As I wrote earlier today, the return trip promises to be just as exciting as the outward bound trip, and based on this first day's experience, that is turning out to be the case.
After leaving Teklanika Camp, we drive the 30 miles to the park entrance along the park road. The views going back were more extraordinary than when we came, as often happens on return trips when you get to see quite a different version of what you saw going the other way. After gassing up, we set off for the 120 mile, dirt and gravel Denali Highway, 20 miles to the south.
I distinctly recall driving the Denali Highway in 2001 with Leben and Erde. But it was raining the whole day and we saw no scenery. The road was terrible, I recall, and that's after we had just driven the Dempster Highway and Dalton Highway. We spent the wet night in what resembled a gravel pit camp toward the end of the road at Paxson. All three of those memories have no been replaced with three radically different ones.
First of all, we had a clear day of driving this time. There was not a moment during the four-hour drive when I was not in awe of what I was looking at. I just wish that someone else was driving. To the north, perhaps 15 miles distant across a valley, or plain, of evergreens and lush fall colors the Alaska range unfurled itself for the full distance. I was almost in a state of shock the scenes were so awesome. How right I was to give this road a second chance. Without a doubt, it is among the top three roads I have traveled for its beauty.
As for the road, if it was terrible 12 years ago, today, until McClaren Summit, 100 miles along the road, it is by far the worst road I have ever driven. I almost want to say I regret driving it, but since we all made it off tbe road safely, will not. The road resembles a washboard, riddled with so many potholes that every piece of my Defender got a through workout. You cannot see s the potholes coming as they blend not the road. When it come upon them, usually continuously, it is impossible to avoid hitting them. If you have a short wheel are like I do, when you hit the potholes going rest than 25, your vehicle will surely emerge from the holes at a radically different vector than going in. I had to drive the road with two hands tight on the steering wheel. Of you lose control of the vehicle emerging from the potholes, you had better be in the center of the road. Fortunately, the road was empty of vehicle the while 120 miles,,except for the hundreds of vehicles with their ATVs parked along the way, waiting for the caribou herd to come through. Of course, an empty 120-mile road is not what you want if your vehicle breaks down, so on the fly i made sure my satellite phone was fully charged. Better safe than sorry.
Fortunately, I did not need the sat phone and the Defender performed admirably. At 7:30, after one break fkr ghe dogs during the drive, we pulled not Tangle Lake Camp. If this is the same place I stayed in in 2001, and it has to be, I was so wrong about it. It's a windy open area overlooking a lake with a lot of wind. The sunset was gorgeous, as my photo shows. By the way, my camera's battery was recharging today so I could not take any photos but this one. If I took them at the same rate as i took on the other roads, I'd still be on the road, so I guess that's a good tradeoff.
For the first time on this trip, I had to accept someone's kind offer to help me set up the tent. There's one chore in setting up this new NorthFace tent of mine that is impossible to do alone in the wind. Patrick Hallihan of Homer Alaska, who was here with his family, saw me struggling and came by to offer help, which I quickly accepted. Patrick and his family get the prize for being the hardiest campers by far I have encountered on this trip.
I have two days to drive 800 miles to Skagway to catch the ferry that will eventually drop us off at Vancouver Island. I hope that those drives are uneventful, but they never seem to be.
Sunset at Our Tangle Lake as i set up our camp.
Ed, from somewhere on the road
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