Happily married 55 years, retired baby boomer, mother of 2, grandmother of 4, traveler, Georgia Bulldog fan, Air Force Brat, avid reader, amateur photographer, gardener, ovarian cancer survivor, blogger. Every day is a gift!
Our day started with a drive along the highway between our campground and the entrance to the national park.
View behind our campground
Bridge over the Nenana River
Railroad bridge over the mountain pass
The road follows the Nenana River
After lunch we were off for an ATV tour with Denali ATV Adventures. Henry and I chose a side by side four wheeler similar to our Ranger at home. The six ATV’s and three side by side ATV’s in our tour had 3 guides. After watching a safety video on the bus ride to the launch site and a safety introduction by one of the guides we were fitted for our helmets and off we went. Our tour took us on gravel public trails outside the national park. There were plenty of twists, turns, mud puddles, and bumps to make the ride really fun.
On the ATV Trail
We stopped atop a small plateau for a beautiful view
Between the helmet and wind I got a great hairdo!
ATV’s all lined up
Taking a break in a dry river bed next to a huge sand dune
A couple of our fellow riders climbing the sand castle
Ready to ride
Approaching the sand castle
Covered in dirt, we returned to the campground where Henry worked on fixing a leaky kitchen drain. It’s a good thing we have a dual sink in the kitchen because he wasn’t able to get the necessary parts to fix the leak. I’ll just have to remember not to put water in that sink until we get somewhere with a hardware store. There’s always something!
Day 51: Friday, July 5, 2013. North Pole, Alaska to Denali. Denali RV Park and Motel, Site 5. 194 miles traveled.
With all our chores and shopping in Fairbanks completed it was time to continue our Alaskan adventure. We left North Pole behind and traveled the Parks Highway to our RV park 8 miles outside the entrance of Denali National Park. Our reservations at Teklanika River Camp inside the national park aren’t until Monday so we will be exploring different areas of the park until then.
Denali at last
As soon as we were set up in our campsite we drove to Denali National Park. A quick stop at the Visitor’s Center to get our National Park Passport stamped and to purchase my Senior Pass or Geezer Pass as it is often called. I officially became a senior when I turned 62 a couple of weeks ago. The National Park Service offers a Senior Pass to those of us who have reached that ripe old age. For $10 you receive a lifetime pass which gets you into any national park or monument for free and a discount for camping in many of the federal campgrounds.
With that chore completed, we stopped at the bookstore to search for a guide book to the plants and animals of Denali so we’ll know what we are looking at.
It was finally time to go explore the park. In Denali, private vehicles are only allowed on the first 15 miles of the Denali Park Road. To travel beyond that point everyone must travel on a shuttle or tour bus. The only exception is campers going to Teklanika River Camp where we will be going on Monday. More about that later.
As we traveled along the highway marveling at the beauty around us we had to stop a few times when a shuttle bus in front of us stopped. If the shuttle bus stops there must be something good to see.
When the shuttle bus stopped, we looked all around to see what they saw
The shuttle bus was stopped to look at this moose
At the 15 mile mark we stopped at the Savage River overlook to enjoy the view and then turned around to make our way back to the park entrance. We were hoping to get a glimpse of Mt. McKinley. Like most days, clouds were covering the peaks. At one of the overlooks we got out binoculars and searched along with a couple from Texas and a couple from Toronto. Henry spotted the peaks above the clouds first. As he pointed out where to look the excitement grew among the crowd. One by one we heard “I see it!”.
At Savage River overlook at the end of the 15 miles
View from overlook on Denali Park Road
Beauty everywhere you look
We could see Mt. McKinley with binoculars. One of the peaks is just above the clouds in the middle of this picture
On our way back out of the park, we stopped again as the shuttle bus in front of us stopped. A moose was right beside the road not bothered by us at all.
The green shuttle bus stopped to look at the moose
Moose beside the road on the way out of the park
Moose beside the road as we were leaving Denali
Mt. McKinley and two moose on our first visit to Denali! What a great introduction to the park!
We stopped at the Wilderness Access Area to find out information about what to do when we check in on Monday. The lady helping us was from Georgia. She told us we could go ahead and check in so we did. With all the necessary parking and shuttle passes in hand we headed back to our campground.
