Denali after 20 years

20 years ago, we honeymooned on an Alaskan cruise and then stayed in riverfront cabins outside Denali National Park. I knew I should have brought that photo album on the trip, but unfortunately I didn’t. We were really looking forward to coming back to this special place, as much because of the wildlife as well as the sentiment. We had more fun taking selfies at this sign that we have at any other spot. I wish we had a recording of our past selves talking about what our future would hold – we would have gotten it entirely wrong.

This was the only reservation we made, months before the trip, because we wanted to be inside the park and the campground fills up months in advance. They run their reservations differently than we’ve ever seen. We check in knowing we have a spot. They have two size spots – A (larger) and B (smaller). We drive around until we find an empty A spot we like and just pull in. About two hours after we got camp made, the rains came! Usually this would dampen our spirits, but with all the smoke we’ve battled the last week, we were more than happy to get drenched. We spent the afternoon with the obligatory visit to the Visitor Center as well as a sled dog demonstration. With eyes peeled (inside joke as that’s the first thing Mark says when he’s looking for wildlife, “keep your eyes peeled”), we drove Park Road. We were only a few miles down the road when we spotted our first Denali wildlife, a mama and baby moose right on the side of the road. Yes! We scouted animals until our bellies begged for dinner, then went to town for Prospector’s Pizza and some souvenir shopping.

One unique feature of Denali is the Park Road. It is 92 miles long and you can only drive your car on the first 14 miles. The rest requires a paid shuttle bus. The full route is a 12 hour excursion, which we scheduled for Saturday since the rain was supposed to stop by then. There are a limited number of hiking trails, all short (2ish miles) and no dogs are allowed on trails in any national park. For as long as I’ve known Mark, the highlight of any trip is the potential for wildlife viewing. He is infatuated with bears! We came armed with 4 cans of bear spray, in 2 sizes. We don’t go anywhere without having cameras, cell phones, binoculars, and bear spray within arms reach.

As forecast, it rained all day on Friday. We were hoping the afternoon would clear up so we could walk Molly on the road or through a campground (the only two places she’s allowed) plus we didn’t want to leave her in the camper all day, so we threw her in the truck with us. We decided the best way to spend the rainy day was sightseeing in town. Mark drove us back to the cabins we stayed at for our honeymoon. They have since been purchased and greatly expanded, surrounded by a lodge and resort- nothing like the quaint, romantic memory we share. I had read about a road with funny road signs so we found it and enjoyed that, though the scenic view with ruined by the rain clouds. We stopped for lunch at the Denali Salmon Bake, where we feasted on halibut fish and chips and blackened halibut tacos. Plus of course we found some more shopping.

After lunch, we came back into the park to drive the park road as far as we were allowed, to Savage River. We spotted the same mama and baby moose, eating roadside bushes. And then, lo and behold, the rain stopped! We had to leave Molly in the truck, but we were able to stretch our legs on the Savage River Loop trail. The trail was packed with people also eager to get into the park after the rain. It followed both sides of the river with a bridge between. Rocky, green hillsides were dotted with purple fireweed flowers. It felt like a celebration of Alaska wilderness.

We pulled over at the Mountain Vista Trailhead, which was only 0.6 miles to a viewpoint of Denali, on a clear day that is. We walked out to the end, and of course saw only clouds. We met up with some other hikers and compared Alaska stories. They told us they had seen an owl on the trail the previous day. Sure enough, we spotted two juvenile owls. It was fascinating to watch them bob and circle their curious heads as they tried to determine whether we were friend or foe. We made it back to our campground where we could finally got Molly out for a walk before we turned in for the night.

