Denali...

The trip from Tok to Denali was our last big drive. We stopped in Delta Junction to celebrate the end of the Alcan. Available for purchase were certificates for $1 that are signed by the local travel guides saying that you completed the Alcan; an option we turned down.

We spent the afternoon in Fairbanks, but it is a city the size of Pekin, so we just ate lunch there (a great Italian meal) and left. The picture of the fountain is in down town Fairbanks on the riverfront. On to Denali!



The first night in Denali was warm. We have really figured out this tent thing. When we awoke, we took our time getting ready, then went White Water Rafting. Since these are glaciar fed rivers, we had to wear lots of clothing and these "Dry Suits" that really did keep us dry. Since we went to alaska without any coats (doh!) we had to borrow some clothing from the rafting place. The first part of the trip was an easy float trip. I sat next to an 81 year old woman (Angelica) and her grand daughter Zoe. Angelica was born in Germany and was a hoot. She had two replacement hips and was scared to death of any whitewater. On the second half of the trip, sans Angelica and Zoe, we got to do class 3 and 4 rapids. It was really awesome! We have concluded that the Juchems family is not going to waste time on class 1 and 2 anymore. We finished the day with a meal in town and hit the sack. This was the night we were afraid of, since the weather report said it was going to get down to 43. However, when we awoke on Saturday, July 1, were were toasty warm. I did turn Mr. Heater on at about 3am, but I am not sure we needed it.

The top of the "Big Mountain"Denali was awesome, but not quite as awesome as we thought. The top of the mountain was unseen by us. It is never visible from the gate of the park, so you have to take these shuttle busses into the park. Well, we took the "Fish Creek" bus which goes about half way into the park. It was an 8 hour trip but you can get out at any time and just take off walking. Our intention was to get out and hike a bit and then get back on a return bus, but we were afraid we could not get a return bus for a while. So we had an 8 hour bus ride! Chris and I really enjoyed it, but the kids slept most of the way. We saw 8 grizzly bears, two moose, some caribou and a ground squirl (at 5:30) along with some beautiful scenery. The grizzly bear pictures were a little dissapointing because of the distance, but trust us, we saw them. Our bus driver's name was Lee and he was an older guy that had done everything. He gave us a commentary during the trip that was great. When we got to Denali, the clouds were covering it. I did get a picture of the base of the mountain.

This is the base of Denali (I think).

After the big bus ride, we drove to Anchorage (about 4pm) and got to the Captain Cook at about 8:30...