Day 28, Friday, August 4, 2006
Cloudy and 50 this second and last morning at Riley Creek. We were going to get started early and do a hike up Savage Creek on our way to Teklanika, but we both slept until 8:00am. By the time we got there it was almost noon, and we were excited about our “adventure” into the interior so we just drove past the trail and onto the dirt road another 15 miles to camp. The drive was not bad at all, but then we never exceeded 20 mph. A little bumpy, some spots the gravel was the size of baseballs due to road repair, and some “wash boarding”. It was dry so the motor home only got dusty, not caked with mud. The campground is not what we expected. The campground itself is fine by Alaska standards, but the views we anticipated are still not here. We pictured ourselves sitting around the fire with a glass of wine in one hand and our dogs at the other all the while staring at Mt. McKinley in a beauty-induced trance. Not so. We do have a glacier fed river at our backs we can hear but can’t see from the campsite, and some hills all around close to us, but no spectacular mountain views of McKinley or any others. All the clouds don’t help either. It is beautiful, just not spectacular. Walked the dogs around the campground (they are “absolutely” not allowed anywhere in the park other than in the campground or on the road – not on trails, not in water, nowhere)! Packed our backpack and headed out to the bus stop for a 4-5 hour trip halfway up the trail to Polychrome Mountain hoping for a good strenuous hike. After waiting an hour for a bus we decided to just go back to camp. It was getting too late and going to be too long to leave the dogs alone. And once you get off a bus the return trip is “as space is available”, so we could find ourselves leaving for 4 or 5 hours, yet be gone 6 or 7. We started a fire and opened a bottle of wine. As you can tell, the Denali experience so far has been somewhat of a let down. It’s been tolerable so far because of our great expectations for this camp site but we are 30 miles into the park and can’t see a thing. Not even much in the way of wild life. We did see on the way up one caribou, one rabbit, one wolf chasing a rabbit (he didn’t catch it), an owl, one gofer, but no bears! There is a lot to enjoy here and people are telling us about their great experiences, but we have the dogs to care for and we can’t take them with us. Our hands are really tied so we don’t go out as we should. We love our dogs but they are just too much of a restraint to truly enjoy this kind of trip. It is no small expense of time and money to get this far only to be motor home bound because of our dogs. Next trip they will stay home or we’ll bring along a dog sitter with us. So here is what we are thinking. Getting here has been the best part of the trip. It’s been fun and a great experience in itself. So all is not lost! We just have to adapt. Tomorrow, Ellen will take the whole day to go into the interior to Wonder Lake and see the wildlife, the park interior, and hopefully Mount McKinley without the restraints imposed by three dogs being left alone in the motor home. Those returning from the trip say “it’s AWSOME!” and we won’t miss it. Jim will stay back and take care of the dogs and have a day alone to enjoy. Sunday, we will reverse roles and Jim will go all the way into the interior. Then Monday when we get back on the road south, we’ll charter a plane in Talkeetna and just fly up to McKinley. We will see it one way or another (or both)! And, from what we have heard, Denali State Park (not to be confused with the National Park we are in now) has better views of McKinley from ground level than anywhere else in Alaska. So after Talkeetna, we plan to spend a day or two in the State Park (we’ll pass right by it on our way to Anchorage). And it supposedly has some great hiking trails starting right in the park and dogs are allowed to go with us. Since we didn’t hike or bus today we were in the campground at 7:30pm for the Ranger program. Took the dogs with us and as it has been for the entire trip, they were the most popular thing happening. Most people are smart and leave their dogs at home for a trip like this. But they all miss them by the time they get up here and can’t seem to leave ours alone – they need a “pet fix” or something so we have to stop and talk to just about everyone so they can pet and admire ours. And kids, of course, keep coming by again and again. Oh, we did put on our $15.00 boots today and went for a walk in the river behind us. Not too much to get excited about, but just thinking about where we were, standing in a river of glacier run-off that was glacial ice yesterday, trying to imagine what it’s like out here in the middle of winter. Makes you wonder about a lot of things. We are having a good time!
