Asser and I started our Denali experience by staying with our friend Yarrow and other members of the trail crew at the Savage River camp. Tuesday was the perfect day to arrive because they were having their weekly group dinner, and we were invited to join them.
On Wednesday, it was raining so we spent the whole day planning and organizing our hike - it was frustrating to lose a whole day. But in Denali National Park, you cannot just go there and start trekking. Instead, you need to pay the entrance fee, reserve a seat in a camper bus that takes you to the park, and obtain a permit to camp in the areas you want to stay at. The park is divided in sections and only a limited number of people are allowed to camp in each section. In addition, you have to pack your food and other smelly stuff in BRFCs (bear resistant food containers) and it is advisable to carry a bottle of bear spray (counter assault pepper spray) with you.
(More info about Denali National Park:
http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm.)
Finally, Thursday morning we were out there, starting our hike. The weather started to clear out - and we had the perfect weather throughout our four-day hike! We were so lucky, usually July is rainy in Denali. At first, we made a bad route choice and had to struggle through this wet brush:
But later we hiked up some hills and found this amazing spot to camp:
The next day, we took a camper bus from area 6 deeper into the park, to areas 13 and 18. There is only one road through the park: the Park Road, a winding dirt road that travels along cliffs (scary, like the roads in Bolivia!) and through mountain passes. The road is 92 miles (150 km) long - what gives you an idea of the immense grandeur of the park.
In area 13, we first had to cross some small creeks on a flood plain:
And how romantic it was to camp with this view; Mt McKinley in the background!
The following day brought along more river crossings and wildlife sightings - this time, a caribou came really close! We had already seen a fox, a moose and several ground squirrels. Luckily we did not get close to any bears - we only saw them through the bus windows.
The ground squirrels were so cute! (Well, not so cute anymore when one of them had nibbled the padding of my backpack shoulder straps.)
In the evening, after frustratingly noticing we were stuck on one side of the river, without being able to cross it to continue further, a hike up to a mountain top definitely made our day. The views were magnificent, but man, I was so afraid of the height!
Our last campsite was no worse than the previous ones:
Cooking in the midnight sun...
Finally, it was time to go back with the last camper bus on Sunday night.
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