Denali National Park
Denali, Alaska
Wednesday – Friday – July 25 – 27, 2018
Cloudy, 70°
** No cell service or internet has kept me from posting. I should be posting more as I am out of the fires in Canada and the Western US so will be catching up shortly.
"Rivers run through our history and folklore, and link us as a people. They nourish and refresh us and provide a home for dazzling varieties of fish and wildlife and trees and plants of every sort. We are a nation rich in rivers." - Charles Kuralt
The drive down from Fairbanks to Denali National Park is about two hours or so. Normally, the summertime construction season adds anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour to the trip. Several delays were expected but luckily in the last two years I’ve been gone from Alaska, the State DOT has completed the roadwork that had been ongoing the two years prior to my leaving. It was mostly a nice drive on the newer pavement with minimal bumps and frost heaves. It was a nice change from the Haul road and it’s torn up mess of pavement, gravel, and mud holes.
Most people in the Lower 48 know Denali by its former name, Mt. McKinley. It was changed several years ago to Denali. This is the original Native American name it was always known by in Alaska. It is a huge park, over six million acres, with a welcome center next to a railroad station for those coming to visit the park by train from Anchorage or Fairbanks.
Denali Sign with Placido Flamingo (Where's the Flamingo FB page)
The park has a ten dollar lottery every year for people who wish to drive in the park during the fall season. The road inside the park is opened for four days to 400 vehicles a day. I put in for the lottery every year while I lived in Alaska and never was drawn for the beautiful drive. During those four days, the Park shuts down the tour buses and only allows the lottery vehicles to drive the gravel, curvy narrow road. The only road in the park goes 92 miles from the eastern park entrance to Wonder Lake and ends in Kantishna. There are several lodges there including the Kantishna Road House, an old establishment that was grandfathered in when the Park was formed.
The Denali Park Road is north of and roughly parallel to the imposing Alaska Range. Only a small fraction of the road is paved because permafrost and the freeze-thaw cycle would create a high cost for maintaining a paved road. The first 15 miles of the road are available to private vehicles, allowing easy access to the Riley Creek and Savage River campgrounds. Private vehicle access is prohibited beyond the Savage River Bridge. There is a turn-around for motorists at this point, as well as a nearby parking area for those who wish to hike the Savage River Loop Trail. Beyond this point, visitors must access the interior of the park through tour/shuttle buses. (Wikipedia)
Savage River Campground sign
Camping at Savage River allowed us to drive into the Park about 13 miles to the campground. The sites were mostly among white and black spruce trees which gave shade and provided a buffer between neighboring campers. A picnic table with attached “Bear warning” and a nice fire pit in each site completed the remote sites. Generators could be used both in the morning and early evening for two hours each time period.
Denali at midnight between the trees
As the weather cooled down in the evening, building a fire in the fire pit was a perfect ending to the day. Since it never gets dark this time of the year, it was a little odd sitting by the campfire in “daylight.” In several National Parks they have shower facilities in only one location which may not be in the campground you are staying. It is a little inconvenient but gives you a place to take a hot shower.
If you camp in the park, purchase your bus tour tickets the day before the tour and catch the bus at the campground entrance. This keeps you from having to drive to the visitor’s center to join the tour. We took the Toklat tour which took us about 60 miles into the park to a ranger station alongside the Toklat River. Driving both directions on this road gave everyone on the bus the opportunity to see the mountains, valleys, plants and any animals along the way.
2 Caribou in Toklat River
The road passes rivers and climbs its way over several ranges going around hairpin curves with wondrous views of the glacier carved valleys.
Denali Park Road view
It then descends its way back to the next river basin with Caribou grazing on the sandbars or resting there. On the grassy hillsides one could see Grizzly bears slowly walking, some with cubs playfully running along.
Two Grizzly Bears on the mountain side (Brown)
In one spot, there was a Caribou on a ridge above the bears below. The wind must not have been blowing where the bears smelled the Caribou since they never made a run up the hill toward it.
Denali's landscape is a mix of forest at the lowest elevations, including deciduous taiga, with tundra at middle elevations, and glaciers, snow, and bare rock at the highest elevations.
3 Dall sheep high on the mountain (They are white)
The longest glacier is the Kahiltna Glacier. Glaciers cover about 16% of the 6 million acres of Denali National Park and Preserve. There are more extensive glaciers on the southeastern side of the range because more snow is dropped on this side from the moisture-bearing winds from the Gulf of Alaska. The 5 largest south-facing glaciers are Yetna (20 miles long), Kahiltna (30 miles), Tokositna (23 miles), Ruth (31 miles), and Eldrige (30 miles). The Ruth glacier is 3,800 feet thick. However, the largest glacier, Muldrow glacier (32 miles long), is located on the north side. Nonetheless, the northern side has smaller and shorter glaciers overall. Muldrow glacier has "surged" twice in the last hundred years. Surging means that it has moved forward for a short time at a greatly increased rate of speed, due to a build-up of water between the bottom of the glacier and the bedrock channel floating on the ice (due to hydrostatic pressure). (Wikipedia)
This is a beautiful park with friendly rangers and concession staff working hard to ensure everyone has a great wilderness experience. If you have a chance to come to Alaska either on a cruise ship or by air it is worth it to add some additional days to visit Denali National Park. There are plenty of places to stay just outside the park in the town of Denali with many seasonal shops and restaurants open in summer for all you needs.