August 3-6th – Friday, August 3rd – We drove the Parks Hwy to Denali. The weather was not raining, but was overcast and we were not able to get a look at Mt. McKinley as we drove. That is, of course, the big thing…to get to see the mountain…which is only visible 30 percent of the time. Nice drive and beautiful scenery, anyway, as the landscape went from trees to tundra.
Once In Denali, we stopped at the visitor’s center and the wilderness access center to check in for our Kantishna Experience tour excursion the next day.
We had reservations at the Savage River Campground at mile 12 of the Denali road, and the farthest point in that you could drive in a private car. The drive to our campground was beautiful, and we saw several moose along the way (more on that in the next post).
The campground was nice, though I forgot to get a picture of it. There was a short trail from the campground to the Savage River,…..
With a beautiful spot overlooking the river…..
Where we could just hang out and enjoy the view.
Sunday, we drove to the Savage River overlook and parked and hiked the trail which followed the Savage River upstream for about a mile.
Laura and Dave climbed a spur trail to get a better view……
Fred stopped to look at some wolf prints. Later we found out that a wolf pack had moved into the Savage River drainage area, though we never did catch sight of them…..
We did get a better view of a couple of Dall Sheep, though, not as close as we would like.
And this little guy…..an Arctic Ground Squirrel kept us company while climbing up a rock to get a view of Mt. McKinley. Alas, it was still too overcast to see the mountain…….
I love the picture of the little ground squirrel! He looks like he's 'posing' for you!
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