July 28
60 miles
1700 feet elevation gain
The weather report did not let us down! It stopped raining about 7am. We got up and went down to the lake and saw 2 sandpipers at the waters edge. I believe they were solitary sandpipers. We broke camp slowly since everything was damp but it was still cloudy so nothing was really going to get dry.
The last 6 miles of the Denali Highway were mostly downhill and paved, so soon enough we were heading north on the Richardson Highway. We saw our old friend, the pipeline, which continues south along this route to Valdez.
Anytime we expect an easy day we get headwinds and today was no exception. Fortunately, the scenery was spectacular, so while the going was a bit tiring, it was also quite rewarding. We passed another glacier, the Gulkana Glacier, followed a massive lake called Summit Lake, and rode under some towering mountains. We passed no opportunities for hot food today, and found ourselves eating a lot more of our snacks today.
We saw Golden eagles, Arctic terns, more gulls, plenty of Ptarmigans and robins, and at the end of the day a Bald Eagle and red-tailed hawk. And a Moose. We also saw about a thousand dead squirrels, rabbits, and other wildlife including an owl. We are back on a paved highway and people are driving very fast. Fortunately the traffic is not too frequent and they typically give us plenty of space, but most of them do not slow down.
In the evening, we stopped at a viewpoint with a picnic table for an early dinner (dehydrated chicken and dumplings), then continued on to a campsite 12 miles down the road. This campground is awesome, the sites are in the trees and only one vehicle is here. We ate second dinner (Amy’s Chili) at the campsite picnic table while we let the tent dry out, along with a few other still-damp items.
It’s only 27 miles to Delta Junction where we can shower and do laundry, and then we’ll be heading east again along the Alaska highway.
