On July 30th we broke camp in the rain in Trapper Creek and drove to Denali RV Park and Motel, just north of the Denali National Park and Preserve entrance. It was 131 miles and the only construction was two bridges under retrofit. We got to make camp in the rain and the campsite was not level so we had to put the rear wheels and rear leveling jacks on 4" blocks to get level, which requires six blocks in all due to the dual rear wheels. The rear wheels are the ones with the parking brake, they must be touching the ground.
We drove into the park and checked out the visitors center and then up to Healy, three miles north of our campground, to check out places to eat or stop. We didn't find anyplace we wanted to stop, but came up with a couple possibilities for dinner after our bus trip on the 1st.
A day on our own in Denali National Park.
Some friends had stayed at another campground in the area, Denali Riverside, and said the water was full of iodine. Iodine is not filtered out by a carbon filter, so the water tastes very harsh. It turns out Denali RV Park and Motel has iodine also. We were glad we were not staying longer.
Wonder Lake bus trip on August 1st
After our bus trip came back about 8:30PM we drove to Healy and had dinner at a place the campground recommended as good food at more reasonable prices. We were not impressed, but realized that we could have spent more money closer to the park for mediocre food. It was sunny when we came back to the motorhome so Evita enjoyed her walk, we were far enough north the sun didn't go down till 11PM. A neighbor was walking two young yorkies (Yorkshire terriers) and the large one, 10 pounds, licked Evita on the nose, she didn't know what to make of that. The owner said the yorkies were hard to house train.
We decided that if and when we come back to Denali with our RV we will reserve a spot at the Teklanika River campground at mile 29 and take shuttle buses to everything. The rules on Teklanika River campground are:
1) Leave the car behind, they do have a parking lot where the car can be left.
2) Come with a full water tank and empty holding tanks since there is no water or dump station at the campground
3) Your must stay a minimum of three nights
4) You need reservations and the campground is popular.
5) There are limited hours a generator can be run, two hours in the morning and two in the evening.