Western Portion of Denali Highway

 Friday & Saturday, June 16 & 17 

Started with morning hike on Friday and then drove toward Cantwell, stopping as soon as all of the beeps indicated we were getting cell service again. We returned calls here, and it turned out to be another beautiful place to pull over and stop, with a great hike off to the south. On the other side of the road and all around us really was Ahtna land requiring permission to use those resources, so important to stay on the trail. Very warm day, trail was steep in spots. 

From Ahtna.com: "Historically, the Ahtna people were semi-nomadic and extensive travelers, living in small groups of 20 to 40 people. They continually moved from place to place, following food sources according to the seasons. Annual summer fish camps for the entire family and winter villages served as their base camps. Although most Ahtna are no longer nomadic, historical traditions and ways of life, especially the practice of a subsistence lifestyle, continue to this day. . . The Ahtna region encompasses the entire Copper River Basin and is bordered by the Alaska Range to the north, the Canadian border to the east, Denali National Park to the west, and the Chugach Mountains to the south. Ahtna owns 624,105 acres within National Park Service (NPS) Unit Boundaries (622,000 acres in Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve and 2,105 acres within Denali National Park and Preserve)." 

The next day we headed into Cantwell, expecting to be able to replenish provisions after 8 days on the road - and there was nothing! We did laundry at the Vitus stop, but they don't have their liquor license yet to sell beer and wine and had no fresh food to speak of - more of a convenience store and gas station. While the dryer was going, I found bakery racks out back for the things I like to line dry! 

We decided to go north 21 miles to the Grizzly Bear Resort, which had a liquor store - priorities after all - to get some more wine and beer for the remainder of our trip, since the nearest place south was 100 miles away in Trapper Creek! So 42 miles later, we were headed in the right direction again! 

Kira was mostly comfortable on this trip - she had two spots for riding in the RV, mostly in my lap but occasionally on top of the seat back cushion right behind Brian. After any hike, she could be found on this pad that we brought for her.

We were kind of sad to leave the Denali Highway. It was a beautiful trip, and I think it is one that we will make again, for sure. We know that people come up for blueberries, and we could see they are a couple of weeks away from ripe - and of course for the caribou migration - we heard it is crazy busy then. This was a nice time to be here - lots of space to appreciate on our own.