Summer job in Denali - advice needed! (Fairbanks, Healy: camps, cost)

[Es365]

I'm a 22 year old from the East coast, and I just got a job at Princess Lodges in Denali for the summer season. I'll be there from the beginning of May until the end of September, and I am very, very excited. However, I've never been to Alaska (the furthest north I've been in NA was Oregon) and I'm unsure of what to expect. I plan on spending most of my time outdoors during my time off.

In terms of the weather...what should I expect? I've read that temperatures around Denali during the summer vary from 60-80 F, and go around the 40's during the evening. Does it change drastically from May to September?

Has any one worked at Princess Lodges in Denali before? What was your experience? What should I bring? (On another note, can I be a vegan there and not starve to death?)

I know these are broad questions, but I'm a bit clueless...any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[AKStafford]

I drove tour bus for two summers and spent some time overnighting at Denali. It wasn't for Princess though, so I'm not sure of how good their employee food/housing is.
You can expect all types of weather... Seriously. It can go from snowing and 30 degrees to sunny and 70 degrees in a day. The best advice is to dress in layers that can be added or removed as needed. It will rain. Have a good jacket that can shed water. And good shoes.
I'd give this thread in the Trip Advisor forum a good read: What clothes do you recommend for Alaska summer travel?! - Alaska Forum - TripAdvisor

[Metlakatla]

Resort employee cafeteria meals are prepared with cost in mind, so maintaining a vegan diet is going to be difficult for you to do.

I have a friend who worked for Princess at Denali last summer and seemed to like it very much.

Have a great summer.

[stiffnecked]

Have fun. Lose the vegan thing.

[mreece]

RE: vegan -

if you're good and creative, you can be vegan anywhere. it's a lot easier now than it was in the past. i spent many summers in fire camps throughout the west and managed to survive. it'll be tougher listening to all the people on this silly message board tell you to stop being vegan than it will to do it.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by mreece

RE: vegan -

if you're good and creative, you can be vegan anywhere. it's a lot easier now than it was in the past. i spent many summers in fire camps throughout the west and managed to survive. it'll be tougher listening to all the people on this silly message board tell you to stop being vegan than it will to do it.

Let's clear something up.

The OP is going to work at a place where he or she will have little access to food other than what is offered in the employee dining room. The OP will have no place to cook for his or her self. The OP could lose his or her job is he or she attempts to cook for his or her self in employee housing. The OP would also be making a very big mistake if he or she tried to cook in the woods. There are no food preparation facilities available to employees in these resorts.

Now who's being silly here? Suppose you tell me where the nearest grocery store to Denali Princess Lodge is. Even if the OP were to be able to successfully sneak off-property and prepare his or her own vegan feasts in the woods, how would the OP get the food to be able to do so?

I'm looking forward to your suggestions about how this can be done now that you have a little bit of actual knowledge about where the OP is going to be spending the summer.

To the OP: Again, you'll probably find vegetarian offerings in the employee dining room, but it's highly doubtful that you'll be able to maintain a strictly vegan diet.

[warptman]

Keep an eye out for Bob if he decides to make it up to work this summer. He has before ideas and wanders up to Fairbanks with his friends to go store.

[AKStafford]

There is a Subway in "Glitter Gulch." Healy has a small "grocery" store. You might be able to get to Fairbanks occasionally to do some shopping.

[Metlakatla]

And that's just the easy part, getting the food. If you even so much as have a coffeepot in your room in employee housing (and there's nowhere else to stay), you could lose your job. They inspect those rooms on a regular basis. You're not supposed to have food in them at all beyond "wrapped snack items." They just don't allow employees in those places to store large amounts food in their rooms.

Try making friends with the cooks in the employee dining room. Maybe if there are enough other vegans there, the cooks will do more to accommodate that. But they'll basically be cooking your meals from FSA (Food Services of America) stock and don't have a lot of choices about what's available to them to prepare meals with because they don't do much of the ordering.

[Rance]

Plants are easy to catch. You can always do your own grazing/gathering after work, and come fall there should be planty of berry picking!