Day 42 Denali: Into the Park

Our day started at 6:00AM at the roadside rest area where we spent the night. We drove about a mile into the park to the Wilderness Access Center to catch our 8:00AM shuttle bus for a 62 mile trip into Denali. The official policy since the 1980’s had been that no private automobile traffic is allowed past the 15 mile turnaround on the park road during the heavy visitor months that ends in September. At that time locals can use the road until it closes at the first major snow.

This policy has exceptions including 5 professional photographers a day and RV’s headed to Teklanika River Campground at Mile 29 who can make one round trip to position their RV. This policy dramatically reduces human impact on the animals. All food and drink must be carried in and out with you and we ate on the bus as we traveled or at one of the rest stops.

Our choices for the day’s trip included a narrated tour bus or using the shuttle bus system at about 1/3^rd the cost. Friends had recommended the shuttle bus system and it turned out to be a good choice. Our driver Wendy has been a resident of Alaska since 1974 and has driven in the Park for 15 years. She never stopped her dialog on the park and its animals that she obviously loves and would stop along the way to point out interesting areas and every time she or one of the passengers saw an animal or bird. Our shuttle ticket gave us the flexibility to jump on and off the shuttle system anywhere along the route to tour at our own pace but she was so interesting that we stuck with her for the entire trip, as did most of her passengers. We made several 15 minute scheduled stops and one 30 minute lunch break shortly after making our turnaround at Fish Creek.

The forecast for the day was clear and that lasted until about 8:30AM. As it began to cloud up we did get one good view of all but the top of Mt McKinley but by the time we reached the interior of the park it had clouded over the mountain. We joined 80% of the park visitors who miss the 30 days a summer that the Big One remains unobscurred. Unfortunately the 100 mile per hour winds blowing over the glacier peaks create their own weather. The mountain remains a climbing challenge requiring staging supplies and careful execution. Over 100 climbers have perished on these slopes, 4 this year, and over 30 are still up there.

Denali remains a beautiful sightseeing adventure as we crossed the outer range of the Alaskan Range and viewed the grandeur of the volcano formed inner range, its rivers, valleys, and glaciers.

In the animal sighting department we did a bit better with grizzlies, caribou, dall sheep, eagles, and several smaller animals and birds. In all we took 273 photos which is a daunting challenge to get through and edit!

Here is a girl who is having a hard time losing her winter coat!

These little guys are known here as wolf fast food.

62 miles doesn’t seem that far but on the primitive road that exists beyond Mile 29 and the construction under way to repair the damage from winter snows, floods, and slides it took 8 hours for the round trip including stops. By the time we returned to the entrance we all were ready to get out!

We stopped at the Visitors Center for a few moments and then left the park and had dinner at the Denali Village Salmon Bake where we had a great meal before driving 30 miles towards Fairbanks and finding a quiet little campground at the Teklanika River Trading Post. Tomorrow we finish the drive to Fairbanks where we will spend several days.