Denali National Park

On Monday, July 1st, we arrived at a nice RV park north of the entrance to Denali National Park. On our way to Denali, we spent one night in Fairbanks after we left Valdez. We spent 7 nights in the Denali area. We saw at least one moose every day.

We relaxed in the motor home for the entire first day. We went into the park on Tuesday and drove as far as we could (15 miles). We actually saw the top of Mt. McKinley. Probably 1,500 to 2,000 feet of it. They say that visitors have a 30% chance of seeing the top of the mountain due to fog, rain, clouds, etc.

Wednesday, we drove part of the way on the Denali Highway (Highway 8) that connects Paxson and Cantwell. Of its 135 miles, about 23 of the miles are paved. It's a washboard so we drove only about 20 miles on the gravel road (in the car). We saw a moose, but the drive was otherwise uneventful.

We then drove down Highway 3 (Parks Highway) to Talkeetna. It's a 320 miles roundtrip from our campground, but we have nothing better to do. We tried at 3 locations to see THE MOUNTAIN but it wasn't "out" today. Honestly, that's what they call it when you can see the mountain. We were able to confirm our next few excursions in the Talkeetna area. On the way back to the campground, we saw a bull moose. A MATURE bull moose with a "trophy" rack still in its velvet stage. Mary Ann caught a view of it as we passed it standing in the trees next to the road. We took some pictures and then 3-4 loud trucks roared by and the moose scampered into the forest. We thought the "moose moment" was done. We backed the car up to the spot the moose entered the woods. We shut off the car and lo and behold the moose came back out. Please be aware that some of the shots were not the result of zooming in. This huge moose kept getting closer and closer to the car. He made it to within 15-20 feet from Mary Ann's window. That was cool.

Thursday (4th of July) we knocked around the area. Went to a small town by the name of Healy. The high school has an outside hockey rink. I guess the city kids from Anchorage love to come and play Healy on that surface. We checked on THE MOUNTAIN. It still was being shy.

Friday, we went into the park around 11:30 a.m.. THE MOUNTAIN gave us another small peek of its majesty. We ate dinner at the Gold Mine Dining Room at Summit Lake Lodge along the Nenana River (knee - nana like banana). We saw a mama moose and twin calves at a roadside pond. Our first youngsters of any kind.

Saturday, we got up at 5:45 a.m. to make our 7:30 a.m. bus excursion into Denali. The trip goes to "the end of the road" some 92 miles (one way) to Kantishna. We were hoping that today would bring a view of THE MOUNTAIN. We got near our usual viewing position inside the park where we have been continually disappointed and WHAM ! BAM ! ALAKAZAMM ! there was THE MOUNTAIN staring us in the face. It was bigger, snowier, and closer than we thought it was. We took lots of pictures to add to our 1,000 plus pictorial archives. You can't believe how it dominates the mountain range that it's in. At 20,320 feet it's North America's tallest peak. Also, from it's base to it's highest domed peak, it is the tallest mountain in the world. Mt. Everest has the highest elevation at the peak but the base starts at like 12,000 feet elevation in the Himalayan plateau. We more or less drove about 1/3 of the way around THE MOUNTAIN and the driver/guide said we got within 18 miles of it base. We saw 4 moose and a mama grizzly with 2 cubs.

The wild flowers are in bloom and some pictures of a variety of them are posted in this edition of our blog. We hope we labeled them correctly.

Sunday is a day of relaxation and the posting of this newest entry to our blog. We hope you're enjoying the trip. Monday we head for Talkeetna, AK.

Campsite at Denali RV Park (8 miles north of park entrance)

Young male moose near Black Diamond Lodge (north of our campsite)

Park entrance sign

Visitor Center map of the park

Steve at mile post 15 in Denali Park - to go further you need to be on a bus. There are people climbing on top of this rock!

Tour/Park buses returning to the Wilderness Access Center and/or Visitor Center

Scenery in Denali National Park

Mt. McKinley (known as Mt. Denali in Alaska) is in these clouds (right center)

Tuesday - a small glimpse of Mt. McKinley (remember to click on picture to enlarge)

Compare this to future pictures in this blog of Mt. McKinley

Tuesday - the tip of the peak is in center at the bottom

At this time we were thrilled with this view - we became members of the 30% Club

Railroad trestle on the Alaskan Railroad (you can travel to Anchorage or Fairbanks from the Denali Depot)

The official sign at park's edge

Grande Denali Lodge has a great location - ~700-800 feet up a hillside

Ate lunch at the Grande Denali Lodge - beautiful view of the Nenana River

Another view from restaurant of the tourist mecca outside the entrance to the park

Alaska is "proud" of their mosquitoes - display at the Delta Junction Visitor Center (official end of the Alaska Highway)

Comical sign on the way up to the Grande Denali Lodge

Are these nets for mosquitoes or F-16's??

Another "silly" sign on the way up to the Grande Denali Lodge

It never really gets dark here like home - this was taken at 11:00PM

Alaska War Memorial at the Denali State Park Visitor Center

A big bull moose (in velvet) - ~20 feet from the car

These dogs pull sleds in DNP in the winter - some will travel 92 miles to Kantishna in 2-3 days

Licks were free - at the Dog Sled Demo at DNP

Dogs fainted when they saw this "musher"!!

Eskimos are not Indians & Athabaskan Indians are not Eskimos

These dogs love to run (see the videos)

Dogs are getting hitched up for their mushing demo

End of the run

Two baby moose with mama moose

Alaskan's love teasing Texan's - they say an Alaskan ground squirrel is known as "a Texas grizzly" AND if Alaska was divided into 2 states then Texas would be the 3rd largest state!

Ta Duh!! Remember the thrilling "top of one peak" pictures taken on Tuesday - this is Saturday!!

Mt. McKinley in all it's glory - WOW!

The clouds are coming ...

and coming ...

What's that over Steve's shoulder?

and Mary Ann's shoulder?

One of our favorite pictures - almost looks like a postcard - but it's not

We made it !! Then we got to return via the same road!

Fannie & Joe Quigley - they lived in Kantishna for 35 years

Fannie Quigley's house after she and Joe were divorced

Fannie would cook for the miners in this kitchen

Cotton Grass on gravel bar in Savage River

Fireweed in bloom - it flowers from bottom to top - the saying is "when the fireweed blooms to the top, the snow begins to drop" - this would be in August!!