaciers that were once in this location.

The many faces of the same two erratics which watch over Denali.

Keep hiking the 75 yards to the ridgeline to the south so you can get an incredible view of the next valley and mountains.

When it was time to go back, we almost followed our exact trail using GPS again.  It took us less than 1 hour to get to the creek.

OPTIONAL SIDE TREK

Mountain Pond Side Trek Info is for Trek Planner Insiders Only