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| View from our campsite in Teklanika |
We left Fairbanks, ready for three days in the wilderness of Denali. The rules for Denali are complex. The park (which is larger than New Jersey) has a single road 92 miles long running through the middle of it. Anyone can drive the first 13 miles of the road. With a special permit, we were allowed to drive 29 miles of the road to the Teklanika Campground (with a minimum 3 day stay) but no further. At that point, we were not allowed to leave (once you leave, you're done...you can't go back). There are shuttle buses (basically school buses) that run up and down the road ($35 for a bus pass). It takes 12 hours to get to the end of the road and back. We can go from our camp to the end and back to our camp, if we go any further towards the entrance, it will cost us another $35 to get back! There are lots more rules, but I will them leave for later.
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| Road into Denali - no guardrails! |
Since we have the dog with us, and he is not allowed on the shuttle bus, we realize that a 12 hour trip to the end is out of the question, so we opt for Eielson Visitor Center which is 66 miles from the entrance or 37 miles from our campground and only 6 hours round trip. Every 60 minutes there is a potty break and lots of wildlife and scenic vista opportunities. Even with all of the restrictions, it was one of those incredibly memorable days. Within the first hour, we came across a grey wolf that decided to trot slowly down the middle of the road for nearly a mile. After that a grizzly bear and her two adolescents (2 year olds), were working on the remains of a dead caribou, and Dahl sheep, that appeared as small white dots on the side of mountains. According to several sources, the chances of seeing Mt Denali (the tallest mountain in North America) is about 30% because it is always shrouded in clouds, but saw it - one of those sites that pictures won't do justice to.
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| Denali in the distance |
Now comes the interesting problem! We have gone on the only road in the park as far as we can go with a dog waiting for us. There are no real hiking trails. It was the best day anyone who has been in the park has ever seen, perfect weather, lots of wildlife. So what do we do on day two? Well a flashing light on the dashboard told me that the engine battery was dead...and besides it was raining. So we decided that we had seen the best of Denali, and headed for Anchorage with a brief stop in Wasilla to replace the battery.
Since we have the dog with us, and he is not allowed on the shuttle bus, we realize that a 12 hour trip to the end is out of the question, so we opt for Eielson Visitor Center which is 66 miles from the entrance or 37 miles from our campground and only 6 hours round trip. Every 60 minutes there is a potty break and lots of wildlife and scenic vista opportunities. Even with all of the restrictions, it was one of those incredibly memorable days. Within the first hour, we came across a grey wolf that decided to trot slowly down the middle of the road for nearly a mile. After that a grizzly bear and her two adolescents (2 year olds), were working on the remains of a dead caribou, and Dahl sheep, that appeared as small white dots on the side of mountains. According to several sources, the chances of seeing Mt Denali (the tallest mountain in North America) is about 30% because it is always shrouded in clouds, but saw it - one of those sites that pictures won't do justice to.
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