In Search of Denali- The Great One

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Thursday turned out to be our first day of all day rain in a while. We left our campsite in Talkeetna and made a quick stop at Kahiltna Birchworks to sample the birch syrup. Working in the shop for the summer, was a young woman from Vermont, who had experience with maple syrup. I think she was hoping for an Alaska wilderness experience, but complained that the road in front of the shop was a constant stream of tour buses.

Our camp at Talketna Boat Landing had good data signal and plenty of rain and mosquitoes!

Kahiltna Birchworks

Driving back north onto the Parks Highway, we set our sights for Byer's Lake Campground, about 50 miles up the road. The rain was incessant, and we couldn’t even seen the nearby ridges, just the birch, stumpy spruce forests, and the traffic going south. We drove past the first good overlook to see Mt. McKinley. It was totally socked in. Arriving at Byer's Lake in the pouring rain and gloom, we found a campsite and hunkered down.

Beautiful scenery in the driving rain, north of Byers Lake

Friday morning the rain stopped and we drove north again. The next overlook for McKinley showed the clouds lifting on the very lowest forested range, but nothing more. We drove the rest of the way to Denali National Park and the Riley Mercantile to check in to our campsite. The rain started again, but only lightly. Our reservations were for Teklanika Campground about 30 miles up the park road. The only road into the park is paved the first 15 miles to Savage River. After that, it is unpaved for the other 90 miles to the end at Kantishna. Private travel is restricted after Savage River. The only way to travel further in is by park shuttle, or to reserve a site at several small tenting campgrounds, back country campsites, or stay at Teklanika. Cars and RV's are allowed to drive there. The other campgrounds must be reached by bus. The catch is that you must stay at Teklanika a minimum of three nights and are only allowed to drive in and out once. There are no hook-ups or dump, only bathrooms and water.

The forests over permafrost consist of Taiga, spindly "pipe cleaner" black spruce that grow slowly in the soggy soil over the frozen ground.

We purchased our Tek pass, which gave us three days use of the park buses which are school buses, (unless you wanted to pay a lot for a narrated tour and a slightly nicer seat), which stopped at the campground after leaving the main entrance to the park. We had guaranteed seats for one day, in our case Sunday, and could ride stand-by the other days on any bus coming by that had room. We decided to try to get on a bus Saturday, ride to Eilson Visitor Center at mile 66, hike a bit, and catch a bus back to Teklanika. Sunday, we had a 9:40 reservation for a bus that would take us all the way to Kantishna at mile 92, and back again. The bus takes 12 hours from the visitor center to get there and back. Getting on and off at Teklanika shaved an hour each way off the time for us.


Before driving into the park we purchased two essentials at the Riley Merc, wine and showers! Then we started down the road. It felt special to be able to stop at the ranger hut across the Savage River and be given permission to head on up the road to Teklanika. At the campground we got settled into an open site and talked about what we needed to carry with us in our backpacks, and wear the next day. There is nowhere to buy food and only one place to get water on the trip.

Our camp at Teklanika

Small tributary of the Teklanika River near camp

Fierce wildlife at our campsite

We packed up our warm and rain clothes, lunches and water, and walked to the bus stop to catch the 8:40 bus. After several full buses passed, we finally found two seats on the 9:15 bus to Kantishna. The buses make regular stops for bathroom breaks, and at points of interest, plus you can ask to get off anyplace, or flag down a bus anywhere along the road. If there is room, the driver will pick you up. We knew we could ride it to Eilson, and pick up one back from there when we were ready.

The bus shelter to keep the mosquitoes dry while they feed.

Our hybrid bus allowed the driver to turn off the engine frequently when we stopped to look at critters.

The only problem with our ride, which we were lucky to even find seats on, meant that Greg wound up sitting in the very front window seat, which I gave up so he could have a good view of the geology, and I wound up in the very back on the aisle next to a man with three cameras, two with huge long lenses, a weight problem, and a need to keep the window wide open at all times. Unfortunately, he acted like he owned the bus, and was rude and inconsiderate to everyone around him. Guess there's one in every bunch.

The Park Road was closed to cars but there were a LOT of buses!

Our bus was full and animals only appeared on one side at a time.

Wendy, our driver, kept her commentary running for over 11 hours

At the Toklat Visitor Center, you could feel how much weight a moose, caribou, or Dall Sheep had to carry to look fashionable.

Small pond on the alpine tundra

When we got to Eilson, Greg suggested we stay on and do the whole trip that day. The weather was good, it looked like the mountain might come out, the clouds were lifting higher by the hour, and Wendy, the bus driver was giving a non-stop commentary, and extra stops to see wildlife, neither of which she was required to do. We were getting the pricey tour for the rock-bottom price. We decided to stay on.

