Day 34: Denali National Park

Hikes Cancelled On Account of Rain

M Visits Denali National Park


 Today we couldn't seem to escape the rain.  It followed us everywhere.  At times the sun peeked out of the clouds-- but that was always while we were driving.  Once we neared a destination, or once we stopped, down it came again.

 So, instead of hiking in Denali National Park we ended up driving along the 15 mile stretch that is open to private cars. We saw amazing scenery, but alas no animals other than the human kind.  




We began with a visit to the Visitors Center, where we watched a video about wildlife in the park and where we saw this relief-map of Denali and the surrounding mountains:
Relief Map of Denali National Park
We attempted to walk the trails around the Visitors Center-- but got rained on again, so we headed back to the car.  We decided to drive to the Savage River Look trail head, and see what the weather would be there, as it seemed to change every 5 minutes.

 And, it did change every five minutes, with some lovely sunny stretches as we approached the trail head and rain when we got there.  Neither one of us was up for hiking in the cold, windy, rain so we decided to just turn around and drive back to the park entrance, stopping at some pull-offs along the way (when we found them in the sun) to walk around and take some pictures.

 Here are the fruits of that endeavor:
Denali National Park in Red


Denali National Park in Yellow


Denali National Park has Gray Mountains Too


A Cloudy Day in Denali National Park


Fall Colors in Denali National Park

Long and Winding Publicly Accessible Road in Denali National Park


Fields of Gold in Denali National Park

I took this panorama from a particularly lovely spot using GoPro:




And not to be outdone, Bob took this one from another spot (showing off the video zoom capability in the iPhone).





We made one more attempt at a hike in an area right at the park entrance, and you guessed it-- the rain began once again.  So, we headed over to the Glitter Gulch to see the shops on the boardwalk.  After a bit of browsing, we headed back to Cantwell. 
We started the day late and ended it early-- by reading away the rest of the rainy day.  And no, we didn't actually see Denali itself because of all the clouds and rain (which puts us in the same boat as a majority of people who visit the park at this time of year).
However, we're hoping for better weather and better luck tomorrow when we head out on our jeep tour of the park.

 Stay Tuned...

 --Lisa

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