Published on Nov, 2024
If you are ever visiting Fairbanks, or any other town along highway 3 down to Anchorage, you need to add Denali Fat Truck Tours to your itinerary! My wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy a unique personal tour from Joel, the proprietor of Denali Fat Truck Tours. He was a phenomenal guide to the geography, fauna, and flora of Denali and the surrounding communities.
We started our day down in Healy where we were staying and incidentally where the tours are based out of. He took us to the Denali National Park visitor’s center where we met a few of the nicest park Rangers we have ever encountered; they put on a quick movie of the Northern Lights at his polite request. After a bit of souvenir shopping, we headed back into town where he took us to lunch in one of the two spots open during the winter: Totem Café and Pub. We chowed down on some delicious burgers and side then made our way to the tour’s main attraction: the SHERP UTV’s. At the time of writing, they have two in operation year-round and plan on expanding! They appeared as capable as the pictures made them out to be (and probably more). After initial warmup and pre-tour checks, we were ready to tread the frozen paths.
The focus of the tour was on exploration and learning from the safety of one of the most capable search and rescue vehicles on Earth. You will be hard pressed to find any other tours with guides as amiable and knowledgeable as Joel and his family! Along the beaten path we were fortunate to encounter a female moose and learn about their unique biology (ask him about how they survive the tough landscape of Alaska). There were numerous photo opportunities for us, we even had the chance to step out onto Otto Lake, a truly novel experience!
There is not enough space in the review box to talk about how wonderful Joel made our visit. We will be back in the Summertime for a completely different look at the Alaskan wilderness with Joel and his crew. Do not pass up on this tour team!
