1 July 2012
We traveled from Fairbanks to Denali National Park. We arrived around noon and checked in with
the Backcountry Wilderness Access Center and got our passes and permits for our
stay in the interior of the park. Went
to the mercantile to check on wood and then on to the Denali Visitor
Center. After unhooking and parking the
car we checked to make sure we had everything from the car we needed. Then we drove 14 miles into the park where
most people can drive and stopped at the Wilderness check point to continue for
another 15 miles further where no one without a pass can go on dirt/gravel road
to our camping area for the week, Teklanika River. So here we are 29 miles in the wilderness
area camped for a week. What is there to
do? First find a camp site that we
liked, wife said to just pull into the first one available. Well on the second campground loop we (I)
found a suitable campsite. The campsite I selected was first big enough for us
to get the motorhome into without messing the trees up and second close to the
river. The river is where the grizzly
bears come to wander the gravel bars to hang out. I did go to the river and across the gravel
bars to check out the river. Seen no
sign of any bears, foot prints or bear scat, but seen plenty of human prints. The river was moving along very well with
loads or glacier silt in it making a milky color and very cold. After exploring the river and the campground
it was time to have a beer and get things ready for the trip another 60 miles
into the park on 2 July.
2 July 2012
We were up and ready early for our high adventure into the
park. We got on the bus what was a 11
hour day of animals, mountains, dirt roads, humans, and more importantly
mosquitoes. The day started with someone
with binoculars, left mine in the motorhome, calling out for the bus to stop
every time they seen wildlife. Of course
nobody else could see what they were seeing.
After a little while they settled down and we started spotting wildlife
everyone could see closer. About half
way into our trek just before Stony Hill we got our first glance of Mount
Denali (McKinley) and at Stony Hill we could see both peaks and most of the
mountain. We still got a good view upon
arriving at the Eielson Visitor Center and it started to be covered by clouds
as we got ready to move further into the park 40 minutes later. We arrive at Wonder (mosquito) Lake around
noon and stayed on 40 minutes, everyone had their fill of the bugs. A lot of the bugs were with us in the bus for
about 30 minutes after leaving Wonder Lake.
We see more wildlife close to road on the return trek, but no more views
of Denali. We were suffering from vista
overload and went to bed early 9:00 PM after a shower. Light rain started after we went to bed.
3 July 2012
It was still raining lightly when we got up, it stopped in
early afternoon, and then it was a little windy until 9 PM. We were overwhelmed by the beauty and long
day yesterday so we hung out and enjoyed the views and done some reading of the
RV materiel I had. Was able to get rid
of the older info that was not useful to us.
4 July 2012
We went to the river looking at rocks, wildlife signs, and
flowers. Found all but the wildlife
signs were not fresh (over a week old).
We flew the flag and cooked pizza and had a beer then watched a DVD
movie before turning in.
5 July 2012
We done some hiking of the river (5 miles) and looked at the
scenery and plants. Found both along with most of the parts of a
bulldozer in the river gravel bar and a very large truck tire that looked like
it was used to try to get the bulldozer out.
My guess is that it did not work since the dozer was still there.
6 July 2012
We hiked along the park road to the Teklanika rest stop and
back, then around the campground loops. Seen several buses and two bicyclists
on the hike. Built a campfire and made Chilli
to go with the beer for supper.
7 July 2012
After breaking camp we drove a whole 30 miles to our next
campsite within Denali National Park, Riley Creek Campground. It took us over 3 hours to get moved. Found a good campsite and got settled and
took a 2 mile hike to check out the area near the campground.
8 July 2012
We went on a 4 mile hike round trip to the Denali Visitor
Center, most of the stuff they had we had already seen. There was a very nice short video about park
that we liked. We browsed the book store
and looked in the restaurant then it was back after buying some postcards and a
magnet for the refrigerator door.
