June 15 through June 17, 2014

Denali

We got in early afternoon to the Denali Rainbow RV Park. It is just outside the Denali Park entrance. The RV park is ok for the limited space around here. As soon as we got camp setup, we drove the jeep into the park.

We obviously stopped first at the visitors center and got our bearings. We drove to the farthest point you can take a privately owned vehicle; Savage River. There was a two mile hike up to a pedestrian bridge and back the other side. Just a warm up for hiking.

On the 16th we planned an all day trip on one of the shuttle buses to the Eielson Visitors Center. It took 8 hours to complete the trip. We saw dozens of Dahl Sheep, dozens of Caribou, and 7 Grizzly Bears. The official bear count for this trip stands and 21. Woohoo.

On the 17th we took a long hike along the Taiga Trail and the Meadow View Trail. Nice Hike. After the hike we took a bus up to the park headquarters to watch a demonstration on sled dogs. That was really interesting, but I do not understand why they really need to maintain a team of dogs for winter. They tell us it is better than using snowmobiles, but I really find that hard to believe based upon the number of dogs, food, breeding and training. However, I really like the historic tradition.

Now...thank goodness we were able to see the Mountain on the way up from Tok as we were socked in with clouds all three days. We are not among the 30%. They say only 30% of the visitors to the park actually see the Mountain. Oh well.

We thought of staying here a few more days, but it looks raining and cloudy for the next several.

 

 

Video of Grizzly Bear Cubs Playing

 

 

 

 

 

 On to Anchorage.