Mary Carey’s Inn

We drove a few miles north along the Parks Highway to have breakfast at Mary’s place. The Denali View Lodge was established by Mary Carey who homesteaded this area in the early 1960’s. Today, the lodge is still in the family although Mary died a few years back. Her daughter, Jean Richardson and grandson run the place today providing a place to stay, hot meals and amazing views of Denali when the weather allows.

Mary led an amazing life, first in Texas where she took on the governor to force prison reform before driving herself to Alaska following the death of her husband. Now widowed, she became a homesteader, teacher, author and advocate. She waged and won a seven year battle to force the state to complete the Parks Highway linking Anchorage and Fairbanks. She flew often with legendary bush pilot Don Sheldon, climbed Denali, wrote several books about her life and travelled the world. A Google search will reveal much more about this Alaska legend.

Her daughter, Jean Richardson winters in the Houston area and drives the 7-8 day trip from Texas each spring. She shared some wonderful stories about her mom and her life here. She explained that the cost of diesel fuel for the generator and heating oil makes it impractical to keep the lodge open in the winter.

We are staying at Trapper Creek Inn, a classic Alaska Roadhouse offering hot meals, fuel, lodging, showers and laundry to travelers. This area has been a crossroads for miners, hunters, fishermen and adventurers since the first gold discoveries in the late 1800’s.