The Kantishna Experience at Denali National Park

June 26, Day 56 and we wish Ron a very happy birthday today, along with his twin Don and our nephew Matt!!!  Today we drove into Denali National Park and are staying at the Riley Creek campground.  This is a nice campground. (If you ever plan to stay here, though, you might fudge a little on the length of your camper when you reserve.) Since our RV’s are 24’ and 26’, we chose sites that were suitable for a 30’. We found some that fit us just fine, but did leave the trucks turned sideways.  More on this topic later.

We took a couple of short hikes, one of which was ranger led. She shared a lot of good, historical information about the formation of the park.  This is their centennial year, so back in 1907 the recorded attendance to the park was around 7 visitors. Last year they averaged 600,000. Ever since the Parks Highway was completed back in 1971, making it easier for visitors to come here, their visitation has been doubling.  Before that time you came by train or plane. The railroad still comes here. Our observation in Riley Creek campground was that 70% of the RVs are rentals and I would just about bet that 70% of those rentals belonged to non-Americans.

Back to your history lesson…..and skip to the pictures if you aren't into history. In 1905 the gold stampeders stake mining claims in the Kantishna Hills but by 1906 the boom is over. In 1906-1908 Charles Sheldon spends time here to study the Dall sheep. In 1910 the Sourdough Expedition climbs the north peak of Mt. McKinley. 1915 the Alaska Railroad begins construction on the railroad between Seward and Fairbanks. In 1916 Maurice Morino, seeing a financial opportunity, homesteads and establishes a roadhouse he calls the “Park Gate Roadhouse”. In 1917 Congress approves legislation to create Mount McKinley National Park on February 19. In 1921 the Alaska Railroad reaches Riley Creek. In 1922 the park headquarters move from Nenana to the Riley Creek area. And in 1923 the Savage River Tourist Camp is established and they have 34 visitors that year. In 1938 the park road is completed to Kantishna which is where I want to take you on a trip shortly. In 1939 McKinley Station Hotel opens, administered by the Railroad. In 1948 the Teklanika campground is established and I have more on that later. In 1957 the Denali Highway is completed to the park entrance and visitation increases from 5,000 in 1956 to 25,000 in 1958. And woohoo! Alaska becomes a state in 1959!!! In 1972 construction of the George Parks Highway (Hwy. 3) links the park to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Visitation immediately doubles from 44,529 in 1971 to 88,615 in 1972. The bus system is instituted. And the park hotel burns. In 1980 the park grows from 1.9 million acres to 6.2 million acres and changes its name to Denali National Park and Preserve. In 2015 Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel officially changes the name of North America’s highest peak from Mount McKinley to Denali.  Whew!!!! And that, in a nut shell, is what we learned on that history hike!

Our NPS Ranger starting us on the hike.

You can read a little more history if you want.

Well, here's our first sighting of Mt. McKinley. Only 30% of visitors see this!

Another view

And another.

A view of the train pulling into the park.

Day 57 – June 27 finds us on a beautiful drive down the park road to the Teklanika Campground where we made reservations back in December to stay for 3 nights.  Well.  We get to the ranger station there and she stops us and says we are too large to continue and stay there.  What????  Really????? We made these reservations in December of 2016, told the reservationist the size of our RV’s. And now you say we’re too large and forget the fact that any other campground we could stay at is already booked.  So, going back and re-reading the fine print, you will see a discrepancy.  (1) total length for RV to not exceed 40’(NPS) and (2) combined length to not exceed 40’ (the concessioner). Never mind that the campground reviews say how large these sites are and rigs over 40’ would have no problem.  But…..she doesn’t let us in as we are 4’ over the limit.  Ugh……So through a few tears of disappointment I had, we were given alternative places to say and the closet we got was at Cantwell, 27 miles from the park. We exchanged our Tek bus passes for the Kantishna Experience bus ride, 12 hours to the end of the park road.

Well, another great view of Mt. McKinley on our way in.

A seagull on the Savage River

The Savage River view (right before we got turned around by the ranger).

We got parked at the Cantwell RV Park, which is pretty nice and took a ride down the unpaved Denali Highway which is very scenic.  It’s misting and in the low 50s.

Love these braided rivers.

And alpine lakes

What??!! A Christmas tree!!

This was a view from Brushkana state park. Looks like that house will go into the river one of these days.

Day 58 – June 28 found us up and on our way to the park by 6 am. Our bus boarding is at 7:20 am. Of course, the bus arrives a little late, and then we end up waiting on a couple (foreign folks that could never seem to be on time returning from any of our stops) and it was more like 8 am when we left.  It was around 8 pm when we returned.  My gosh…..  But, it was a very good day!  Saw good wildlife.  The most outstanding memory of the day was seeing the mama grizzly bear with her 2 babies.  And then a very large herd of caribou moving in the valley!. Wow.  We had a ranger join us when we got to Kantinsha.  His talk was mostly about the gold era and Fannie Quigley. Very good. But it was still a very long day in a school bus type of vehicle. And how lucky are we!  Statistics say that only about 30% of visitors actually get to see Mt. McKinley.  Well, this is our 4^th day to catch a view! And words can’t express this view!! See for yourself! It’s a gift from God and we feel truly blessed!

Yep - this is the 12 hour bus trip that goes all the way into the park.

And yes - another day of getting to view Mt. McKinley!

A closer view. (Looking through dirty bus windows)

A ptarmigan

Look closely at the sleeping mama bear and her 2 cubs!

And another view of Mt. McKinley!

Polychrome mountains

I spy.....a caribou!

And another view of Mt. McKinley/Denali.

Check out this healthy mama grizzly bear!  And her 2 babies!

Male caribous cooling off in the snow patch.

That isn't necessarily dirty snow, but a herd of caribou!

This baby caribou was right by the road looking for his mama!

Look at this herd of caribou!

And we're getting closer to Mt. McKinley. Look at this view!

Swans

Wonder Lake with Mt. McKinley in the background.

This little marmot didn't want to move off the road!

We made it to the end of the road!

Our ranger playing a tune for us with his mouth harp. I got to get one - think it will fit in the RV!

A little more historical info.

The Fannie Quigley cabin (Sears Roebuck house) built in 1939 I believe.

Locked antlers that were found.

Ron and Greg......

 And so ends our travels into Denali National Park. Not the experience or time I figured we would have, but a good one nevertheless. We feel so lucky to have experienced the perfect weather for viewing Mt. McKinley/Denali!