Denali National Park & Surrounding Area

Saturday we dropped Mitch off at the airport and then headed south towards Denali Park. The weather was the typical July Alaska weather with rain showers and dark clouds holding over us.

The park is about a two hour drive, but I felt it was neccessary to drive a little farther to the town of Cantwell to explore a few of the small mountain run off streams I found on a map.

As we drove through the town of Cantwell, the storm clouds dropped over us and a few showers poured down upon us. I had all of my cold weather gear, but I would have fished anyways. The streams were running high, cold and clear. After a few casts I managed to land one of several Graylings. All of them were fairly larger fish around 15" one or two were exceptional at 18". I fished for about two hours and then we decided to eat lunch in the truck to avoid the rain and watch the river flow by.

After lunch, we drove up the Parks Highway to the enterance to the Denali National Park. This is one of the places I have always wanted to go to, but I always thought it would happen after I retired. The park is clean & busy but the roads were nice and few people driving as you can actually go farther into the park if you ride one of the tour buses. Since this was just a day trip we chose to ride into the park in our truck up to the turn around area at Savage River.

The only downside is the long drives. Most of the things I want to see are a few hundred miles away. If we are doing day drives you only spend a few hours where you want to be. But let's face it, the drive is usually faster going there than comming back. I know when we get the house I will not be able to do these things so it is better I get to do them now.