Our 2007 Driving Tour Of Alaska - Denali, Day 12
May 19, Day 12. Up and out by 9:00 AM. The Dinkins whom we met earlier had described driving on Stampede Road for a different view of McKinley and seeing a lot of wildlife. We decided to drive out the road and set out for Healy. Stampede Road turns off of AK-3 a few miles beyond Healy. We found the road and headed out it. The pavement soon ran out and we were on a gravel road. This, too, soon ran out and we found ourselves on an un-maintained dirt track with large rocks protruding from the surface. We had seen virtually no wildlife and the scenery consisted of a mountain range in the distance. The rental car agency had cautioned us against using their cars on "gravel roads" and we figured this was what they meant and why they restrict usage. So we turned around and made our way back to the highway.
On the way back, we decided to explore a little so we took a gravel road, the Healy Spur, along a feeder to the Nenana River and drove to the end of it. We saw no wildlife but did see old coal mines, a power plant and other interesting stuff. We turned around at the (well, almost) end and headed back to AK-3 and drove to Glitter Gulch. After checking out some of the gift shops, we went to the Park Visitor's center and caught a bus to the sled dog kennels where there was to be a sled dog demonstration.
Sled dogs provide the main means of accessing the interior of the park during the winter. They have been used for policing against poachers since the park was first established. There is only one road into the park and it is unusable during the winter. Sleds pulled by these dogs are the only means of transportation around the six million acres of park and preserve during the winter.
After wandering around petting the dogs and looking at the historic equipment and other legacy displays, we attended a lecture followed by a demonstration in which the dogs pulled a sled with "helper" wheels around the compound. The lecture was interesting and dealt with the value of the dogs to the park service, breeding, training and information about some of the dogs and personnel - especially some of the early "mushers". The demonstration made it clear that the dogs weren't being forced to pull the sleds, they really appear to enjoy it. This seems to be their main pleasure in life. I got a picture of Dot with the sled and dogs.
We rode the bus back to the Visitors' Center and had lunch at the grill. We then decided we'd ride out the park road as far as we could now that the bus system was operating. Savage River Permit Station was now the end of the visitor accessible portion of the road. We had already discovered that you could see essentially the same wildlife in the first ten miles as through the rest of the drive except the bears at Teklina. So, we slowly wended our way out the park road to Savage River. Along the way, we encountered the "Headquarters Moose" again, as well as the usual cast of wildlife characters - who never get "old hat" but do tend to become common. The only thing I bothered to photograph were some Caribou at one of the several Caribou sightings. These were quite close to the highway.
After driving out and back on the park road, we had dinner at Salmon Bake again and went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.