Our next stop was Denali National Park. A large portion of the park is no longer accessible (except by bush plane) due to a big rock slide last August. We had a reservation for 5 nights in the Teklanika River Campground, which you need to book 6 months in advance, as it’s the only campground you can drive to deep within the park.
Our first day started out beautiful, and we took a bus as far into the park as was possible. But unfortunately later that afternoon the smoke from several forest fires blew in and never left. The smoke was really unpleasant, so we ended up leaving a day early. I did get in a couple good hikes, both ‘trail-less’ hikes, one in the tundra, and the over in the Teklanika riverbed. I even found a full set of moose antlers. Too bad I couldn’t bring them home. Overall we saw way less wildlife compared to the last time we were here: only a few caribou and sheep. No bears, wolves, or moose.
From Denali we went to Talkeetna, stopping briefly at the never completed Igloo Hotel. In Talkeetna we spent 3 nights parked right next to the city park in the center of town. I love this town. Great food, live music and interesting folks. Talkeetna is the town where most climbers of Denali Mountain, the highest peak in North America (20,310 ft), start their journey. The local history museum is excellent, with a great video on what it takes to summit Denali Mountain. We also went on a touristy but fun jet boat ride. But mainly we hung out at the Fairview Inn listening to local bands and people watching.
Full sets of photos: Denali National Park and Talkeetna. There are not many good photos from Denali NP due to the smoke, but luckily the smoke cleared once we arrived in Talkeetna.