We had done the shuttle bus tour when we were here 20 years ago, though not to the end. With memories of wildlife and scenes of Denali, we were eager to complete the full 92 mile road. That being said, 12 hours in a bus is a really long time. We got up early so we could get Molly out for a walk before leaving her in the camper, literally all day. Loaded with cameras, lenses, binoculars, and lunch, we strategically settled in to the front row just behind the driver so we could see out our side window as well as the front windshield. Denali literally means “the tall one”, fitting since it’s the tallest mountain in North America, standing proudly at 20,320 feet. The magic of Denali is that it is often shrouded in clouds or foggy weather so your chances of actually seeing “the mountain” on any given day are about 30%. On our 1999 honeymoon trip, we were told our perfect view in late July was only the 2nd time Denali had been seen that year. Fast forward to this week of smoke and fires, followed by rain and we didn’t have a realistic hope of being in the 30% club. (That’s what the T-shirts call it.) With that expectation, imagine our anticipation when blue sky started peeking through the clouds. It was still a slim chance, but man we have a chance! Because of the surrounding mountains, there are actually only a few places in the park where you can potentially have line of sight of the mountain. We round a corner and the bus driver sounds shocked as she announces, “well, what do you know, there’s the summit.” Granted we are still a good distance away so our view isn’t great, but it is in fact visible. What a start to the day!

We were on full alert for wildlife for hours, and when I say wildlife, I mean grizzly bears. We were past the halfway point on the road when the driver finally said, “ok, our best chance of wildlife is in the next 20 miles.” It clearly wasn’t her first season in the park. Someone finally spotted one grizzly. And then a few caribou. There were several stops the bus made for restrooms or viewpoints, including Polychrome (where the minerals in the rocks make the mountains look multicolored), Eielson Visitor Center, Wonder Lake, Reflection Pond (on a clear day, you can get a picture of Denali in the sky and reflected in the pond) We finally reached the end of the road where there is an old homestead. We got out of the bus to stretch our legs as often as they’d let us. Through binoculars, we saw some Dall sheep way up in the mountains at several restroom stops. Did we come all this way for 1 bear? The driver had mentioned that there were usually more bears visible on the way back. She had no explanation why that would be as that is the heat of the afternoon, yet that’s what she’s observed in her years of driving the Park Road. Mark said aloud that he thought we would see 4 bears. When we got back to the wildlife section, Mark sighted one right off the bat. It was relatively close to the road, but the bus was headed downhill on a windy section and couldn’t come to a stop for quite awhile. By the time we got stopped, it was pretty far away though definitely a blond grizzly. Then Mark says, “I wish we could see a baby and mama grizzly.” Well, what do you know? Once again, the rest of the bus saw light colored dots, but we had a good view through binoculars. We never did see a moose or a wolf, but we saw 10 grizzly bears and probably that many caribou, but they were all pretty far from the bus. Hard as we tried, with our best lenses, we were not able to get great shots. You can identify the animals, but no shots we’re excited about. As you can see, the caribou are losing their winter coats. Both males and females have antlers that grow back every year.

Some people get upset or frustrated that only buses are allowed on the road and not cars, to the extent that they think the park is just making a racket off the monopoly on the road. After sitting in a bus on this entire length of road, there is absolutely no way that cars should be allowed on it. It is narrow with sections of sheer drop offs. When passing another bus, one bus would have to stop completely in order to let the other bus barely squeeze by. And there were a lot of buses, going varying distances, in order to accommodate as many visitors as possible. Plus it was great that we could both enjoy the views without one of us (Mark) having to keep an eye on the (very scary) road.

We made it back to the camper after having left Molly for 12 1/2 hours unattended. Of course we knew she would have to go potty (if she hadn’t already). As soon as we let her out, she came to greet each of us and get a rub down before she would consider doing her business. Dogs really are incredible and she’s been a good companion on this trip. We got her out for a much deserved walk before getting dinner and turning in for the night. We had a great campsite too. In fact, we could barely see another camper through the surrounding trees in any direction. We still feel like we haven’t had the bear viewing that we came for so we remain on the hunt for some close ups (from a safe distance) of bears. We also have yet to see a bull moose. We did have a good time making up a song about the wildlife we would see “on the road to Dena-ali”. Denali was a special place for us to come back to after spending our honeymoon here 20 years ago. Both we and the mountain have seen changes (Mt Denali was actually called Mt McKinley on our first visit), but we stand the test of time.

(Caption: Nenana River with our honeymoon cabins in the background)