July 19
15 Miles
1000 feet elevation gain
Well, I can officially say I’ve ridden in winds strong enough to knock me off my bike. Paul too! The gusts were so strong, we literally came to a standstill once or twice, even going downhill. A few times we had to simply dismount and walk for fear of being blown over into traffic.
At one point, while crossing a bridge, the sustained wind was so strong that I struggled to keep my bike upright even while walking it. In spite of all this, Paul declared today his favorite day. The scenery was absolutely beautiful as we approached Denali, and we haven’t even gotten to the backcountry yet.
The wind advisory is over by mid day tomorrow, so it was fortunate we only had a short day today to get into the park and get our permits and itinerary figured out. This was actually quite a long process, as there is an extensive orientation for permits, in addition to figuring out our camping logistics.
Although the road into the park is 93 miles long, there is a landslide closure at mile 45, so buses and vehicles stop there. However, bikers can hike their bikes on a 5-mile detour to go around the closure and rejoin the road. So for the next few days we will be riding the length of the road (and back). This is the last season of the closure, as the bridge bypass is nearly complete, so we consider ourselves fortunate to be able to reach a part of the park that is closed off to most visitors for now.
Once we got permits figured out, we went to the campground to claim our site for tonight, then rode the bike paths back into “town” (the commercial district just outside park boundaries) for an early dinner. We are excited for the next few days ahead.
