The midnight sun was on full lumens at 2am when Julie and I were up swatting mosquitos in our camper.  Life above the Arctic Circle is full of strange things besides monster mosquitos, including no trees above the tree line, no darkness or no daylight depending on the time of year, kilometres deep frozen earth and animals that thrive in the most extreme conditions on earth. And don’t even think about the harsh winter.  It’s a fascinating world, that’s for sure, but sadly we had to move south again and back to civilisation. 

Our target over the next few days was the renowned Denali National Park, or just plain Denali, the jewel in the crown of national parks in Alaska.  But Denali was a long way south and we had quite a few miles to cover before we could enjoy that mountain wonderland.

The drive from our camp on the Marion River near Coldfoot south towards Fairbanks was a repeat of what we did the other day in reverse, magnificent snow-capped mountains, beautiful mountain streams, our reliable old friend the pipeline and a diabolical road.  We spotted caribou and a porcupine along the way, once more loving the wild outdoors.

We had lunch on the Arctic Circle, stopped again to admire the mighty Yukon River and camped in a large overgrown gravel pit that made a perfect home for the night.  I tried once again to install a new water pump and presto – it worked!   The bad news is it didn’t solve our problem which by process of elimination we now think is somehow connected to the filter system.  The burdens of life on the road.

The next morning we battled the road badly buckled by melting permafrost and arrived in Fairbanks with another long list of chores.  We made good progress on our checklist, the most important being to change the serpentine belt on Tramp.  Funnily, we bumped into three other vehicles we had been with in Deadhorse at the self-serve car wash, all trying to wash off inches of deep stubborn mud.

We chugged out of Fairbanks with mixed emotions.  We couldn’t help but like the town as it had become very familiar to us over our last two visits but we also associated it with some mechanical problems which gave us major grief.  Never mind, we cheerily waved goodbye and headed towards Denali National Park, parking up for the night at the dead end of a road, as you do.

Denali National Park, home to the dramatic Alaska Ranges and North America’s highest peak, is the centre point for all travellers who visit Alaska.  First established in 1917 to help protect the Dall sheep and tripled in size to an unprecedented 100 million acres in 1980, Denali ranks with parks such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon for it’s grandeur and overall magnificence.  But Denali, is relatively inaccessible because, first – it’s in Alaska (dah!), and second – there is only one road in the park and that road only extends about 89 miles (138 kilometres) if it is all open (which it wasn’t when we arrived). 

So while other national parks, especially those in the lower 48 states, are well known, extensively explored and some would say – being loved to death, Denali has a deep mystique about it. 

We had a big dose of the mysticism of this park when we arrived and found out the Savage River campground, where we had booked for three nights (our first paying campground for the entire trip) was closed because the previous day a bear had killed and was in the process of eating a moose calf in the campground.  They rebooked us into the Riley Creek campground for at least one night which was just fine.

Only the first 15 miles of the road into the park is open to traffic, after that you have to book a shuttle bus to take you further in.  We drove to the end of the public road, enjoying the snow-capped mountains all around and watched a small herd of caribou down on the riverbed.  The Great One itself, as the Athabascans call the acclaimed highest peak, was one of many on our horizon.  Denali felt great.

In the afternoon we did the five kilometre (three mile) Horseshoe Lake walk which took us through the boreal forest and around the lake where we saw a massive beaver dam and a huge female moose just ambled out in front of us on the trail.  Denali felt even greater.

Light rain forced us inside that night but the next morning we boarded a pre-booked green shuttle bus which would take us to the end of the road and back.  Unfortunately the end of the road is closer these days because of a massive landslide so we were limited to the first 43 miles of the road. 

But what a great experience it was!  Before we even left the pavement we had a huge grizzly amble along the road, foraging for the first shoots of the season.  As the bus took us further into the heart of the park we gained better views of the magnificent Alaska Range, although the clouds were too low to permit us glimpses of mighty Denali itself, at 20,310 feet the highest mountain in North America.

Over the course of the day we saw many moose, another grizzly, a few herds of caribou and a few herds of Dall sheep high up on the mountain ridges.  It was a fantastic day for meeting the locals and reminded us once again why this wonderful land is preserved for all time.

With our preferred campground still closed due to the feeding grizzly we nestled back into the Riley Creek campground, patches of snow by our camp, once again greeted by persistent cold light rain.  We’ve heard a few times how this had been the longest and coldest winter in Denali for 20 years and the changing of the seasons is very late.  Perfect for us!

The next day we headed back up to Savage River, taking in a few moose along the way, including a handsome male with his antlers growing nicely, and followed the walking track downstream.  Along the way we saw our best herd of Dall sheep, their large curving horns making them very distinguished, and handsome ptarmigan birds, Alaska’s state bird.

The trail was muddy with snow patches to cross but the weather was hilarious.  We had vivid blue skies and warm sun, then cold rain, then wind and hail, then repeat.  We were soaked and chilled to the bone when we returned to Tramp who immediately told us it was only 4°C (about 41°F).  Luckily we love all the seasons.

We retreated back to Riley Camp, learning along the way our Savage River campground had finally opened after a bear had killed a moose calf there a few days before, ensuring we have at least one night in this isolated campground.  We did some laundry, went to the shops and bought souvenirs (because you can never have too many Alaska T-shirts) and returned to our campsite where we settled in for a long, cold and wet night.  With Denali all around us, what more could we ask for?