Saturday, May 19, 2007

Denali National Park

DNP Day 1 - From Fairbanks I took (George) Parks Highway south towards Denali National Park. After the bumpy ride of Dalton Highway, Parks Hwy felt like Formula 1 GP track. I could even open the windows down, for there was no dust! As you leave Fairbanks, road heads straight through the mountains. First valley leads straight into Nenana. About 5 miles north of Denali NP entrance I took a Stampede Road. It heads northwest-west over the valley's north of Denali NP for a beautiful view of northern ridges. Of the 23 miles only first five were paved, rest was labeled as 4x4 vehicles with high clearance. It was a nice drive by the lakes across ridges and by the rivers.

I decided to have lunch at Rose's Cafe, small diner just before NP. There I had their infamous Grizzly Burger, 1 lbs. of beef, topped with fried egg, bacon, cheddar and swiss cheese, and large portion of French fries. They take your picture before you start eating. If you finish it all, including fries, they post picture on their web site as well as printed copy on the wall in diner.

I checked into the Riley Creek Campground (inside of Denali NP) and setup my tent for the night. After that I drove 14.8 miles into National Park. That is as far as you can get in your own vehicle. Rest of the road (unpaved) is only accessible by Shuttle and Tour buses, except for workers and rangers.

DNP Day 2 - I started the day two with Shuttle bus tour. Tolkat Shuttle bus takes you to the Tolkat River, 53.4 miles into the park. It is not a tour bus, so the driver does not have a script to narrate. However, I got lucky and got the loud mouth. Mr. Gary Borenstein has been the driver for last 14 years and worked in Park last 30+ years. He lives about 8 miles south of the Park and claims to be a walking encyclopedia on DNP. Regardless to say he talked to much. Shuttle bus stops every time some notices an animal. 6 hours ride turned out to be about 8+ hours. Eventually even Gary stopped talking and drove without stopping. It was getting late. I did not get to see much more than that I have not seen already. Dalton Highway has spoiled DNP for me. I have seen most of the wild animals already. Well except, brown bear - grizzly. And they were really far far away.

I finished of the night at Salmon Bake Bar and Restaurant. They had live music for the most of the night. Band named Denali Cooks, was formed of the former Denali area cooks, hence the name. Music was nice mixture of blues, jazz, bluegrass and classic rock. I closed the bar around 4am.

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