Denali overnight adventure – the first trip out in the RV

It’s currently shoulder season in Denali National Park which means that anyone can drive into mile 30 and camping is free at Riley Creek Campground. With that in mind I headed out with my friend Caroline to Denali National Park in the RV for its first trip out to test the comfort and amenities I have working thus far (stove, furnace and fridge). I also hadÂ my new Sony VCL- DH1758 Tele Conversion Lens with a step-up ring to test out.

We arrived at the park around 4:30p.m. and set to driving in the road. Â The light was kind of grey and the landscape seemed a bit dull, but even before we got to the Savage River trail the first animal we saw was a bear. Â It was kind of far out in the still Â semi-frozen braided river area digging for roots,Â but it was a good thing for me to test my tele-conversion lens capability with and though I’m still trying to figure the best settings for it (how to best use it with either manual or auto-focus mostly is the issue), I was pleased at how much farther I could “reach” with the addition.

Past Savage River, the road turns from asphalt to into dirt and gravel and parts of the road had been recently grated, so the road was rougher than normal is some areas. Â The RV did a great job though even on that rough road, other than being incredibly noisy. Â Maybe the biggest lesson learned from that part of our trip was to secure, store and stash everything. Â Caroline’s dog Merlin who was sleeping on his bed in the back had several things fall from the couch and counter on him; fortunatelyÂ nothing that hurt him. Â The only thing that fell that ended up being a loss was the mirror that was attached to the closet door. Â IT had rattled itself off and fallen and though it survived the fall without breaking I ended up stepping on it and cracking it since I didn’t notice it until it was too late. Â The replacement mirror I put up in its place will be glued down.

As we continued on our way to mile 30 we saw more animals, including some Dall Sheep that were much to far for me to get detail on, plus we saw caribou in a few different places both on our way in and out on Saturday. Â On the way out we saw a male grouse or ptarmigan (I’m still a bit confused about which is which) and I got some decent close photos with detail and color of the bright red on his head. Â I also managed with complete luck to catch a really great mom and yearling caribou and got some decent photos of the yearling. Â It’s all practice for me so I’m fairly pleased when I get any amount of detail.

We saw a motorcycle riding on that rough road on Saturday and as a rider myself I can’t help but think that is not how I would like to see the park since the road is so rough and the chance of a large animal coming out at you is even greater than it is on a normal Alaska roadway. Â Â And on the way out the rider did encounter a couple caribou on the road. Â Caribou are so funny to watch run; they are not graceful and seem not quite in control of their legs! Watching a couple caribou run on the side of the road with a motorcycle in slow pursuit was quite comical.

We finally got done with our drive through the park and back shortly after 9pm. Â By this time we were both hungry and looking forward to getting to Riley Creek to park, make dinner and get some sleep. Â This is where the first of our mishaps was to occur. Â It turns out Riley Creek only has one small loop open during shoulder season and the loop was full. We decided to head towards Healy in hopes of finding a place to pull over and camp for the night. Â I knew there was an RV park between Denali and Healy and we pulled into it, but it looked abandoned and still closed for the season, plus it was road-side so there would have been noise from traffic, so we pushed on. Â We found a place near a small lake that technically was not for camping, but there was another RV across the lake from us doing the same and since we were planning on boon-docking and would be quiet for just one night, we decided to take the chance.

This is where testing the functionality of the RV came into play. Â The first test of the stove was great. Â We made dinner, even using the oven to warm up some naan to have with our Tasty Bites Indian food meal. Â It was a chilly night and looked like we might be in for some rain, so we thought we would turn on the furnace to ensure we did not sleep cold. Â As I had spent lots of time prepping, cleaning and testing the furnace at home, I did not anticipate any trouble with the furnace and at first glance everything seemed fine. Â I turned on the pilot valve, lit the pilot and then we turned on the thermostat. Â However we both experienced some smell of propane (something that was not an issue with I tested the system at home) and the only thing that would blow was cold air. Â We waited, thinking maybe the furnace just needed to warm up, but decided eventually we had good enough sleeping bags so we turned off the furnace instead of chancing something bad happening. Â (Side note, I do have a fire alarm and a CO2 detector, but it’s better to be safe than sorry). Â Next step was bed. Â I folded down my newly converted table-bed and put out my sleeping bags with the fleece-liner inside it and Caroline took her place on the couch bed. Â I had an older sleeping bag under my new 20F bag which helped prevent me from slipping off the cushions until I got cold in the middle of the night and pulled the sleeping bag on top of me. Â At that point my bed became a bit of a slip-and-slide, due to the slick fabric of my sleeping bag on the cushions that were slipping on the wood platform combined with the fact that we were also parked at a bit of an incline. Â I lost one of my cushions near my feet Â in the night as well, so I’ve already come up with a plan to ensure the cushions stay on the platform and that they don’t fall off since they are the bench cushions and there are four of them that want to go their own way especially since I toss and turn.

We got to bed sometime after midnight and other than waking up on and off all night due to a chest cold and cough that I’ve been fighting on and off since March, some wind and Alaska’s day light, IÂ managed to sleep in until almost 10am. Â I guess I needed it! Morning was Cream of Wheat made on the stove and after grabbing a few photos of the RV in it’s beautiful location, we got back on the road to go back into Denali for the second time.

Our second day in Denali was a sunnier day. Â We were on the park road from about noon until 4:30. Â We didn’t see as much wildlife on the second day, but we saw more caribou, a ground squirrel and more grouse/ptarmigan. Â Caroline also took her hand at driving the RV. Â I think she found it almost as much fun to drive as I do!

We had noticed driving in that the Savage River Trail parking area was closed on both sides of the river on our way in on Sunday and wondered what was going on, figuring most likely bears too close to the parking area. Â We stopped at the Murie Center on the way out and found that a hiker had been been missing and there was a Search and Rescue going on. Â By the time we arrived home that evening it was reported that his body was later recovered and he seems to have slipped while hiking and fell to his death. Â A sad bit of news to our nice overnight trip, but also a reminder that Alaska is still quite wild.

All in all a good trip. Â I’ve got some things to figure out on the RV before my week-long stay in Denali to make it easier and more comfortable, but overall I’m feeling good about it being our home-base for that week.