Day 34- On To Denali

It never fails. I can go to the Laundromat, check out the washer and dryer availability, go back to the camper, grab the basket and supplies and get back quickly only to find the place is now standing room only and there’s a wait for machines. That was almost the case this morning. I was the first person in today, grabbed the two washers I needed, got things going and went to take my shower. I was gone about 20 minutes and when I returned, much cleaner than before, the place was mobbed and there were people waiting for washers. While I was waiting for the laundry to finish, Carl used the time to install our new brake away line which theoretically trips the trailer brakes into the on position when or if the trailer should ever decide it’s had enough of our company and go it’s own direction. This would be bad all the way around so just like insurance, we buy one hoping we never have to use it. He also installed the new bumper plugs which keep our sewer hose in place as we travel down the road. I was gone so long, he thought, he closed up the camper, cranked up jack stands, brought in the slide out and stashed stuff for travel. When I came back all we had to do was back under, install the load distribution bars and return the shower key to reclaim our $5.00 deposit. As luck would have it, there was a boy sitting at a table full of baked goods, fresh baked bread, cookies and frosted cinnamon buns. And you know, two cinnamon buns were just exactly $5.00. Now how convenient is that? For the boy, I mean. we had a short drive today, only 130 miles but I managed to kill a couple extra hours with photo stops and of course we had to have lunch. Those buns weren’t getting any younger, you know. We arrived at Denali National Park And Wildlife Preserve about 2:00PM, checked in at the registration desk and proceeded the 13 ½ miles from the front “gate” to Savage River Campground. The gate is in quotations because there is no gate. Unlike other parks where they take your money or check out your pass credentials, this park pre-charges you $20.00 per car when you make your campground reservations. We also found out they charge you $20.00 per car when you book a tour. Neat, huh? Anyway, since we had purchased an all park annual pass when we ere at Yellowstone, the very nice young man who checked us in refunded $40.00 to us. That was a nice surprise. The campground is very quiet, only room for 34 units, a mixture of tents, trailers and driving units. There is only another 1 ½ miles of park roads which can be driven by private vehicle at this time of year. The sky had become overcast, almost mean looking and I expected a shower at any moment. Carl was already bored so we grabbed the camera and took a short walk down by the Savage River to scout out possible McKinley sightings or any animals who may be using the winding river bottom as a travel corridor. We didn’t see a single foot of the 20,320 foot mountain. The clouds were just too low. In fact we’ve found out that 70% of the visitors to the park never see the mountain. I don’t like those statistics. While at the river’s edge, we saw plenty of scat (poop) from moose, rabbit and bear. We saw and heard many song birds and even discovered a snowshoe hare hiding in the thick alders growing near the river. After supper, we walked a short distance to the amphitheater to listen to one of the Rangers talk about Grizzly Bears and how they “make a living” in the park year round. The program lasted about an hour, we sang a song, heard an Athabascan legend about unfaithful husbands and wives who find out about them and were instructed visually about the bear cub mortality rate. Then it was back to the camper for the night. Who am I kidding? It doesn’t get dark here this time of year.