Keeping Up With The Counters: TALKEETNA and DENALI

TALKEETNA - July 10
After spending a couple nights back in Anchorage, we headed north to Denali National Park. Getting off the Parks Highway we stopped for a night on the southern edge of Denali, about 120 miles south of the Park entrance, in the quaint village of Talkeetna. This little town is a base for rafting trips, flight-seeing tours, and is a train stop for the Alaskan Railroad tours.

Funky painted moose added to the colorful character of Talkneeta.

Lunch at the Wildflower Cafe was so delicious, we went back for dinner.

Our campsite at the Talkeetna Camper Park backed up next to the train station. The noise from the trains rumbling down the tracks as they arrived and departed as well as the whistles blowing was deafening, all we could do was put our hands over our ears and laugh.

DENALI

DENALI or McKINLEY?
The mountain called Denali was named by the native Athabaskan and means The Tall One in their native language. In 1896, a prospector, who supported presidential candidate, William McKinley, unofficially changed the mountain's name in honor of McKinley. The U.S. government officially changed the name from Denali to McKinley in 1917 to commemorate President McKinley who was President from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. In 1975, the Sate of Alaska requested the U.S. government officially change the name back to Denali, as was the common name used in Alaska. After Congress (led by McKinley's home state of Ohio delegation) continuously blocked the State of Alaska's request for reinstatement of the name Denali, President Barak Obama, in 2015, announced the name would be officially changed to Denali on all Federal documents.

Denali National Park is celebrating it's 100th year anniversary. Rising 20,310 feet above sea level, snow covered Denali is the crown jewel of the Alaska Range and the majestic center piece of this 6 million acre National Park and Preserve. We were lucky to get a view of "The Tall One" the day we drove into Talkeetna as it's not every day "the mountain is out".

THE PARK
Our campsite at the Denali Grizzly Bear RV Park was 6 miles south of the Park entrance. The road through the Park is 92 miles long and private vehicles are restricted to the first 15 miles. The best way to see the interior of the Park is to ride a shuttle or tour bus, or by hiking or biking.

We booked an 11 hour bus ride to Wonder Lake.

Our tour started at 5:15 a.m., with our bus driver giving commentary about the area's history as well as the wildlife we could expect to see. His monotone voice suggested he missed his calling as a golf commentator. Since he would be watching the road, we were told to yell "STOP" when we spotted any wildlife. We did stop several times and saw sheep, caribou, a grizzly bear, fox, a wolf, arctic ground squirrels, and rabbits.

This arctic ground squirrel seemed to have a foot fetish for Jim's boot.

It was exciting to see this wolf so close to our bus.

Jim got horney on the 11 hour bus trip.

Haze in the air is smoke blowing in from the Kenai wild fires.

In addition to the wildlife, the rivers, lakes, wildflowers and tundra were beautiful.

Checking out the views at Wonder Lake.

JIM GETS IN THE ACT

Across the highway from our campground was a resort with a dinner theatre presenting "Alaska Cabin Nite".

After filling up on a family style dinner of ribs, salmon, and all the fixings, the actors/waiters entertained us with singing, skits, and storytelling.

With a shortage of actors for all the parts in the Gold Miner skit, Jim got in the act playing the part of a prospector who not only finds gold, but gets a gold digger bride ta-boot!

HIKING
Armed with bear spray, we hiked trails to explore more of the Park.