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The drive out of Denali National Park

July 29, 2018

Another day with amazing weather, so we were very excited about the 5 hour bus ride out of the park, as we would get to see the park from the ground.

There are around 2,100 moose living in the park, and we got to see a few of them. A moose eating in the lake with Denali in the background.

Reflection Lake - a very appropriate name.

The view of Denali from the Eilson Visitor's Center.

While we were looking at 4 falcons fledgling (learning to fly), a caribou/raindeer came trotting up the road towards the bus, but it saw us and went into the bushes. We saw quite a lot of them from a distance, and there are around 2,600 of them in the park.

Photo from brochure

As there are only around 350 grizzly bears living in the park, we weren’t really expecting to see any, but hopeful. And there she was with her cub hiding in the bushes. Grizzly weighs up to 600 pounds, and can be very dangerous when they have cubs, so we felt safe on the bus. They go up and walked away and more busses stopped to look at them. We felt very privileged.

We also saw Dall Sheep - white dots far away.

Photo from brochure 

We were hoping to see wolves as well, but there are only 72 of them in the park, so the chances were slim, and we didn’t see any. But we did see another moose eating in the lake, and the people with binoculars said there was a owl sitting in the dead tree above the moose.

In awe from the amazing bus ride, we drove 15 miles north of the park to Healey, where we stayed in a RV park room, did laundry and had dinner at the 49th State Brewery.

Kantishna, Denali National Park, Alaska

July 27, 2018

After a great breakfast, we packed lunches and set out to hike the Quigley Ridge and the Wicketsham Dome starting by the lodge. The hike was 12 km long, and had nice views along the way.

We saw marmots and ground squirrels but no moose, bears or caribou - apart from this one:

Well back at the lodge, Andy spent time in the wood fired sauna, and then we relaxed until it was time for dinner. What a wonderful day.

July 28, 2018

We woke up to beautiful weather, and walked down to Fanny Quiqley’s home. Fannie Quigley is one of the mining pioneers who came to the land to find their fortunes. Fannie was a veteran of the Klondike and other stampedes. She had made her way to the remote Kantishna Hills among the hundreds of hopeful prospectors in 1905, and she was known for her sharp tounge.

For the sake of it we walked to the end of the road.

We then did a small hike along the river, and checked out some of the old mining houses from the early 1900s.

Wonder Lake

As Andy wasn’t feeling well he went to the sauna and then took a nap, while Dorte took the bus to Wonder Lake. According to the bus driver, the lake got it’s name when 2 explorers were checking out a map of the area made previously, and came across the lake. One of them said ‘I wonder why this lake isn’t on the map?’ Maybe not a true story, but a good story!

There was an amazing view of the Alaska Range, and the Crown Jewel of North America, Denali.

When I came around a corner, I met this guy. At first I didn’t know which animal it was, as I could only see it from behind, and I had never seen one in the wild before.

I then hiked the 2.3 mile MaKinley Bar Trail. As there was not other people around, and it is grizzly bear country, I was a bit hesitant doing the hike, but I decided to do it as one of the vans from one of the lodges in the area was parked at the trail head. I couldn’t hear the people, but knew they were on the trail.

There were a lot of blueberries on the trail, so I ate a lot of them, and picked some for Andy too.

When I came back to the bus stop, and went in to rest in the shade, guess who was also waiting for the bus: Mr. Porcupine! You can see that he has been eating away at the wood. So I went outside, and left him to his sleep.

Sunset at 1:00am

Denali National Park, Alaska

July 26, 2018

Anchorage to Denali National Park

It took 5 hours to drive the 237 miles/380 km to the Denali National Park entrance from Anchorage. Once out of Anchorage most of the road went through forrest, and there wasn’t much to see. There wasn’t much traffic, and the road was great, so it was an easy drive.

Around half way we finally left the trees behind and drove along the mountains.

While waiting for our flight to Kantishna, we spent time at the visitor's center to learn more about the park.

Denali National Park

Denali National Park is located in the Interior Alaska, and this might have been the corridor though which the rest of the continent was peopled, as waves of hunter-gatherers migrated across the Bering land bridge to points south. Ancestors of the region’s present Native group, the Athabascans, are thought to have been here at least 6000 years. In the 1800s the Russians and the Britons began to trickle in to trade. The park spans over 6 million acres, and there is only one road through the party, After mile 15 the park is closed to private vehicles, and the only way into the park is by bicycle, bus or plane.

Flightseeing

The weather was fairly good, and we were excited about possibly seeing Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley), the highest mountain in North America.

Andy was the co-pilot, and he did a great job!

