Wal-Mart to Denali

Day 37, Friday, 7/24: This morning we decided not to make coffee and just walked to a Carl’s Jr. for breakfast. Wanted to be at the Polaris dealer by 9:00 when they open. Got there a bit early so we played another couple of games of cribbage. No problem returning the item and off we went. A guy that works there told us about a place to ride the RZR so we located it but decided to head on down the highway toward Denali Park. Bob put more coolant in the truck as the light came on again. Not sure why it is doing that….

Nice uneventful drive with some pretty awesome scenery the closer we got to the park. Drove through the Denali Village (outside the park) where there are tons of tourist/gift shop type places/people and we just kept going! The first campground is called Riley Creek and it is quite nice with lots of room between sites. We had heard several different stories about how you have to make reservations a year ahead or no you just go and won’t have a problem. Luckily it was the latter. For a Friday afternoon we were surprised that we had a half dozen or so sites to choose from. Found one that is right on a river (well, down an incline a bit) and you can hear it from the camp and actually see it too if you look through the trees. It’s on the edge of a loop and we don’t have anyone really close to us. We paid for 3 nights but might stay longer. Fortunately Bob has a Golden Access Passport that gets us in the park free and we only paid half price for the camping which made it $14 a night. Of course, no hook-ups but that isn’t a big deal as we are self-sufficient and there is a dump station and water if we need it. It is a little windy and chilly this evening (need a sweatshirt) and we plan to have a campfire, a glass of wine and BBQ some brauts. Tomorrow we will investigate the park. They have a bus stop here in the campground for the shuttle buses that take you into the park so we will probably take advantage of that. We could also walk or ride our bikes. Will see how far it is and what kind of terrain. They do discourage people from driving in the park as parking is very limited.