Denali !!

Denali National Park August 21-28th

Denali was my goal!

Life in the Park

Denali! Well maybe. Cool, cloudy, some rain and drizzle. 60 miles in the park and I could see less than half of the mountain. But some preliminaries.

There is one road into the wilderness. About 85 miles long. The first 15 miles is paved two lane road. During the prime visiting season that’s as far as you can drive. Instead visitors use the bus system. The one exception is that campers can drive to Mile Post 29 and park. The vehicle can’t be moved until the camper leaves. Pay for a one-day bus pass and you can used it for as many days as you camp.

There are no trails in the park except very short trails within 150 feet of the road. Instead, the bus will drop you off anyplace you want; get back to the road and the bus will pick you up and return you to your campsite. Hike anyplace you want – all off-trail hiking so you’d better have a compass!

Camping at the park entrance is wide open – it’s a zoo. One night was enough. Instead, I made reservation back in early June and drove to Teklanika at MP 29. This became my home.

Camp rules require your cooler, food, stove, dishes, and even your toothpaste be stored in a hardsided vehicle. So for me I left everything in the car and slept in the tent. There is a restroom – remember the definition of restroom from my earlier post – 100 yards down the road. Cold fresh water at a spigot; no washing of anything, including yourself, at the spigot. Note the rock – that was to hammer in my tent stakes, not to use to fight off a bear.

Here are the two absolute necessities of life in Denali. Bear spray and bug spray. I slept with my bear spray!

These couple-of-day-old bear tracks were in the riverbed directly behind my tent. Maybe 50 yards. At least three of my campground friends had close encounters with brown bears while off-trail hiking. One readied his spray, but the bears turned away in all encounters.

This is the road beyond MP 29. One and one-half lane gravel road. The rule is, “only one vehicle moves.” The inside vehicle finds a “wide” spot in the road, hugs the bank, and stops. The outside vehicle inches past and life continues.

If I had been driving I’d have driven off the road – the place is breathtaking! I have no words …