By Taylor Raftery
In June 2025, Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation Executive Director Taylor Raftery set out for an overnight backpacking trip on the Curry Ridge Trail with two trusted trail companions: Monty, a 7-year-old English Shepherd, and Ginger, a 12-year-old German Shepherd mix who still insists she’s got plenty of miles left in her.
The timing couldn’t have been better. Under nearly 20 hours of daylight, the trio enjoyed sunny weather, lingering snow patches, and sweeping views of the Alaska Range that stretched endlessly across the horizon. In the evening, sandhill cranes called near their lake-adjacent campsite, their haunting voices echoing across the open landscape and adding to the sense of remoteness and calm that defines Denali State Park.
The trip wasn’t without a little adventure. A curious encounter with a porcupine resulted in Ginger earning a few quills, thankfully minor and easily managed, but it was a gentle reminder that this landscape is very much alive, shared, and wild.
A Trail That Connects More Than Miles
Taylor’s overnight trip was made possible by the completion of the Curry Ridge to Kesugi Ridge Trail Connector, finished in 2024. This transformational project added approximately 17 miles of new trail through the heart of Denali State Park, linking the Curry Ridge Trail with the beloved K’esugi Ridge Trail and creating an extraordinary 50-mile backcountry trail system, much of it above treeline.
The Curry Connector begins near Rocky Knob, climbing from the lower Curry Ridge Trail above K’esugi Ken Campground, and winds through alpine and subalpine terrain—crossing ridges, skirting lakes and wetlands, and offering constant views of the Alaska Range. The route intersects an existing user-created path over Tarn Point and ends at Cascade Junction above Byers Lake. Along the way, hikers should expect small stream crossings and a ford of Troublesome Creek, all part of the authentic backcountry experience.
For Taylor, Monty, and Ginger, the trail offered not just a route, but an invitation to slow down, to explore, and to experience Denali State Park in a deeply personal way.
Why Trails Like Curry Ridge Matter
Trails are more than lines on a map. They are places of health, discovery, and connection to nature, to community, and to ourselves. Overnight trips like this one offer space to reset, to challenge ourselves physically and mentally, and to build lasting memories (even the porcupine kind).
The Curry Connector also represents something larger: what’s possible when community, agencies, and partners work together. Seventy-five percent of the project was funded by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Wildlife Conservation (ADF&G, DWC) through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wildlife Restoration Program (Pittman-Robertson Act). Tax revenue collected from the sale of firearms, ammunition, and archery equipment is used to support public access to wildlife resources and improve hunter access. The remaining funds were provided by the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation and Mat-Su Health Foundation. In total, the $1.3 million project showcases how public-private partnerships can dramatically expand access to Alaska’s public lands while respecting wildlife habitat and cultural history, including the homelands of the Dena’ina People.
Looking Ahead
As more Alaskans and visitors discover the Curry Ridge and K’esugi Ridge trail system, trips like Taylor’s will become more common. Overnight backpacks, long-distance traverses, first-time adventures, and quiet moments above treeline. Each footstep reinforces the value of investing in trails that are thoughtfully designed, sustainably built, and rooted in community support.
From sunny ridgelines and migrating cranes to snowy patches and unexpected wildlife encounters, Curry Ridge delivers the full Alaska experience. And thanks to the Curry Connector, that experience now stretches farther than ever before.
If you haven’t explored this trail yet, consider adding it to your list, and if you have, we hope it leaves you with the same sense of awe, gratitude, and connection that Taylor, Monty, and Ginger carried home with them.
To learn more about the Curry Ridge to Kesugi Ridge Trail Connector or to support future trail and park projects, explore our website at www.matsutrails.org.
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