July 31 & August 9 – 10: We camped in Palmer, just north of Anchorage the end of July for a few days and drove across the Hatcher Pass to Willow and up to Talkeetna. Since Denali Peak was clearly shinning and visible from everywhere, we took advantage of the day and splurged on a flight seeing trip up to Ruth Glacier on Denali, actually landing on the glacier and walking around for about 15 mintues,then flying back to Talkeetna…amazing!

Talkeetna was a zoo that day with bus loads of folks on cruise ship excursions visiting the little town. So we returned a few weeks (August 9 & 10) later and camped at the local VFW (Veterens of Foreign War) chapter, had great pizza and listened to their Friday night live music in the park. We spent the next day and night in Denali NP as we camped in the park and walked to the Visitor Center complex. But that was all we did, as we cut our time in Denali NP short as the truck was experiencing engine problems from Talkeetna to Denali and we wanted to get to Fairbanks on Sunday so that we could get the truck looked at on Monday morning.

Denali and Denali National Park

You either see Denali or you don’t and there doesn’t seem to be much in between. Thankfully, we got to see her in her full glory. When we stayed in Denali National Park, it was cloudy, so we didn’t see her on our drive in. You really can’t see her within the park as you are too close.

We didn’t get to take the bus into the interior where you see animals as we cut short our visit due to engine problems with the truck. Hummm, maybe next time?

Talkeetna