Destination: Denali National Park, Alaska

Saturday, June 28

Day 26 of the Alaska Journey

60° and Sunny

134 miles to Denali National Park

It was mostly clear after several days of rain when we departed Fairbanks. We were only 266 miles from Anchorage, but our interim destination for this day was Denali National Park, where we planned to spend a few days and hopefully get to view the mountain.  The general rule is that only 30% of the visitors are fortunate enough to view the whole mountain.

The road to Mt. McKinley

We were getting used to it on this journey, but only drove a few miles before encountering highway reconstruction again.  This was getting to be a habit!

...somebody is doing road work.

Somewhere out there...

Our longest delay that morning was only 25 minutes, but there were several more brief delays.  We had quickly learned that construction delays are a fact of life in the North Country.  The late spring and summer season is the only opportunity they have for road maintenance or reconstruction.  Slower traveling speeds and patience are required.

Visitor center mockup of Denali

Denali National Park and Preserve is one of the most visited National Parks in the US, primarily because it is the home of Mt. McKinley. It is located about 18 miles south of Healy, and at 20,237’ is the tallest mountain in North America. It is interesting to note that the locals call the mountain Denali. Denali is a native Athabascan word meaning “the high one.” The story goes that a local prospector named the mountain in 1897 after the newly elected President William McKinley. In 1917 Congress and President Wilson officially established Mt. McKinley National Park. The park was renamed in 1980 incorporating the original native name.

We are getting closer.

Scenic road vistas kept us in awe.

We stopped in Healy for a lunch break at the 49^th State Brewing Company. The access road had large pot holes and mud puddles. This brew pub is known for its large burgers and local brews, and it even has Yak on the menu. 

On site brewery

A tasters' delight

Voted Best Brewpub in Alaska

Just outside the front door of the brewery, you can visit the now-infamous bus from the movie “Into the Wild.” 

The movie bus

We started our lunch with a spicy cheese dip made with an IPA and Baked Blonde Ale.

The interior decor was rustic.

Manwich burger

Ok, I was hungry!

We are not far from our destination. 

Getting closer...

...but we delay again

Nenana River

Intriguing terrain

Beautiful

It was only a short distance from Healy to our destination.

We made it to the park entry.

It was 70° when we arrived at our interim destination of Denali Rainbow Village RV Park, which is just outside of Denali National Park. As with some of our previous campgrounds, it is nothing more than a glorified gravel parking lot. But it is located one block behind the row of businesses along the highway, so it was very convenient to interesting shops and restaurants.  The park was full, but fortunately we had called ahead and reserved our spot while in Fairbanks. Denali is one of those choke points for tourist travel for which we had learned to make advance plans.   

Normally we travel loosey-goosey, by the seat of our pants, but there are certain destinations, such as Denali National Park, for which that is not a wise strategy.   

Camping accommodations inside of the park were already full, and they did not have any hook ups anyway. Weather was not scheduled to be very nice and under those conditions, we prefer to have electrical power. So we booked a spot in a commercial campground that had a place for a small unit like ours. They had showers, cell, cable, and wifi access advertised. However, we found that we had to carry our laptops to the picnic area near the office to get an internet connection. 

After checking in at the RV park, we drove to the Wilderness Access Center in the national park to get tour bus tickets for venturing deeper into the park. The Denali Park Road is the only road into Denali National Park. It parallels the Alaskan mountain range and is 92 miles long, ending at the mining settlement of Kantishna. This was where we wanted to go. To preserve the park and the wildlife, private vehicles are not allowed beyond the first 14 miles. From that point, bus tours on the narrow gravel road provide for visitor access and enjoyment of the park. The only other alternative is hiking.

WAC parking lot

We signed up for the Kantishna Experience tour for the next morning. It would be a 13-hour tour on a converted school bus, if we were able to make it to the end.  Just a few days before, the area had flash floods that had washed out several bridges on the road. We would not know if we would be able to cross them till we arrived at the starting point.

In the Wilderness Access Center we gathered a lot of information tidbits.

Glaciers cover about 16% of the 6 million acres of Denali National Park and Preserve. The top 1/3 of the land consists of rock and ice, the middle third is composed of high mountain passes and broad river valleys, and the remaining lowlands are boggy. The road we traveled cuts through the mountain passes and broad river valleys, which are also the most prolific place for wildlife sightings.

The timberline in the park is about 3,000 feet, and above that tundra is the main feature of the landscape. The timbered areas are mainly spruce and willow forest. Due to the harsh climate and thin soils, their form is poor so the trees and brush do not grow well and reach full size. Grizzlies, black bears, and caribou roam the land here. We were told to also be on the lookout for Dall sheep in the high country mountainsides and moose around the lowland ponds and bogs. When I asked about what critters to be especially prepared for, I got one resounding answer—mosquitoes.

Visitors are free to roam almost anywhere. Trails largely do not exist but wild land adventurers are cautioned to make sure they have certain skills, and are especially informed about bear safety. The key here is to respect the bears and give them lots of space. All back country users have to watch a video and sign a release before they are given a permit to visit these areas. By the way, there are grey wolves here too. Only 20% of the visitors get to see the wolves.  We hoped to be in that select group. After gathering information, we went back to town.

The evening before our trip into the park, we celebrated Daisy’s birthday at the Salmon Bake restaurant.  It was located about 2 blocks from our site, so we set up camp and walked there to dine. We enjoyed salmon and halibut entrees supplemented with a free chocolate cake in her honor.   The false front shops on the street fronting the campground are open late during the tourist season, so Daisy shopped for souvenirs like T-shirts, magnets, post cards, and jade earrings.

