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Denali Park Training???

actorRunning's picture
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7
Member
1004 days
started by actorRunning on January 24, 2008

Does anyone have any insight into pools in the Denali Park location in Alaska? I'm taking a job there for the season (May - September), but don't want to quit swimming. I'm rather excited to be able to run and bike in the area, but as it's rather remote, I'm having a tough time finding an adequate place to swim.

I've tried www.swimmersguide.com with no luck. Even tried finding a lodge in the area with a pool that I could maybe swim in with elastics, or whatever, but am having trouble there.

Has anyone spent time in the area? Know of any pools/schools with pools in the Denali Park main entrance / Healy, AK area? And hotels/lodges with pools that might allow someone to use the facility in the early morning hours? ANY creative solutions at all?

I'm at a loss. And the river temperature up there seems to average 40F in the summer - glacial runoff, so that's out.

Any insight, especially if anyone has actually been up there, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Tags: pools, travel, Swimming
brittda's picture
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2373
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1761 days
brittda posted 1 year ago.

Looks like no one here has said anything so I will throw my.02 in. I grew up there competing swimming in the Anchorage area (just north) and went to school in Fairbanks. I also have a local family swim coach connection there :) You will not find a pool in Healy, your best bet is Fairbanks (120 miles) to the north or Wasilla/ Palmer (220 miles) to the south. If I remember correctly from my years playing around up in the park, the lodge there does not have a pool either. Local hotels are not likely to as this is a pretty remote area of the state. Even though there is quite a bit of tourism, there is not a lot of residential population until you hit the "city" of Fairbanks. There are local high school pools, but your best be there is the University pool. While 120 miles seems far, in the summer months the roads are relatively traffic free (watch out for the moose, not kidding here.) You may like getting out and going into town once in a while to swim. While not optimal, I don't think you will have many options. Sorry. On the bright side there are some great roads/trails for running and you will have a great outdoors experience. Be careful of the cycling in the park, I believe most roads are 2 lane (other than the Parks HWY) with small shoulders and motor homes and 80 yr olds driving them.

tri-ac's picture
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2766
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1444 days
tri-ac posted 1 year ago.

i've never been to alaska...the posts make it sound awesome (remoteness, wildness,etc)

maybe get a bungee; tie it to tree and hop into a salmon stream for some jetted pool swimming? :D