July 18, 2007 – Travel to Denali

A beautiful day for travel. We left Fairbanks and made our way to Denali National Park. We followed the Tanana River Valley for quite some time – isn’t this beautiful:
We made a stop in the town of Nenana. This town is famous for two things: The Iditarod began here and the Nenana Ice Classic.

The Iditarod Sled Dog Race begins every March in Anchorage and then goes to Nome. But the first Iditarod race was a 1925 serum run that began in Nenana and followed old roadhouses along a winter trail mail route to Nome. A diphtheria epidemic threatened the Nome Inuit, so a 20 pound capsule holding serum was railed from Seward to Nenana. From Nenana, a relay team of 20 mushers and over 100 dogs passed the package from village to village along the trail. The mushers and dogs were used mainly because of the weather and planes could not fly. I have heard the story but it was really interesting to see the town where it all started.

The Nenana Ice Classic is an annual event that awards cash prizes to the lucky winners who guess the exact minute of the ice breakup on the Tanana River. The contest has been a spring highlight throughout the state since 1917. In February, they have a Tripod Raising Festival. Here is the tripod:
When the surging ice on the Tanana River dislodges the tripod, a line attached to the tripod trips a clock located in a tower atop the Ice Classic office, recording the official breakup time. This usually happens in April or May! (Maybe we will have to get tickets for next year!)

From there we arrived at Denali National Park – beautiful place. (I just love the national park campgrounds.) Once we set up, we went to the visitor center and then to the wilderness access center to get ourselves acclimated on the park.

The road inside the park goes for 89 miles; however, public access is limited to the first 16 miles. Beyond that point, you must take either the park shuttle or a tour bus. So we decided to go to mile 86 – Wonder Lake (tomorrow) on the shuttle. It is an 11 hour bus ride (roundtrip) and we will need to bring our own food/supplies, etc. The difference between the shuttle system and tour system is the tour system supplies the food and a narrator (and the price is very high!). But the shuttle bus driver also knows enough about the park to give information. So stay tuned.

We then drove the 16 miles inside the park. Some pictures:

A Ptargmin (state bird):

We did not see Mount McKinley, yet. The Alaskan Range creates its own weather system and the mountain is shrouded in clouds 60-70% of the time. So we are hoping that we do get to see the mountain on this trip.

After supper, we went to the Ranger Program – and can you guess what it was about? Moose, of course. It was neat to learn about their habits.

Miles Traveled: 120
Routes Traveled:
Alaska: AK-3 (Parks Highway)