A warm and dry winter helped contribute to the Denali Park road being melted out early this spring. I thought that this would be the perfect chance for me to test my dream of becoming a cross-country biker. I also was eager to winter camp again after my positive experience camping on the Castner glacier.
Within 1/2 mile of starting out we saw a bear down in the river valley. The bears are out regardless of whether the snow has all melted. The animals we saw were concentrated around the stream beds and were turning over rocks (looking for insects?)
The first day of biking was much more brutal than I expected. The gravel road is smooth enough for riding, but the grade was a relentless uphill for most of the day.
The one animal I really hoped to see was ptarmigan. I was not disappointed.
The top of Sable Pass meant that we were finally reaching into the heart of the mountains!
Approaching polychrome pass was mountain stage #2
We came across a group of about 11 rams, and there was no room to move out of their way! We had a cliff on one side and a rock wall on the other, and the rams were not going to leave the road just for us.
We stepped to the side close to the rock wall and stood behind our bikes to watch the Dall sheep pass. When they moved you could appreciate how strong they were!
We made camp just past polychrome pass, where we had a view of Denali and found the ptarmigan breeding headquarters. Their calls are so funny, and their posturing is so goofy, that it was very entertaining to watch the ptarmigan during dinner.
Having a late dinner at about 10 pm
Evening alpenglow with Denali in the background
Ground squirrels were abundant, and one even made a hole in the middle of the road!
We came across a bear suddenly around the corner. Luckily, he was frightened of us and our bikes and hightailed it off the road.
The next morning we headed out towards the Eielson Visitor Center to get a closer view of the big mountains.
The uphill sections were more brutal. The road is very undulating, but I think that makes traveling harder because you still need to climb big hills on the way back!
A great view of Denali once we crossed Stony Hill
The view from Eielson was spectacular! You feel so close to the mountain
Action shot!
The female ptarmigan are a little bit less showy than the males, and they also skulk around in the bushes while the males display on open snow patches.
Our campsite location - can you see the little red tent?
We found a group of ewes on the way back
The red feathers on the ptarmigan run along the head in two crests, which they can raise when they start calling
One final ptarmigan picture - they always get the last word!
How many days did you camp for? Did you do the entire trail? My husband and I going to do the same thing in a week!
ReplyDeleteWhen we did our ride, we drove in to the rest area at Mile 30 and biked from there. It took us two nights/three days to bike to Eielson Visitor Center and back. We found that mountain bikes loaded down with camping gear were slower than we had anticipated... but I think that the most varied and stunning terrain is in between Mile 30 and Eielson. Camping just after Polychrome Pass allowed us to leave our gear behind while we biked to the visitor center and back, and it was a relief to be unladen for a day. I hope you have nice weather for your trip! Seems like the road should be in good shape after an early snowmelt.
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