From City to Wilderness!--August 1-3, 2010

Bob and I left Anchorage on a cold, foggy Sunday morning and started our drive toward Denali National Park.We had reservations in the park starting Monday, so we knew we would stop somewhere for the night and complete our drive Monday. We chose to stay at an Alaska state park--Beyer's Lake which is part of Denali State Park. It is also the home Alaska Veteran's Memorial. Once we chose a site, we walked up the trail to see the visitor center and the memorial.Along the trail I found two colorful mushrooms.This one looks like it belongs in a Smurf cartoon.The memorial was built recently, but honors those who were in a plane crash in 1954 as well as all Alaskan veterans.We haven't had electric or water hook-ups in quite a while. In fact, I think the last we had were the first time we were in Anchorage. Beyer's Lake did not have hook-ups. We are experts on dry camping in Alaska...good thing we have solar panels and that the sun is out for fifteen or more hours a day. We get solar even when it is cloudy, just not as much, as long as there are no obstacles blocking the panels (trees).

Speaking of solar, check out the short sleeved shirts in this picture--no jackets! The temperature was approaching 70!Check in time at our Denali NP campground was 11 a.m., but it is the campground farthest from the entrance that you are allowed to drive--mile 29. We checked in at Riley Mercantile and then explored the visitor center until it was time to drive to the campground.

Teklanika Campground is located on the Teklanika River. The road is paved to Savage River, but then it is hard packed gravel. Once at the campground, we set up and went for a short hike in the river's plain.
The camp host said there had been recent sightings of bear, wolf scat, and a lynx near the campground. We never saw any animals at the campground, but once we rode the park shuttle bus we saw everything except a lynx!We enjoyed and evening sitting outside for a change. There is even a signature picture. When was the last time you saw one of these?After dinner we went to the ranger talk and heard about dog sledding in Denali in winter. The ranger was part time (summer only) and also a sled dog owner. He uses his dogs as working dogs to assist those owned by the park in the winter.

Tuesday morning we took our time getting ready and were off to catch our scheduled bus at 10:25. We had tickets to ride to Wonder Lake at mile marker 85. The good thing about Tek campground was the bus trip would only be 8 hours instead of 11 since we didn't start at the visitor center. In fact while we were at Tek, we were only allowed to ride the bus west, not east from the campground.

Our collapsible blue cooler made the trip with us. Our first stop where we disembarked was Polychrome Pass. It was windy, but not too chilly. I am holding the GPS so we could claim a geocache. There were several Earth caches in the park.The colors in the mountains were beautiful. The pictures don't do them justice.

It was a clear day so our first view of Denali (Mt. McKinley) was awesome! Later in the day, clouds started moving around the summit.
We saw many bear, caribou, and Dall sheep before we reached Eielson Visitor Center. It was completed 2 years ago and is a great stop. The building is built into the side of the mountain with viewing on the upper and lower levels.
Bob and I wanted to hike the short trail at the rear of Eielson before boarding the bus, but this sign said otherwise.Once past Eielson we were back into moose country and we saw a few along the way to Wonder Lake.Wonder Lake is north of Denali so we had a different view of the mountain, but with clouds moving around it.We enjoyed the short stop at Wonder Lake before boarding the bus and heading back toward our campground.
On our way back to Tek, we stopped to watch a wolf--the only one we saw! And the next thing we knew, the driver was putting pads under the front of the bus and radioing for help--the bus was leaking anti-freeze. Thankfully the wolf stayed in place until Bob and I made the move to another passing bus--it could have been hours for a bus to come from the entrance to our location!

On the new bus, we met two young men who planned to camp in the back country. They had begun their hike when they came upon a grizzly. They quietly moved away from it and backtracked 1/2 a mile to find a way around it, but when they turned around, the grizzly was following them! They high-tailed it out to the road and caught the bus. They decided they weren't ready for back country camping at Denali!

We made it back to our campsite, but were too late for the evening's ranger program that began at 7:30 pm.

That's all for this post...more on Denali in the next post.