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.

Cinco de Mayo

Ole! It finally stopped raining. I spent the night in Calgary as you know. In the morning I visited local Nikkon Fast Lube to change the oil in FJ Cruiser. Right next to it was Starbucks so I grabbed a latte while oil was changed. I filled up on gasoline and took off for Canadian Rockies. I stopped by little cute town Canmore and continued off to Banff. In Banff I had lunch in the Irish place where waitress tried to jiff me for $5 change. There goes her tip!

Ride from Banff to Jasper was simply spectacular. Number of peeks, valleys, canyons, glaciers, elks, birds, lakes and rivers I have seen, wow. In 150 mile drive from Banff to Jasper I stopped probably about 40 times, which made my trip longer than I expected. Even with all the stops, when I pulled into Jasper, I had another 2h of daylight so I decided to continue to Hinton, which was another hour north towards Dawson Creek. Here I am reporting at the end of week one. It went by really quickly.

I am also releasing Google Map for week 1. This map might have some items out of order but I am sure you will get the general feeling for the progress I have made in the first week of travels.

Two rainy days

Thursday and Friday were just brutal weather wise. It all started out with rain in Missoula, MT. I turned on CB radio and forecast called for 2-4" of snow in the mountains heading north to Kalispell, MT. Ride was good and FJ Cruiser handled well over the mountains. I had coffee break in Kalispell and moved on towards West Glacier. Again, my timing was off, since road through the Glacier NP is closed until mid-June. Yey!!! So, I drove around the park, and on the Shelby, MT. This part of Montana is washed with heavy gusty winds.

Next morning, while still raining, I crossed into Canada. Alberta here I come. And, it was just like Montana, except flatter, with gustier winds, lower speed limits, more expensive gas and well that Canadian feeling to it :) I reached DPP (Dinosaur Provincial Park) and pleasantly surprised I was not the only person there. Two rednecks from Montana were just as surprised to see City Slicker. Nice thing is that I was able to drive inside of the park. It reminded me of the South Dakota Badlands (DPP is part of Canadian Badlands), except it looked a little different with all the rain, I don't know how else to explain it. It looked like it was eroding right in front my eyes. Another thing I noticed about Alberta is abundant wild life.

Drumheller was short ride north. This is the place hosting largest Dinosaur. You can actually climb inside of it to a platform within the mouth of the Rex and look outside. I got there too late (story of my early trip, early-late-late-early, timing I have to work on), so I snapped picture and drove off into the sunset, towards Calgary. Before you go off into the sunset, check out that photo. FJ can fit into one T-Rex's foot, and it is not the optical illusion, I measured it.

I finished off the night with dinner at Big T's Smokehouse.

Mt. Rushmore vs. Crazy Horse

From Rapid City I headed south towards Mt. Rushmore. Since I was up little early, breakfast in Keystone, SD sounded like a good idea. Little after 9am I entered Gatzon Borglum Museum in Keystone. I was glad I did. The mp3 guided tour through the museum was enlightening. Like everything else in life, even decisions of which presidents were to be included were political. Gee I think I am onto something here. Ha, ha! After the short ride I parked and entered Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It was amazing sight. I even got a shot of goat.

Next stop was Crazy Horse Memorial, a memorial to all Native American Indian Tribes. When the memorial is finished it will be grand. Whole Mt. Rushmore will be able to fit within the head of the Crazy Horse’s head. Crazy Horse was infamous War Chief. The memorial is solely funded by private parties, ticket and souvenir sales and the Elders have repeatedly refused Federal funding.

I had lunch at Iron Horse Inn in Deadwood. Anyone watching HBO series? I got to see the movie in the chamber of commerce and they made a point that real Deadwood was not as vulgar. Yeah, right! I also stopped by Kevin Costner's place "The Midnight Star", if anyone cares.

Driving down Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway coming from Deadwood/Lead area is easy and relaxing since it is all down the canyon. From Spearfish I took I-90 to Buffalo, WY, and then scenic Route 16 to Cody, WY. Powder River Pass on Route 16 is at 9666 feet. Still some snow-dirt patches left.

Badlands, SD

This afternoon I arrived at the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. After I paid $15 entrance fee (good for 7 days, go figure, who is going to hang around for 7 days, unless you are camping I guess?), I entered the park. I was not sure what to expect, I've heard about Badlands, SD, but I was not prepared for it. It seems today was one of the windier days in the spring. Road through the park, Route 240 or Badlands Loop Road, takes you along the edge of the Wall (60 miles long across), many times going through passes between Lower and Upper plates. For more details see Badlands National Park - NPS site.

I have taken many pictures, I am attaching only few here, rest I am adding to the PicasaWeb album.

Looks like a dog?	Map of Badlands
Aidan's guy working on the rocks	FJ against backdrop of Badlands

Again, I was surprised by the natural beauty, different rock formations, colors, birds and trees.