September 2013
It was a last minute decision – to go somewhere that we had
not been before. We have lived in Alaska
19 years and have never driven the Denali Highway in central Alaska. The Denali Highway runs east and west between
the two main roads (north and south) that connect Anchorage with
Fairbanks. Paxson and Cantwell are the
two towns on each side of the highway.
The road is mostly dirt and gravel and has fairly low vehicle
traffic. In mid-September Mrs. T Bob had
a spur of the moment desire to drive the Denali Highway. So, we jumped in the motorhome and took off.
It is interesting to note that this road was the original
road from Anchorage to Denali National Park.
In 1971 the Parks Highway was built as a more direct route from
Anchorage to Denali National Park and Fairbanks. The Wikipedia article gives
a good description and background of the highway. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has a brochure
that describes the highway and highlights along the drive.
Due to the fact that we keep the motorhome stocked and
mostly ready to go- on a rainy September
evening we just jumped in and started driving north. We decided to drive the Glenn Highway up
through Glennallen, Alaska. It was
raining hard most of the drive and you could start to smell the usual scents of
autumn in the air. We stopped at the
newly found Tok
Thai Truck in Glennallen, for dinner, before heading north on the
Richardson Highway.
As the sun was getting lower on the horizon the rain finally
turned from heavy drops to light sprinkles.
Recent road repair had eliminated many of the pavement frost heaves
speeding up travel. We arrived in Paxson
as the sun started touching the horizon we peeled off the Richardson Highway
onto the Denali Highway – 20 more miles until the campground.
The highway is paved for the first 20 miles and snakes you up
high on the shoulder of rolling hills with an excellent views of multiple
glaciers, Summit Lake, and the home of The
Arctic Man. We immediately noticed
that there were pullouts on both sides of the road, about every half mile,
where people were camped. These pullouts
continued the entire 135 miles (217 km) of the highway. After driving about 20 miles from Paxson, we
crossed a bridge over a swift moving river connecting two of the Tangle
Lakes. On the far side of the bridge we
experienced the transition from paved to gravel road. The turnoff for the BLM campground at Tangle
Lakes was another 100 feet further. The
Tangle Lakes Archeological District occupies both sides of the road in the area
approaching Tangle Lakes (~MP 16-38). These
archaeological sites show evidence of ancient peoples who had inhabited this
area and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Off-road vehicle travel is limited to
designated roads and trails in this area.
The Tangle Lakes campground consists of two loops for
campsites bordered by a small hill on one side and Round Tangle Lake on the
other. Most of the campsites were occupied
during our visit (our visit was near the beginning of the hunting season). The small brush and grass in the area had
turned yellow, red, and orange with the cooler temperatures (there are no large
trees until you get near the Susitna River).
A strong wind from the southwest made it feel very cold.
The following morning we woke to a slight breeze and partial
sun. A hiking trail diagonals up the
hill near the campground and we went for a short hike. We had good views of Round Tangle Lake,
campsites, and the Denali Highway heading east.
We turned around when we got to the ridge due to very strong winds in
that area. On the way down the hill we
noticed wild blueberry bushes. We
reached down to pick a few and then noticed that blueberry bushes were
everywhere. Other than our pockets, we
had no containers. We filled up our
pockets and ate blueberries as we walked down the hill.
We left the campground about 10:00 AM and started driving
west on the Denali Highway.
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| Blueberries hiding on the trail |
The road was
in good shape (for a gravel road), much better than I expected. Even though it was raining for us the
previous day there were very few puddles in the road – very few washboards
also. With that being said, there were a
few areas of the road that were rough with ruts and large rocks in the road. Overall, in a motorhome, we averaged about 30
miles per hour.
Stopping on the hill leading into the Maclaren basin,
overlooking the Maclaren river (at ~4,000 feet elevation), revealed a large glacial
carved valley covered in red carpet with a few gold highlights. The highway, with multiple hunting camps
occupying the turnouts, could be recognized for miles. Multiple mountain peaks, lakes, and glaciers
could also be seen in the distance.
After crossing the Maclaren river bridge, the next five miles of road
were probably the roughest on the trip with potholes and softball sized rocks
scattered in the road.
Multiple small lakes could be seen just off the road, many
containing different types of wildlife including swans. Around mile 59 the road rises up onto a small
ridge known as an “esker” and continues for about 20 miles. According to the BLM brochure, eskers are a
ridge of silt and rocks that were deposited by a stream flowing within the glacier
(that formed the valley) and left as elongated mounds. The eskers in this valley are supposed to be
some of the best examples in North America.
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| Denali Highway driving on Esker |
About the time the eskers were ending, we started to see
taller trees including evergreens (which we had not seen since leaving Paxson). The road turns north where it eventually
crosses a large bridge over the Susitna River.
After crossing the river, near milepost 85.5 (from Paxson), there is one
of the many turnouts on the road. There
is a hill just behind the turnout that only takes a few minutes of hiking to
reach the summit. On top of this hill is
an excellent view of the headwaters of the Susitna River and multiple mountain
peaks and glaciers. With binoculars it would
be easy to spot the different wildlife living in the large valley.
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| Susitna River Bridge (looking East) |
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| Headwaters of Susitna River |
Another BLM campground at mile 104 is bordered by a river
with rapids and fast moving current. The
area also included tall trees and a rocky landscape. This campground would be worth checking out
on a return trip.
The pavement started about three miles before arriving at
Cantwell. When we first started the trip
I thought I would be happy to see the pavement after 130 miles of dirt road
(especially driving a motorhome). However,
when we did hit the pavement I was disheartened because I knew the exploring
was over.
Overall it was a great trip.
Much of the Denali Highway reminded me of the highway in Denali National
Park that leads to Wonder Lake and close-up views of Mount McKinley. There was more traffic than I expected but
not overwhelming – much of it being hunters traveling to camps. This would be an ideal trip for an
adventure motorcycle. On the way home, a short trip into Talkeetna
for dinner was a nice diversion. The
entire two day trip was about 600 miles in length and has been added to our
list of short Alaska trip recommendations.
