Linda got up earlier than normal this morning, had her two cups of coffee and ran a couple of errands.
I started getting things put away for today's move and Esther & Steve were doing the same.
Linda returned and they walked over to say final farewells. With hugs and handshakes and perhaps a moist eye or two, they departed around 10:00 a.m.
We weren't far behind. After dumping tanks and taking on water here at Centennial Campground in Anchorage, we hopped on the Glenn Highway for our 130-mile drive to Denali State Park, not to be confused with Denali National Park.
Along the way, we saw Esther & Steve on the side of the road at an exit, so we called them just to make sure all was okay. It was just a short break and they hitched up their Jeep. They fell in behind us and took this photo of our rig.
Eventually, we continued north on the George Parks Highway, while they veered east on the Glenn Highway. Linda waved and Esther flashed her motorhome lights as we diverged.
We had 100 miles to go, and it was a fairly easy trip with decent roads. There were a couple of areas of construction, but we had only one short wait.
Eventually, we entered Denali State Park which is cut in half by the Parks Highway. At approximately 325,000 acres it's about 42% of the size of Rhode Island, but that pales in comparison to the 6 million acres of Denali National Park & Preserve.
In my research the last couple of days, I discovered the K’esugi Ken Campground in the park which just opened in 2017. This new state park campground has an RV loop with 32 campsites with electrical hook-ups, one of the few Alaska state park campgrounds with electric. About half of the RV sites are reservable and half are first come, first served.
But it is such a nice campground a good distance off the highway, it fills up quickly, especially on weekends. With it being Thursday, I was hoping to arrive early and snag one of the non-reservable sites, Sites 21 - 37.
The roads are paved and the sites are large gravel sites. There is a self pay kiosk where you can pay with cash or check or use the electronic option and pay with a credit card.
We drove through and found a few sites available. We were confused, however, by the fact that some of the non-reservable sites had "Reserved" signs on them. I'll be checking into that. Still, there were five or six sites to choose from, and we selected Site 31.
As you can see, the sites are well-spaced.
The sites have nice firepits and picnic tables, and there are a few vault toilets. There is a spigot to take on water near the kiosk where you pay, but there is no dump station. The electrical pedestals have 20, 30, & 50 amps. There is a self-pay wood shed near the dumpsters for firewood.
We went ahead and paid for four nights.
At some point today, I tweaked my back (probably adjusting the placement of our freezer full of fish) and was in a bit of pain. I put some heat on it and took a nap, and it improved enough for me to get out our chairs and our grill, and fetch some firewood. And the clouds had disappeared and it became warm and sunny.
The forecast for Denali National Park about 80 miles north was a hundred percent chance of rain for today and tomorrow with an expected inch each day, so we seem to be just south of the rain. The forecast improves for the first of next week when we have reservations, so we'll stay with that plan.
I grilled some Sockeye, and Linda made a salad for dinner.
Then we went to a ranger program at the interpretive center. Before the program, we had a couple of small world moments.
First, a lady we met this past winter at the Butterfield RV Resort in Benson, Arizona was there. Linda played mahjong with Deb many times, so it was great seeing her. She is traveling Alaska with two other solo women.
We also thought we recognized another couple at the presentation. Yep, they had parked next to us in Chitina way back on June 22, and we had lunch with them in McCarthy the next day. Linda remembered their names, Greg & Kathy. In a group of about ten people, we knew three of them.
The state and national parks work together, so a national park ranger did tonight's program, a fun diversion on National Parks in the movies. Ranger Jessica started with a little wildlife safety, and then she provided a brief description of a movie which we were to guess.
Then we were to guess on which public lands scenes from the movies were shot. If we weren't sure, she would hold up photos of movie scenes in the parks as a hint. So, that was a different little interactive program.
Afterward, we chatted with the folks we knew, I picked Jessica's brain about Denali National Park, and I checked out the exhibits in the interpretive center which is just a large pavilion with informational signs.
Back at our campsite, I got a fire going, and Deb came by for a short visit.
It was a lovely evening until some tiny bugs wouldn't leave us alone. We had some leftover cheesecake, and then retired to the rig for the evening.
I really like this campground, and I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails the next few days. On a clear day, you can see the big mountain - Denali - from here, so we hope that opportunity arises.
Stay tuned.
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