First, I have to say that last night was the quietest Friday night we've ever spent in a public campground. Usually, the weekenders in public campgrounds get pretty loud and sometimes rowdy, but here it was almost like the campground was empty. Nice.
We have reservations in Denali National Park starting August 19. That's turning out to be a good thing since the park has had a lot of rain recently and heavy rain this weekend. In fact, the Park Road suffered damage due to landslides Friday night. Three hundred tourists in park buses were stranded before crews got one lane open and everyone got back to the park entrance by midnight.
The 92-mile road remains closed from mile marker 53 all day today (Saturday), but they hope to get it re-opened tomorrow.
However, the weather is forecasted to be nice up there the next few days. Just lucky timing for us.
In the meantime, we're hanging out in Denali State Park at K'esugi Ken Campground a hundred miles south of the National Park. We haven't had any rain, and this morning all of the clouds blew out.
I looked at the K'esugi Ken Campground webcam, and it looked pretty clear toward the mountains, so I headed out to see if Denali was making an appearance. Rounding the corner from our campsite, I could see the mountain was indeed out and poking its massive head up above a fifth wheel a few sites from us.
Ever since we were here in 2004, we've heard that your odds of seeing Denali are about 33% since the mountains sort of create their own weather pattern, and the highest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet is often covered in clouds. It seems that percentage relates more to the odds of a summer tourist seeing the mountain, since most tourists visit in July and August which is the rainy season for the interior of Alaska. And those odds are for getting a really good full view of the mountain rather than seeing bits of it through the clouds. Apparently, the odds and percentages go up quite a bit the longer you are able to spend within viewing distance and if you are visiting at other times of the year when it is drier.
All I know is that it hasn't been visible for several days, and today it is.
I walked out the Moose Flats Loop here near the campground for better views.
This was my first good look.
The trail then goes around and up to a viewpoint where a few folks were enjoying the morning tranquility.
I zoomed in for a cool shot that makes the mountain appear much closer than it is.
It's actually about 40 miles away. But the views from Denali State Park are often better than the views from the National Park.
Back in 2004, we got a good look for about a day and a half from the National Park in early August, but you just never know if a clear day will correspond with the time of your visit. So, I'm just happy to have one of those clear days while we're here this time.
Backing off the zoom, here is a nice view with the Chulitna River in the foreground.
Continuing on around the half-mile loop, I looked back for this view.
Then I hopped in the Jeep and made the short drive down to the Denali View South turnout and viewpoint.
I took this photo of the sign at the lower viewpoint naming the peaks and providing elevations.
Today, the trail up the hill to the right was open (it was closed yesterday), and the views from the upper viewpoint are much better.
Of course, the Denali View South turnout is right on the George Parks Highway and has easy access for all vehicles, so it tends to be quite a bit more crowded than K'esugi Ken Campground Moose Flats viewpoint.
Still, with patience, I was able to squeeze in and get some nice pics.
It was extremely windy today, and in the upper right of this photo you can see the dust and sand blowing off the sandbars in the river.
One last zoom-in, before I returned to the campground.
Back at the rig, we lost power for a while. Apparently, a fallen tree took out a powerline. Fortunately, it was only off a few hours, and our freezer held its temperature pretty well without us having to turn on the generator.
In the afternoon, Linda wanted to walk the Moose Flats Loop and see Denali, so we did that.
After our walk, she made some seasoned savory walnuts (one of our go-to Keto snacks), and she cooked some pork belly in her Ninja Foodi - a break from fish.
It was too windy for a fire so, after dinner, we streamed a movie and called it a night.
Tomorrow, I'm going to hike the Curry Ridge Trail, and hopefully Denali will still be out. If not, well at least we had today.
AMAZING!!!! We just left Rocky Mountain NP where we were camped with a clear view of Longs Peak, the highest peak at 14000+ feet. Can't even imagine what a peak at 20000 feet would look like. So glad you got such an amazing veiw!!!!
Posted by: Bill and Nancy | Monday, August 19, 2019 at 05:36 AM
Great photos! We honeymooned in Alaska (I know, who honeymoons in Alaska) in May and some of the locals told us we could come back any time, Denali was visible the three days we were in viewing distance--we considered ourselves very fortunate!
Posted by: Janna | Monday, August 19, 2019 at 09:32 AM
Nice photos...really liked the one with Linda in the foreground!
Posted by: Tracy Perkins | Monday, August 19, 2019 at 04:06 PM