Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Denali Highway trip

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to drive the Denali Highway. In spite of what you might think, the Denali Highway is not the road into Denali National Park. The Denali Highway is a gravel road that runs east of the park, from Cantwell to Paxson. It goes right across the Alaska Range and is closed in winter due to the lack of maintenance.

Labor Day weekend was a great time to go, because all the leaves were turning and the fall colors were fabulous. The only drawback was that there were a lot of hunters. We had difficulty finding room at the camp grounds -- in fact, on the second night we decided to camp by the side of the road, and we still had trouble finding an available spot. Still, the trip was so beautiful that it was really worth it. Here are some pics.
Denali.

An early stream.

Ethan in front of Mt. Deborah.

A rainbow from the showers on the second day.
Early morning fog over the Tangle Lakes.

Tangle Lakes.

The whole family.

5 comments:

Farmer Jo said...

WOW! That is beautiful!

craftosaurus said...

I love the family portrait! :)

Lynn said...

Awesome photos! We wanted to go that way when we were there, but we had to sign an agreement with the rental company that we WOULD NOT take that highway. What a shame - it would have been great!

Henna

L said...

Thanks guys! Lynn, the highway wasn't too bad -- certainly not as bad as I expected, but I could see how it *could* be really bad. It doesn't surprise me that the rental companies won't let you drive that way.

KellyMellyBoBellyBananaFanna said...

I'm in awe that you got to see that in person...