Denali National Park

Linda Thorlakson from California met us in Fairbanks, arriving at 0200 to 60 degree weather.  After a couple of hours sleep, we went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, the college bookstore, then on to the downtown section along the Chena River for a late lunch.  Drove out to Gold Dredge #8 but it was closed. Went by the Large Animal Reasearch Station, it was closed Sunday and Mondays.  Oh well, we will see Musk Oxen in Palmer later this week.  Linda did capture unique views of the resident reindeer at the facility though.

We left early in the morning for Denali.  The trip from Fairbanks to Denali on the Alaska Highway 3, known as the Parks Highway went quickly as this was the best road surface we have encountered since leaving the lower 48.   I (we) assumed the Parks Highway was named so because of its proximity to Denali National Park, but alas, I was misinformed (wrong).

It was originally called the Anchorage-Fairbanks Highway, this road is now the George Parks Highway, renamed for George A. Parks, the territorial governor of Alaska (1925-1933). Alaska gained statehood in 1959. This stretch of highway runs from Fairbanks to Anchorage, through the heart of Alaska.  We made the trip fairly rapidly as this was our best highway surface since leaving the lower 48.   We spent the remainder of yesterday at the Visitor Center, gathering the information of what to do.

Up early this morning to take Barbara, Myrna, Cathy and Linda to Denali Ziplining.  They were bussed into the woods, then transferred to four-wheelers to get the lines.  Sorry, no pics that I am aware of.  They all made it back uninjured.

While they were doing this, I went about 13 miles into the park to see if I could become one of the 3% of visitors that actually get to see the mountain. Bingo. All 20,360 feet of it!  I also saw a couple of moose on the way in.

This afternoon, the women went to a sled dog demonstration hosted by the park rangers.  I was afraid to ride the bus so I stayed and waited for the train to arrive.  It arrived at 1500, right on time.  Quite a few passengers disembarked and caught busses for the various lodges nearby.

After the group returned from the sled dog demonstrations, We went back up the park road to see if they could see the mountains also. Being later in the day, the view was not quite the same but we did come across the two moose that I had spotted earlier: