Denali Highway Road Trip

With Jared shortly on his way to the desert and I to the AT, we decided to take one more trip, down the Rich to the Denali Highway, and back up the Parks. Neither of us had driven the Denali before, so we were in to see something new.


Perhaps the greatest mile of highway anywhere - the short section that follows along beside Rainbow Ridge.


Jared had rented a kayak so that we could paddle the Tangle Lakes for our first night of camping. I was unfamiliar with the lakes, but they ended up being absolutely beautiful, and placed in a stunning setting.


In my packraft. The raft doesn't do great on flat water, but it holds its own, and it was nice to take it out and continue to experiment with it.


Jared in the kayak. Trolling for fish as we paddled, he caught a grayling and a lake trout.


The fish were to make for a supplement to our dinner along with other food we'd brought. Jared's about to fillet it on some snow near where we ended up camping.


Among other things forgotten, Jared neglected to bring along a beanie, and was forced instead to go for the bedouin look, wrapping his head with his fleece pants. Also forgotten were the poles to the tent, which led to some interesting shelter creations on our two nights camping.


The weather took a turn for the worse towards what were probably the more scenic parts of the Denali Highway, but here's a sample of the view looking north. Among the mountains in the distance are Deborah, Hess, and Hayes.


We spent our second night near Denali National Park. Here's one of our shelter concoctions.


And me crawling into the shelter. It wasn't comfortable, but it kept the mosquitoes out and (probably) would have kept the rain out, too.

Even with the weather, the ride down the Denali Highway was incredible. Certainly a place to return to for further adventuring.