Denali in all her beauty

27^th May - 2nd June

I drove us to Denali National park, I had been scared about driving on the right hand side of the road after the lack of confidence I’d had driving our van in Europe, but I loved it.  Finally my confidence for driving has returned and the independence and freedom that comes with being able to get yourself around has really turned a page for me.  Getting a 4wd when I have the cash is on the cards for me now.

  

We were so lucky, the whole drive there she was, dominating the skyline and absolutely stunning, Denali or Mt Mckinley standing 20,320 feet, 6194 meters she is North America’s highest peak and takes 2-3 weeks to climb, guided costs over $6000!  Apparently you only have a 30% chance of actually seeing the peak let alone her from top to bottom so what a start to our adventure.  Arriving late in the evening doesn’t matter around here as its light now until after 11pm!!!!

 Another fine weather day and we headed in on one of the shuttle buses, public car access isn’t allowed everyone has to either go on a tour or a shuttle bus.  As it’s the early season they haven’t fully opened the roads yet so we were only able to get to the 53 mile mark.   We were so lucky to see up close moose and calves, caribou, grizzly bears and her cubs, dall sheep, eagles all in the wild but close enough to remind you that this is their home!!!  

  It took 3.5 hours to get to the end of the line so I was ready to get off and stretch my legs. I had already sussed out there were 2 younger guys on board, so when we got off I asked if they were planning to go hiking and could I join them, sure I was told.  There are no trails out here, basically you just hike where you want, go up which ever peaks you can get up and enjoy exploring what is truly a wild place.  It turns out neither of the guys were very experienced hikers, so they kept asking me which route I thought we should take to get to the top, in the end we decided a curve around then straight up approach reassessing as we went along. Our first hurdle however was crossing the glacial fed river, fast flowing and deep we made it across part of it with shoes off but clearly weren’t going to get any further across, without the very real risk of being swept away.

 We changed our minds and went for a different peak on the same side as the river. It was a steep ascent but firstly on grass tundra then to scrambling on loose rock. I’ve since been told the rock around here isn’t at all reliable and is very loose so choosing footing and handholds always important.  With a timeline for getting back to catch the last bus back out of the hike, we went fairly quickly but made it giving clear views of all the mountains around quite a few higher than us. A fun day out meeting 2 university students away on a short break, hiking in the wilderness, happy days :-)

The national park provides a free demonstration on the sled dogs, the Alaskan Huskies. They are used by the national park all through winter to break trail and keep an eye out for all the cross country skier's and mountaineers out in winter. They are such beautiful strong dogs, who were also happy to give you cuddles. I've fallen in love with them :-)

There are so many peaks here, some requiring glacial travel and real mountaineering and loads you can just tackle with a confident mind and scrambling ability. The hardest thing for me is going it alone, as there are grizzlies out here as well as black bears, moose and loads of wildlife that scare me hiking on my own. Still what can you do when you’re essentially on your own for the adventure stuff, just go for it!

Mt Heale was one I felt I could confidently do on my own, it proved even easier than I first thought, only one of very few with a trail to the lookout then you just follow the ridge up and down a few false summits and there you are, on your own enjoying the serenity and beauty of sitting on top of a mountain in Alaska.  Sure there are much higher and harder peaks but for me it was a really enjoyable time out.

 

Before we knew it, it was time to get mum back to Anchorage for her flight home. We made a quick detour to Talketna and ate lunch at the roadhouse where most of the climbers sleep and eat before flying up to Mt McKinley, well the glacier to start their climb.  I gathered a bit more information with the aspirations of returning here over the next couple of years.

Saying see you later to Mum was super hard as always, when she’s not around you just seem to get on with life but when you have her for a little bit then she goes again that’s always the worst bit.  She has been here for me in so many ways over the years and recently with all my ups and downs I’ve been so lucky even from afar to be able to call and talk when ever I’ve needed her.

I’m staying with some couchsurfers here in Anchorage for a couple of days planning out my next adventures.  I went running with their big beautiful dog Casio a labradoodle yesterday and today borrowed a mountain bike off them and hit the trails.  I cycled round trip 25 miles 40km’s along a costal trail full of ups and downs and onto a bit of single track.  As I was cycling along, I suddenly came to a corner with an animal standing there, first thoughts were a horse then I remembered I wasn’t in the New Forrest in England anymore, it was infact a MOOSE!  With it less than 5m away from me and following all the previous advice I’ve read, I slowly started to back away as it stopped eating and starred at me. After a safe distance I jumped back on the bike and peddled fast….. I stopped at a nearby carpark and then noticed a family of 4 riding down where I’d been, asked them if they had seen the moose and they said they didn’t see it in time and as he broke the moose ran off. So either I’m just a scardy cat or their bigger groups size helped them.  Despite this I decided I could then continue and gladly I did, but without any photos to prove my close encounter boooo!!!

This weekend I’m going fishing and hiking with a girl and her friends I met on meetup so I’m excited to be seeing another island, Seldovia, in Alaska and meeting new people.......