Denali NP
Denali
Mile 5720
Saturday morning Heather and I left Fairbanks, heading south on Highway 3 for Denali National Park. It’s roughly 2 hours to reach the gates. A very long time ago, perhaps the first park to mandate this, Denali NP limited remote access to the park interior to bus transit only. The fear was that expansion of roadways to meet the demand would remove from the remote experience a visitor should have here. So they have a shuttle system that can take you as deep as you want to go. The Park road is just short of 100 miles long, ending at a couple wilderness camps you can reserve months/years in advance. We chose to take the Eilson Visitor Center loop, traveling 66 miles in and 66 miles back. The loop takes 8 hours total, and would leave at 1:00pm. We had a bite of lunch at the Grande Denali Lodge, overlooking the park entrance and the commercial mayhem just to the north of the gate.
Our shuttle driver was a wealth of information about the park. The shuttles are allowed to stop at any time for pictures and wildlife viewing. They also pick up hikers and bikers a any point along the road too. So if you choose to walk for a while, it’s all good. Catch the next bus, if there is room. There are a series of stops along the route, roughly an hour to an hour and a half apart, where the shuttles stop for everyone to get out and stretch. My first impression of this whole “everyone on the bus!” experience was wrong. I expected to hate it. Nope. It was pretty cool! For the first time in quite a while I didn’t have to watch the road. The bus was comfortable, and we were up front. Not bad at all.
We made it to the Eielson Visitor Center around 5pm, with the sun still very high in the sky. It’s a new center, built into the landscape quite well, with LEEDs certification for environmental sensitivity. Very cool. Eielson is considered the first real opportunity to view Mount McKinley from outside the shuttle. The valley below the center was magnificent, with the base of McKinley to the west. It was very cloudy when we got there, but the summit cleared in a small window in the clouds just as we were getting ready to leave. Check! Saw McKinley. Absolutely beautiful. On the return, heading away from the focal mountain range, Heather says “Hey, isn’t that Mount McKinley back there?” We stop the bus, and all turn to see the entire mountain clear of clouds. Awesome. We were quite a ways from the mountain now, but you cannot deny it’s grandeur. We also saw caribou, eagles, sheep, bear, and other small critters along the way. Most of them at considerable distance. I have photos, but the animals look like small dots of color.
We made it back to the park entrance just before 9pm, and yes the sun was still high. We splurged this night, getting a room at the Denali Princess Lodge. A couple sodas on the deck of the lodge finished out one incredible day.
