Friday-Saturday, August 5-6: Denali Highway

 The name of the highway doesn’t mean much other than it’s a bad road that starts in Denali Borough just outside of Denali National Park. Actually, just the first 65 miles is bad, full of teeth jarring potholes, while the other half is paved. We mostly drove the teeth jarring part! After a few miles we disconnected the Jeep as the mud and bad road made stopping and maneuvering difficult. By then it was so covered with mud that Betsy couldn’t see out the windows. I had to laugh several times when avoiding huge potholes with both front tires was impossible and the entire coach shook from the impacts. I wondered how anyone could drive this road, an Alaskan State Highway, and not damage their vehicle. Twenty three miles down the road we stopped at Seattle Creek where there is a nice parking/camping area along the creek. In 2019 we stayed here for two nights that Betsy couldn’t remember as she was I’ll with some unknown malady (Covid, we think, before they knew what it was). This time she’s okay. However, Larry and I left her to go exploring. 

We drove a track through the bush about a mile or so until it got so muddy and close-in that I thought it better to turn around. Later we drove another track that seemed to go up a stream bed. Another turnaround! 

The next day all three of us drove east towards two lodges we’d been to before. 

The first, with the Sluice Box bar, was still closed but the new caretakers were there. We told them we were looking for coffee and pie and wondered when they might be open. They said to come back at 1:00 and pie would just be coming out of the oven. So we moved on. 

The second lodge boasted beer, burger, and fries for $20. We stopped. The burger was good, the beer out of a bottle, and the fries were ten minutes late, but we were happy. There’s not much to complain about 65 miles down a dirt road! They also had a bar in the original cabin complete with beaver and Martin pelts, and a dogsled team down the hill. We visited both. Their saving grace was a set of tour busses that arrived between noon and three pm for lunch and drinks. I’m sure that’s what paid the bills. 

The bar at the Grizzly Den Lodge. 

Proud mama sled dog. 

Betsy at the bar where we bought pie. 

Humor in the Alaskan wilderness. 

Bridge across the raging river. 

The result of going too fast on the Denali Highway? Broken rear axle. 

Along the road we saw lots of campers out for the youth and disabled caribou hunt as well as a daily Jeep tour, and several Denali Tours busses headed to the lodges for an outing. 

On our way back we stopped for our pie, only to be slightly disappointed when the new pies were still hours from completion. We bought a frozen rhubarb strawberry pie for a bargain $38.00, cheap considering eight pieces from our pie would have cost $56.00! Betsy had pie for dinner two nights in a row! 

There were quite a few fishermen who stopped at our creek to fish for Arctic Grayling. We didn’t see anyone catching fish, but we were excited at the prospect. 

After two nights at Seattle Creek it was time to move on to Fairbanks.