Had about 9 hours of sleep last night even though I didn't go to work yesterday. Approximately a month ago at this time, I had no home and was sleeping in the Rodeo out along the highway south of Anchorage. Ever since then I haven't really been anxious to go out and spend time in the great outdoors overnight even though I know it was accomplishable.
I headed out after stopping at Grand Auto Supply to look for a roof box. Headed north to Eagle River and stopped at a Chevron to fill up, check fluids, and air up the tires. A little kid was trying to air up a flat tire on his bike, but it needed a patch. I was thinking about offering to patch it up for him, but I didn't have my bicycle tools or patch kit. (Later on I realized that I did have an old patch kit in the Rodeo.) North of Eagle River, there was a 4th of July celebration. People going around with small American flags.
From Anchorage, it was 350 miles to Fairbanks. The goal for this trip was to visit Denali National Park, home of Mount McKinley. (Mount McKinley is the highest point in North America. A couple of months ago, two tour guides and a ranger fell to their deaths, and only 2 bodies have been found.) After driving about 190 miles, I thought I had already passed the road to Denali National Park, and headed back. After 70 miles driving back, I felt I just went back for nothing because this wasn't correct either. So it was 140 mile loop. I had mistakened Denali State Park for Denali National Park.
On Highway 1 North to Denali there were 2 motorcyclist, and one had a Hell's Angel patch on the back of his leather jacket. He was kinda older. I've always wondered if I would ever run into a mortorcycle gang while driving. Don't think these guys were in a gang though.
At 10:00 pm, I arrived at Denali. The first noticable sign was "all campsite full." I knew then and there it would be a night in the Rodeo.
Dropped by visitor center to clean trash out of truck. There were "no camping" signs on trash cans; therefore, no overnight camping was allowed in the large visitor parking lot. Then I left the visitor center and drove down the only road in Denali. Most of the traffic was tourist buses.
After about 12 miles, the road stopped at a booth which only allowed commercial vehicles to enter. Suddenly, this was the end of the trip to Mount McKinley. The lady park ranger said, "[The closest to Mount McKinley the buses go was 37 miles away from the base of the mountain.... Since there were no camping spaces left, I could sleep at the turnouts.]"
So I headed back to one of the turnouts. Tomorrow, I would find the turnouts in the park wasn't what she meant. As midnight approached, I took pictures of the midnight sun in Denali. Also changed the pcv-valve on the Rodeo. As I looked through the paperwork in the glove compartment, a document extending the Rodeo warranty till 80,000 miles popped up. What a pleasant surprise- hope it's still valid since the original owner purchased it.
A little after midnight, I headed back to Wiley Creek at the entrance of Denali. This was the only campsite in the whole park. Surprisingly, for a park this large, only 100 camp sites were available. (I've been told this park was popular year round.) After parking down by the creek, I walked along the creek and snuck into the woods for a really short hike. Also suprisingly, hiking trails were very limited. In the Wiley Creek dirt parking lot, there were plenty of vehicles parked, but no one in them. They might be with other campers at the campsites or off on tour.
After leaving the Wiley Creek parking lot, I drove towards the camping site to check and see if any were available. There were a few spots unattended, but they had registration tags. I didn't want to set up a tent and go to bed, and have people coming back claiming their campsite.
So I headed back to the exact turnout earlier to go to bed. After trying to go uncomfortably to sleep in the front, I jumped in the backseat. Went to bed with the sun still out. It was daylight outside in the middle of the night. A true 24 hour sunlight experience. When I lived in Alaska as a child, I couldn't stay up this late. But now, I have experienced one of the epitomes of summer in Alaska and the north. Who would have thought 20 years later I would be back again, sleeping out of a truck.
