7/8/22

I left North Pole and headed down AK-3 to Denali National Park. Sheryl and Lynn both said that the park was just alright. It's packed with people and tour buses and congested with cars plus you can only drive about 15 miles into the park in a private vehicle. The park will only let official park buses enter deep into the park. But since I'm here, I might as well go since it's on the way to the Denali Highway in Cantwell.

https://goo.gl/maps/zoCwGbFDbzjSsTTL6

The ride down to Denali on AK-3 was not bad. The area near Healy was way more populated than I'd imagine. That area is filled with lodging, bicycle, canoe, kayak, and raft rentals, breweries and so on. The actual Denali Park itself was as described - packed with people. That's the rub with these national parks. You want to go when the weather is nice and that would be summer where everyone else is there too. I got onto the Park Road as fast as I could. It was certainly scenic!

Denali is worth the trip but it's also packed with people and cars. I was glad that they limit how deep I could go into the park because I was looking forward to getting out of this crowd and onto the Denali Highway.

About 30 miles south of the park is Cantwell and the start of the Denali Highway. Not only did Sheryl and Lynn both praised the Denali Highway but my friend's cousin Guy and his girlfriend Andrea have both been riding thru Alaska and the Yukon and Northwest Territory for about a month and they both said this road might be the most beautiful of their trip. So given these recommendations, I was super excited to go. Guy did tell me that half of the road is unpaved so that's about 65 miles of unpaved but it was easy compared to the Dalton. Given my experience on the Dalton, I felt pretty confident being on the Denali.

The road was hard packed dirt with light gravel. With my Trailmax Mission tires, it was pretty easy going. It wasn't long until I was confronted with my first view.

To say this road is beautiful is a drastic understatement. The views are majestic on a level that can only be understood by being there in person. I kept thinking about the first people that found this place for the very first time - what they saw and what their reactions were. Were they as blown away as I was?

It wasn't all fun and games on the Denali Highway. Towards the end of the unpaved section there were some mighty washboards. These washboards were way worst than anything on the Dalton and it seemed to go on for miles. Not too much after this wash board section, the paved section started and I was able to cruise thru this part with more ease. There were some great scenery here too.

At the end of the Denali Highway is Paxson and AK-4 also known as the Richardson Highway. 44 miles north on the Richardson will take me to the Lodge. The beginning of the Richardson runs along Summit Lake and the view was just amazing. I was trying to get to the Lodge at a decent time so I didn't stop to take any photos during this stretch and my helmet camera was also out of battery so I don't have any videos either. You'll just have to take my word for it - the Richardson Highway is amazing. The combination of the Denali and Richardson is an amazing ride. Put it on your bucket list!