Alaska –Denali (fka Mount McKinley) Part 2 – State 18 of 49 on our RV Adventure

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

Due to limited access to internet service and Verizon Hotspot in Canada and Alaska we will be adding photos as we can. In the mean time we will continue to provide our RV adventure at each phase of our RV adventure in text.

This post is a continuation of blog post “Alaska –Denali (fka Mount McKinley) Part 1 – State 18 of 49 on our RV Adventure”. We started our RV Adventure to Denali on July 26th with our trip from Seward, AK to Denali Rainbow Village & RV Park on Mile 238.6 Parks Hwy, Denali National Park and Preserve and continue to the first half tour on the Green Denali Transit Bus to Eielson Visitors Center at Mile 66.

At 2:00 pm we begin our detour back to the Denali Bus Depot. We see three grizzly bears we missed on our way up. Another mom and her 2 cubs.

We wind down the return route snapping pictures of scenes we may have shot earlier or missed. It is all one beautiful landscape.

We try to spot the trio of grizzly’s we seen earlier, but they are not visible. What we spot is a bear cave cut into the side of the hill.

Once again we wind down the road snapping pictures of scenes.

We spot our mom and two four-month-old grizzly bears in the distance.

The scenery is more beautiful on the way back. We are on the side of the bus where the best scenery pictures were taken on the way up.

Nan stops at our designated rest stop and gives us a chance to walk around. As we turn in we spot 2 caribou walking about the creek bed. I and many other passengers scatter over to the edge to get a perfect picture. Before I can get there, they turn down stream walking away from us.

With more time here, I can get pictures near the building. The memorial for this site is dedicated to Charles Sheldon. He was the originator of the park. Another memorial is dedicated to Henry Peter Karstens. He was the first superintendent of the park. The stop has a gift shop and a display of antlers from various animals.

After a 20-minute break we a climbed on board and start our decent. Within a few minutes a passenger spots a caribou grazing in some bushes. We stay stationary for a couple of minutes in hopes the caribou will pops its head, but the moose stays put. We drive off with a partial view of a caribou.

The views are all stunning.

A bald eagle flies in front the bus. Nan announces the bald eagle to the passengers, but the eagle keeps in its straight path away from us.

I continue to snap away for that picture-perfect postcard photo.

Nan spots a paraben falcon. This time the falcon circles and lands. She mentions that the falcon has a nest on the rocks. She hops along the ledge before dropping off the cliff.

We meander along, Nan is not narrating as much as she was going up. It must be a long day to drive 6 hours each way every day for tourists. Having the advantage of being on the good viewing side of the bus, I capture as many photos as possible.

I see a caribou resting on the ground. Making the mistake of coordinates I tell Nan 12 o’clock when it is 6 o’clock so she drives far enough ahead, after she corrects my clock skills, she asks if it is worth backing up. We tell her backing up is worth the effort. She maneuvers the bus about 100 ft until she can spot the caribou. She then positions the bus for all the passengers to view. We get our photos and move on.

We stop at our next rest stop for a few minutes. Lora takes a few photos of a bird and flowers while I walk around.

Our last leg of the trip back Nan spots a cluster of the Alaska State Birds on the side of the road. She once again pauses for the passengers to take photos.

We are near the end of the gravel road a passenger spots a moose running on the hill. It takes a bit to find the moose, but once you find it, it is easy to track. Nan moves forward with the moose until it turns higher and farther away from view.

On our last 15 miles journey I capture more scenery shots before we move into the forest of spruce trees blocking the view of mountains.

As we approach the Visitors Center, Nan informs a hiker she picked up on the road that she will drop him off first before returning us the depot. As she approaches there is a mother moose and calf in the parking area. The passengers up front have a much better view than us in the back. The calf we are told is nursing. There are people gathering that entices the moose to move away. Nan lets the hiker know she will drop us off first, then return to the Visitors Center.

In all the trip was a wonderful experience worth the visit and time. We are glad our mistake with the ticketing awarded us the opportunity to upgrade to the Eielson Visitors Center. Reading the fine print on ticket, the agent could have refused our mistake and charge us for new tickets. Thank Jesus for kind soles and watching over us.

