On the Road to Denali

July 13-16, 2004

After leaving the south central Alaska coast, we headed for Denali National Park, a distance of about 300 miles. It took us four days to get there so you can see we don't make a lot of mileage each day. Our reservations at Denali don't start for another week so we used the time to do some kayaking on a couple of small lakes between Anchorage and Denali.

The rocky slopes along the Seward highway are a favorite of Dall sheep. The easiest way to spot the mountains is not to look up at the mountains in search of sheep, but to look for groups of cars stopped by the highway and people standing outside and looking up; that is a sure sign that Dall sheep are there.  That is how we found this fellow.
 

This is South Rolly Lake about 80 miles north of Anchorage. We had a beautiful campsite right on the water, with a place where we could put our kayak in.
 

We saw this at many boat launches in Alaska. It seems the state loans out, on an honor system, child-size life jackets for people to use. It looks like a good idea to us.
 

We also camped at Byers' Lake in Denali State Park. This black bear came out to the lakeshore one night while we happened to be kayaking by. Not being sure about us, he turned and went back into the forest.
 

We also came upon this loon, who "held her ground" and didn't fly away as we edged closer.

Then we discovered that she had a brood of babies with her, so we watched her from a distance.
 

The view from Denali View North, a turnout in Denali State Park. Mt. McKinley, as Denali is officially known, is about 40 miles away and would be in the middle of this picture if it were "out". The mountain views are hazy, which is probably the result of the forest fires further north. Fortunately, we are not seeing the smoke that we saw a few weeks ago; we hope it stays this way.
 

Next we go into Denali National Park; we have reservations at one of the campgrounds about 30 miles into the park. We hope Denali puts in an appearance while we are there.