Denali National Park

In my last blog we got to Denali State Park and had some good shots of Mt. Denali.  Of course, we are in Tok now, and if you missed that portion of the trip from Wasilla to Denali State Park, click here and read it first.  One thing I did not point out in the last post was that one “plus” for the North View area in the State Park is that you can see the view from the motorhome, which was a plus for Marcia…at the South View you have to go down a pathway to the viewpoint, a negative for Marcia.  Living with the effects of MS is not easy at all, but she does very well considering.

From the North View all the way to Denali it was a pretty drive…despite the clouds moving in, which I knew was going to cover up Denali way before we entered the National Park.  Could not resist showing this gas station above, aptly called “Igloo Gas”.

    

    

    

Many just focus on Denali, but we found the surrounding Alaska Range mountains to be very pretty too, especially with the various bodies of water running along them.

    

And just a couple miles short of Denali road, the main and only entrance into the park, we hit a traffic jam…caused by a malfunctioning railroad crossing.  After sitting in the line of cars for a good 40 minutes, park rangers finally came and moved the arms aside…leaving the lights flashing and crossing bells ringing, but allowing traffic to pass. 

    

Denali is a very “limited use” National Park.  There is the visitor center (upper left) and eatery (upper right), and then you can drive your car 15 miles into the park, -OR- you can take the bus down into the park for 90+ miles as long as there is room on a bus, and you pay the proper amount of $$$ … you are allowed to make reservations.  My thought was, I wonder how many reservations got screwed up by that 40 minute wait at the railroad signal?  Of course, you are also allowed to hike, but you need to file a permit for most areas you hike to...and then there are those select few who climb the mountain.

       

Denali National Park has a real nice visitor’s center.  We were lucky in that the movie they show at these type of places was just getting ready to start as we walked in, so we watched the 20 minute movie, which was interesting.  Then a quick look around at the many exhibits they have…

    

    

They really have some good exhibits, and it gives a good feel for what you won’t see in Denali…won’t see because of the 7,370 square miles within the park…those who take a bus get to see that part which the 90 miles cover.  Taking a bus like this is not in the cards for Marcia, and the road after 15 miles is all dirt…in fact, it was hard on her the 15 miles in the motorhome that we did go on because a large portion of it is under construction.  MS is a nerve disease, and bouncy roads take a toll on her.  She is not looking forward to that portion of the Alaska Highway which will still be under construction when we head back south in a few days...that will be 50 miles of who knows what, it was pure hell coming up on some of that...

     

So off we went on our 15 mile trip into the park…with the overcast we could not see Denali, we saw no wildlife, and we were turned back 2 miles early by rangers due to “Bad Bear Activity”.  “IF” we wanted to camp in the park, then we could have entered into the online lottery, so to speak, and “IF” we were lucky, we could have camped in the campground deeper into the park.  However, our HHR would have had to be left at the Visitor’s Center, and once set-up in the campground, the motorhome could not be moved until we left.  The bus would take us further into the park, or back to the the 15 mile mark…if one goes back to the visitor’s center (like to get something out of your car) you have to pay the full bus price to get back into the park again.  Tough rules, but many wish to do it, and only a few are lucky enough to be able to do it...we did not even try.  We enjoyed the Visitor's Center, and seeing Mt. Denali, but Marcia re-hurt her arm getting back into the motorhome.  Let's just say, she has not got out of the motorhome since Monday--which is why we left Fairbanks after one night at Fred Meyer, and tomorrow she will get out for a lunch at Fast Eddy's and hopefully we won't hurt the healing arm anymore.  We will be in Tok for two more nights, and from here we plan to go to Whitehorse (Yukon), then to Haines (Alaska) for awhile.

Toking in Tok

Ok, not really “toking”, but we are taking a break for a few days.  “WHAT?”, some of you are saying…”thought you were in Anchorage!”  Well, that was three days ago…things change.

Technically we were in Wasilla, where we got our oil changed and stayed the night at Walmart…a fairly peaceful night I might add.

    

As we are leaving Walmart, we see this 1916 Model T sitting out there…when suddenly out of nowhere…

…comes this Radio Flyer!  Guess they were both getting ready for a weekend auto show…but we were headed north.

At Willow Lake Denali was uncovered again, but clouds were moving in quickly…I knew we would not see her again on this day.

It does not take long for this mountain to hide once again behind its cloak of clouds…by the time we got to the South View of Denali State Park (yes, there is a State Park too), everything is behind the clouds…I didn’t even bother taking a picture.

Between the South and North view of Denali at Denali State Park there is a rest area which is also the Alaska Veterans Memorial, a memorial to those Alaskan’s who fought for America in any of its wars…which for Alaska is pretty much WW2 and the wars since.  But Alaska even played a part in the American Civil War!

If you click on the above image, you should be able to read most of the information about how the north was using the Whaling Industry to help fund the war, and how the south sent a war ship into the Bering Sea to try and stop it…which was the only confederate ship to circumnavigate the world.  The monument had no fewer than a dozen of these information boards, along with many plaques, including four which featured the Alaskan’s who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.

   

The rest area is part of the Beyer’s Lake Campground, and you can only stay overnight “legally” if the campground is full and you pay the $15 fee to camp.  We drove down into the campground to try and find a suitable site…having found a couple, as we were driving around to come back to the one we liked…well we came across a flooded road, and both of us did not feel like going over that patch of road again.  So I proclaimed that the park was full since it did not have a ADA acceptable campsite…paid for a site, and we went up to the rest area and camped for the night.  Needless to say, no one bothered us…not sure if putting the paid receipt on the passenger window and the ADA placard up on the mirror helped, or if frankly, no one cared to even check.  In the morning  saw one trailer down the way, and during the night it was so quiet and peaceful…a wonderful place to stay.

As we head north the next morning, the skies are not “clear”, but clear enough that I knew we would get some more pictures of Mt. Denali (such as the first picture in this post).

It does not take long before we get to the North View of the Denali State Park.  The view here is not nearly as good as the view one gets from the south view…if the mountain is not hidden behind clouds.  As I was pulling out of the memorial rest area I thought “maybe I should drive back to the south view this morning…”.  Well, I regret not doing that, the view would have been outstanding.

Not that the view from the north area is bad…it does give you a good look at this mighty mountain…the tallest in all of the Americas.  Was told by another passerby that around 30 climbers were trying to reach the summit on this day.  They were told that at the visitor’s center in Denali National Park.

As you continue north there is this pullout where you can get an even better picture of the mountain than at North View…that is where the first picture in this post was taken, and where the picture above was taken.  But I still wish I would have gone back to the South View Point…

In my next post, the trip to Denali National Park, and up to Fairbanks and on to Tok