Denali Hwy - National Park

 Alaskan Range & glacier viewed from the Denali Hwy

After leaving Wrangell-St Elias I continued west skirting the Cooper River Basin towards GlenAllen.  From there it was north up towards Paxson where I would get on the Denali Highway headed to the Denali National Park. My plan  was  to lay up for  5-7 days once in the park.  Would have to pay for camping there but wouldn't be spending much on gas. Having been to Denali twice before, I was looking forward to it again as the photo opportunities are excellent.  But first, the Denali Highway, which is little used and poorly maintained, and closed to all traffic from October to mid-May each year.  It's about 140 miles in length with about 23 of that being paved. The rest is pretty beat up dirt/gravel and is slow going but well worth the drive as it passes through some the most beautiful scenery in the state.  It would dump me out just south of the National Park.  I ended up taking two nights and three days to do it as there is just so much to see, free camping, great hiking, and the fishing wasn't bad either.

Musher working his team in preparation for the winter season

Wildlife viewing is really good along this corridor.

 Campsite.

 Drone shot of campsite.

 Campsite.  Grayling fishing here was very good!

 Glacier in the background.

 What a view from this place.

 Mr. Bear left a calling card right outside camp during the night.

 Alaskan Raven in camp one evening.

Petey surveying the situation.

Once I arrived in Denali National Park I checked in at the camp center to pay for a campsite.  I ended up spending 4 nights in one camp and then moved further into the park and stayed at Savage River for two more.  I hiked, drove into the park each evening for photo ops and generally just hung out with Petey the rest of the time.  Only touristy thing I did was attend the lecture by the park service on their sled dog operations. The park still utilizes sled dogs during the winter months to conduct back-country patrols.  I took what is one of my favorite shots from the entire trip while there.

One of my favorites.

Trying to catch up on the blog posts and will post more on Alaska soon.