Alaska, 2.6

I don’t bother to buy lottery tickets very often, but I think I might have won today, and, in a way, I certainly did, July 31, 2024. Monika and Al approached our meeting point this morning with a clear blue sky overhead. We haven’t camped together the last two nights since Al wanted to camp near a fishing stream he had on his wish list. Our meeting place was at a lake close to Talkeetna at 8:45AM for a private air tour of the Alaska Range and Denali Mountain. We were previously made aware that only 11 days last summer had clear non-rainy days. Out of the whole summer. Only 11. When Monika first laid her eyes on Denali this morning from the road leading up to our meeting point, she told us it brought literal tears to her eyes. I can certainly understand that, and also feel that same way. The first site of this mountain and surrounding Alaskan range is breathtaking in so many ways. And even after seeing it the first time, it continues to show off its majesty and awesomeness. We were lucky to have seen it five years ago and now again today, and we joined the unique and privileged group of folks to not only see it twice, but to see the whole area close up from a small aircraft. Monika researched the companies that did tours here, and found David Hicks, who owns and operates N2 Alaska. This is a family owned business and has been flying here since 1984. He was polite, professional, experienced, and just an all around great guy. I cannot begin to say how much fun I had on this one hour and fifteen minute small aircraft flight. I think the photos can tell a better story than I can with words. I did mention during the flight, that now I know first hand, what it feels like to actually be on the drone out there flying over all this cool terrain. The small aircraft did that for me today. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

The airplane was restricted to 4 passengers, so Kathy chose to stay behind, which we all felt bad about since she missed an amazing time.

We arrived at Denali National Park on time and ready to spend the next 3 days dry camping. The weather was still overcast, but the forecast was positive. The road in is paved only for about 19 miles, then it turns to gravel. So when its rainy, its muddy, and when its dry, its dusty. Our ride in was muddy. Kathy and I were already in “been there, done that, mode” with the road, but Al and Monika were a bit surprised at the condition of the rigs when we got to the campground. Gray dirty muck. Well, one has to overlook this sort of thing in Alaska, as it will happen again and again. An Alaska car wash is actually a rainy day on a paved road.

The road going into the park was damaged by a landslide a couple years ago. A new bridge is being built over the landslide area, which is on the way up to Polychrome Pass. The buses do not go that far now, so they stop at a place called East Fork, which is only about 16 miles past the Teklanika Campground where we were camping. The road actually continues another 50 miles to Wonder Lake, but right now, if you want to go there, you have to walk around below the work zone, then hike back up to the road and continue. Only hikers and bicycles are allowed to do that.

We did take the bus ride though, for 4 times, 3 times to the west, and 1 time to the east. We were able to see Denali again and then again a couple more times. But, the wildlife wasn’t around so much this time. So I didn’t get any really good shot of any bears. A few decent ones of a caribou is the best I could do this time. I did spend some time down in the gravel beds of the Teklanika River which runs just behind the campground. I wandered around one morning for about two hours with the film camera. I’ll develop those later at home. I also felt like doing some other art while I was there. The rocks are plentiful with all sorts of the colors and shapes. I felt a strong urge to create something from what was in front of me and at my feet. I didn’t have a clue as to what I wanted this piece to be. I’ve seen other artists doing this sort of work on beaches, but I tried not to let those memories influence what I trying to do. So, I started just picking up rocks, and placing them from a center outwards, not knowing what this might end up being. I kept building outwards, and then just started fitting in rocks as if this was a puzzle. When I was done and satisfied, I tidied up around where my footprints were, and took some photos of it. I love that it is there for others to find and enjoy, not knowing who did it or why. They can develop their own interpretation just I like I did. The rest of these photos are from our visit at the park.

Teklanika river rock art

Artistic License, for Denali with lenticular cloud

Part of Polychrome Pass view

Denali Highway

The Denali Highway is a 135 mile road that connects Paxson on the east end, and Cantwell on the west side. Each side is paved for a few miles with a variation in between of dirt, packed dirt, soft dirt, loose gravel, dusty gravel, and then a harder surface with lots of potholes. The top average speed is around 35mph. There are literally dozens of pull outs to choose from for overnight stays. Each pull out is primitive and usually had a fire pit of rocks already there. We decided to stay over night at the Clearwater Creek Wayside which was a little past halfway on the route. Nothing fancy, but it’s free camping! The next day we drove very slowly onward taking in all the magnificent views of rolling hills and dramatic high peaks with glaciers and snow fields. We decided at our lunch stop to continue on to North Pole, AK where we had reservations for the following night, but we were able to change our dates and so we continued on to North Pole, AK to stay that night. The highway going north from Paxson is the Richardson Hwy and is just jaw dropping beautiful. I pulled over many times to take photos and take in the views. We encountered a few summer road construction delays, but we made it to North Pole in time to set up and have a nice dinner. We will be in the North Pole/Fairbanks area for 4 nights before starting our journey southward and toward the lower 48, as they say.

The Denali Hwy, the west end, looking west from a pull out.

View of valley floor from Maclaren Summit Pass.

Magnificent mountains that are part of the Alaskan Range

We start our 8th week today, Saturday the 10th of August. Next up is Top of the World Hwy, Dawson City Yukon, and down to White Horse one last time to resupply before heading down the Cassiar Hwy and down into British Columbia.