3 Nights at Teklanika River Campsite in Denali, AK

​Well, I wish I could say I slept well but the highway noise at my “campsite” was way too loud. It was hard for me to relax. Nothing else bothered me, no other people, or animals, just highway noise. Perhaps it was bouncing off of the bridge that was next to me. I was also a bit apprehensive about the departure since the entry to the space seemed rather steep going in. I wondered how I would climb out. Naturally going downhill and going uphill are two entirely different things when it comes to vehicle navigation. So, the minute I got up, I decided to leave before I took Jo Jo out, or changed my clothing. Well here goes. I was able to move forward and parallel park next to the highway in a space where I could back up, and quickly escalated at a steep enough diagonal parallel, and thankfully, I climbed up on top of the highway pavement. All of this while watching for traffic. Fortunately the traffic was very light at 6 AM. Whew, all was well as I drove less than a mile down the road to a very large pull out, which is where I walked Jo Jo, and prepared my breakfast. It was very overcast this morning and quite windy. I got to Denali after 8 AM to watch one of the movies that I missed yesterday and then decided to head towards my campsite since it was an hour and 20 minutes to Teklanika. I passed the “military checkpoint,” apparently with flying colors, as I had all of the passes and tickets required. Honestly, it feels like a military base! I arrived at Teklanika where there were several open spots, so I drove around each loop a couple of times, and found site number 41 which was wooded, and backed up towards the glacial river behind me. Jo Jo and I took a walk to the river, and after having lunch, I decided to take the tek pass bus to the end of the line, which was about an hour and 20 minutes to East Fork. From the start of this morning, I figured it would be stormy, but it wound up being partly cloudy with peaks of sun. This park extends much further in, however, about a year and a half ago there was a landslide which wiped out the road and it will be another 2 to 3 years before they build a bridge to repair this. I waited at the bus depot, got on, and looked through my bag to find my phone. I couldn’t find it, and then I realized I left it in the RV. Urg! This is not something I normally do, and I was kicking myself for losing attention and focus for something so important. There is never a moment on this RV travel that I can really afford to do that. We saw a grizzly bear, caribou and dall sheep. And sadly, I was not able to take photos. I asked Jill, who was sitting next to me, if she wouldn’t mind texting me some of these images that she captured with her camera. So on the way back, I stopped to let Jo Jo out and reassured him that he and I were fine. I was home for a few minutes, refreshed a bit, and then decided to head back out on the same bus route! This time with my phone. The entire loop takes about 2 1/2 hours. Mind you there are 55 buses that loop around this park continually for more than 12 hours a day. I figure it’s a good opportunity to see if more animals could be found, or if the shadows in the clouds would offer a different perspective bouncing off the mountains. Honestly, I might spend the next two days doing exactly this very thing. Teklanika campsite is unusual, since once you check in, you need to stay and not exit because if you do, you can’t re-enter. Super strict here. The bus is the only way to get around. No grizzlies were found, on this second trip, but our driver was quite entertaining with stories about his encounters. We did saw the dahl sheep, although they were more like white polkadots, and we saw a Caribou, as well as golden eagles, and kept our eyes open for moose, lynx, and wolf, none of which we saw. I came back after 6 PM and was able to move my RV slightly, so I have a nice clear view of the forest, and so far it’s incredibly peaceful. After dinner, I took another walk and met a Travato camper just two spots away from me. We enjoyed talking about camping in this amazing vehicle. It continues to remind me that it really is a small world!




















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