Ben
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- Sep 12, 2014
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The summer of 2013 i had the opportunity to go up to Alaska with my family. My Mom's grandpa had had a homestead on the Kenai Peninsula. Any way, we went up to Denali National Park, and two of my brothers and i did a slightly rushed two night backpack. One of my brothers ended up throwing up violently right before we started, and had to see the park from the road with my parents.
The park does not accept advance reservations for backpacking permits. You just have to show up and see what they have available. We got up there late after noon the day we arrived, which limited our options by how far the buses were still going in to the park. That's the price i pay for traveling with my family. We settled on going up the Savage River, less than an hour up the road from the visitor center. Near the head waters of the Savage River we'd cross a pass over to the Sanctuary River, and follow it back down to the road where we'd wait for a bus to pick us up. It would be about thirty miles. Also, there are no trails in the park.
Pictures on the bus ride out.
Caribou near where we left the road.
View up the river from near the road.
Looking across the river. Here you can still see the park road on the other side.
Walking along the river. We started hiking about 700pm, which was ok. It was july, so it wasn't going to get dark for a while.
Tall brush.
This is probably like ten oclock at night or so. We set up camp about elven oclock.
Getting closer.
I found this blonde porcupine and took a couple blurry pictures of it. I did not have a good camera for this trip.
Near where we camped. We pumped water here from the gray glacial water.
The next morning.
There are mushrooms in Alaska.
I couldn't decide if this was a game or a social trail.
Bend in the river.
Two big hills we passed through where things narrowed up.
One of the hills.
We found some of these things.
It's impressive how many colors there are here. And you can see them all because there are generally no trees.
In some places brush was a real problem.
Beaver dams. Spencer dunked his self in one. Reported that it was exceptionally cold. The water was also extremely clear in the pools.
The river starts to get smaller and braided farther up.
Wolf tracks apparently.
Empty gravel bars.
Erosion.
This is what the grass looks like.
Green.
The pass is in the draw here.
Going up. We gained about 500' fairly quickly. It wasn't too bad.
Up the pass. I still don't know where all this water was coming from. It was the strangest thing.
Looking back down.
Looking up at Spencer ahead of me.
Last look at the Savage River.
Spencer in the saddle.
Looking over the saddle.
Moving to enter the Sanctuary drainage.
We descended near here to the river going across the picture. We avoided the smaller stream flowing up to it to stay away from the brush surrounding it.
Mutant reindeer. There's a bonus antler.
The Sanctuary River, after midnight. Still dusky. We went to bed at about one.
And here are the prints found at the river in the middle of the night. Going up the way we'd already come from thankfully.
The final morning. We just had to walk back out to the road.
Looking back.
The Sanctuary River was much larger than the Savage River.
There were some low clouds this day.
I saw this packrafter float by us. I just stood there and watched him come and go. There was some amount of envy.
Eventually we had to hike up over this bluff, and then back down through the trees beyond it.
The trees were a little thick. Mosquitoes were awful beyond here, but that was the only time they bothered us.
Discussing which wayto go.
Almost back to the road.
And we're there.
The river beyond the bridge.
I loved it. One of my brothers had a hard time. The other brother had recently broken his collar bone, so only carried a day pack, while we carried the majority of his gear. This and the Grand Canyon are the sweetest places i've ever backpacked.
Here are a few unorganized panoramics from the trip.
Featured image for home page:
The park does not accept advance reservations for backpacking permits. You just have to show up and see what they have available. We got up there late after noon the day we arrived, which limited our options by how far the buses were still going in to the park. That's the price i pay for traveling with my family. We settled on going up the Savage River, less than an hour up the road from the visitor center. Near the head waters of the Savage River we'd cross a pass over to the Sanctuary River, and follow it back down to the road where we'd wait for a bus to pick us up. It would be about thirty miles. Also, there are no trails in the park.
Pictures on the bus ride out.
Caribou near where we left the road.
View up the river from near the road.
Looking across the river. Here you can still see the park road on the other side.
Walking along the river. We started hiking about 700pm, which was ok. It was july, so it wasn't going to get dark for a while.
Tall brush.
This is probably like ten oclock at night or so. We set up camp about elven oclock.
Getting closer.
I found this blonde porcupine and took a couple blurry pictures of it. I did not have a good camera for this trip.
Near where we camped. We pumped water here from the gray glacial water.
The next morning.
There are mushrooms in Alaska.
I couldn't decide if this was a game or a social trail.
Bend in the river.
Two big hills we passed through where things narrowed up.
One of the hills.
We found some of these things.
It's impressive how many colors there are here. And you can see them all because there are generally no trees.
In some places brush was a real problem.
Beaver dams. Spencer dunked his self in one. Reported that it was exceptionally cold. The water was also extremely clear in the pools.
The river starts to get smaller and braided farther up.
Wolf tracks apparently.
Empty gravel bars.
Erosion.
This is what the grass looks like.
Green.
The pass is in the draw here.
Going up. We gained about 500' fairly quickly. It wasn't too bad.
Up the pass. I still don't know where all this water was coming from. It was the strangest thing.
Looking back down.
Looking up at Spencer ahead of me.
Last look at the Savage River.
Spencer in the saddle.
Looking over the saddle.
Moving to enter the Sanctuary drainage.
We descended near here to the river going across the picture. We avoided the smaller stream flowing up to it to stay away from the brush surrounding it.
Mutant reindeer. There's a bonus antler.
The Sanctuary River, after midnight. Still dusky. We went to bed at about one.
And here are the prints found at the river in the middle of the night. Going up the way we'd already come from thankfully.
The final morning. We just had to walk back out to the road.
Looking back.
The Sanctuary River was much larger than the Savage River.
There were some low clouds this day.
I saw this packrafter float by us. I just stood there and watched him come and go. There was some amount of envy.
Eventually we had to hike up over this bluff, and then back down through the trees beyond it.
The trees were a little thick. Mosquitoes were awful beyond here, but that was the only time they bothered us.
Discussing which wayto go.
Almost back to the road.
And we're there.
The river beyond the bridge.
I loved it. One of my brothers had a hard time. The other brother had recently broken his collar bone, so only carried a day pack, while we carried the majority of his gear. This and the Grand Canyon are the sweetest places i've ever backpacked.
Here are a few unorganized panoramics from the trip.
Featured image for home page:
