October 3, 2025
Strange name for a post. This installment focuses on a small “village” just north of the entrance to Denali National Park. I Googled several of the larger businesses in that “village” to try and find a name for it but there doesn’t seem to be one. If a business had a physical address listed it was a milepost reference.
After leaving the Park and turning left on Hwy 3, I first crossed a river.
There was a parking area near the bridge and a walkway out over the water. In the distance I could see the back of one of the hotels in the village.
On the right side of the highway, high on a hill, was what looked like a restaurant which, on a clear day, probably has a terrific view.
As I drove through the village I saw lots of boarded up businesses. Mostly small restaurants and lots of gift shops.
If you look closely at the photo above, you’ll see a Harley-Davidson motorcycle location! Undoubtedly the smallest one I have ever seen. I imagine Harley riders would stop in at times when the shop is open to snag a Denali Harley t-shirt.
Above is one of two big hotels which have frontage on the highway. It is operated by a cruise ship line, and they bus people up here from a port downstate where the ship docks, and then bus the guests into the Park where they would board Park buses to travel deep into the Park. The Alaska Railroad also goes into the Park near the main Visitor Center and unloads passengers there. Denali National Park is a very busy place in the summer months.
By the way, the hotel shown above is apparently undergoing renovations over the winter, as there was lots of furniture, chairs and lamps piled up in front of the building.
Maybe the whole village is called Rainbow Village but no one else seems to use the name.
This is the other cruise ship related hotel. Sorry the image is a little crooked. Sometimes I just take a photo for my own reference. There may be other cruise ship lines which have lodging here but if so, they weren’t out by the main road, and I didn’t see them on Google maps.
By the way, the clock must be broken as the photo was taken at 540pm.
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