DAY 35 - 38 (6/7 – 6/10): DENALI

This is a catch up post on our 4 nights in Denali.

As we drove here from Fairbanks, our friend Sue (whose sister used to live in Fairbanks) said she saw moose on her way to Denali...all we saw was this guy - Ha!  Ha!

...but as we got close, we could have sworn we saw the great mountain from a distance, but we were not 100% sure.

Regardless, the views are amazing - we feel truly blessed with good weather!

 YAY!  We made it!

We decided to cook on this first night and relax in our new hammock (a gift from friends Lillian & Dan for my retirement - THANK YOU!!), and then get ice cream at the nearby mercantile ☺

Personal vehicles are only allowed into about 15 miles of the park road at Denali NP (unless you have a camping reservation at a campground beyond that spot).  There are buses and shuttles that run beyond that point, and you can take these to hike basically ANYWHERE in the park.  This map shows the vastness of this 6M acre "wilderness" designated park.  

On our first full day, we drove to that 15 mile turn-around just to have a look before selecting a hike to do.  We decided to stick with the park designated trails vs. exploring uncharted territory!  This map just shows until about mile 4.

We chose to hike to Mt. Healy.  It has been a looooong time since we did a "strenuous" hike with elevation, and boy did I feel it at the end...but it was so worth the ~5 mile RT!

We rewarded ourselves afterwards with a bike ride into the nearby town off the Nenana River, and had pizza/beer/cider at Prospector's Pizza!  Some of the best pizza we've had!!!!  ...or was it just because we were starving?

Picked up some wood at the mercantile and relaxed at camp.

On Day 2 we biked to Ranger HQ, which is also where they have the kennels for the Denali Sled Dogs.  The sled dogs here are "federal employees", and are bred specifically to work in Denali, keep up the traditions of using sled dogs, and haul in areas of the wilderness here that do not allow motorized vehicles (they also tend to be more reliable than motorized vehicles since they LOVE their job!).

Barry took a mini spill on the way over to the kennels...NOTE: DO NOT try to put KEENS into bike clips - it is very hard to get out of the clip and stop your bike.

We had a nice lunch at camp...we have been eating A LOT of PB&J sandwiches on this trip!

...and then Barry had to perform an emergency rescue of my Macbook Air!  I meant to put it behind the back bench seat cushion, but accidentally let it slide between the seat and van - UGH  Luckily, I married McGyver!

We finished that just in time to catch our Tundra Bus Tour!  The park runs various buses that ferry people in and out beyond that 15 mile turn-around I wrote about earlier.  Some buses have narrators (the TAN ones), and some are only shuttles (the GREEN ones).

FYI, the park road is now only accessible into about mile 46.  There is a stretch of road beyond that, that suffered a road collapse in 2021 due to climate change :(  They are now constructing a bridge to span the valley that the collapse created, which will not be completed until 2027.

On our narrated tour we learned more about the park, experienced the rare viewing of Denali (during the summer months there is only a 20-30% chance of seeing the mountain due to clouds & fog), and saw some amazing wildlife!

Oh, and dad made a friend today - Collette - who is traveling with her friends!

Came back to camp satisfied - dinner, then S'Mores!

Day 3, and our last full day, we went on another hike, ~6.5 miles - this time moderate -- McKinley Station Trail to Horeseshoe Loop.  The start of the trail is right from our camp site, which is next to Riley Creek...beautiful day to hike, and we were rewarded with seeing many beaver dens (no active beavers), and a female moose and her two calves!

Relaxed on our last night here - what an amazing stay at Denali!

GOOD NIGHT!

Miles driven: 31 (That day we drove to the end of the access road)