Denali Highway Winter Solstice 2020

 

The Denali Highway stretches from Cantwell to Paxon. I made two trips along the road this winter, getting a little past the Susitna river each time. Maybe in Spring I'll be able to ride the Full Monty.

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This is the road closed sign a few miles east of Cantwell. "Traffic" on the road consists of dog mushers and snow machines. I posed for this one at the end of the trip.

I could hear snow hitting the tent on my third night. One drawback of travel by fatbike, as opposed to skis, is that a couple inches of fresh snow can turn ridable conditions into mandatory walking/pushing the bike. Fortunately this day I was able to simply reduce the tire pressure and pedal probably 90% of the way back to the car.

The muted colors of our sunrise-turning-into-sunset days.

Not a bad camp site. This was night 2, and I awoke to the tent in my face. High, gusting winds from the East. The following morning I was nervous about venturing out in the wind, but knew I at least had to move camp to a more sheltered location. Instead of pushing the bike into the wind towards Alpine lodge, I headed back to Cantwell and had an amazing tailwind.

The bridge over the Susitna.

The kitchen is right next to the bedroom.

Peter joined me for the first night.

Alaska sky.

When it is clear, the views from this road are amazing.

Denali Nat Park Road

The Denali Park road has become my favorite weekend bike ride. It is a two hour drive from Fairbanks, so worth it for even a long day ride. The wildlife is incredible. This summer I made 3 trips in to Wonder Lake. One was a big 170 mile solo one day round trip, but the other rides were slightly more civilized, involving camping and companions. I have been re-inspired to start bringing the "real" camera on my adventures and actually update this old blog.

Waiting for the Bears to move off to a safe distance

Moose!

The Great One

Fall colors

The light in the park, coming in and out of the clouds and fog is amazing

Heading up towards Polychrome (?) Summit

"mile 85" obscured

A fogbow

A small pond just before the North side of Wonder Lake

What is it about symmetry that is so appealing?

This Caribou peed in front of us in the road

One of the rare instances I was actually in front of Kim on this ride

Denali Highway: loop from Fairbanks

 

I had traveled parts of the Denali highway, from either end, until this summer. I wanted to ride the entirety, without the epic of a car shuttle. So I left from home and made a loop of it. I suffered horribly from saddle sores on this trip, and rode standing in the pedals for the most part from Paxon back to Fairbanks... Ouch.

Started the trip out with this view. What!?

The end of day one. Stayed in the Riley Creek Campground. It was nice to have running water and soap.

Typical views from this amazing route!

Big peaks in the distance.

Just keep looking.

I rode from DNP, thinking I would make it to Tangle lakes... The big hill up to Maclaren summit was an unexpected "surprise". The skies opened up at the summit, and I quickly jumped into my tent. In my eyes you can see that "I'm happy but are we there yet?" look.

Woot! Woot!

A bit of pavement....

As far as I can tell, this is the town of Paxon..... Am I missing something?

Check out the 44Mag on the sleeping pad. I bring this when I go alone in summer. Winter is such a treat, not worrying constantly about being mauled by a bear in the middle of the night. The Richardson Highway is gorgeous but the shoulder is non-existent in places. Not very bike-friendly. But I don't see any cars!

The road form Delta to Fairbanks is very flat. It rained the entire time. A perfect adventure!!! 4 days total.