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Chasing Summer p.006
Report initially published in the Adventure Rider web site. For more interaction and comments check it out here
Day 18 - Sept 2nd - Ester to Denali Park
Teryk initially tried to clean the air filter and other things but finally discovered that the rubber end of his choke cable had been broken when he put the carburetor back in place. So there was a play that was slightly pulling the choke a bit. Not having the part in stock we just used JB Weld to keep the cable in place and the problem was solved.
It was now time to say goodbye to Ester, Bob and some of the other great people we met:
- Duke who’s piloting ex-military planes from the 70’ to cargo fuel and supplies to the remote villages in the West part of Alaska where there are no roads at all. It’s a dangerous job to land on a short runway with a plane loaded with fuel, especially in Winter but Duke just loves it.
- Dave, a forester and avid hunter and fisherman who so generously invited us for a gourmet BBQ with wild halibut beer battered and reindeer tenderloin.
- JW who just came back from heading a group of firemen in Montana and Utah.
But first we had to wash our bikes because we heard that the product they put on the Dalton Hwy to stabilize the dust is very corrosive.
We arrived late in Denali and went first to secure a place to stay. The plan was to stay at the Teklanika campground in order to be able to ride at least 29 miles up the road. We had not made reservations because we try to avoid hard scheduled dates and the park had told us that the 1st week of September would be fine. What we didn’t anticipate though is that we would arrive just for Labor Day weekend! So most of the campgrounds were full and we stayed at the Riley CG, just as the entrance. It was fine BTW and pretty quiet. While making the reservation for the CG we also had to decide in which tour to go since one cannot drive through the Park besides the first 15 miles (except if staying at the Teklanika CG). We finally went for the 11 hours tour
that goes all the way to Wonder Lake, 85 miles further.
Day 19 - Sept 3rd - Denali Park
We were a bit afraid about the tour, especially since we had read on this board horror stories about the hordes of tourist and all. We decided to go anyway despite the early start (7:30 AM) because we knew we could stop at any point, go for a hike (although there are no trails) or just wait for the next bus to come back. It was...
The bus was not full and the bus driver was really nice with 11 years of experience doing this tour. The reason why the tour takes that long is that the bus stops every time someone sees wild life around and then stays for us to observe the animals quietly. We had a cool group of guys who were excellent “spotters” and that was great because, no matter how good is my vision, I would have missed 90% of the animals. And we saw many! Most were pretty far away like these Moose Mum and kid...
Or those Caribous...
Luckily some people shared their binoculars with us.
We had the rare luck of seeing the Mt McKinley with no clouds at all.
Yes, there were many restroom stops (once every hour) but we enjoyed them for stretching our legs and because they were usually located in scenic areas like this one:
In some of those rest stops, especially in the first sections there could be up to 4 bus together but the rest of the time we were never bothered by the amount of people.
I know that the picture is lame but seeing that mother Grizzly with her 2 six months cubs running around was really enjoyable.
We saw also mountain sheep...
Golden Eagles...
This still young Grizzly was really close and we were able to admire it for a long time!
We saw about 10 Grizzlies that day! Most of them were busy eating just as many berries as they could (I heard 200,000 a day!) to prepare for the winter. The Grizzlies here at smaller than in the South were they eat a lot of fatty salmons.
The scenery by itself was worth the trip
The road itself was sometimes quite adventurous
... and full of surprises like this huge Caribou who scared our bus driver on a blind turn
Seing the Mt McKinley so much higher (20,320 ft / 6,200 m) than anything around was really impressive!
We finally arrived at Wonder Lake, 85 miles down the road. The lake by itself is beautiful but has nothing special. Wait... is this a Polar Bear?
Since we had a 45 mn stop we did a little hike. Since they are no trails you better have a compass (or GPS) for any serious hike!). As you can see, the ground was incredibly soft (like a 10-inch thick foam) in this place.
It was just as beautiful from close-up.
We didn't eat those mushrooms but had many delicious blueberries and red ones too.
Time to go back on our way with some more scenery and animal pictures...
Needless to say that we really loved that bus trip and for animal viewing it was a much better option than riding.
Day 20 - Sept 4th - Denali to dirt road (East of Willow)
Another scenic trip in perspective today with a plane tour around Mt McKinley! Despite the cost it came highly recommended my several travelers.
We first ride a couple of hours to Talkeetna a pretty neat little town, the base for most climbings to the McKinley and of course for the flights. There are several formulas but we choose the one going on top of the mount. No glacier landing at this time of the year though: the ice is too soft.
A nice 10-seats plane (including the pilot) with 8 people on board for this flight.
Pretty exciting!
We're getting closer!
It was so spectacular, absolutely breathtaking! And yes, I took many pictures so I'll do my best to only keep a small selection...
Mount McKinley
We see clearly on this one the main glacier fed by smaller 'ice rivers'. But before to join the flow they also push a good amount to rocks that get trapped between the flows, dark separation lines on the white ice.
We are still climbing and climbing...
Half way we have to put oxygen masks since the cabin is not pressurized. And we're still far from seeing the top!
Finally we're there, at 6,200 m and the plane will even go between the 2 summits - the rounder being the highest.
The glaciers and other mounts seem so far away view from the summit
Almost unreal...
It's easy to see on this picture the erosion/abrasion created by the glaciers. Easy also to see that their depth has decreased considerably lately (about 1 meter a year!)
That explains why there are no climbers at this time of the year.
Sharp summits and glaciers: c'est magnifique!
I was so captivated by the views that I forgot most of the details except that the main glaciers were 30 and 45 miles long!
A few close-up
At the end of the glacier, almost becoming a moraine
Rivers form under the glaciers or, in this case, on it.
I hope that was not too many aerial pictures especially since they can't give a good idea of the scale. There were times when I thought we could almost touch the snow with the tip of our wing but the pilot explained that we were quite far, it's just that the mountain is so big that it appears very close. Anyway, highly recommended, and almost mandatory on a beautiful day like this one .
But our day is not over... still dreaming about the images we saw we're now heading South towards Anchorage. Parks Hwy continues to be very scenic.
At willow we take a dirt road that follow a river and after a while start to explore for a place to sleep.
We finally find a good spot with a view on the river
Where we were gratified by an amazing Alaskan sunset
Yes, it was that red! - untouched picture
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