Our first views of Denali

Today we finally saw the sun, but we had to drive a long way to see it. It rained all night at our campground last night, and when we woke up it was raining, overcast, and foggy. Our first stop was 10 min away at Matanuska Glacier. This is a glacier that you can easily access and walk on with a guide service, but given the weather we just stopped at a viewpoint and walked the 1 mile loop trail. The glacier was nice, but not as impressive as some of the other glaciers we had seen. We were also glad that we had taken the time to stop at Exit Glacier near Seward, which was not part of the original plan. With Exit Glacier, we had nicer weather, a better and more fun hike, and a closer view of the glacier. Still, I think Aialik glacier wins among the glaciers we went to see (there were some cool ones that we saw from the road but couldn't stop to check out).

After our glacier stop (and a snack, of course), we drove toward Palmer and the Parks Highway (which leads to Denali, but is named for George Parks, not the National Park). We stopped at the musk-ox farm to see some musk-oxen, which are used like sheep for their soft coat. Unfortunately, the only way to see them was to go on a 45 minute tour that started 15 minutes after we got there, and we didn't have enough time. We snuck a peek (and a photo) through the fence, then drove to a recreation site near Palmer for lunch and a quick leg-stretching hike. The weather was still miserable, so the hike was pretty messy, but I needed some physical activity after so much driving.

With lunch done and Penelope ready for nap time, we got on the Parks Highway and headed north toward Denali. We passed through Wasilla on the way, but just kept going (it was a small town, nothing special). As we drove north, the weather slowly started to improve, which we were expecting from the weather report. With the bad weather in the South, a sleeping baby in the back, and not much in the way of points of interest before Denali, we decided to push north as far as we could go. Our reservation at the National Park doesn't start until tomorrow, but we wanted to be close and do some hikes in the State Park and National Park before setting up camp tomorrow.

Eventually, the rain stopped and the dark clouds started to break up into nice puffy clouds. As we headed north, we started to see the smaller mountains of the Alaska Range, but no sign of Denali. When we got to the first viewpoint in the Denali State Park, the skies had cleared a lot. It was sunny and warm, and we could see the base of Denali (aka Mt. McKinley), with its peaks just in the clouds. Penelope woke up from her nap, so we had a snack and then walked to the viewing area. The view was great. The peaks of Denali popped in and out of the clouds. Personally, I enjoyed some of the lower mountains more than Denali itself, which is tall and impressive nut not much to look at. I found the lower mountains more aesthetically pleasing, with their sharp peaks and rugged features. Overall, though, it was amazing. We finally got the great weather and great views that we had been hungering for the last few days.

After soaking in as much of the sun and views as we could, we drove 10 minutes up the road to a campground in Denali State Park, which extends off of Denali National Park. It is a nice, wooded campground, not just a parking lot like some of the RV parks. It is also the same place we plan to do some hikes tomorrow, so we should have a nice and leisurely morning tomorrow.

We cooked a totally RV dinner of rice and beans using the stove and microwave (powered by the built-in generator). We are starting to get the hang of the RV lifestyle. After dinner, it was bath-time then bed for Penelope. Now we are enjoying the beautiful, bright sunshine that makes it look like mid-afternoon despite being 9PM. Ah, the joys of Alaska.