DENALI NATIONAL PARK JUNE 26

Off to Denali, taking the Talkeetna Spur road south to Parks Highway and heading north toward Fairbanks.

                                           Camper Park, Talkeetna

 Waiting in line to empty holding.." dump"

 Alaska Railroad  Depot behind us                                           

 Fairbanks!!!!!

 Big Dump Truck on a trailer parked right by us-huge, tires 6ft tall

                                       George Parks Highway ..so far so good..no construction

 And no mountains..maybe we can get better mileage ..

10 instead of  8.7 ..Wahoo

                                       

 Trapper Creek

 Look at the junk around this house!!

Finally had to show typical "yards".

It's WAL MIKE'S ..

 This is truly wilderness..just natural beauty..

No road signs..No litter

 Wild animals, attack mosquitoes...where's the bears?

  

 

Fabulous, unending, beautiful, serene views

Oh, Oh, thought we were in the clear... Road Repair

Alaska Railroad- Double decker observation cars

Princess Cruise Lines Cars

See Buzz we could have been on one of those..LOL

 What highway is that??? There's an arrow both ways.

 Nenana River--sign was a target for some frustrated hunter

or driver from ROAD Construction.

Finally... Denali!

 Driving into the Park

 All the campgrounds were full so we went back to

Denali Grizzly Bear RV Park, left "Dora" and came back

with "Boots" to tour the park

 Even road repair in the park

The park has only one road in, and private vehicles can only

travel 15 miles into the park.

 The park road paved for the 15 miles;

and, can you believe it..no one checks for paid entrance fee 

 This road travels the high tundra with a few trees-

Black Spruce and willows.

 End of the line-closed to private vehicles-narrow two lane gravel road

 Savage River--higher than tree line

  Kinda cool..sun going down..as low as it gets..never dark.

Look, an animal..what is it?  Caribou grazing  

Where's my BEARS?

 Railroad trestle over Nenana River (Nee Nan Ah)

Tomorrow: We purchased tickets to ride the bus to Eielson Visitor Center--66 miles into the park, an

                   8 hr trip.  The furthest trip is 92 miles (12hr trip) where the road ends at Kantishna, an old                                                                                                

                   mining camp, now a lodge.  Of Course too long and too much deniro.

OFF WE GO......... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MERIDITH AND JOHN

Tuesday: This is the day......flying to Denali and landing on a glacier--a once in a lifetime event.
It's a beautiful day, warm for Talkeetna, 82 and the sky clear and blue.
It is very rare to clearly see the mountain range--usually covered with clouds.

This is an early morning shot of  Mt. McKinley(right), Mt. Hunter(middle), Mt. Foraker(left),

taken across the Chulitna River

Mt. McKinley (Denali)

 Our plane awaits-A de Havilland Turbine Otter

A few instructions

Ready to go!

Off we go

 Talkeetna and Alaska Railroad bridge

 Talkeetna 

 Mt. Foraker, Mt. Hunter, Mt McKinley

    This glacier is 60 miles long and 4,000 ft thick,

 on top is a moraine-rocks and debris from avalanches in the past                                       

We flew in and around the mountains and glaciers

 Mt McKinley

 Huge Glacier--so many of them, hard to remember the names

 Landing on the glacier

 Our pilot, Jeff

 In the winter, it snows 75-100 feet deep up here

 Because of the warm weather the glacial snow was wet.....

                                                                       Great for snowballs

and snowman

Ready to take off!

 and we're off

                                                                    Ruth Glacier

 on top of this rock is a house you can rent for $150 a night,

 usually for climbers flown in

 The weather up here changes so rapidly, our pilot has camped out

 in the plane many times

 Happy Flyer

 On our way back

 toe of the glacier, with so much rock and soil on top insulating the ice, trees

and brush are growing.  The ice is about 400 ft thick here.

Moose swimming across the lake--maybe to cool off

 Talkeetna River

 Cottages on the lake

And back to the airport--great experience, awesome views

 Our campsite in Talkeetna

 Train depot right behind us, helicopters and airplanes overhead

 and cottonwood seeds falling like snow.

A great place to visit.