Seeking advice for a short visit to the Denali area. I will be flying into Anchorage in mid August for a quick five day visit, meeting up with my brother who will be exploring AK for the summer.  He has a 4x4 Chevy 1500 with a pop up bed camper and will be finishing up a month long drive through Canada from Wisconsin to Anchorage.  I'm looking for suggestions on places we can drive into that are off the beaten path but vehicle accessible (no crazy jeep trails) where we can spend a few nights camping and hiking. We don't want to waste time battling crowds or taking the busses through Denali and would much appreciate your local knowledge as to where we may spend some quiet, quality time together. My ideal plan would be to drive into an area near the mountains where we can camp, fish and hike while avoiding crowds. We both love to flyfish and would be down to leave our vehicle for an overnight hike/camp.  We want to be efficient with our time as two of the five days will be burned going to and from the airport, so we would like to go somewhere within a few hours north of Anchorage to minimize time on the road vs time enjoying the outdoors.

I also would like the recommendation of a friendly FFL near Anchorage, preferably on the way north to our destination, where we can purchase a firearm or two and whom we can use to ship them back to TX on my brother's way home. He will be doing a lot of solo backcountry trekking and primarily needs a good bear defense pistol.  I would also appreciate suggestions from locals about personal security, things to be cautious of that I can pass along to the bro; how welcoming are the locals to travelers ( especially those arrogant ones from TX ) and general vehicle safety in regards to leaving it overnight in a remote area. We are both avid outdoorsmen ( bro used to be a prof rock climber ) and have spent weeks alone in the mountain ranges of CO on many occasions but neither of us has been to Alaska. Thank you for your time.

Should have been more specific, sorry. We don't want to camp inside Denali Park, just want to camp in that region.  Something outside the boundary but up in the mountains would be ideal. Didn't know about non-residents not being able to purchase a firearm and walking out the door with it. My bro is traveling through Canada, so he doesn't want to mess with all the necessary province permits. Am I left with carrying one with me on the flight or can I ship one from TX to an FFL in AK to pick up?

You can check guns on a flight in an approved case. A shotgun with slugs may be a better choice, and if you meet up with any LEO the first thing you say is that you have a gun. It's the law and they want to know before they find it. I'm not sure how non residents are handled with guns and no hunting license. Call AST for a good answer?

I'm not too worried about having a firearm during my short visit, however I'd feel much better about my younger brother staying safe if he had a large caliber handgun for his trekking excursions.  I'll buy a shotgun or lever action 45-70 when I get to anchorage ( always wanted an excuse to buy a 45-70 and will be happy to support a local business ) and have it shipped home before I leave.  Can I ship a handgun to a FFL in Anchorage, pick it up and give it to my brother for his travels and then have him ship it back before he drives home again through Canada?  If we do have firearms, can we openly carry them while hiking on public lands?  

The firearm thing isn't my main concern. I'm much more interested in hearing about a peaceful place to camp for a few days where we can fish some local streams and do some hiking. Any good mountain stream flyfishing spots between Anchorage and Denali you can recommend?  We like fishing smaller mountain snow melt streams over large, fast moving rivers.  Is an encounter with a bear while in the backcountry even a common event?  I've had several experiences with black bear in CO during primitive camping and am fairly comfortable around them, however a brown bear would probably have me a bit more nervous.  If we leave our truck/camper and do an overnight into the mountains, should we be concerned about the vehicle at all?