Part 4: On to Denali and points north

Tuesday July 26^th

Today we are on our way to Denali Natl. Park. We stopped at an RV park in Cantwell (Information on Cantwell) for the night, about 20 miles south of the park entrance. 

We don’t really know what to expect when we arrived at the park so better to wait until morning. Besides the weather was cloudy and rainy. How lucky we were to see Denali on Saturday on the way to Little Willow Creek. This is part of our normal routine after what is called “boondocking” or dry camping if you will, without services for a few days. We’ll find an RV park where we can dump the holding tanks, shower, do laundry, access wi-fi, plug in to real power and fill our fresh water tank. The saving are significant versus staying in a park or campground  every night. We really like being away from the maddening crowd, so to speak. (Pictures of Cantwell and the Denali area)

Wednesday, July 27th

There are 3 main areas to visit around Denali National Park. The first is the Denali highway. This was the only way you could drive to the park before the Parks highway was completed.It has magnificent views of the whole mountain range but it is a gravel road and we would bypass Fairbanks if we took it.  The second is Denali State Park (Information on Denali State Park) which is supposed to have the best views of Denali, but it was really cloudy so we gave it a pass. 

Then there is Denali National Park and Park Service website

We read in the guidebook that you can only drive your vehicle 15 miles into the park. After that it is a bus ride. So we weren't sure what we were going to see. We took one look at the buses and said no way! They were school buses. There is no way I'm riding on those hard seats for 4-6 hours. Or trying to take pictures out of those windows. Plus the tickets are expensive, you have to pack your food and drink and if you want to get out to take pictures or look around you have to wait for the next bus and then you can only get on if there is room.  We got our Golden Age Passport at the visitor’s center and looked at the exhibits there, which were excellent. We have been so lucky on this trip to see wildlife up close that we weren't going to ride a bus just in the hopes of seeing a wolf or caribou. And it was so cold and cloudy and rainy that there really wasn't much to see. And we had already gotten great pictures of Mt. McKinley while driving north. So we visited the book store and got postcards that we mailed to all the grandkids from the park and we headed on down the road. 

 Most everyone knows that the mountain was originally named after President McKinley who as a member of congress lobbied extensively for the mining and gold interests at the time. The area was mined extensively for gold, silver and other precious metals before becoming a national park. The park is named using the native Alaskan name for the mountain which is Denali meaning “The Tall One”. Being the highest mountain in North America it’s easily seen from quite a distance on a clear day but there in lies the rub since the majority of the time it’s covered in clouds and fog. Rumor has it that you stand a 95% chance of seeing a bear in the park but only a 25% chance of seeing the top of Mt. McKinley! 

By the way here's a bit of Alaska trivia you may or may not have heard. Seems that after President Warren G. Harding visited Alaska in grand style to drive the golden spike signifying the completion of a major rail line (accompanied by both his wife and mistress) he traveled to Vancouver. There he feasted on a mess of Alaskan king crab soaked in butter. Shortly after which he became ill and died. You have to wonder if it was the crab or one of his female companions who did him in. My bet would be on one of the ladies but no doubt he had a massive case of the crabs…..no pun intended. This is what happens when Becky asks me to edit the blog…..keep smiling, lovin' one another and trusting in the Lord.