Denali Road 8 is one of our favorite drives. Mostly gravel, the 135-mile road meanders alongside dozens of glaciers and high tundra.

We rarely see animals.  They mostly stay in the high country and away from this heavily hunted area. Hunting season has not yet begun, but we saw many scouts and guides searching for potential signs. 

We stopped at our usual Maclaren River Lodge for lunch, then drove on to one of our favorite campsites. It’s actually just a gravel pit, but the views are spectacular. We counted no less than a dozen glaciers from our viewpoint.

During our last visit in 2023, this sacred space offered something we’d not only never seen but had never heard about before — a fogbow!  If you’d like to read about it, click here:  https://ruffingitx3.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-simple-morning-changed-me.html?m=1  God never ceases to amaze us! 

And FINALLY! I was able to shoot a decent wildlife photo. This little critter was relentless in taunting Sam.

On to Denali!  To our shock, we were able to find an open campsite. In fact, less than half the campground was full. We have never seen it so empty. However, after the Pretty Rock mud slide left the Eielson Visitor Center inaccessible, perhaps folks are waiting until the park road reopens in 2027. At present, buses must turn around at Mile 42 rather than the visitor center at Mile 66. Wonder Lake also remains closed. The mud slide literally sheered the road away around Polychrome. It has truly been a tragedy for the park. 

We drove the Park Road, fifteen miles through wilderness, a total of three times. Not an animal in sight.  It is also warmer this year than during our 2023 visit, which always affects the animals. 

The weather remains sunny but oddly extremely hazy. Without the haze, Denali would have been in full view. (The photo is greatly tweaked so that Denali is visible.) We discovered this morning that the Tatlanika Fire is causing smoke to drift over the park. 

Although temperatures dipped into the low 40s last night, the days are still too warm to drive the animals down from the high country.. It’s crazy because when we were here in 2023, at almost the exact same time of year, the bull moose were gathering for rut. 

Time to move on… we look to the Haul Road for our next adventure!