Denali National Park

 July 28 - Aug 8, Denali National Park, land of the Dene Athabascan peoples

Beautiful drive from Fairbanks but arrived to a clouded Denali. The forecast is for the next day to be clear, but then rain the rest of the time, including the week that we will be camping here.  Thus we found a secluded spot down a road turn out for the night and returned early the next morning to see her unclouded.

     This little one had a bad leg

Hiked the Mountain View Trail

Sled dog demonstration

Autumn is beginning here

Headed off to explore the Denali Hwy and find a spot for the weekend

Much of the land is owned by the Ahtni people and requires special permission to camp. Rather than risk it we camped at a Brushkana Creek BLM campsite.

 I almost burned down the van, and possibly the entire forest, when, while making my morning caffeine, I inadvertently lit the butane stove while it was leaking gas out of the canister. Luckily Matthew had the presence of mind to use our fire extinguisher after I threw it out of the van.

Back at Denali and driving into our campsite. Only vehicles registered to camp at our campsite are allowed in past a certain mile and even then, they must stay for at least 3 nights to reduce impact on the wildlife. All vehicles have to stop at 2 different spots to allow the sheep to cross

Hiked the Teklanika River behind our campsite

Ravens are everywhere

Next day took the bus to the East Fork

Hiked the 2 miles to the landslide that has closed the road at mile 43. Met a lovely couple from Bridgewater MA and hope to reconnect with them at some point in our travels before they move to Australia with their daughter's family next year

Collapse due to permafrost melt

Lunch 

and a lunchtime visitor

Watched this bear feeding on the hillside, but once it came down into the gravelbed...

The ranger made everyone cross to the other side of the bridge incase it chose to come up and cross the road. If it did, the busses would have backed down the bridge to load us onto them

Next day was a rainy one so we road the bus to Savage River. Saw  Willow Ptarmigan

Decided to climb to the top of this

Got to see a pika getting ready for winter

Our last full day we braved the cold for a ride back to East Fork, and finally got to see the Dall sheep

The mountains got a dusting overnight

One of 5 bears we saw this day

Same view as a few days ago, but this time snow dusted

Hike Cathedral Mt, didn't do the ridge since it was so cold and windy, but rather went up the creek bed and scrambled over the scree. One mile up, 1100 foot gain in altitude, but we are definitely in better shape because it wasn't hard this time

More Dall sheep

Saw a herd of caribou the morning we drove out of the park

Gnawed tree by the visitor's center