Once you’re in the backcountry, you’ll run across unmaintained “social trails,” not blazed by the park or lined with signposts or cairns but blazed by decades of hiking boots. But know that here, you have the freedom to roam and to pick crowberries as you see fit. Counter to what you may expect, the park asks that you don’t hike single-file and instead spread out across the plain — or tundra or taiga or what have you — to lessen your mark on this wilderness. If you go at it on your own, and especially if you go off-trail, it’s important to wear layers and bring plenty of water, a compass, and bear spray (which can be supplied by your lodge). Photo via Agnieszka Bacal, shutterstock #backcountry #hike #denali