Alaska/Canada 2017-8: Denali National Park

Grizzly cub in Denali National Park. Mama & the other twin had already gone off the side of the road. 

    We arrived at Denali National Park a day early for our reservation at Teklanika Campground.We were able to secure a campsite at Riley Creek in the Visitors Center area.

Riley Creek Campground, Denali National Park: our now 2-tone blue-brown van, after driving the Denali Hwy from east to west.

    We took in the exhibits at the Visitors Centers, bought supplies, did laundry, showered, and slept.

"Resting Grizzly" outside Denali NP Visitors Center.

Sod roofs on outhouses were common.

    The next day, July 12, was the start of our 3-day stay at Teklanika Campground, 30 miles into the park. We'd had to make a reservation several months in advance.
    Heading out, we saw a mama moose with twins along the road near the Visitors Center. The previous day we'd seen a mama moose and baby in front of the Visitors Center. Tourists flocked to see them, some chasing after them, cameras pointed. We were amazed that mama moose didn’t take a swipe at a tourist or two.

Mama moose & twins along Denali Park Road near entrance Visitors Center.

    The pavement ended after 15 miles at Savage River. There a ranger verified our Teklanika passes. Then we continued on the unpaved 15 miles to the campground. 

Denali Park Rd is 92 miles from Visitors Center to End of the Rd at Kantishna. We camped at Teklanika Campground 30 miles in for 3 days & took the shuttle to the end of the road.

Denali Park Rd wasn't bad at all. With all the tour and shuttle buses, it is well maintained.

Doug, our fearless driver.

Marilyn, the intrepid navigator.

    We expected to see only small vans like us and tents at Teklanika since it is a 3-day minimum stay, there are no hook-ups, and once there you cannot drive your vehicle anywhere. If you forgot something, too bad—you can't drive out of Tek and return. If you drive, Tek is done with you.

Campsite at Teklanika Campground, 30 miles into the park on Denali Park Rd.

    But there were RVs of all sizes, including the 40-foot rig across from us. We marveled when they turned on their generator (hours were limited and folks were pretty good about following the rules) and their satellite antennae went round and round in search of a TV signal. To each his own. 

    Some of the rigs of Teklanika:

Class A 40-foot RV

Class B van similar to ours but longer & with ample room to stand up inside.

Another large rig, this one a trailer.

We saw a couple of Class Cs like this.

This guy was ready for anything!

      I have to interject a Tek memory as I add back in missing photos in 2024. There was a storeroom that included a typical campground book exchange along with items campers no longer wanted. I picked up a large plastic hexagonal bowl with lid from there that we have taken on all our treks since.

Red squirrels & gray jays were frequent visitors at Tek.

    

2:30 AM & 6:00 AM.

    We learned at Eilsen Visitor Center that technically on our 2nd day sunrise, July 13, was 4:20 AM and sunset 11:58 PM, for about 19.75 hours of daylight, not quite as much as when we'd been further north in Fairbanks.

    Thursday morning, with Tek Pass in hand, we boarded a shuttle bus to Kantishna at the end of the park road.

Green shuttle buses, tan tour buses, & private tour & lodge buses & vans ply Denali Park Rd. 

We were in luck as our driver, Tim, enjoyed imparting his knowledge of the park, as well as anecdotes of his 19 years driving shuttles.

Our first wildlife sighting from shuttle bus, mama grizzly & two cubs. We sat & waited silently until they were ready to leave the road. As Tim, our driver, reminded us repeatedly that we humans are the visitors.

Road signs have nails all around the edge to keep bears from gnawing them.

    Our 10-hour, 120-mile roundtrip included numerous stops, several grizzly bear and caribou sightings, braided rivers, forested slopes, tall peaks, and barren hills of many hues. The photos but hint at our experience.

Crossing the Tek River: most rivers we've seen in Alaska are braided.

Kettle ponds formed when blocks of glaciers melted leaving holes that then filled with water.

Polychrome Pass Overlook.

    It was cloudy and rainy much of our 3-day stay. Forest fires to the southeast also obscured the views.

View from Polychrome Pass Overlook.

