We got all packed up this morning to head to Denali National Park! My grandpa flew to Anchorage this morning to meet my grandma at the airport because she is now joining us on the Jan Fam Road Trip! They are going to drive from Anchorage and meet us in Denali tomorrow, but we dropped him off at the airport on our way out of town.
The drive to Denali was only about 2.5 hours, but it was one of the most beautiful drives we have been on this trip. The road wound through different canyons and valleys, all with overwhelmingly beautiful snow-capped peaks off into the distance. The side of the road would drop off into gorgeous canyons, and often followed along side the railroad tracks leading into the park. Right before the small town of Denali begins, we crossed a gorgeous trestle bridge, that happens to be the second highest bridge in the state of Alaska. The town shares uncanny similarities with Gatlinburg, but the Alaskan cruise ship “on land adventures” begin right across the street. Our campground happens to be directly behind the little row of shops, and is a very tightly packed RV parking lot. However, when all we do is sleep in the RV, that’s really all we need. We walked around the shops for awhile, but we were very eager to go inside the park.
The drive to Denali was only about 2.5 hours, but it was one of the most beautiful drives we have been on this trip. The road wound through different canyons and valleys, all with overwhelmingly beautiful snow-capped peaks off into the distance. The side of the road would drop off into gorgeous canyons, and often followed along side the railroad tracks leading into the park. Right before the small town of Denali begins, we crossed a gorgeous trestle bridge, that happens to be the second highest bridge in the state of Alaska. The town shares uncanny similarities with Gatlinburg, but the Alaskan cruise ship “on land adventures” begin right across the street. Our campground happens to be directly behind the little row of shops, and is a very tightly packed RV parking lot. However, when all we do is sleep in the RV, that’s really all we need. We walked around the shops for awhile, but we were very eager to go inside the park.
In my opinion, Denali is by far the most beautiful place we have been to so far. Apparently it rained the whole month of June, so the trees and plants are the most beautiful, vivid shades of green and the mountains are breathtaking. Denali National Park was originally created as a wildlife refuge for the native Dall Sheep, but due to an extensive expansion of the park in 1980, it is now the third largest National Park in the United States. The park also includes Mt. McKinley, which is the highest peak on the North American Continent at an elevation of around 20,000 feet.
There is some discrepancy with the naming of McKinley, as it is often called Mount Denali, so I did a little bit of research today. As I suspected, the mountain was named McKinley after the newly elected president William McKinley in 1897. However, I found it interesting that the suggestion to name the mountain “Mount McKinley” was a political move taken by William Dickey in order to indirectly illustrate his opposition for the silver standard, as McKinley was a huge advocate for the gold standard. The mountain is also called Mount Denali, which is an Athabaskan word meaning “the high one”. |
Cars are only allowed to drive into the first 15 miles of the park, and after that everyone has to take a bus further into the park. McKinley is at the south end of the park, and it is a full day trip to the visitors center with a clear view of the mountain from where we are staying.
The visitors center in the North area of the park is a few miles past the entrance, and although we did not venture far into the park this evening, the beauty just in the first few miles of the park is unmistakable. The road cuts through the Denali wilderness around lakes, rivers, and the beautiful scenery we have the privilege of enjoying. After a short stop at the visitors center to get our National Park Cancellation Stamps, we headed out of the park to find the bus that was used in the film Into the Wild. The movie, based on the book written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless, who set out on the Savage Trail after graduating college and giving all of his money to charity. He hitchhiked from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia to Alaska and set out on the trail with a sack lunch and boots (given to him by the truck driver he hitched a ride with), a backpack with a few supplies, a small weapon, and a road map of Alaska. He set out in winter and eventually found a bus that was left behind by coal miners in the area after the axle broke, and he lived in the bus for 4 months. Sadly, Chris eventually died of starvation after he ate poisonous fungus growing on the potatoes in the area that left him too lethargic to find other food. The bus that Chris actually lived in is located 20 miles into the Savage Trail, but they placed the bus from the movie at a local restaurant because people were injuring themselves trying to get to the actual bus.
We had nachos in the RV for dinner, and then headed out on an ATV adventure! Because we were a group of 4, we rode in a Polaris Ranger Crew so all of us could ride together. The trails were not located in the national park because it is illegal to ride ATVs in the park, but we were able to ride in an outcropping of the National Park boundaries because the park boundaries were drawn around an active coal mine. In the map on the left, we were riding in the northeast corner, in the rectangular cut-out of the park. |
The ATV trails were located on public land, and were actually the old roads used for the coal mine. One of the stops we took was actually on top of the coal mine, and we could see small bits of coal mixed in with the gravel. The interesting thing about the tour was that it started at 9 pm, but there was still plenty of daylight left!