Denali National Park

08/14/07 - 08/17/07

I spent a day driving to Denali and spent three days experiencing Denali.

On the day of driving, we drove from Anchorage to Cantwell, which is about 30 miles from Denali. Dave and Nancy have some friends with a cabin there and they offered for us to stay there overnight.

On the first day in Denali, we stopped by the Visitor Center, visited with and watched a demonstration by Denali's sled dogs, and did a short hike to Horseshoe Lake. I saw my first wolf in the wild today. In fact, I almost ran over it with my RV. It was standing on the side of the road and I didn't see it until the last second.

Private vehicles are only allowed to drive 15 miles into the park. If you want to go any further in, you have to take one of their buses. So you get to enjoy Denali with 30 other people sharing a dusty, bumpy ride over a gravel road in an old school bus. When you see any wildlife, you're supposed to yell "Stop!" The bus driver will then stop and everyone in the bus rushes over to the side of the bus where the animal is. You are allowed to get off the bus any time you want and catch a later bus (if there is room).

On the second day in Denali, we took a bus trip to Fish Creek. Fish Creek is 73 miles into the park. This translates to an eight hour bus trip. It was very foggy when we left and most of the trip it stayed foggy. So we weren't expecting to see Mount McKinley. But two miles from Fish Creek, the clouds suddenly lifted and we turned a corner and there was the mountain in all its glory. There were a few clouds hanging around the mountain, but most of the mountain was visible. We got out of the bus at Fish Creek and walked a bit further into the park. There we had a picnic lunch with a clear view of Mount McKinley. Along the way into and out of the park, we saw several moose, grizzly bears, and caribou.

After the bus trip, we went back to our campsites to relax a bit. I was relaxing in my RV when I suddenly saw a moose head go by my window. A moose cow and her calf walked right between our RVs. Unfortunately, they were headed into the bushes by the time I could get out of my RV. So I didn't get any good photos.

On the third day, we were scheduled to leave. However, when I got up in the morning, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I didn't want to waste such a beautiful day driving, so I decided to stay another day. I made arrangements for another bus trip (yes, I'm a glutton for punishment). This time I went to Wonder Lake, which is 85 miles into the park and makes for an eleven hour bus ride. Since I made these plans at the last minute, I ended up on the second to last bus of the day. The advantage was that there were only 13 people on the bus on the way out (the bus was full on the way back). So we could all spread out. The disadvantage was that there was no chance to get out and walk around since I couldn't take the chance that the last bus would have enough room to pick me up later. But the reward was that there wasn't a cloud in sight around Mount McKinley. We also saw several moose, grizzlies, and caribou along the way. We also saw a wolf.

Sled Dog Demo
Steve Winker