Denali National Park

July 21   Byers Lake to Denali National Park     93 miles     1 hr 50 mins

We went to check out Byers Lake this morning before leaving the area. Beautiful, quiet lake. No motors allowed on this lake so very peaceful.




Then we headed out to Denali National Park. We were here about 2 weeks ago with the family but we didn't do everything I wanted to, so we're going back. On the way, we kept stopping to get a good picture of Denali but most of the time there were clouds covering the mountain. We checked into Riley Creek Campground and this time I said our RV was under 30 feet, so the price was less, $22 per night. We'll be staying here for 2 nights. We got a really nice site so I'm pretty happy about that.

July 22     This morning we went on the bus shuttle to Toklat. This bus travels 53 miles one way and it takes approximately 6 1/2 hours round trip. Our drivers name was Greg, or maybe Craig, but anyway, he was very good. He gave us a lot of history and information on Denali. He had some

interesting stories on animals. He's been charged at by a bear 6 times so far, so he had some tips on how to react to a bear charging you. And yes...according to Greg, bear spray works. He shared a story of a wolf pack in 2010, that was on National Geographic and he was interviewed for that. This is supposed to be a shuttle to Toklat but we felt like we were on an actual tour. Taking this shuttle for $26.75 was a lot less than a 4-5 hour narrated tour which costs over $100. I don't know if all the shuttle drivers talk as much as ours did, but I guess we lucked out. We saw some wildlife, a mama grizzly with 2 cubs, 2 caribou, and another grizzly going over a hill.

Mama Grizzly with her 2 cubs

                                                                           

Caribou in a field

Another Caribou sitting in the water

Today was such a nice, clear day the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Only 30% of people actually see Denali and we were fortunate enough to be a part of that. The name of this mountain started as Denali, then got changed to Mt. McKinley, then got changed back to Denali. So people refer to it by both names.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a hike in the area. We took a wrong path but it turned out ok.We went for a little over an hour, probably around 3 miles. We're trying to get more physical activity going because we both have gained weight....lots!

The sky at 8pm during our hike