Our excitement was building as we headed on to Denali. On our drive here we drove through some funky places – classic Alaska. One was an old hotel that was built in the shape of an Igloo, Igloo City, that has now been abandoned. Its parking lot seems to have been taking over by RVers.
Alaska Day driving day 8 recap:
Road Name: Denali Highway
Road Type: 2-lane
Road Conditions: Generally excellent but with some construction just south of the national park, we lucked out as we did not have to wait long for the pilot cars, but there can be some longer delays
Miles Today: 144
Driving Time: 3:00
Total Miles in Alaska: 1727
Total Miles since entering Canada: 3721
A little hitchhiker also tried to come on board.
Our initial stay in Denali National Park & Preserve was at the campground nearest the entrance – Riley Campground.
It has been pretty rainy these first few days which we are hoping means that the weather will clear and we will have some sunny days as we enter deeper into the park. We have not yet seen the mountain.
But we have had some great omens: we saw our first caribou since we entered Alaska, and also saw our first bull moose.
And the rain also gave us a gift: a bright, beautiful double rainbow. We stood in awe in the middle of the road for a long time staring at (and photographing) the rainbows, which seemed to last an eternity. Breathtaking.
There is more to come, but we are headed to a campground 29 miles inside the park where there is no cell signal whatsoever. We will be there for seven days and are super excited!
Stay tuned for more!
~ Brenda
I know you will have fun! Looking forward to all your adventures and photos.
Yes, we did, one more post coming later today – so gorgeous!
Post card perfect! Thank you so much for sharing.
Te
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Wow! That double rainbow is amazing. it is hard enought to just see one complete rainbow but two complete rainbows is awesome. Lucky you:) What a beautiful, magnificent creature that bull moose is:) Have a wonderful time in the park. Can’t wait for photos!
It lasted sooo long, it was really amazing!
Good omens, we hope, portend, we hope, continued good travels. Godspeed, Friends, and do let us know about winter travels re: rendezvousing. xoxo
Yes, yes and yes!
Seven days at Teklanika! You will be in heaven! Wishing you good weather while you are there.
It was! Trying to catch up on posts now 🙂
Unbelievable rainbow!
Nice meeting you at Teklanika! Can’t wait to see the photos! Really enjoyed reading your blog and looking at your photos from your all your adventures. Tell Angel hello and safe travels to you all.
It was nice to meet you too. Glad you enjoyed the blog, we are still working on Denali posts, it was such a stunning place! Safe travels to you.
The anticipation is building, and I can’t wait to see how Denali unfolds for you. We had been thinking that Riley would be a good choice for the first few nights in the park, and your post has convinced me to start there. I loved the double rainbow photo. Just gorgeous.
Riley is a nice campground, they will reserve A or B campsites based on your sites, and then you pick from those available for your letter. Check out is at 11a.m. fyi. You probably know this but there are no decent grocery stores nearby only little ones, so stock up before hand!