So my age is catching up with me this week, and I was hurting on Saturday morning. I was starting to feel better in the afternoon, after some stretching, and ibuprofen. I needed to get out of the house, so I drove to Denali National Park. It was a little longer than I should have been seated in a vehicle, but the scenery was worth the trip. It might take a little longer for my body to heal, but I will live. So from my home I travel the Parks Highway to the South. There are a lot of scenic overlooks. I believe most of this is the Chena River, but somewhere I think it flows into the Tanana River.
I am sure it will be even more beautiful when green starts to return.
and when the dirty snow is finally melted away.
The first town you get to is Nenana. It is the home of the.......
What is the ice classic. Well it seems some railroaders a long way back got bored and bet money on when the ice in the river would break up. So ever since, they place these poles out in the ice. The poles are set 2 inches into the ice, and the device is attached to a clock. People pick the month, day, hour, and minute that the ice will break enough to stop the clock. Whoever has that month, day, hour, & minute gets to share the jackpot. A ticket cost $2.50. You can buy them at many places throughout the state of Alaska. Last year, the people with the winning time, got to split over $300,000.
It is just sitting out there in the middle of the river.
Here I am just outside the gates of Denali National Park. I did not know I was that close.
You can white water raft this part of the river.
A couple people told me I could drive 12 miles back into the park, and get a better look at Mt. McKinley.
So I started into the park.
It was gorgeous.
It was almost a cloud free day. I was sure I would get to see Mt. McKinley. Problem, is that in trying to look at the highest peak in North America, is that the sun is also up there.
If you look close you can see the snow covered mountain in the distance.
See the double mound to the left of the tallest tree? I believe that must be Mt. McKinley.
The road was not open any further, and I did not have hiking gear, snow shoes, cross country skis, or a dog sled, so this was as far as I was going on this day.
I took a few more pictures around the parking lot.
The jays are in the area.
Then I decided to head back toward the entrance.
The caribou decided to make an appearance. See them down there?
How about in this one. Look near the double pine trees on the left, or just left of the single tree on the right.
There were about 4 or 5 that I saw.
One on either side of the small tree near the center, and 3 between the trees on the left side.
If you still cannot see them, I suggest you take your own trip to Denali. I would suggest that anyway.
This is the train track that borders the park.
I stopped at some of the scenic views on the way home. I needed to get out of the car
every so often.
The sun was setting on this day, and
I was just about 10 minutes from home.
