Denali Highway
Trip Start
May 05, 2009
1
15
48
Trip End
Sep 20, 2009
Healy,
Alaska,
United States
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Denali Highway: "The Denali Highway is 135 miles long and connects Paxson on the Richardson Highway with Cantwell Junction on the Parks Highway. A loop from Fairbanks is 436 miles, and a loop trip from Anchorage is about 600 miles." Several glaciers are viewable from the road, and access to the beautiful Nenana and Susitna Rivers is a plus. Our day started with a Snowshoe hare near the old fire box on our site (we don't use this one as we have a nicer one up behind the trailer). As we left the campground to start our Denali Highway adventure, Dave spots two caribou near the Park Road and tries to get as close as he can for a snapshot. One of them must be a girl because it looks like she has long eyelashes.
After stopping for diesel at Cantwell Junction we head east on Denali Highway. Dave stops to fish at a little roadside pond, Val and I get out and walk around. Val says, "Yeeeew! Remington! Yucky!" Doesn't look yucky to me it's just an ol'moose foot and part of a leg bone. Come on Val - just let me have another sniff. I don't get to sniff rotting moose parts very often. Oh well, guess we're headed in the other direction...
Next thing you know we see the real McCoy, and alive too! Val steps out of the truck to take a picture and I do my best whine, but the darn thing just won't look my way. Then onward and upward we go on this dirt highway. The Denali Highway was first conceived in the 1930's as a way to connect visitors to "Mount McKinley National Park." Funding for the project was not available until after WWII, and construction did not begin until the 50's. Val doesn't think they have done much maintenance since then based on the current condition of the road. You are warned not to travel it without a spare tire, extra water and food. "You cannot predict how long it will take to get help if you become stranded." The question is why would anyone want to travel such a road? Oh my goodness, just look at the pictures. I hate a tickle butt road as much as anyone - maybe more than most, but we had a remarkable day picking out glaciers from high spots in the road where we could see forever to fishing and walking along the rivers. We didn't go the full 135 miles, we only went as far as the Susitna River bridge which is about 60 miles out, and it was time to turn around and head back.
We are clipping right along at about 30 miles an hour when Dave says, "What is that in the road ahead of us?" As we get closer we discover a young caribou in the middle of the road. It has no clue what to do about us. We do not see any other caribou, but hopefully his mama is somewhere nearby. He clomps to the left of the road, and then back across in front of us to the right of the road, and finally goes into the brush. I was trying to talk to him from my open window, but I don't know any caribou, and obviously this little guy did not know any Beagle.
When we get back to Savage River at the end of the day we learn that there have been two mother moose with their babies in and out of our park being chased by a bear. That sure would have been something to see. Maybe they will be back tomorrow.
Looking for moose in all the wrong places,
Remington Beagle
Comments
photos
these are your best ones yet! Keep on a snappin'.