Denali National Park

Hi Everyone,

When someone says "Denali National Park," one immediately thinks of Mt. McKinley. But, did you know that only about 20-30% of the people coming to see the Mt. actually see it? It is so high (nearly 4 miles high) that, as they say around here, "it creates its own weather pattern." Thus, most of the time, the Mt. is shrouded in cloud, fog or mist. We took a shuttle to try to see the mountain, but ended up in the 70-80% of the people who did not see it. Jerry even asked the shuttle bus driver to stop so that he could get out and take a picture of what he can't see. The shuttle bus driver (who has been driving the bus all summer long) said that he has seen it only four times. He also said that sometimes one can see it going into the park, but cannot see it coming out again.

Unfortunately, also, it rained off and on every day we were in the park, including the day we had planned a hike. Notwithstanding, we did take a bike ride (in the rain) around the area to see the various sites. Except for a few pictures, there is not much more for us to say about our experience in this beautiful park.

Today (Monday, August 17), we traveled from Denali to Fairbanks. The scenery was quite nice.

(See another picture below.)

We are staying in the Pioneer Park right in town. Will tell you more about Fairbanks in the next blog -- but from what we have seen thus far, it is a clean and modern city (compared to Anchorage) with wide double-lane streets. I think we will have fun here.

Until next time, have a great week.