Denali National Park - "Close to Nature's Heart"

Denali National Park (42 degrees, rain, sunshine, snow)

"Keep close to nature's heart

and break clear away,

once in awhile,

and climb a mountain

or spend a week in the woods.

Wash your spirit clean."

John Muir

Denali National Park and Preserve is a special place and one where we did spend almost a week in the wilderness. The vastness really struck me. It looked very different from other places we have visited in Alaska and western Canada. It's an arctic desert and it's glorious. Although a lot of snow falls here in the winter it mostly evaporates. It's not as lush as most of Alaska but has a striking beauty all its own. 

The past two post have focused on the animals and seeing the mountain top of Denali. This post is just about its beauty. Words cannot describe it so I'm going to let some of our pictures do the talking. 

Two moose locked in fight to their death

Bear proof door (note the nails)

We hope you enjoyed your visit too!

Campground review:  Teklanika River Campground, also known as TEK, 5 star, well spaced primitive campground 20 miles into Denali National Park, no hook ups, come with empty tanks and water, or fill up at Riley Campground at entrance, definitely has the "it" factor, large, level sites, we were able to use our solar panels, reservations a must, sites are selected first come, first served. We made reservation in January to stay here. No phone signal

It's a gem and another plus is you can avoid two hours on the bus by staying here. (one hour in and one hour out). The bus makes frequent stops and you can reserve a seat on one bus during your stay. Otherwise it's due to availability when it arrives. We did not have a problem getting a seat each day. 

TIP:  I'd recommend the bus which goes to the end of the road for your reservation. This one is less frequent. 

You check in on arrival at Riley Mercantile and get a special pass which allows you to drive out to the campground. If you have a tow vehicle you have to leave it at Riley. Once you are in the campground you cannot drive your motorhome or truck except to leave on your last day. We stayed four nights. 

TIP:  There is a lot to do at the entrance of Denali Park. However, because we were at TEK we could not go back and take advantage of any ranger led walks or go to the sled dog demonstration. If I had to do it all over again, I'd stay two nights at Riley Campground at entrance and at least four nights at TEK.  

We ended up leaving early on our departure morning and attended the excellent sled dog demonstration. These amazing working dogs provide many services to the park. They haul supplies into wilderness areas and patrol the park on extended stays during the winter. Here is a video of the demonstration. It's the only working dog sled team in the NPS and has been operating for 91 years. 

Rangers go out on patrols for 1-3 weeks with their team

Names of all the retired dogs are all over the ceiling of the visitor center

We also stayed near Talkeetna for two nights prior to arriving at TEK.. It's a cute,friendly town with a fun vibe about 120 miles from Denali entrance. This is where the hikers gather to get ready to ascend Denali. Supposedly there is a great view of Denali and the range during a clear day. 

Tip: We sure to stop at the Aurora Dora gallery. Dora sells stunning metal photographs aurora borealis. Even if you don't buy one her stories about them are very interesting. 

Campground review: Trapper Creek RV Park, 2 stars, tight, 30 amp full hook up sites, no WiFi, limited Verizon signal, 35 minute drive to Talkeetna. expensive for what you get.

TIP: Stay closer to town

This is our last post about Denali National Park, but hopefully not our last visit. The big city of Fairbanks is our next stop. 

In Search Of A Mountain Called Denali (Mt. McKinley)

Denali National Park and Preserve (38 degrees, initially cloudy skies with eventual clearing)

We had spent 8 days in the Denali National Park area (3 day in Talkeetna and 5 days within the park). This beautiful park stretches over 6 million acres and is known for its vastness, wildlife and  a soaring mountain called Denali. It's the tallest mountain in  North America (over 20,000 feet) and has its own weather system. On average only thirty percent of visitors see it during their visit. The weather report looked really rainy (it even snowed a couple of times) for most of our stay and the mountain had not been seen for ten days. In an earlier post I mentioned you can only travel on a bus in this park. The mountain cannot be seen at all from our campground and you ride on the bus for about three hours before you get to the area where it can be viewed.  It can appear and disappear in a blink of an eye.

This is what it looked like on our first day in the park. Somewhere in the clouds is Denali

We spent 24 hours over three days on that dog gone school bus trying to see it. Keep in mind we  had a delightful time but having the opportunity to maybe see it was always present on our mind. I'd resigned myself to the fact it probably was not going to happen. After all, how could I complain since our weather throughout our trip had been really amazing. 

On our last full day we woke up to cloudy skies and very cold weather. We were going to get up early and get on the bus but went back to bed after  noting the dismal weather. Around 10 am we took a bus out to an area where a Hawk Owl had recently been seen. We looked all around without success and waited for the bus to return to our campground. The weather was still very cloudy. We debated whether to go on another 7 hour trip to see if Denali was visible and at the last minute decided to go for it.

Denali is peeking above the landscape

Suddenly about 2 1/2 hours into our trip John suddenly yelled out "I can see Denali". Everyone was ecstatic. Our bus driver stopped at several viewing areas and said he could count on two hands the times he had seen the mountain looking as beautiful as it was today. It was a very emotional experience for all of us. Maybe if we had seen it on day one it wouldn't have been so special. Who knows? I doubt it. It's a stunning mountain to see.

Check out those big smiles

School bus can be seen coming down the road

Caribou antler frame

Mountain range to the left of Denali

 Over 2000 climbers attempt to reach the peak of Denali each year. It's a very dangerous mountain to climb.

Life is good!