August 29, 2026
My last post was called “Denali National Park” but it didn’t really contain anything about the park itself. I was just in it. So it’ll be in here somewhere.
After finally crossing the Alaskan border, I decided to spend the night in Tok (pronounced ‘toke’) at a campground. Showers, laundry, etc. It was so empty that Lucy and I had acres to walk (if Lucy would have gotten out of bed more). Tundra RV Park, very pretty and clean. We were exhausted from the bumpy-ass ride from the Yukon so all we could do was sleep and eat. I decided to stay another day for cleaning and relaxing, and went to the bar located at the park. It was in a beautiful room, log beams, very rustic but casual. The clientele was like I’d just walked into the American Legion with my dad. Fairly old, kinda rough looking (in the hard work way, not the criminal way). I had a couple Alaskan White ales while Lucy mobbed every person who walked close enough. She was ecstatic to be in an actual building, one that doesn’t have wheels.
From Tok we headed to the North Pole, which is an actual city in Alaska. The entire town is Christmas themed, and the red-and-white-stripe street poles are shaped like candy canes. The McDonalds sign is on top of a candy cane pole. It wasn’t like a Christmas town from a cartoon, all pretty and gumdroppy. It was just an industrial kind of town with funny street poles, for the most part.
The big attraction at the North Pole is Christmas Village, with the ginormous Santa Claus statue and real reindeer. And gift store, of course, with an actual Santa you could sit on and tell what you want for Christmas. I’m not a huge Christmas fan, but I wanted to send postcards from the North Pole, just for fun. And the giant retail store/restaurant, with hundreds of trees covered in thousands of ornaments you could buy plus anything Christmas-related that you can possibly think of, didn’t have regular old cardboard post cards. Wtf? I was so angry. All they had were these stupidly expensive, thick 3-D type cards, so I got just a couple and mailed them.
The only reason I drove north was to go to send postcards so it seemed like a waste of a day (but if you are a Christmas super-freak then you would love it). I never wanted to go to Fairbanks, but drove through anyway so I could take the road south to Denali. If it weren’t the end of August I’d consider driving all the way north to the Arctic Ocean. Another time.
We arrived at Denali National Park fairly early and did a scenic hike along the Nenana River. You can only drive 7 miles into the park unless you’re a commercial tour bus or have a special permit, so we stopped as far as we could go. There was a hike, but no dogs allowed, so I didn’t do it. The ranger told me that there is too much bear activity for dogs to be around. Yesterday, there was a bear in the parking lot so all the people had to jump into the buses. And a grizzly killed two moose calves nearby as well.
The park was filled with buses and thousands of tourists and it was too crazy for me. But much less crazy than Banff or Jasper, probably because it’s so late in the season. So we went to the bottom and did another pretty hike and got back on the road.
I am now parked on the Denali Highway – 137 miles of bumpy dirt-and-gravel road. I’ve been driving around 25mph, and there’s no way I’m going to spend 5 hours driving the entire thing. But I might. The road is rough and pot-holed, but ridiculously beautiful. I’ve only driven the first 10 miles from the Cantwell (west) side so far. As you drive up the peaks of the hills you see spruce forests dotted with lakes, surrounded on all side by mountains. It’s a bit of a panic-attack area, so remote and open.
But not lonely. Every tenth of a mile or so is a gravel pullout. Some are big enough for 5 or 6 cars, but most are 1-or-2 sized. I would’ve stopped earlier than 10 miles if an earlier one had been open. I imagine the people who are in the ones with the ‘postcard of Alaska’ views got there very early today.
My view, however, is not to be dismissed. Under a blue sky with puffy white clouds, I see a dark green mountain range, nothing tall enough to have snow. By my estimate, they are approximately I-have-no-fucking-idea miles away. From the mountains to the van are millions of thin spruce trees. A small body of water, sparkly blue, is not far off but partially hidden by trees. This water flows to a culvert that runs under the road, and is surrounded by foot-tall light green grass with golden tassels blowing in the wind. While some of the other views are dramatic like postcards, my view would make a pleasant painting. Happy little trees.
Rear Window view
I believe those are the Talkeetna Mountains, but I’m going by my map and you know how I am with those. I am not in Denali National Park anymore, but about 25 miles away.
I pulled into one that can easily fit 2 vehicles but I really hope no one parks next to me. I backed in and am using the rear windows to lay in bed and look for bears. That is what I’m going to be doing for the next several hours (because it’s cold and I’ve been outside quite a bit this morning).
Front window view
August 31,2026
Ha. I hope no one parks next to me. Why do I even say that? I spotted a mama moose with a baby walking up the road toward the van, so I got out to take pictures. Yes, they were far enough away so I wouldn’t die, and Lucy stayed inside. Then they walked through the woods to the water below where I was parked, drinking from pond. Then a swan showed up.
I was standing by the road with my camera because the entire area on both sides of the road is the private property of Ahtna, Inc, an Alaska Native corporation. They own just under two million acres, so you have to stick to the easement, no hiking. As I stood there taking pictures, a car stopped to see what I was looking at. A woman gets out with her camera. After a few minutes, another car with 4 people stops to take pictures. Then one of those jeep tours happened by, and they all stopped (13 jeeps), each adding 4 more people to the gawkers around my van (one guy was actually leaning on it, and I was going to yell at him, but the filth that probably rubbed off on his jacket is punishment enough). Then a couple more cars stopped. At one point I believe there were close to 60 people standing with me taking pictures. One woman told me that these moose were the first animals they’d seen all day, and it was getting toward sunset. It was a pleasant scene.
It was getting cold and dark so everyone left except one truck. I had gone into the van to warm up, then went back out to see if anything else had shown up. Just as I got up to the road I saw a wolf gracefully loping toward me. And I immediately backed around the van and jumped inside. No wolf pics, sad to say.
I think I mentioned the wildfire in Tok but not what I found when I got there. Which was nothing. I didn’t see or smell smoke, didn’t see a single burned tree. All available Alaska Smokejumpers were working, plus the Missoula Smokejumpers, and 7,300 acres burned (according to the news). I have no idea how I didn’t see any sign of it.
Anyway, I decided not to drive the entire unpaved Denali highway, so we went back the way we came (10 miles), and headed south. The morning was cold and clear so Denali was visible.
I’ve been noticing as I go through my photos that Lucy looks angrier and angrier at me. I really think she is considering murdering me while I sleep.
Do you see what I mean?
We ended up stopping at Reflection Lake for a nice walk, then camping at Eagle River, a pretty spot with miles and miles of hiking trails and a fairly large river with falls and rapids. Kayakers were playing in the rapids yesterday but today is freezing and rainy and very quiet.
Today is dedicated to cleaning the van and relaxing, and tomorrow we will continue south. I found a dog wash nearby and as mad as Lucy is at me now, wait until she’s forced to take a bath.
This caribou was from a few days ago. Cute, yeah?