After a long day we relax back at the campground. The next day is Saturday, July 28th, Lora and I walk around Denali Park Village checking out the shops. The village is an assortment of gift shops, fur shops, restaurants, and campground in the back. There is a bar and restaurant on the south end that has live entertainment nightly.

Today's plan is to drive a portion of the Denali Highway. We leave the village and head south. Once we pass the entrance to Denali National Park we spot a large moose crossing the street. The moose is taking is time stopping every few feet. Two calves become visible coming up the hill onto the road. Mom is checking both directions for vehicles. They take a little more than 2 minutes to cross the road, which was not an issue with us.

Denali Highway, also known as Hwy 8, is a 135 mile stretch of road running through central Alaska from Cantwell to Paxson. We need to drive around 25 miles south from Denali Park Village to Cantwell. The highway is mostly gravel. Before the Parks Highway, from Anchorage to Fairbanks, was completed in the early 1970s, the Denali Highway was the only road access to Denali National Park. There are three Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds on the highway. Brushkana Campground at Mile Marker 104 has 22 sites available on a first come, first-served basis. Tangle Lakes Campground at Mile Post 21.5 among the Tangle Lakes and Tangle River Campground at Mile Post 21.7. Many hunters use this as a base camp during the fall hunting season. The scenic drive traverses by glacial geology, trails, lakes, rivers, and mountains. Black Bear, Moose and Caribou roam the vast landscape.

We drive up to Brushkana Campground and turn around. Shortly after we leave the campground we spot a moose.

The remainder of the trip we capture the beauty of Alaska in memory and photos.

Sunday is our last full day in Denali. Today’s weather is the best of all our days. We pre-planned today was the day we drive back into Denali up to the 15 Mile Post. Private vehicles cannot go farther unless they have a camping permit for any of the two campgrounds up around Mile Post 33. Private vehicles are not to be used for any purpose once they reach the campground. If campers want to explore further, they need to use the Transit Bus system.

We stop at the Denali Visitors Center before driving further. People are supposed to pay an entrance fee or show their Interagency Pass before heading to Mile Post 15.

We make our way up the Denali National Park road.

Lora spots the Alaska State Bird, the willow ptarmigan. There are three kinds of ptarmigan and all can be found in Alaska - the willow ptarmigan and rock ptarmigan, and white-tailed ptarmigan. Ptarmigan are arctic grouse. The willow ptarmigan changes color from light brown in summer to snow white in winter for effective camouflage from predators. Another distinctive feature is its feathered toes. In winter months the willow ptarmigan eats mosses and lichens, willow buds and twigs, a little birch; seeds and berries when available. In summer their diet expands to vegetable matter and occasionally caterpillars or beetles.

We drive a bit further and pow, Mt. Denali is nearly in full view. The south peak is just barely covered by a cloud. I take multiple photos at different zoom distance for that perfect post card shot.

We complete our drive without seeing much more wildlife. We return to the Denali Visitors Center to take the shuttle to the Dog Sled Kennels and Headquarters for a demonstration. Denali National Park is the only park in the United States still patrolled with dog sled teams. Sled dogs and rangers continue to work together to protect the wilderness of the park as they have since the 1920s. The dogs are not one particular breed. The have specific criteria to be a sled dog and are normally bred with other sled dogs. The dogs are working dogs, hauling supplies during the winter to far regions of the park.

The kennel is the oldest building in the park.

We watch as the rangers hook up the dogs all so excited to be picked for the demonstration. The dogs make a loop around a path and onto the staging area in front of the visitors. The host introduces the dogs and talks about the history of sled dogs used in Denali National Park and how they are different from the race dogs people are most familiar with.

Monday July 30th we move onto Fairbanks. I make a few calls to campground and find out they are booked because of the State Fair and Soccer Tournament. I can find a campground in North Pole, Alaska. The campground is Riverview RV Park in-between Fairbanks and North Pole. We will be able to see Mother Betty and her new Church in Fairbanks on our next stop.

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