Thursday, August 2, 2012

Driving into Denali

The first 14 miles into Denali is paved, although the road is under major construction so every few hundred yards a culvert has been replaced and it is gravel and bumpy.  Still the park is beautiful and soon after entering we see this moose through the trees!

Everyone can drive to Mile 14 and then most turn around.
 I forget what mile but it was paved so we are still in the first 14 miles we came upon some Caribou on the road. We followed the rules and kept our distance and stopped to take some pictures.

After a few minutes we crept up and followed them down the road but some people who obviously didn't read the rules buzzed the poor guys on 3 motorcycles and they ran into the woods... Morons!
 More Caribou through the trees.
Some Mountain ranges of the park.

At this point we are through the checkpoint where they drill into even more some of the rules about driving and how we aren't allowed to use the car again until we leave our campground.
Paul goofing around as we checkout an overlook. The park is huge and it is amazing that this is the only road through the entire thing.

It really does seem different from any other park I've been to. So remote, so wild, unspoiled.

All setup in our campground, there isn't anything here but a picnic table, fire pit and toilets (non-flush but very clean). And 2 spigots for getting water but not really for refilling the trailer with water.

So we are on our own, no outlets, no cell service or anything. The only real means of getting information would have been the Camp Host but we find out they have quit earlier in the summer.
The campground is on a big braided river which is awesome. We take a 3 mile walk up and down the river checking out all the interesting rocks, views and most of all animal tracks!
I think this was a moose track but hard to tell could also be a Caribou.


The Campground has 53 spots or something close to that but they are well spaced out and all nicely surrounded by trees.

They have fairly restrictive generator and quiet hours which make for a very peaceful campground.
Tomorrow is our all day bus ride to see the park. Most visitors from the park don't do anything but ride the bus in and back out of the park.

Sure you see most of the wildlife from the bus but they really encourage people to "Get off the Bus" and do some hiking and enjoy the park.

We plan to for sure.

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