Denali and Mt. McKinley Glacier Landing

After calling ahead to Denali RV Park to determine if they had water yet, we headed a little SW to the little town of Healy, Alaska.  The RV Park is very close to Denali, but just far away from what they call Glitter Gulch, a small area full of touristy things to do and Lodges the cruise lines use for their Ship N Shore packages.  After a late morning start we arrived mid afternoon with lots of time to set up camp, start a load of laundry and head to Denali National Park.

You can only drive the first 15 miles of the Park Road, even though it stretches for over 65.  The remaining stretch must be reached by Park Shuttle ($26.50 pp) or narrated bus tours ($67.00 to $125.50)  The prices go up from there if you wish to go deeper into the park.  We decided to just do the drive in to the park and see what we could see.  It was a very sunny, pleasant day!

Mt. McKinley looks like a ghost mountain behind the range

Checking the weather for the next day we see that sunny clear skies and no wind is on the forecast.  We bite the bullet and sign up for the Denali Air Mt. McKinley flight and glacier landing.  We said in the beginning of our travels we wanted to do this, but kept going back and forth due to the unexpected expenses (two rock chips and $300.00 to rewire the brake cord, and lets not talk about my ticket!).  You only live once and you can't take it with you, right?

We were on the 8:30 flight and they picked us up at the RV Park.  After telling our weights and getting fitted with gore-tex shoe covers, we jumped on "Jaws" with JJ our pilot.

We are go for flight

I just kept saying WOW!

hanging glacier, the blue was spectacular

Glacier below

On Ruth Glacier

The sky was the most amazing blue!

McKinley's peak is just above the little puff of cloud

The landing strip

AMAZING is all I can say!  This trip was well worth the money and is an experience I will not forget.  The two and half hours went by way too fast.  I wanted to go again, but once in a lifetime is ok too.

RV Park reviews:
Denali RV Park has worked hard to get up and running.  Nice hosts, excellent Wi-Fi, cable TV, sites are a little close for our size rig, but beautiful views.  There is a very nice trail next to the park that runs up to a ridge with a river flowing below.  Lots of snow melt created little marshes.
  
Riverview RV Park in Fairbanks-working hard on overcoming the water issue, brought water to us from town, very nice hosts, excellent Wi-Fi, cable TV, quiet except when the nearby base is practicing with automatic weapons, taps in the late evening and reveille at 6:39 am.  Didn't bother us.  The Chena River runs next to the park, with a spot to just sit and watch the water go by.  

North Pole, Alaska

Looks a lot like Christmas

We weathered the storm in Tok and tiptoed out of town.  10 miles out the roads cleared and the sun peeked out.  By an hour or so, the skies were a beautiful blue.

A little sketchy, Dean they don't use slice on the roads!

yes, it's 32 degrees in May

There is the blue sky!

The forecast for Tok was for another 16 degree night with Fairbanks a lovely 29.  The drive was beautiful with smooth roads, no traffic and beautiful mountains on our left all the way.  Rivers are still frozen and we saw some folks ice fishing.  There was a flood warning for the Tanana Valley as the ice was melting and creating ice jams.

No Kayaking in this River today

We made it to the end of the Alcan!  That is one tough road.  The frost heaves, potholes and uneven fills really bang things up.  We took it slow and believe me, I'm glad it will be a few months before we go on it again going south.  

A friendly moose out for a stroll

The Alaska Pipeline runs from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez

These mountains were absolutely spectacular.  All were larger than Mt. Charleston or Wheeler Peak.  

We arrived in the North Pole, Alaska and we saw Santa!  

We are staying at the Riverview RV Park in North Pole.  They have 160 sites and the owner's daughter says they fill up in June and July.  The spring is about 4 weeks later here than usual.  The water is still frozen up and they can't fill tanks.  The dumps are closed.  We filled up the tanks in Tok so we should be ok for a few days.  Hopefully they get the lines thawed.  PT showers and minimal dish washing are in order.  This weeks weather is supposed to warm up with Saturday in the mid 70's.  I can't wait!

Chena River

Ice, glad its melting

The sun sets at 11:30pm and rises at 4am.