Driving into Denali National Park for the road lottery

Whenever we remember not to miss the deadline, Lena and I put in for the "road lottery," a draw for permits to drive personal vehicles into Denali National Park for a day in mid-September. The rest of the year, it's only open to tour buses and other official vehicles. This was the second year we've drawn a permit.

As is customary, we took way too long to leave Fairbanks and were among the last people into the park on our designated day. We quickly set up a spacious dome tent at the Teklanika River Campground (a luxury after spending so much time in backpack tents this year), and drove into the depths of the park behind everyone else.



It was a cloudy, windy day, but the sun peeked out a few times to liven up the scenery--not that it really needed any livening. Denali National Park is always amazing, and it's great to be able to enjoy it from our own vehicle, at our own pace.

This was our best trip for bear viewing. I think we saw seven grizzlies in all, including one just before dusk that we spotted very close to the road eating berries. It got curious and ran up to the car (or "charged," as Lena says), then walked past and lumbered down the road behind us.




We were among the last cars out of the park, but we did better than last time. This time, at least, I didn't have to drive Polychrome Pass in the dark--a narrow stretch of the gravel road that winds sinuously across a thousand-foot-high cliff face with no guardrail. It is beautiful from a distance, but every time I'm there I feel nervous that I'm not wearing a parachute.

Photos by Troutnut from Denali National Park in Alaska

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