On the drive out I couldn't resist snapping these:
Headed back to Anchorage (still).
We returned to Anchorage, stopped by Steve's shitty ass trailer home, cleaned up, re-geared and headed out again. This time NORTH!Way off in the distance....
Found a campground on the way to take a pit-stop at. This is the lake next to it.
Okay, so here is the story. After the pit stop we continued on. We drove so many hours that day I don't even know how many it was. The goal: Denali National Park. A dream of mine. We finally get there and it's getting late. (Late for finding a place to stay that is). When we arrive, we find a ghost town. ALL of the big hotels, motels, and even the gas station are closed! I missed the open season by one week!!!!!
We go into the park, check out the first campground. Many available spots open, but there were surprisingly lots of taken spots and many people. We moved on up the road to the next campground. Closed. Then up the road further. Park closed beyond that one campground. If you want to go into the park you would have to pack in on foot. We decided on staying in that first campground.
It was butt ass cold. We were really up there in elevation and a storm was coming in. It's a commonly used area (obvioulsy) and we were dependant upon collecting wood. We had none on us. It's a freakin' chevy aveo for pete's sake! It only took 4 minutes to decide to head back out. 
Stopped at the sign (above) to take a picture for proof, and heard this strange sound. It took 30 seconds of looking around to finally realize it was actually coming from above. WAY above! No idea what type of bird, but there had to be at least a thousand of them. It was one of the most incredible wildlife scenes I have ever witnessed. The pic below does zero justice. Without the sound you cannot understand the immensity of what it was. You can barely even see them in the pic.
On the way back down, heading South, we stopped in Cantwell for Gas. It was over $6.00/ Gallon at the one gas station on the summit at Denali. I wasn't about to pay that. Cantwell was better, but not by much. I called Brandi from here to let her know I loved her. Then we hit the road again. We had no idea what we were going to do. We were several hundred miles from Anchorage and it was pitch black. Our backup plan was to go back to the campground by the lake (posted above). Easy, right? Yeah. Right.
From here on out, I figured it would be 80 miles back to the campground. I have no recollection of time or distance. All I know is that both were massive. I think we ended up at actually 120 miles down before finding the campground. After several false turns by the way. In Alaskan bush, when it's dark, it's fucking dark.
It was butt ass cold. We were really up there in elevation and a storm was coming in. It's a commonly used area (obvioulsy) and we were dependant upon collecting wood. We had none on us. It's a freakin' chevy aveo for pete's sake! It only took 4 minutes to decide to head back out.
Steve: "Sorry, man. I know you really wanted to come here and see Denali."
Sean: "It's alright. I saw the sign. I can say I've been here now."
Stopped at the sign (above) to take a picture for proof, and heard this strange sound. It took 30 seconds of looking around to finally realize it was actually coming from above. WAY above! No idea what type of bird, but there had to be at least a thousand of them. It was one of the most incredible wildlife scenes I have ever witnessed. The pic below does zero justice. Without the sound you cannot understand the immensity of what it was. You can barely even see them in the pic.
On the way back down, heading South, we stopped in Cantwell for Gas. It was over $6.00/ Gallon at the one gas station on the summit at Denali. I wasn't about to pay that. Cantwell was better, but not by much. I called Brandi from here to let her know I loved her. Then we hit the road again. We had no idea what we were going to do. We were several hundred miles from Anchorage and it was pitch black. Our backup plan was to go back to the campground by the lake (posted above). Easy, right? Yeah. Right.
From here on out, I figured it would be 80 miles back to the campground. I have no recollection of time or distance. All I know is that both were massive. I think we ended up at actually 120 miles down before finding the campground. After several false turns by the way. In Alaskan bush, when it's dark, it's fucking dark.
But eventually we finally found it. I have no pics of what follows, but it is one of the most humbling experiences I've ever felt.
To be continued...
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