Two bull moose who died with their antlers locked together

Greg stayed up front when we left Eilson. I was hoping to get the seat next to him, but the rider stayed on, and you can't ask someone to give up a prime seat. I gave Greg the camera, and went to the back. We'd lost a few riders, so I had two seats to myself. I had already gotten to know Guillermo from Key West, and his college-aged son, so I had friends to talk with. Wendy made lots of stops and we were able to see two grizzlies, (way off), lots of caribou, a few bald and golden eagles, a few moose, ground squirrels, red fox with an arctic ground squirrel in his mouth, and an owl. The park is immense, and the animal sightings are usually far off across the tundra. A lot of tourists are disappointed that the wildlife is not close up, like in a zoo. Wendy pointed out that National Geographic specials have spoiled everyone. The wildlife is not close, and the populations are not manipulated as the viewer is led to believe. Local photographers that capture the wildlife, spend an enormous amount of time in the park, away from the roads, waiting for the right shot. My former seatmate expressed his “dissatisfaction” with the wildlife viewing. You don't get those award winning bear shots from a bus!

Momma fox coming home from the store with an Arctic Ground Squirrel.

Bull Caribou

The McKinley River

Trying to catch a glimpse of the mountain

Heading up Polychrome Pass

I wonder why they don't want RVs coming over Polychrome Pass!

Sunshine on a lower peak near Mt. McKinley

Greg and I were thrilled with what we saw. The privilege of coming into the animal's territory, in the midst of spectacular scenery, and being able to experience something so few people are able to, is humbling. We, of course, hoped to see the mountain. Most people leave without a glimpse. The mountain is fickle and makes its own weather. We reached the end of the road at Kantishna at 3:30. After a short break to photograph the “End of the Road” sign, and a brief talk from Wendy about the flood three weeks ago that cut off the area and stranded a lot of tourists staying at private lodges there, we drove back out. Just before the turn at Wonder Lake, and coming back, we had our view of the mountain. Was it the complete peak? No, but the clouds lifted enough to see the snowy lower third, and give us a few second peek of the peak! Beautiful and awe inspiring. Some people on our bus, when asked if they had seen the mountain yesterday, said no. Wendy has only seen it three times this summer, due to the very rainy season. I guess it's the classic “glass half empty, or half full” conundrum.

The Muldrow Glacier

Mt McKinley from Wonder Lake

Wonder Lake

Looking north up Wonder Lake

Checking out granitic glacial boulders 30 miles from the Denali pluton.

Kantishna Airstrip

On the ride back, Greg joined me in the back. We gave poor freezing Guillermo his front seat, and wrapped up good, as my former seatmate would not close his window the whole trip, even when asked politely. We had seats on the side with the best views and enjoyed the spectacular scenery all the way back to Teklanika Campground. We were back in the rig by 7:15. A very long day, a long time to sit, but so worth it for the privilege of experiencing the wilderness of Denali. Thankfully, I had leftovers to re-heat for dinner, and we fired up the furnace to take the chill off us and the rig!

This morning, we decided not to show up for our bus reservation and let someone else use our spaces on stand-by. Yesterday was enough bus time. The trip to Eilson would be three and half hours out, and then hiking time there, and the same time coming back. Instead, we had a leisurely morning. Greg took a hike from the campground along the Teklanika River, came back for lunch and then we both took a hike along the river. The braided streams and the gravel bars made it tough going, so when we saw the Teklanika rest stop's viewing deck, we bushwacked up the steep hill to it, so that we could walk back along the road the few miles to the campground. Four buses were idling there. We surprised a few tourists. A woman from Houston, when she found out we were from Maryland, asked if we were enjoying the warmer weather here. Huh?! It was in the forties and a cold wind was blowing. Hopefully her husband and two teenaged sons set her straight later. One son told us he had been in D.C. in April and it was in the 70's and 80's and really nice. Made us wonder if she had ever been anywhere besides Texas and Alaska!

Looking Downstream along the Teklanika

Looking upstream on the Teklanika toward Cathedral Mountain

The river is much smaller than the glacier and outwash floods that carved the valley.

 Greg is not playing in the mud, he is demonstrating thixotropy in the noncohesive glacial silt.

The Teklanika follows several braided channels across the glacial outwash sand and gravel.

Conglomerate sandstone from up in the mountains

Trying to convince Kathleen that we can climb up the bluff to the road.

We walked back along the road, and waved at the people on the passing buses who looked at us like we might get eaten by the wildlife. At that point we would have enjoyed seeing a bear or moose. We didn't have a bear bell or bear spray, but followed the rule of talking while you walk in bear country. “Okay bears, we're talking, talking, talking. Walking and talking”. When you spend so much time together, sometimes you run out of conversation!

A small stream flowing through the taiga to the Teklanika

A pond along the park road

Enormous mushroom near the road with one large bite missing

The thick moss looked like a soft bed to lie on and feed the mosquitoes.

This afternoon is gloomy and overcast, so I think Greg was smart to suggest we continue on yesterday. We are relaxing and preparing to leave the park tomorrow. After more showers and dumping, we will head for Fairbanks. We'll visit the excellent museum at the university and resupply to begin the journey out of Alaska and down the Alaska Highway.