Day 13: Fairbanks, AK to Denali National Park, AK - Wednesday, 5/22/24

 Photo of the day:

49th State Brewery in Healy, AK.  Great recommendation from Tim!

Even though Lynda can confirm that the sun was in fact up at 4:45 AM, we slept in until 7:10 today. It was one of the few days we didn't feel the need to get on the road right away.  We filled up the RV with fresh water and gave the RV a mini (pun intended) bath along with gas and propane refills before heading out of Fairbanks.

Bath time.

The highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage is called the Parks Highway. The Milepost book is ordered from Anchorage to Fairbanks, so for this part of the trip we have to work backwards through the book.  That's a lot of brain power for folks who have been relaxing for nearly 2 weeks.

We took a shortstop in Nenana (which we learned means 'a great place to camp between the rivers') to take a picture next to the Alaska Territorial Guard and the  Taku Chief, which is a little tugboat that ran the rivers around here for many years. Nenana is where the Nenana and Tanana Rivers meet.

We took what we thought was a short hike according to alltrails.com but ended up walking along a steep dirt road up to the site of multiple graves. A little bit odd and creepy, but once we got to the top, we had a good view over the river looking back at Nenana and the distant mountains. In respect to those buried, we turned around and headed back to the RV.

View overlooking the river and Nenana (One of the gravesites is in the lower left hand corner.)

The trip south on Alaska Highway 3 (Parks Highway) had some great views.  It wasn't long until large mountains came into view.  I (Dave) love seeing these.  BTW, in terms of highways, I think Alaska only has Highways 1, 2 and 3.  That makes some things a lot easier!  That said, I made a wrong turn back in Tok 🤣.

It was another very breezy ride with many “ripples” in the road that we can only assume are frost heaves.

Mountains coming into view!

Based on a recommendation from our brother-in-law and Alaska crazy-guy Tim, we stopped at 49th State Brewing.  They had another great outdoor area, but it was a little chilly to be outside.  So we shared a burger and some beer inside.

We weren't driving much after this stop, so we each had a flight. 

Lynda's fight:

• Alaskaveza - favorite
• Sunlord
• Amber Borealis
• Crispy Muchacho

Dave's flight:

• Alaska 8 Star Lager
• Blonde Eagle Ale
• Apple Fritter Ale
• Solarcrisp Pils - favorite

Cool sign, although hard to see against the trees.

Awesome outdoor area.  Next time we'll enjoy it more.

The brewery also had a replica of the bus from Into the Wild (the real life story of Christopher McCandless).  Great book and movie for those who haven't read/seen it.

Soon enough we reached the gem of the US National Park system, Denali National Park!

We checked out the Bus Depot because we'll be picking up Brittney here on Friday afternoon.

Our first hike in Denali was Horseshoe Lake Loop.  Near the start, we heard some kind of animal yelping. One lady we passed guessed it was a swan, and Lynda was hoping she was right. Then we stopped by a group of people who thought they could see a baby moose, but even with our binoculars, no one was convinced it was true. So, no picture of a moose.  The lake and nearby Nenana River were great.

We also saw some trees a beaver gnawed on and a beaver dam but no dam beaver.

Lynda by the Nenana River with rafts in the background.

We got checked into our campground for the night at Riley Creek Campground which is part of Denali National Park.  We were happy that each site was separate from other sites and in the trees.

The following sign in the campground bathroom cracked Lynda up - especially the last "rule".

Lynda wonders who has ever squatted like the last rule.  Some things are better left unanswered.

Then we went for a hike from the campground. We hiked along the McKinley Station Trail and then hiked some on the Triple Lakes Trail. We got to cross this bouncy suspension bridge on the Triple Lakes Trail. This trail wasn't too populated - we only saw two other couples and a grouse.

We saw numerous Grouse yesterday and today, so we finally took a picture.

The Alaska Railroad crosses this bridge right before getting to Denali

Crossing Riley Creek on a suspension bridge.  (If you look closely, Lynda is on the bridge in the above and below pics in poses reminiscent of the twins in the movie The Shining.)

Riley Creek as seen from a short distance up the Triple Lakes trail.

Dinner was burgers on the grill (and margaritas).

We went for a late evening walk around the campground just because we could.  It was from 10:00 PM - 10:30 PM and it was plenty light.  Love it!

10:15 at night and still super light.  Another hour until sunset!

Before we wrap up for the day... We've been working on sponsors for our trip.  You might see more product placement in our future pictures to help fund this adventure.

Auto repair is brought to you by Dale's Service Center.  They might not serve Alaska, but if you are in the Quad Cities, there is no better place!

Nothing better to put a burger on than a Wonder hamburger bun!

Skin conditions are treated with Cortizone-10.

Diet Coke is fueling this adventure and Improving is supplying technology services.

Just kidding of course.  Nearly 4,000 miles on the road make you a little slap happy.  We'll see if we get a cease and desist email.

The next two days we are in Denali, which means we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn to hit the road.  So, we'll probably wake up around 5:00 AM 🤣🤣.

Total miles today: 121 miles.

Previous: Day 12: Lake Creek Campground, YK (north of Destruction Bay) to Fairbanks, AK, USA

Next: Day 14: Denali National Park, AK