I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to make some crab stew with some of our Dungeness Crab from Haines. The weather here is windy and cold and it was a perfect night for stew. Out of this world delicious if I do say so myself.
What better way to spend the 4th of July than going to a parade?
We parked at the visitor’s center and talked to the woman working there for a while. She moved to North Pole from Georgia three years ago! It is amazing how many people from Georgia we have met. One of the driver’s in the parade saw our Georgia hats and hollered “Go Dawgs!” as he went by.
North Pole Visitor’s Center
Weather report for the 4th of July
Waiting for the parade
The parade was small and fun.
The start of the parade
A Ranger in the parade!
A beautiful day for a parade
The farm bureau had a goat and other animals in the parade
Here comes Santa!
Of course Santa will be in the North Pole 4th of July Parade
It wouldn’t be a parade without a fire truck
It was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July. We grilled hamburgers for dinner and visited with our friends Ted and Ruth Ann after their trip up to Deadhorse and Coldfoot.
If you are paying attention and wonder what happened on Day 49 yesterday, the answer is laundry and getting the work on the truck finished.
To get up close and personal with the Alaska Pipeline we stopped at a park on our way to tour the Gold Dredge 8.
At a section of the pipeline in Fairbanks
I can’t reach!
The tour started with a train ride with demonstrations of gold mining techniques and a stop to learn about the dredge before we got off the train to pan for gold. We got to keep our gold!
Gold Dredge 8
We got off the train here to pan for gold
There was old equipment from the mining days
Another large group panning for gold
Henry struck gold!
Henry’s gold. He got $12 worth, I only got $9.
As we were leaving the tour we stopped at a section of the pipeline to learn a few facts about it.
We passed under the pipeline as we finished the tour. You can see where it goes up the hill in the distance.
A cross section of the pipeline showing cleaners called pigs
If you are a fan of the show Ice Road Truckers you have heard of the Dalton Highway. If not, the Dalton Highway is the road the truckers take to get to the industrial camp at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean. The road begins 84 miles north of Fairbanks and ends 414 miles later in Deadhorse on Prudoe Bay. The road was originally called the Haul Road because all of the supplies for Prudhoe Bay were hauled by truck to get there. The Arctic Circle is about at about milepost 115 on the Dalton Highway.
The highway is mostly dirt and gravel with some paved sections. The road follows the Alaska pipeline and was built because of the pipeline. The scenery changes as you go along from birch and spruce forest to tundra. Purple wildflowers bloomed in many of the fields.
Our first view of the Alaska Pipeline from the highway
This Arctic Circle Trading Post is a long way from the Arctic Circle
We traveled as far as Coldfoot on the Dalton Highway
Road construction for several miles on the Dalton Highway
Behind a motorcycle on the Dalton Highway
As we crossed the Yukon River Bridge we could see the pipeline
The goalpost like bars are called Headache Bars to keep tall vehicles from having access to the pipeline
Finger Rock
The Bureau of Land Managment manages a small campground and picnic area at the Arctic Circle. When we arrived two young women from the visitor’s center in Coldfoot were set up under a tent with mosquito netting. After having our pictures made, we received a certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle! We ate lunch there and decided to continue on to the Visitor’s Center at Coldfoot, another 60 miles north.
Signpost at the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway, Alaska
The Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska
Dalton Highway, Alaska
The farthest north we traveled was the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center in Coldfoot, Alaska
The visitor’s center had a lot of interesting displays including a display showing the location of the Arctic Circle all around the world. At the Arctic Circle we were farther north than Moscow, Helsinki, and Stockholm. For both of us we were farther north than we had ever been in our lives.
By the time we finished at the visitor’s center we had been gone from our campground for 7 1/2 hours and had to drive all the way back. With so many miles to go, we only stopped a couple of times on the way home.
A moose sighting on the way back
A good look at the Alaska pipeline as it goes underground
View from the highway
It started raining on a dirt portion of the road when we were almost at the end of the Dalton Highway. Henry said driving on the wet dirt road was the worst driving he has had to do this whole trip. When we got back to Fairbanks, we had to stop for road construction at 9:00 at night. Fourteen hours after leaving the campground, we arrived home and collapsed into our chairs. A long day but well worth it.
Wandering Dawgs 