Denali - July 7th

The trip from Fairbanks to Denali, on July 5^th, was short and uneventful. And Jim is feeling better!

While we were in Fairbanks I tried to make reservations at the Denali National Park campgrounds but all the spaces for large RVs were already reserved. So we crossed our fingers and hoped to find something at a private CG. That “something” ended up being in Healy, AK, 12 miles north of Denali. It’s a nice spot, with an electrical hookup, among the Spruce trees. Other campgrounds closer in, with full hookups, were no more than gravel parking lots with the RV’s packed so close together you could pass a cup of sugar from window to window. And they wanted $35+ per night for the sites! They also were booked up. We were fortunate to find this one even though we don’t have water/sewer/WIFI.

We do have cell phone service, most of the time, since we’ve been in Alaska so Jim called Denali NP once we were settled into our campsite. He ordered tickets for the next day, July 6^th, for an 8 hour bus tour to Fish Creek. That’s the only way you can see the interior of the park since they don’t allow personal vehicles very far into the park. You are allowed to get on and off the bus anywhere you want and then take off on your own.

Certain areas are restricted because hiking there may negatively impact the wildlife in that area. We passed one area that was closed because there was a wolf den up the riverbed. There are 3 wolf packs that call Denali home and they normally stay in their own territory. After this spring’s breakup the alpha female from Pack 1 was found dead, probably natural causes they think. For some unknown reason, the alpha female from Pack 3 strayed into pack 2’s territory and was killed. So with two breeding females dead the park is very protective of the only existing litter. We weren’t fortunate enough to see any wolves during our tour.

We did see the grizzly bears that Jim had wanted to see. Once Jim saw the grizzlies grazing on a far off hillside he was ready to get off to get a closer look. I, on the other hand, was content to observe them with binoculars from the bus! They are very different from the black bears we saw in British Columbia. For one thing, the ones we saw were blonde in color and really stood out against all the green tundra. And they were huge compared to the black bears.

We also were lucky to see several bull Caribou who should have been up in higher country this time of year to get away from all the insects.

The scenery inside the park is spectacular!! Mountains and glaciers are everywhere. The tour took us through all types of terrains from forest to wet tundra and finally dry tundra. Surprisingly, Denali doesn’t get much yearly precipitation and the snow is so dry in the winter you can’t even make a snowball. The rivers are at their fullest right now but they really don’t look it. Most of the water is glacier melt and is so full of glacier silt that fish can’t survive in it.

Denali, (Mt. McKinley) the thing the park is famous for, kept itself hidden from us with a cloak of clouds. Most tourists never get to see the mountain. Luckily, I did get to see it when I lived in Anchorage even though the mountain is more than 130 miles north of the city. It’s that big!

This morning, July 7^th, greeted us with overcast skies and rain. We had planned to drive back north a few miles, to the original entrance of the park, and go for a hike.