June 15 - 16, 2015
Last night was interesting. Neither of us had much sleep with Esther even less. Denali Hwy is suppose to be generally less traveled than other roads which was one reason we decided to take this road. That and the scenery. Alaskans use this road quite heavily on the weekends as there are many places to camp and use ATV's along the road, as with most roads in Alaska. Alaska is soooooo big that even with all the ATV trails , the trails are miles apart. And after discussing this with the locals, it seems that most Alaskans have respect for the environment and stay on the trails. We have been impressed. The Alaskans play hard on the weekends and that means that they travel back to their homes even late into the night. Yesterday was Sunday and the final day of the weekend. We had camped a 100 ft off the road over looking a beautiful valley, that was home to a cow moose and her twins. You remember them from the last post: Rodney and Robert.
Still we had poor quality sleep. There is another reason it seems for poor quality sleep that we found out about a couple of days later. There is an 8000 square acre forest fire that at times shuts down the Parks Road and so people are taking the Denali Hwy, which adds another 200 miles to their trip, to get to Anchorage. And explains the heavy traffic on this road which is normally more desolate. When we leave Denali National Park the end of this week, we will need to determine whether we will need to do that same thing. Missing our flight on the 22nd is not an option.
We left our camp site after 9 that morning and soon were able to see Maclaren Glacier to the north. We stopped at Maclaren Lodge, that sits along the Maclaren River, about 14 miles from the Glacier. We took a break and had their fabulous Berry Pie. It contained strawberries, apples, rhubarb, and raspberries. And a great crust. And what pie would be complete without ice cream? Organic Vanilla Beans from Madagascar. Yum Yum! A nice lodge that would make a great night for those of you thinking of an Alaska trip. (http://www.maclarenlodge.com/index.html)
While at the lodge we walked out back to a pond and saw another cow and her twins. Since they need names as well we named them Jacob and Shelby.
We back tracked a few miles to the top of the escarpment and hiked 2 1/2 miles out to the Maclaren Summit where we had stunning views of Maclaren Glacier and Eureka Glacier. As is proper when walking and hiking in bear country, we frequently shouted out 'hey bear'. Best to let them know you are in their neck of the woods so that they have time to move out of your way.
We continued traveling west and marveled at how the geography, trees, and land continued to change. The main types of trees we saw were Aspens, White Spruce and Black Spruce. We passed over the Maclaren River, had stunning views of the Susitna River, and camped that night along the Brushkana River.
The middle section of the Denali Hwy did not seem to have the stunning views that we had on the east side. Partly because there were more trees along the road. Much of the east side was above tree line and so you looked out over high alpine tundra which afforded great views. There were more views as we approached the west end and the town of Cantwell on the Parks Hwy. The middle section is great country for hunting, and has quite a bit of mining history where both copper and gold were mined. While there are still some private claims it seems all the larger operations along this highway are shut down. For much of the last day on the Denali Hwy we followed closely the Nenan River, which is also Glacial.
Upon arriving at Brushkana campsite, which is a nice BLM campground with many sites right along the river, we were immediately swarmed by mosquitos. Mosquitos seem to be almost everywhere but this rivaled the stories we have heard and read about. We quickly set up our tent in only minutes and jumped inside without supper. The next morning we woke to what was literally hundreds and hundreds of mosquitos on the outside of our tent netting. The goal of a good nights sleep was achieved as the mosquitos stayed on their side of the tent netting and we on ours. Like last night, pack up was done quickly and we stopped a few miles down the road for breakfast where there were basically no mosquitos.
After joining the Parks Hwy, where we would head north to Denali NP, we stopped for fuel. We also took time to make a few calls and send out the latest postings to Phillips footsteps.
We headed north to Denali NP and on arriving checked in at the campground headquarters, did laundry, and had a much welcomed shower. We visited the Backcountry Access Center and talked with a ranger for suggestions on where to hike and get some detailed topographical maps. These are very important here because Denali NP contains 6 million acres with virtually no trails. Hiking is done by walking across the tundra in any direction you wish to go.
We then headed 30 miles into the park to the Teklanika Campground where we would spend the next 3 nights. On our way in we saw nice caribou with velvet still on its antlers. We arrived at 8 pm and set up camp excited about our days ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment