Fairbanks & Denali - Alaska

 

    In late July, after spending much of the summer in Colorado, I hopped on a plane and headed north...way north. Traveling to Alaska was a much-anticipated adventure and the 50th state on my tick-list. My 49th state was checked off years ago, and I patiently waited for the opportunity to spend some extended time in our biggest state. This was the adventure I was waiting for.

  I started my trip in Fairbanks, where I landed around midnight. The land of the midnight sun is no joke - it was daylight when I arrived and got in a taxi sometime between 12-1am. Arriving at the hostel, finding my way around in the soft, dusky light was easy. I headed straight to my bunk and fell asleep anticipating the coming weeks in Alaska. 

Flying into Fairbanks around Midnight - view from the plane

Spending a few days at the hostel and exploring Fairbanks 

   

~ Denali National Park ~

 I didn't have any official plans to visit Denali in Alaska, but how could I be so close and not make it happen? I decided to rent a car for a couple of days and head south from Fairbanks. I had all of my camping gear and decided to get a small SUV to accommodate me sleeping in the back with the seats folded down. I headed into the park on the first day to drive the road as far as passenger vehicles were allowed (about 13 miles). The park was stunning. The expanse of wilderness in Alaska is too big and wide to compare to any other wilderness area I have been in. Someone told me earlier in the summer that Alaska was "no big deal" and they didn't understand how some people found it life-changing to see the mountain ranges there: "We have mountains in Colorado, I just don't get it," they said. Well, to them I say, I don't get how you don't get it. The hundreds of millions of acres of wild lands, mountain ranges, and incredible wildlife diversity are most certainly a big deal.    

   On my quick, afternoon drive I saw caribou - the first tick off the "big five" mammals in Alaska. The big five: caribou, grizzly, moose, dall sheep, and wolves. I was already one-fifth of the way there and I still had a backpacking trip and three more weeks to spend in Alaska.    

    Day two in Denali consisted of a trip on one of the infamous green buses. We went as far into the park as we could (which is only to mile 43 instead of 92 right now due to a land slide and road closure). I got off the bus at mile 43 to hike along the river bed and surrounding area for a while. I got about 15 minutes into my walk when a grizzly bear came stumbling down an embankment onto the river bed about 30 feet from where I was standing. Fortunately, the grizzly was as spooked as I was and we both fumbled for an escape route. I climbed up the embankment and tried to alert a person I knew to be about 100 yards away from me - I also asked them to move in my direction: power in numbers. As I joined forces with the other person we began to back away from the bear. The bear was still less than 50 feet from us: WAY TOO CLOSE. As we walked briskly away, the bear continued to lumber in our direction, looking curious but not threatening. Lumbering, for a bear, is FAST - the bear was casually moving toward us, and gaining on us, as we were speed-walking away. Fortunately, the bear eventually lost interest, opting to continue the berry hunt. Needless to say, that was the end of my solo hiking in Denali. Once I was a safe distance away, I was able to get a (very zoomed in) shot of the grizzly making their way across the river. 

    I hopped on another green bus and headed back toward the park entrance. Along the route I saw dall sheep and more caribou. At the end of this trip my "big five" tally was up to three: dall sheep, grizzly, caribou. I decided to get off at the sled-dog area to meet the dogs then walk the path the few miles back to the entrance station. I had my bear spray at the ready even on the highly trafficked path as I was a bit spooked from earlier in the day. The walk concluded without incident and I headed back to Fairbanks that afternoon. 

Car camping along a river just south of Denali NP

Caribou!

The riverbed I was walking along - this shot was taken just a few minutes before meeting the grizzly

The grizz :)

Sled dogs!

The path back to the Denali entrance