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Fairbanks to Denali

Fairbanks to Denali National Park

Well, this one's a goodie. I left you in the last entry (a good while ago now!) after our horrifically creepy night in the 'wood cutter' cabin. It would be fair to say I woke up tired, and unnerved that morning. The odd midnight sun, which had flooded my mind with strange ideas of ghosts and forest critters just hours before, had turned into a beautiful morning and the weather, plus a healthy portion of bacon and eggs managed to right the ship. 

So this was technically our first day in Alaska. Obviously we were in Alaska the previous day but this was our first day waking up and smelling that Alaskan air. 

We made a nice big breakfast on the camping grill, bacon, sausage and eggs. We cooked in our newly acquired mosquito netting, not to escape the mosquitoes, but to escape the millions of wasps which were swarming from an unidentified local hive. To be fair, the wasps didn't effect Steph in the slightest. I really don't understand how she managed to carry on without flinching, but carry on she did. I however, hate the little blighters. I hate them so much, and what's really upsetting is that they appear to know it. They know it and push me on purpose to see when i'll snap. Doesn't take long I assure you.

After exploring the local village and visiting an ice carving exhibition, we headed down to Fairbanks. 

Fairbanks is a lovely human hub. If you go north, then you will quickly reach the Arctic, east takes you to Canada and south is a quick road to Denali. The latter is the primary focus of this entry, but first let's take a minute to discuss the only city in Alaska's interior. 

Fairbanks is the second most populous area of Alaska, beaten only by Anchorage. However, where Anchorage hold sway in terms of numbers, my opinion is that Fairbanks wins out in terms of pleasantness, quaintness, authenticity, coffee house standards and distance to Denali. In fact, in my humble opinion, its an infinitely more interesting place to visit. 

We found that rather than the overly touristy Anchorage, with is 200 trinket stores and 'hand carved' baleen ornaments, Fairbanks had real people. The university is there, and in any coffee house you can hear the energetic discussions regarding research, the outdoors and Alaskan life. 
There's a phenomenal botanical garden near the university which has the famous giant lettuces grown with the aid of twenty four hours of daylight. We unfortunately got caught in rain the day we visited, but on a nice sunny day it would be a nice little visit. 

We had a couple of days of relaxation in town, and checked out the annual Eskimo Olympics, which takes you on a journey from amazement to full on bemusement. High jumps and traditional dance moves into blanket tossing and my personal favorite, the 'lets tie fishing line round our ears and pull our heads apart till one of us bleeds' event. All of the events are based in tradition and really are quite fascinating to learn about and to watch. 

So, from Fairbanks, with one camp on route, we hit Denali.

From our prior reading, Denali was set to be the highlight of the entire 7 weeks. It's bigger than West Virginia, bigger than 17 states in fact. It's phenomenal size is dwarfed only by it's extraordinary variety. Animals, plants and even the colors of the rocks are stunning to witness. 

When you arrive in the park, the road enters and takes you just 24km within the park, after that, your only way in is on a camper bus, which can drop you anywhere along the road for over a hundred miles further. Once off, you just hop down the embankment and make your way into the wild wild west. 

In the first few miles there are campsites open to the public, these are perfect for use as a base camp whilst you obtain back country permits and get your gear in order. Careful though, as these tend to book up months in advance. 

We had one night in one of these sights, and we essentially use it to ensure a good meal, plenty of time to pack the backpacks, get the bear bin in order and double, triple and quadruple check we were ready. The bear bins are a pain. One bin (and ours is a small) takes up most of my pack. It is also heavy, which meant Steph had to take on more weight too in order to balance us out. Its the price you pay for hiking in bear country, especially when there are so many grizzlies around. 

I remember the morning of entering the park as being extraordinarily exciting. Its so rare that anyone these days gets a chance to camp in a true wilderness. We would have an area the size of a small nation to explore as we wished. No phones, no internet, no towns, no people. 

Our bus dropped us off on the grid we had decided using our maps. It was a section of the park which contained some phenomenal mountains which are multicolored and light up in the evening, something Steph liked the idea of. It also was a known hotspot for wildlife including bears, moose and wolves, something I liked the idea of. 

Our plan would be to head towards the Glacier and then move up to high ground and a beautiful glacier view for the nights camp. No set backs, no bear encounters, no problem. 

Find out how it went next time!

(The Full Trip in a Super Short Summary)