Another mama grizzly with cubs.

    We made a stop at Stony Creek, which has a book store.

Stony Creek stop.

Can you spot Doug?

Ground squirrels are everywhere, too.

Mountains across from Stony Creek

Caribou, who were also in the road & ran in front of our slow-moving bus for quite a way before deciding to head for the river. 

        You can tell when buses are stopped that wildlife is near.

Tan tour bus from the Visitors Center.

Another grizzly.

    We stopped several times to pick up hikers and backpackers along the road. Some rode a short distance to another camp or trailhead. Some rode back to Tek or the Visitors Center. Tim never checked tickets—you had to have a ticket to get into the park in the first place so there was no need.

Green shuttle buses run between Tek Campground &   Kantishna at the end of the road. 

    We took in the exhibits at Eilsen Visitors Center. A difference between moose and caribou: moose will fight to the death, or both die in the process. Caribou fight to establish dominance, then part ways.

No victor: locked moose horns show that both moose died in the battle.

    We looked through the huge plate glass window to where Denali would be visible if skies were clear. It was hidden by clouds, rain, and smoke. In fact, it had been visible only one morning and a few evenings in the first half of July. In truth, Denali is only visible about 1/3 of the time. Of course we would love to see it, but in the big picture, it doesn’t matter.

Lines on glass at Eielson Visitors Center at mile 66 of 90-mile-long Denali Park Rd show where Denali would be for a 5-foot (left) & 6-foot (right) tall person if it were out. This was taken at 12:15 PM.

Bear skin & bear-proof food canister. The canister, the first ever on the market, was designed by Richard Garcia, a friend of Doug's from home in Visalia.

Braided Toklat River.

Wildflowers & wildlife abound. Summer days are vastly long, & winter days are vastly short.

    One group got off our bus near the end of the road to fly back to the park entrance.

There are a couple of canoeists on the water under the right side of the cloud.

Wonder if the ducks are in residence year round...

    We got out at the End of the Road at Kantishna for a picture, of course.

Roughin' it Alaska adventurers.

    Soon it was time to board the bus for the trip back to Tek. It was a just as adventurous 60 miles returning.

We would get very excited at the sight of "another grizzly"—only to realize it was a random white rock. They seemed to pop up with regularity.

Another grizzly—big hump! Definitely wouldn't want to tussle with that guy!

And a blond grizzly.

Amazing Denali Park Road.

   Not much more visibility & no Denali at 4:00 PM from Eilsen Visitors Center.

  Our 3rd day at Tek we opted to walk rather than take the shuttle back into the park. We walked about a mile to the Teklanika River rest-stop.

Tek River viewed from Tek rest-stop.

Doug just enjoying our surroundings.

The road back to Tek Campground.

Marilyn sorting photos for the blog.

    That evening in the campground amphitheater, a ranger told the story of Fannie Sedlacek Quigley. She left Nebraska alone at 16, went to the Klondike at 27, and arrived in Kantishna at 36 in 1870 with her second husband. She continued the search for gold. The park was not created until 1917. Fannie lived in Kantishna until her death in 1944.
    Some flora from our 30 day Teklanika stay. Not identified, but beautiful.

  

        

  

    

 

I love the live feature of the iphone camera—as I took this picture a dragonfly flew across the lens.

    Note: We spent weeks in Alaska being awed by the environment. Yet there is so much more to Alaska: only 20% of the state is accessible by road. So I did the map below to show where we traveled in 2017, compared to the entire state.

Ferry stops: a) Juneau b) Yakutat c) Whittier. Places we went to in order: 1) Anchorage 2) Talkleetna 3) Nenana 4) Fairbanks 5) beginning of the Dalton Hwy to Prudhoe Bay 6) Chena Hot Springs 7-8) Paxson-Cantwell: Denali Hwy 9) Denali National Park & Preserve 10-12) Kenai Peninsula: Hope, Homer, Seward 13) Valdez 14) Tok 15) Chicken 16) Top of the World Hwy - crosses obrder into Canada 17) Haines & Skageway 18) Hyder

    Next up as our Alaska adventure continues: the Kenai Peninsula.