Tuesday, June 19, 2012

June 18 – Denali National Park

Last night we had a couple of visitors to the campground.  They walked right behind our RV, munched on some leaves and then ambled across the road.

IMG_1008785

Today we tried to hike the Mount Healy Overlook Trail.  It is 1700 ft vertical in 2.5 miles. The first part is a slow but steady climb with your destination looming over you.

IMG_1008792

IMG_1008799

All along a line to the west of us it was raining. We were still in the sun and the clouds seemed to be moving parallel to us. We kept going but said if it started raining hard we would turn around.

IMG_1008803 

This point is called halfway rock. From here on it got quite steep with 25% grade in some places. We had lunch at this spot on the way back down.

It was mostly zigzagging up the hill but quite often we would go through a cleared out spot with better and better views of the valley below. It was encouragement to keep going higher.

IMG_1008819

You can just see the train that runs between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

IMG_1008806

So close and yet so far. Straight line close but via the trail far.

IMG_1008823

Shortly after this picture it started getting windy and very rainy. We thought about it for a bit and said if those steep trails get very wet it could be a ugly trip back down so we turned around.

IMG_1008825

IMG_1008817

Of course after about 5 minutes it stopped and turned back to bright sunshine but by that time there was no way we were going to turnaround and start climbing again. We met a ranger on the way down that said the only thing you really did get at the top was a slightly higher view. In the picture below we got to just below the tree line on the left side of the peak.

IMG_1008830

Even with the truncated hike we were still pretty tired. Time for another reward. No beer this time.

IMG_3143

We went and saw another movie about Denali and then went to check out the line of souvenir shops just outside the park boundary. It is called “Glitter Gulch” by the locals. We had dinner at this takeout Thai food van. The green curry chicken and mandarin beef were very good.

IMG_3148

On our hike we had seen this interesting hotel perched on the far hill.

IMG_1008810

We drove up the zigzag road to check out the view.

IMG_3161

IMG_3155

Then we watched the rafters for a while and headed home.

IMG_3159

1 comment: