Another beautiful 70 deg F day with mostly clear skies. We drove AK-3 South from Fairbanks to the Denali RV Park and Motel. It was about a 120 miles or about 2 hours. Setup was routine but the sites are very close together. Not super level either. After setup we drove to the Denali village and into the park. The park was much as we remembered it but the surrounding area had many businesses open that were closed when we were here before and the nearby town of Healy had new stores and fuel since our last visit. As expected the park was at least twice as crowded as our previous visit because this time we are at prime season. We drove the 15 miles available for personal vehicles. The drive has beautiful scenery and ends at the Savage River trailhead. We were treated to a nice view of Denali at a couple of spots. We only saw one Caribou from a significant distance. We didn’t see tons of wildlife last time but we did see more than this. On our way back we checked out the Savage River campground to see if it would have been good for our big-rig. The answer is not really. There were only a few select sites that would have accommodated us.
After our round trip drive we stopped in the “Denali Village” and chose to eat at The Bake. It was a quirky, moderately priced restaurant with seafood and normal american variety. We had the fish and chips and it was excellent. The restaurant itself is nearly like a “funhouse” the floors and wall all seem to be at a slant from poor or old construction. Where we sat actually was inside with a canvas ceiling. You felt like you were eating in an old mining camp structure. It was kind of cool in a weird way. The Denali Village is my name for the collection of businesses and hotels just outside the Denali National Park entrance. As far as I can tell it doesn’t have an actual town name.