June 8 Peggy and I got up at 7:00 and started packing up the camper. We were on our way out of the campground about 8:30. We drove the 29 miles from the Teklanika Campground to the Riley area to check out the Denali clothing. Either they never have much in stock or they hadn’t gotten this season’s delivery yet as the pickings were very slim. Hopefully we can find a store in Anchorage that has some Denali NP wares.
As we left the park I felt pretty good about our 4 day stay to a point where I felt I was quite over-reactive about the 1st day we were here. The resulting wildlife viewing was fantastic, and even not seeing the summit of Mt. McKinley wasn’t that disappointing.
As we drove south towards Wasilla we kept looking to the southwest and then west looking for McKinley. But the clouds were forever present. However, about 50 miles south of the park entrance I happened to look west and there was a glowing white dome- Mt. McKinley! Peggy attempted some shots of it on the go and of course there weren’t any immediate pull-offs to use.
We came upon the Alaska State Memorial Park dedicated to war dead. We pulled in, and sticking above the clouds was the lower north peak and wrapped in a thin veil of clouds was the higher south peak of Denali! It towered above the surrounding mountain peaks because of it's being nearly a mile higher. And the sun shining from the east made the mountain top almost glow.
We shot several pictures and hoped that they come out. At the state park we met the host who comes up from Alabama every summer. He was very friendly and said we should of been there yesterday as you could see the entire mountain from the state park’s vantage point.
We drove on and arrived in Wasilla around 2:30. We visited with Grant and Debby who will be leaving for their cabin in the morning. Peggy and I now will start earning our keep as property caretakers.
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