Denali National Park – Bucket List Of A Lifetime

by Don · Published August 1, 2021 · Updated November 14, 2021

A visit to Denali National Park is one of the greatest experiences anyone can have. It is true Alaskan wilderness with wildlife that will blow your mind.

For most people there are two ways to enter the park. You can ride a bus in or you can enter the lottery every year for a pass to drive your own vehicle. You can also get a permit to backpack…I think I’m good in a vehicle.

Remember that date I told you about? The one where we went to Koots? Well, as you can see, it’s going pretty well. Turns out Heather entered the lottery and won a pass to drive into the park. Guess who she invited to come along? Yup, Luna and Copper!

In all the trips I’ve taken to Denali I have never been in the park on a clear day. It has always been cloudy or raining so I didn’t get my hopes up.

The Drive

The drive up was great. We stopped in Talkeetna to stretch our legs by walking on the sand bars in the river and to grab a bite to eat. We also stopped at the Alaska Veteran’s Memorial along the way.

We made it to the hotel before dinner time and got reservations at the 49th State Brewing Company which turned out being one of the highlights of the trip, though not for the reason you might think.

As we looked through the menu we had a difficult time deciding what to eat so we asked our waitress, a cute young lady, to help. When the food came out she was spot on. Great stuff. Then she came back to check on us. I told her she was spot on. I can’t recall Heather’s exact words but I certainly caught the implication. From the way the waitress’s back stiffened as she quickly scurried off I was pretty sure she did, too.

I looked at Heather, “You have no idea what you just said to her, do you?”, while I tried to contain my laughter.

“No. What?”

“You just invited her back to our room for a threesome.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

“NO!”

I just nodded as the laughter came peeling out.

Heather called the waitress back. She approached nervously. We all got a good laugh when Heather explained what she meant. Yup, the waitress heard it the same way I did! Highlight of the trip!

The Park

I looked outside first thing in the morning. Clear blue skies!!! It only took 48 years and who knows how many trips up, but I was finally going to see the mountain up close instead of from Anchorage!

We took our time and had a great day. I took the pictures of the grizzly in the water without even leaving the drivers seat. Others we took from pullouts along the way. Our pass only got us partway into the park so we got out and walked for a bit from the turnaround point and took pictures along the river. Some folks warned us that there was a grizzly in the immediate area acting aggressively. Great… I was carrying bear spray but I don’t want to get close enough to another bear to ever use it.

Fortunately a park ranger came along to assist. He’d heard about the grizzly and arrived just in time. Just ahead of us the grizzly emerged from the woods and crossed the road. The ranger drove in front of us and scared it into the fields on the other side. We waited until he gave us the all clear to return to the car.

There was one more grizzly walking down the middle of the road on our drive back, but that picture didn’t quite come out as you’ll see below.

Oddly enough we didn’t see a single moose over the entire three day trip…until we pulled into the driveway at home. Go figure.

Overall a great trip. I look forward to doing it again.