DENALI NATIONAL PARK 2014

We rode the bus all the way to Wonder Lake on a rainy day.  It was a great trip!

A sow and cub walk on the road in Igloo Canyon.

This bear walked along side the bus in Igloo Canyon.

A bull caribou negotiates a ridge in Sable Pass.

Mrs. Huffy pedals her fatbike at Sable Pass while we were waiting for Troy and Linda to arrive.

The Hufford family atop Polychrome Pass.

Messin' with the antlers at the Toklat River rest stop.

Troy on his bike at Sable Pass.  We had just ridden from Polychrome Pass and we were waiting for Liz to arrive on a bus from Teklanika.  We watched a sow with two cubs while we were waiting.  Then, along came a wolf!

Troy, Liz, and I had to board a recently arrived bus while this wolf passed about 50 yards away.

The Gilbert family from the Boston area.  A super cool outdoorsy posse enjoying their time in Alaska.  We really had a great time getting to know them.

Emily got to help the ranger during a campground presentation.  She took this wolf hide around the audience so all the visitors could check it out.

The hikers posing at the Highway Pass sign just before beginning the hike.

Mrs. Huffy hiking in Highway Pass with Denali in the background.

Posing in front of the waterfall which was the destination for the Highway Pass hike.  Laura was climbing up the side of the valley at this point.

Hiking back to the road after spending some time at the waterfall.

'Ridgerunners' on the flanks of Cathedral Mountain.

Look closely and you will see Laura and Troy hiking across the face of this scree.

Gettin' by with a little help from her friends, Mrs. Huffy gets assistance from Troy crossing Igloo Creek.

Emily picks blueberries from a massive berry patch across the road from Igloo Campground.

Linda picks some blueberries and stores them in a water bottle for safe keeping.

We had a great trip to Denali National Park this year.  It was our 14th annual family trek to Teklanika Campground.  The Zimmerman family met us there and we became friends with the Gilbert family from the Boston area while we were camping.  Here's how things happened:

August 2, 2014:  We left Nikiski and made it as far as Wasilla before I noticed we were having tire problems.  The front passenger tire looked soft so we drove to Johnson Tire Service where, almost $1000 and 45 minutes later, we were back on the road with six new tires.  We stopped at Byer's Lake Campground a few hours afterward where we spent the night sans mosquitoes.  If you have ever been camping at Byer's Lake during mosquito season you will know how significant it was to be there without them.  Very pleasant.

August 3, 2014:  We woke early the next morning and were on the road by 8:00 AM.  After stopping for fuel at the the Chevron station in Cantwell we made our way to Riley Creek where we emptied the RV holding tanks and took showers before driving to Teklanika.  At the Savage River check-in station we saw a huge bull caribou walking slowly up the Savage River.  It was a great welcome to the park!  We took our time driving to Tek and enjoyed the scenery.  Liz and Laura rode their bikes the final five miles or so before the campground while Emily and I drove ahead to pick a campsite.  Upon our arrival we met several members of the Gilbert family.  They said they had seen a grizzly on the road just after they passed Liz and Laura. When Liz and Laura arrived at the campground they said they were totally unaware of the bear!

After setting up camp we ate lunch, walked on the river bed, and visited some more with the Gilbert's.  The Zimmerman's arrived later in the afternoon and we decided to take an evening bike ride.  We were going to put our bikes on the bus and go up to Sable Pass and ride back to Tek.  Because we had four bikes we had to catch different buses (a bus rack can only hold two bikes).  Liz and I caught the first bus and rode to the top of Sable Pass.  We unloaded the bikes and waited for Troy and Linda.  We watched ground squirrels, a raptor, and three HUGE caribou.  We waited and waited.  And waited some more.  After nearly two hours we realized something must have happened and we started riding for Tek.  We passed a bus in Igloo Canyon, but Troy and Linda weren't on it.  When we got back to the campground we found out the bus driver Troy and Linda had been riding with suddenly became ill at the Teklanika Rest Stop and had to be replaced by another driver which took several hours.  The remainder of the evening was spent around the campfire.  Bed time was 11:30 PM.

August 4, 2014:  What a great day!  We loaded up five bikes on two buses and arrived at the top of Sable Pass just after noon.  On the ride up we watched a sow with two cubs as they ate and walked down the road in Igloo Canyon.  We saw them again as we rode back toward Tek on our bikes and had to wait nearly an hour before they were far enough off the road so we could pass.  It was the Zimmerman's first Denali bear delay.  The remainder of the ride was fast and fun.  Liz and Emily had remained in camp to organize and the RV, ride bikes around the campground, and walk on the riverbed.  They also played cribbage.

After lunch the entire group hopped a bus to Tattler Creek.  We saw the bears in Igloo Canyon again although they were much further from the road.  We hiked up Tattler Creek as it rained and we got very wet.  Back at the campground we talked with the Gilbert's.  Scott, the father, told us some stories about the time he climbed Denali.  It sounded like it was quite the adventure!  After dinner we sat around the Zimmerman's fire and went to bed late again.

