Fairbanks to Denali and the Park

Friday, July 20th


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We departed Fairbanks at 9:45am and arrived at Riley Creek Campground in Denali at 12:30pm and traveled 121 miles. It was 51⁰ when we left and in the 60s when we arrived. Starting out it was overcast with a heavy layer of low clouds. About halfway to Denali the sun started to peak though and it wasn’t long before we were in the sunshine most of the time. It is still broken clouds and the campground host said it was supposed to be sunny tomorrow but didn’t think we’d see the mountain, at least the top.

The highway was very good until we were about 10-15 miles north of Healy. From there to the park entrance there were a lot of frost heaves, not bad but a lot of ups and downs. We just slowed down and took it easy.

View of the Nenana River

View approaching the Alaska Range

The Alaska Railroad tracks are across the Nenana River from the Parks Highway.

We took the train from Anchorage to Talkeetna, Denali, and then Fairbanks on our 2005 trip.

Entering Denali National Park & Preserve

Of course we have to include our campsite to give those that may follow us an idea of what they are like.

Linda making the most of the sun and campsite

Saturday, July 21st

We had booked a shuttle bus trip to Wonder Lake near the end of the road which is at Kantishna 7 miles further down the road. It is 86 miles to Wonder Lake and the round trip takes 11-12 hours. Ours was 11 1/2. We left at 5:00am and got back to our camp at 4:45 pm. The bus departed from the Wilderness Access Center at 5:15 am. Although these busses are green they are still school busses with bench seats but do have seat belts. That is a long, long time to be in a school bus. We had a rest stop about every hour and spent 30 minutes at three of the stops.

The up side is we did see a lot of wildlife. Some we didn’t get pictures of such as the Lynx but all in all a good day.

Wilderness Access Center departure point

View of Polychrome Pass area

I can just imagine how beautiful this would be on a sunny day.

Wolf

She moved in and out of the bushes along the road and caused a traffic jam. We watched her for about 10 minutes as we moved up several times to get better views.

Female Caribou heading for quieter ground

No this isn’t Mt. McKinley

It is the little peak on the left, Mt. McKinley is hidden in the clouds and is at least twice as tall as this one

Linda at Wonder Lake.

On perfect sunny and windless day you can catch the mirror image of Mt McKinley from the other end of the lake. Of course without the wind and rain the mosquitoes would certainly carry you off. We were told that the area is covered in low growing blueberries and that the male mosquitoes are the pollinators for them. I’m not sure if it’s a tall tail but I will take the drivers word for it now.

Linda even found quilts in the Eielson Visitor Center

A view from Eielson Visitor Center

At Toklat River rest stop they have antlers you can pose with.

I could lift the Caribou antlers but the Moose antlers are separated and it was all I could do to hold one up. I don’t think I’d care to be a Moose and carry them around.

Dall Sheep

Named for the man that discovered the species.

Caribou Bull

View from Teklanika River rest stop

You may recognize the picture from the beginning of our Blog which we took on our trip here in 2005.

Our shuttle(tour)bus

If it looks like a school bus, and rides like a school bus and is uncomfortable as a school bus, it is a school bus even if it is green.

Young bull Moose that we saw near the end of our trip

We saw another small bull and one that was a distance away.

We did see a number of Grizzly Bears but they were all a long distance away and were more like viewing blonde colored dots. Binoculars did the trick to see them and several were lying down with their cubs and sleeping. A few were moving around. I think the final count of bears was 9. I think we saw 12 very near the road when we were here in 2005.

One thing the driver told us as we neared Wonder Lake and we passed a number of Beaver Ponds is that there are no beavers in them now. He told us two of the previous winters there had been very little snow to cover and insulate the ponds and they froze solid killing all the beavers. It is hoped the area will eventually be repopulated.

The Park does not intervene by reintroducing any of the animals or trying to feed or save them in harsh conditions. This is a complete ecosystem and they allow it to do what it will do naturally. No interference at all.

Sunday, July 22nd

While I updated the Blog Linda went to the Dogs, the Sled Dog Demonstration that is. The rest of the time I just laid back and tried to recoup from the school bus, I mean tour bus.

The sled dog demonstration

It is a free presentation by Denali Park Employees. Sleds and dogs are used in the park in winter time to protect the environment. Snowmobiles are not allowed within the park. It was a short, but interesting demonstration. The dogs are Alaskan Huskies, specifically bred for duty in Denali. They are used in winter for transportation and rescue. This photo shows 5 dogs bridled up and pulling the sled.

This is Aurora, one of the “finishers”. Her place is right in front of the sled. Normally a dog placed in this position has difficulty “getting along” with the other dogs. The dogs in the front are chosen for that position because they are leaders.

This one was waiting his turn to pull the sled. They love to work and thrive on it.

We will move on tomorrow and plan to take the old Denali Highway from Cantwell to Paxson which is 135 miles and only 23 of it are paved. We hope the weather allows us to see the mountain ranges on each side of the road and the conditions aren’t too harsh. We will see!

We have seen more that our share of beautiful country, animals, towns and cities. We have met some nice people. We wonder if we could do another trip a great as this.