Day 34: Fairbanks to Denali

We woke up to drizzle.  After packing up, we made a short visit to Cream's Field Migratory Bird Sanctuary to bird watch---no luck--- and after re-fueling and topping off the propane, we headed south on the Parks Highway for the 120 mile drive to Denali National Park.  It sounded like a short trip, but as we neared the park, we hit a number of road construction delays, with one lane open and long lines of cars and RV’s.  Dan reminded me that they have many months of cold weather to do damage to the roads but only a few months to make repairs.

I had made reservations at Denali months ago but they only guarantee a site, not a particular one.  We checked in and then had quite a time trying to find a suitable site, one that was somewhat level.  The one we pulled into isn’t bad, but it is on a stretch of campground road (dirt and gravel) that has been flooded, so we have a “lake” outside our window: a puddle the width of the road, about 75 feet long, and deep enough to reach the bottom of the door panels on smaller vehicles.  I told Dan we need to erect a “No Wake Zone” sign as the waves keep splashing up along our site.

However, this is one of those “So glad we are not in a tent” situations.  A light rain continued all night, with temperatures in the low 40’s.  I had read in preparation for the trip some accounts of others’ visits to the park in which they said that they never did see Mt. McKinley/Denali due to the ever-present cloud cover.  Also I bumped into a college student coming out of the post office, wearing a University of Mary Washington sweatshirt and I stopped to chat; she said she was up here for a summer job, working at the youth hostel, and yes, it does rain almost every day.  So I think we’ll just need to ignore the bad weather and get out there and explore. 

The campground we are in is Riley Creek, right at the entrance to the park.  It has a mercantile that sells all sorts of groceries, camping supplies, and beer & wine, and it also has pay showers which will be appreciated in the coming days.  There are well-marked trails all around and also a shuttle bus service we can use to get to points farther into the park.   The main park road goes 92 miles in, with no pavement after the first stretch, and cars are banned from much of it.  We will not be able to make the full trip in on the bus---an 11 or 12 hour ride---due to Ranger needing to stay back in the RV, but we will get a bit closer to the Big Mountain. Maybe the clouds will even lift long enough for us to actually see it? 

I’m glad I packed the long underwear!