August 5, 2014:  Today was the day we had decided would be best to ride the bus to Wonder Lake. The weather was supposed to be rainy which would be good for riding in the protection of a bus.  We made salami sandwiches and got the snacks ready.  Then we discovered we didn't have any baggies.  We wrapped our sandwiches in foil and used shopping bags to hold small amounts of snacks.  It was an improvisation that worked for the remainder of the trip.  At 11:25 AM we boarded the bus and met Dale, the driver.  He imparted lots of good information as we bounced along.  As we were riding past Cathedral Mountain we saw the Gilbert family on the other side of Igloo Creek as they were hiking.  Along the way we saw seven grizzlies and a black bear near Wonder Lake.  The rain was heavy at Wonder Lake so the mountain was not out, but we did find plenty of ripe blueberries which we picked and ate on the spot.  On the return trip we saw lots of caribou and a sow with two cubs in Igloo Canyon.  The bears were hunting and  we watched as they excavated and caught a ground squirrel in its burrow.  We had never seen that before.  When we got back to Tek we talked with the Gilbert's and found out they had summitted a peak two times from two directions on their hike.  Then it was time for dinner and a party in the Dutchmen.  The Gilbert's and Zimmerman's came over and we had a cribbage tournament, ate some caribou, and had some drinks.  We talked about all sorts of things and took turns playing cribbage.  It was great!

August 6, 2014:  The rain was pounding down this morning.  The Gilbert's broke camp and came over to say goodbye.  Scott gave us a feather which we placed above the stove in our RV.  It was great to meet and get to know them.  Before they left we took photos and exchanged contact information.  Hopefully our paths will cross again someday.

Later in the day the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Troy and I decided to get on a bus and take our bikes to Polychrome Pass so we could ride back to Tek.  Liz waited for a later bus and would meet us at Sable Pass with her fatbike so we could all ride back together.  When Troy and I got to Sable Pass we could see a sow with two cubs by a small pond.  There was also a bus pulled over watching them.  Turns out that was the bus Liz was aboard.  After  a while the bus began to move making its way to Sable Pass.  Then, as the driver was unloading Liz's bike she said, "Get back on the bus--wolf!"  Liz, Troy, and I scrambled onto the bus and watched as a wolf trotted past only 50 yards away.  It was cool.  We later talked with the Wildlife Tech and found out it was the alpha female of the East Fork pack.  The ride back to Tek was great.  We even passed the sow with cubs as we rode down from Sable Pass.

After dinner Troy came by and wanted to know if any of us were interested in going on an evening bike/hike to Igloo mountain.  Laura was the only taker.  They rode bikes five miles to Igloo before hiking up the mountain.  Laura said it was strenuous but she had an awesome time.  They summitted the lower of the two peaks.  It took them three hours to make the round trip.

August 7, 2014:  We went for an awesome hike to a waterfall in Highway Pass.  But, the excitement really started in Igloo canyon.  As we were riding the bus we noticed that lots of vehicles were stopped on the road.  We soon found out it was because two sub-adult grizzlies had gotten into a fight a few hours earlier and one had killed the other.  The winner was burying the carcass when we got there.  We got some grisly pictures. 

Upon our arrival at Highway Pass we spotted some caribou walking down the stream and easily found the waterfall.  The mountain was out and it was a beautiful day.  Troy, Linda, Tika, and Laura hiked to the top of some ridges while Liz, Emily, soaked in the scenery and enjoyed the waterfall.  As we were walking back to the road we looked back and saw a grizzly walking across our path several hundred yards behind us.  None of us had seen it while we were hiking.

Back at camp Doug Armstrong stopped by while we were eating dinner.  He was there for a class about glaciers.  It was good to see him and quite the coincidence.

August 8, 2014:  This was our final full day at Tek so we decided to ride a bus to the social trail near Sable Pass.  Immediately after we left the Teklanika Rest Area we saw a grizzly on the Teklanika River bed.  We also stopped in Igloo Canyon to watch the killer bear eat the dead bear and then fall asleep on top of the carcass.  It was a spectacle indeed.

When we got off the bus we crossed Igloo Creek and part of the group went up the ridges while others followed the trail around the back of Cathedral Mountain.  After several miles we were reunited for the hike back to the road.  We passed a couple of packrafters as they were hiking on their way to the Sanctuary River where they planned to float back to the Sanctuary Campground.  That would be fun to try sometime.

We hitched a bus back through the bear death area before getting off near Igloo Campground to pick blueberries.  We found lots of them and filled our water bottles and plastic bags with them.  Back at camp we had caribou beanie-weenies for our final dinner at Tek.  Afterward we went to a ranger presentation about wolves.  It was good and Emily got to help the ranger by taking a wolf pelt around for the audience to examine.  The final campfire and cribbage games of the trip were played and that was it.  Our final day in Denali was done.  Bummer.

August 9, 2014:  We broke camp early and started our drive out of Teklanika in some nice weather.  It was difficult to leave.  As we drove toward Cantwell we noticed huge numbers of caribou hunters headed for the Denali Highway.  Trucks pulling trailers loaded with four-wheelers were everywhere.  As we made our way south the weather worsened.  By the time we pulled into a camp site at Williwaw Campground in the Portage Valley the rain was coming down in sheets.  We cooked dinner and played a card game before going to bed.  It rained heavily all night, so we got up early and made it home by noon.  Our annual trip was over.  But, we are already talking about and making plans for Denali 2015.  Can't wait!