Best time to go
The Denali Highway is generally open from mid-May to October 1, and snowdrifts can block travel outside that stretch. The wayside has no fee and is for day use only.
Overview
About Delta Wild and Scenic River Wayside
Heads up
- Day-use only, with seasonal highway access.
Map
Where it is
Loading the Denali Highway map
Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
Best time to go
Picnic facilities
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Denali Highway Tour Guide
Your drive to Delta Wild and Scenic River Wayside, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Denali Highway. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Denali Highway audio tourRecorded for this place
Tangle Lakes: Choose Your Lakeside Stop0:00 / 0:33
“You're coming up on Tangle Lakes, with two different lakeside stops to choose from. For a picnic, use the day-use wayside on the south side of the highway. For a night by the water, the campground is on the north side.”
Plays as you drive up to Delta Wild and Scenic River Wayside in the Parkwolf Denali Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Tangle Lakes Lodge: Pizza and Supplies
- Landmark Gap View: A Caribou Corridor
- Tangle River Inn: A Roadhouse with a Lake View
- Swede Mountain Trail: Climb to the Cairn
- 96 audio storiesacross Denali Highway’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Moose, Caribou, Bald Eagle, and 10 more
- Works offlinemaps, 18 trails, 27 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Delta Wild and Scenic River Wayside
A day-use stop at Upper Tangle LakesDelta Wild and Scenic River Wayside is a picnic area and boat launch on the south side of the…
Delta Wild and Scenic River Wayside is a picnic area and boat launch on the south side of the Denali Highway, across from Tangle Lakes Campground. Stop here to eat, use the restrooms, or launch a canoe into the Upper Tangle Lakes. It makes an easy break in the drive, and the boat access opens up longer trips. This is a day-use stop, not another campground.
For a longer paddleThe launch gives you access to extended wilderness canoe trips through the Upper Tangle Lakes.
The launch gives you access to extended wilderness canoe trips through the Upper Tangle Lakes. The popular 30-mile Delta River float starts at the campground launch across the highway, not here, so make sure you choose the right put-in.
A much older landscapeThe wider Tangle Lakes area has more than 500 archaeological sites documenting at least 10,000…
The wider Tangle Lakes area has more than 500 archaeological sites documenting at least 10,000 years of human habitation. That history belongs to the lake district as a whole, but it adds a deeper story to the landscape around this wayside.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Denali Highway
56 sightingsMooseMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
37 sightingsCaribouMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
26 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
33 sightingsTrumpeter SwanMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
25 sightingsBeaverMost seen around 9 PMSighting map
17 sightingsPorcupineMost seen around 10 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Denali Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