It was an amazing flight; we saw rivers, mountains and many glaciers. The glaciers are so much more than the icey part clearly visible to the eye. Over time the glacier pushes dust and dirt up from the ground, which makes it very difficult to actually see the whole glacier.

This photo shows 2 glaciers pushing up the dirt between them.

We even came very close to this glacier.

Mt. Denali

The Athabascans call Denali the Great One due to it’s 20,320 ft / 6,190m bulk of ice and granite, and we were lucky enough to get a peak at the summit just above the clouds. The 2018 climbing season is over, and of the 1114 people climbing the mountain only 496 (45%) summitted.

These kettle lakes were formed by pieces of glacier that made indentations in the earth enter separating from the glacier. Over time, the water filled the indentations creating all the lakes.

Kantishna

Kantishna is located at the end of road 92 miles into the park, and this is where we landed on the gravel run way in the valley. Kantishna is an old gold-mining enclave, and there are still a few buildings left from those days.

Skyline Lodge

The lodge is pierced on the side of the mountain above the river, has 6 rooms, is solar powered, and off the grid.

Dinner was great, and we spent the evening chatting with the other guests and enjoying the views, and the long days. This picture was taken at 11:00pm, and the sun hasn’t set yet.

Anchorage, Alaska

July 24-25, 2018

Alaska

Big, breathtakingly beautiful and wildly bountiful with unspoiled wilderness, mountain grandeur and immense wildlife. It is believed that the first Alaskans migrated from Asia to North America between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago during an ice age that lowered the sea level and created a 900 mile land bridge linking Siberia and Alaska. In 1741 the Danish explorer Vitus Bering, employed by Peter the Great of Russia, makes his third trip to North America and becomes the first European to set food on Alaska. Since the early 1980s, Alaska’s economy has been fuelled by oil. Nearly 90% of the state’s general fund revenue comes from taxes on oil and gas production. Thanks to oil, residents do not pay state tax on income, sales or inheritance. Alaska has 600,000 inhabitants, and 300,000 of them live in Anchorage.

Anchorage

The flight from Juneau to Anchorage took a little more than an hour, and it was a beautiful flight over glaciers and ocean.

Anchorage was founded in 1915 due to the Alaskan Railway, and is a young city as the average age is around 32. We took the city bus from the airport to downtown, and the Airbnb was located centrally on 10th Avenue. After having settled in we headed out to explore the city, and tested two local breweries. 

July 25, 2018

Downtown itself is not much of anything, and as we weren’t in museum mood, we decided to rent bicycles and cycle the 25 miles/40 km Costal Trail despite a little drizzle of rain.

It was a nicely paved trail along the ocean, and you can say that Anchorage is a big city in the wilderness by looking at this sign!

The sign is actually correct, because when we stopped to put on our rain pants, we came across a young moose.

Shortly thereafter Andy had a flat tire, so we decided to turn around and go back to where the trail meets the road to call the bike shop to pick us up. Luckily, some nice, handy guys came by and they offered to help, as they had the expertise and tools to change the tube in the tire, so we could bike back to the bike shop and return the bikes.

We had dinner at the 49th State Brewery, where Andy tried a yak burger, which didn’t taste as gamey as expected.

Juneau, Alaska

July  22-24, 2018

Juneau
Depending on the story you believe, Juneau was founded either by a pair of lucky drunks or two hard working miners in 1880. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris was sent there by Chief Kowee for samples of gold-bearing rock, which sparked a gold rush unmatched for 17 years. Juneau became the capital of Alaska in 1906, and government began to replace gold in Juneau. Today Juneau has 31,000 inhabitants.

Juneau was a bit of a disappointment as a town, as it was totally geared for cruise passengers (4 cruise ships a day) with souvenir shops and jewellery stores lining the main streets, and not much local atmosphere at all. It was very scenic though. We stayed in the historic Alaskan Hotel from 1913, and it was a great location.

Mount Juneau

As there wasn’t much to do in town, we decided to hike Mount Juneau, as we could walk the 1.5 mile/2.4 km road to the trail head. Mt. Juneau is steeped in mining history and was originally called Gold Mountain in 1981, then Bald Mountain in 1896. Mt. Juneau rises 3,576 feet/1,090 m above Juneau.

Mt. Juneau in the background.

It was a very hot day - 27 degrees - and we started the hike too late in the day, so it was very hot climb, but worth it with wonderful views along the way.

It took us 3 hours to climb the 3 miles/4.8 km with the elevation gain of 3000 ft/914 meters to the top, where we had lunch and well-deserved rest.

Note the eagle in the background.

Well back in town we had nice local seafood dinner at Mary’s Crab Shack well away from all the cruise ships (and their passengers) which blocked the view from all of the harbour side restaurant patios.

Next stop Anchorage, Alaska.