Savage Creek-the turn around point for private vehicles (unless staying at Teklanika CG)
Cloudy and 50 this second and last morning at Riley Creek. We were going to get started early and do a hike up Savage Creek on our way to Teklanika, but we both slept until 8:00am. By the time we got there it was almost noon, and we were excited about our “adventure” into the interior so we just drove past the trail and onto the dirt road another 15 miles to camp. The drive was not bad at all, but then we never exceeded 20 mph. A little bumpy, some spots the gravel was the size of baseballs due to road repair, and some “wash boarding”. It was dry so the motor home only got dusty, not caked with mud. The campground is not what we expected. The campground itself is fine by Alaska standards, but the views we anticipated are still not here. We pictured ourselves sitting around the fire with a glass of wine in one hand and our dogs at the other all the while staring at Mt. McKinley in a beauty-induced trance. Not so. We do have a glacier fed river at our backs we can hear but can’t see from the campsite, and some hills all around close to us, but no spectacular mountain views of McKinley or any others. All the clouds don’t help either. It is beautiful, just not spectacular. Walked the dogs around the campground (they are “absolutely” not allowed anywhere in the park other than in the campground or on the road – not on trails, not in water, nowhere)! Packed our backpack and headed out to the bus stop for a 4-5 hour trip halfway up the trail to Polychrome Mountain hoping for a good strenuous hike. After waiting an hour for a bus we decided to just go back to camp. It was getting too late and going to be too long to leave the dogs alone. And once you get off a bus the return trip is “as space is available”, so we could find ourselves leaving for 4 or 5 hours, yet be gone 6 or 7. We started a fire and opened a bottle of wine. As you can tell, the Denali experience so far has been somewhat of a let down. It’s been tolerable so far because of our great expectations for this camp site but we are 30 miles into the park and can’t see a thing. Not even much in the way of wild life. We did see on the way up one caribou, one rabbit, one wolf chasing a rabbit (he didn’t catch it), an owl, one gofer, but no bears! There is a lot to enjoy here and people are telling us about their great experiences, but we have the dogs to care for and we can’t take them with us. Our hands are really tied so we don’t go out as we should. We love our dogs but they are just too much of a restraint to truly enjoy this kind of trip. It is no small expense of time and money to get this far only to be motor home bound because of our dogs. Next trip they will stay home or we’ll bring along a dog sitter with us. So here is what we are thinking. Getting here has been the best part of the trip. It’s been fun and a great experience in itself. So all is not lost! We just have to adapt. Tomorrow, Ellen will take the whole day to go into the interior to Wonder Lake and see the wildlife, the park interior, and hopefully Mount McKinley without the restraints imposed by three dogs being left alone in the motor home. Those returning from the trip say “it’s AWSOME!” and we won’t miss it. Jim will stay back and take care of the dogs and have a day alone to enjoy. Sunday, we will reverse roles and Jim will go all the way into the interior. Then Monday when we get back on the road south, we’ll charter a plane in Talkeetna and just fly up to McKinley. We will see it one way or another (or both)! And, from what we have heard, Denali State Park (not to be confused with the National Park we are in now) has better views of McKinley from ground level than anywhere else in Alaska. So after Talkeetna, we plan to spend a day or two in the State Park (we’ll pass right by it on our way to Anchorage). And it supposedly has some great hiking trails starting right in the park and dogs are allowed to go with us. Since we didn’t hike or bus today we were in the campground at 7:30pm for the Ranger program. Took the dogs with us and as it has been for the entire trip, they were the most popular thing happening. Most people are smart and leave their dogs at home for a trip like this. But they all miss them by the time they get up here and can’t seem to leave ours alone – they need a “pet fix” or something so we have to stop and talk to just about everyone so they can pet and admire ours. And kids, of course, keep coming by again and again. Oh, we did put on our $15.00 boots today and went for a walk in the river behind us. Not too much to get excited about, but just thinking about where we were, standing in a river of glacier run-off that was glacial ice yesterday, trying to imagine what it’s like out here in the middle of winter. Makes you wonder about a lot of things. We are having a good time!
Savage Creek-the turn around point for private vehicles (unless staying at Teklanika CG)
posted by TheBTCruisers | 1:51 AM
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