June 25-July 1, Denali National Park

We arrived a day early & stayed outside the park, but were able to do all our check-in paperwork early. We saw 2 great movies at the visitor centers, got a hilltop view of the area from one of the resorts and walked along the river. Very few vehicles are allowed past mile 15 of the park road during the summer. We were lucky enough to get a last minute reservation at the most distant RV campground, Teklanika, at mile 29. The Jeep had to stay at the visitor center and we could only move around on the park shuttle buses. As campers, we were able to buy a $31 shuttle pass - basically 3 days for the price of a single ride. Thanks again to our in-the-know Fairbanks neighbors! We arrived early, set up camp and took a walk on the Teknalika river bed where we spotted bear & caribou tracks. The river beds are wide and we assumed they would fill from bank to bank at some point. However, there are only narrow streams as the river shifts course each year, or during the year. We then hopped on a shuttle bus for a 6 hour tour. The most stunning part of the drive was through the Polychrome area, with rocks of all colors and the narrow road sliced right into the side of the mountains. It was here that we also caught our first sight of Denali, aka Mt McKinley. We were able to see much of the top & snapped pictures like crazy. We saw Dall sheep & caribou high on the mountainsides and came across our first grizzlies near the turnaround point - a mother & two cubs lazing in the grass. We spent about 45 minutes at the Eielson Visitor Center & the 3 bears were still snoozing when we came back! A fox, blue skies and more stunning scenery were on tap for the drive home to the campground. The nightly ranger program on caribou was very interesting and inspired Dennis to model these antlers the next day. Day 2 in the park was our 10 hour tour to the end (mile 92) of the park road, the old mining town of Kantishna. We were extra fortunate that our shuttle bus driver was a sub and he normally does a full tour to this area, for about $150 per person, but this was all included in our $31 multi-day ticket. He was a perpetually upbeat guy who gave us full narration. We learned so much and had a great time. We hadn't been on the bus 15 minutes when a lynx strolled right in front of it! Next, Dennis spotted a very large male grizzly. Today, we were able to see even more of the mountain - a huge thrill since we had been blanked when we were here on a cruise tour years ago. Near the end of the road, Barb spotted a bull moose with antlers in...Moose Creek! We learned later that night at the ranger program that the average Denali moose is 7 feet high and the tallest found was 9 feet high - at the shoulders!!! We stopped by Fannie Quigley's cabin on the way back. Fannie came to Alaska for gold but found more success feeding other miners in Kantishna. She planted extensive gardens by hauling soil & water up the hill and then froze her fresh food using the permafrost all around her. It turns out she was sharper than her husband, Joe, and often had to dig him out of collapsed mines. He was injured enough in one collapse that he had to go to Seattle, where he ran off with his nurse. Apparently, Fannie was OK with that & stayed in her cabin until she died there an old and much-adored woman. Wildlife sightings on the way home included a mama and baby moose, ground squirrels, a fox who caught a ground squirrel while we watched (ick) and another large grizzly. A rainbow appeared against the Polychrome mountains in the bright sunlight - awesome. Rain finally caught up to us on our 3rd day in the park, so we spent a relaxing day reading and being glad we weren't in a tent. We stayed outside the park for a couple days more and caught up with Corte Bella neighbors Jeff & Aggie, who are working up here for the summer. We got to see where they live and enjoyed the Cabin Nite Dinner Theater show with them. We went back into the park on our last day here to see the dog sled demonstrations (and a moose & 2 caribou). They still use the sled dogs to patrol the park in the winter. As the ranger said, a sled dog starts better than a snowmobile when it's 40 below! Rejoined Jeff & Aggie for a great pizza dinner and made tentative plans to see them again in a couple weeks so the boys can go fishing.

Driving down the highway approx 10:45pm and sunset, June 29th, 12:10am