Denali Day 2

Day 38, Saturday, 7/25: The campsite we chose is really sloped and we had to use quite a few blocks to level out the camper. The people next door are leaving today so we decided to see if we can move there since it is fairly level and then we can just unhook the trailer. We are in an ‘A’ site and it is a ‘B’ site so will have to make arrangements with the registration people.

After breakfast we walked to the Mercantile where the camp registration is located and they were fine with us moving but had to change everything in the computer. Since a ‘B’ site is cheaper she had to give us a refund and then we paid for an additional 2 nights, making it 5 nights here. Ended up costing $11 a night for the ‘B’ site. They mark them according to length, ‘A’ being longer for bigger rigs. We unhooked the trailer so now we can use the truck/camper if we want to drive around. In fact, we did drive to the Visitor’s Center to check things out. It is really different than we expected. Unless you are hiking or backpacking, you have to take shuttles or buses into the park because they don’t allow personal vehicles. There is one campground about 16 miles in but once there you have to use the shuttles to go anywhere.

We decided to catch the shuttle to see a sled dog demonstration and the line was so long it took 3 shuttle buses to fit everyone in!!! The demonstration was at the Park Headquarters, about a 5 minute drive from the visitor’s center. They have 25 to 30 dogs each in their own pens with neat log dog houses with their names on them. Some were sleeping and others wanted to be petted. The park ranger gave a talk and the dogs started howling and barking, knowing that some of them would be chosen to pull the sled! They picked 5 dogs, 2 in the back (power), 1 in the middle (turn dog), and 2 in the front (lead). He drove them around a circle walkway and boy were they fast! 17 to 20 miles an hour. It was fun to watch and the dogs were so excited. It is the only sled dog group in any of the National Parks and you could tell the dogs were well taken care of. They have one or two paid park employees and the rest are volunteers.

After we got back to the visitor’s center we decided to get an ice cream cone since we had seen lots of people walking around with them. Then we drove to the Wilderness Access Center where you can purchase tickets for the shuttles and bus tours. We haven’t decided what we want to do yet.

Came back to camp and enjoyed a campfire. It isn’t as windy this evening and a bit warmer too