30 Miles into Denali NP

Teklanika River is one of several campgrounds that sits further into Denali National Park. There is a minimum 3-day stay for this campground and campers are given a special permit to drive here. The pass allows one vehicle ... one drive in ... one drive out. No exceptions. You forget something crucial and drive back out ... well, that’s it. No coming back.

We made the most of the drive, taking about two hours to get to the campground. And why shouldn’t we? We had a gorgeous blue-sky day with plenty of sunshine. The scenery was wonderful ... crystal clear in every direction. Even “the MOUNTAIN” was out ... our luck holding once again as we gazed upon the Great One from every viewpoint from which she was visible.

Wildlife sightings were minimal today. We saw a bull moose roadside ... close enough that we could see the unique form of its antlers beginning to take form. On the Savage River gravel bar, where we saw a grizzly several days ago, this time we saw two caribou. We’ve been told that a grizzly bear is frequenting our campground, but so far no sightings by us.

The road past the Savage River check-point, where a park ranger verified our reservation before letting us through, is dirt/gravel. In quite good shape this early in the season. Yesterday’s rain tamped down the dust ... but no standing water anywhere. That’s a good thing.

We arrived at the campground just before 11:00a. There are two loops here. We drove both and settled on site 47 in the second loop ... good southern exposure for the solar panels.

This is a dry camp ... no power, no sewer or dump. At the moment, there is no water either. The site is quite spacious, but neither the size of it nor the privacy compares favorably with the sites at Riley. It also seems more crowded here, but from what we’ve gathered, most will be leaving tomorrow. Perhaps it will be a little quieter then.

After settling in and having an al fresco lunch on the patio, we bundled up against the breeze and went off for a hike on the Teklanika River gravel bar ... located immediately behind the campground. It was fun to find our way around the various streams that make up this braided river.

We took advantage of the warmth of the sun to sit on the patio most of the afternoon. After all, who knows if Alaska’s finicky weather patterns will let us do so again while we are here. A nice campfire ... wine and snacks ... s’mores. What more could we ask for? Nothing really.Leggi altro