Denali National Park

Sept. 16-18, 2026

Day 1: I arrived at the same campground that I stayed at 32 years ago when I last visited this park. Several snowshoe hares were hopping about and tons of squirrels. It was raining the entire day and night. I fell asleep with the car keys in my pocket and rolled over setting off the panic alarm. It took a bit for my fuzzy brain to figure out how to turn it off, trying every button and annoying the entire campground. I woke up a few hours later needing to pee and found the trunk wide open. I must have opened the back when trying to turn off the alarm. Amazing that no animals raided the food and everything was fine.

Day 2: The day started before dawn with a bus ride into the park, about 20 miles further than I got last time but still not all the way to the end due to rock slides. We saw lots of Dall sheep, a couple large bull moose, grouse and squirrels. I took a hike to horseshoe lake afterwards and got really close to a couple grouse after I took a wrong path and ended up down then up very steep terrain. That afternoon was a sled dog demonstration that was nice for tourists and I got to pet some fluffy pups. I hiked the roadside, meadow connector and rock creek trails back to the visitor center. The rain had stopped for most of the day but then it was starting to sprinkle again when I was making dinner. I decided to pack the tent away so I did not have to deal with it wet in the morning and I slept in the car.

Day 3: After breakfast and packing the car, I drove back to Anchorage losing autumn colors the further I went south. Just outside the park there was fresh rabbit road kill that showed the pecking order of birds. Magpies, raven and a young bald eagle were squabbling over the remains. The eagle got scared when I drove close and flew into a nearby tree, he probably got the bunny after I left. Clouds the entire trip meant I could not see Denali, the largest mountain in North America. I have only ever seen it once from the air while flying into Anchorage on a sunny day.