The Birthday Girl

Halibut

Planked Salmon

Free Birthday Dessert

June 29
We got up at 4:45 am to catch the 6 am shuttle at the Salmon Bake for the Denali Wilderness Access Center and the Kantishna Experience tour, which left at 7 am. The skies were only partly cloudy as we departed, giving us good views of the Alaskan Range and Denali.

Yep! A converted school bus

One-way traffic

We got to the bus with no road issues, but went only a few miles after boarding the bus before encountering  road reconstruction. This was caused by the recent heavy rain fall and subsequent flash flooding in the park.









Sometimes its best to leave the driving to someone else so you can also enjoy the scenery.

Our first view of the high one

Our first view of the mountain was from the Savage River rest stop. We could see the top two-thirds of the mountain with only scattered clouds.
 

1st wildlife viewing--willow ptarmigan

Postcard pictures everywhere we looked

Sable Pass is the first of four nearly 4,000 foot mountain passes that you cross on the 90-mile stretch of Denali Park Road. Sable Pass is a known wildlife hotspot, and the area is specifically designated as grizzly bear country.

Toklat River Basin

We began climbing to another mountain pass.









Around one bend we looked up on the hill side.

Igloo basin and mountain sheep

Once at the top of this basin road, we headed down again to the lowlands.

The milky rivers, cloudy with glacial silt and rock fragments, are evidence of on going glaciation and continuing mountain carving.

And back up again.

The bus drivers talk to each other via radio due to the narrow lanes.

Polychrome Pass looking west

Polychrome Pass got its name from the colorful volcanic rocks that you can see from the overlook, but the name could also be applied to the colorful vegetation, streams, mountains, and glaciers that make this spot unique.

Polychrome Pass looking east on the way back

Stony Hill Overlook is the location for the most photographed view of Mt. McKinley from the road. You’re up high, at the edge of a mountain pass, and there’s alpine tundra all around, with the road snaking toward the mountain in the foreground.

Mt. McKinley is at the end of this road view from Stony Hill.

Only 33 air miles from the summit of Denali, and at an elevation of 3,300’, Eielson Visitor Center offers some of the most spectacular views of Mt. McKinley. It is 66 road miles from the park entrance.

Mt. McKinley is dead center behind us in the clouds

Mt. McKinley from the Eielson Visitor Center

Interpretive sign at Eielson.  McKinley really has two peaks.

"Locked for All Time" is the title of the story about these two sets of antlers.

 The story goes that in 2003 two massive moose bulls went at each other with such a fury that they locked their horns and died together on the tundra. The scavengers (wolves, bears, and wolverines) were the ultimate winners in this savage battle of life and death.


Back on the road...

Young caribou just chilling

Mature caribou grazing

Our tour bus driver was especially interested in the smaller animals and had us watching for marmots, ground squirrels, beavers, and snowshoe hares. In one noteworthy stretch of tundra, he spotted an elusive red fox acting peculiarly. He stopped the bus so we could observe from the bus as the fox stalked its prey: a ground squirrel that was facing away from the fox and distracted. 

The fox had the wind and terrain in his favor.  To the dismay of several people on our bus, we watched as the fox closed in, captured, and killed his prey. It was only after he had buried the squirrel that he noticed his audience. The fox walked 10 yards away, all the time watching the bus, then went back and uncovered his cache and found a different place to bury it. We drove on.

We had picked up a National Park Service interpreter at the Eielson Visitor Center, and she accompanied us to Wonder Lake. Wonder Lake and Campground is at mile 85 on the Denali Park Road and is only 26 air miles from Mt. McKinley. This is the closest campground to Mt. McKinley and has 28 tent-only sites. Our tour was not able to go the remaining 6 miles to the end of the road at the mining town of Kantishna because of the areas that had been washed out by heavy rains.


 Another thing about this area was the mosquitoes we were warned about. They were not only large but also numerous. Our national park guide gave us headnets to wear before taking us on a nature tour of plants in the area.

Long sleeve shirts, headnets, and bug juice were appropriate.

How moose handle mosquitoes at Wonder Lake

View of the mountain from Wonder Lake

Close up of Mt. McKinley from Wonder Lake

The Sable Pass area on our return again gave us another opportunity for a prey and predator life story. We observed a grizzly stalking caribou. 










We had just seen a fox hunting its prey and now we had come upon one of the largest carnivores after its prey. But in this case, the prey were aware of the hunter.

Bear in lower left, caribou in upper right

 
As the bear would approach the caribou, they would run off uphill just a little way until the bear would stop.  Then they would stop and graze.  This happened several times more and it dawned on us that the caribou were taunting the bear.  They would force the bear to chase them up hill and they only stopped when they had a clear field of vision to look down on the bear. Our guide indicated that by running uphill, the caribou could easily out distance the bear. As we watched, the bear got either winded or disinterested in this game and went in another direction. So this drama came to a happy ending for the caribou and a frustrating one for the bear. 



It had been a long day for us traveling the low brushy lands climbing into the timber and then into the higher tundra and back.

Tundra

But there was still one more wildlife sighting for us. Just as we crossed a bridge, we observed this large fuzzy critter watching us from a small bushy area nearby.   

The bus driver refused to open the door for better pictures.

Now the question is, who is the predator and who the prey?

During our tour, we saw grizzlies, caribou, sheep, moose, fox, golden eagle, ground squirrels, and ptarmigans.  The tour included a sack lunch with snacks and beverages. All were good except for the turkey wrap. Daisy had started having sniffles and sneezes during the afternoon. By the time we got back to the Wilderness Access Center at 7:30 pm, she was not feeling well. When we got back to the campground via the shuttle, she took some cold pills and went to bed.  The next day (June 30) it was raining.  We slept in and had a quiet day reading. I walked to a great take-out Thai restaurant for my dinner. Daisy was still mostly under the weather. The following day we would be heading toward Anchorage.