Beaver nest, Maclaren
River at Maclaren
Bar ceiling, Gracious
Flat tyre #3, north of Denali
Mountains, north of Denali
Flat tyre #2, north of Denali
Birch leaves, north of Denali
Picnic lunch, north of Denali
Mt Mckinley (Denali), north of Denali
Nenana Canyon, Denali
Hotel, Denali
Today was to be a fairly relaxed day with a relatively short distance to travel and an opportunity to do some shopping and sight seeing. On a brilliant sunny morning we drove into Denali township called ‘The Canyon’ and bought provisions and then went for a walk along the high riverbank overlooking the Nenana River. This large river is rapid flowing and carries grey silty water from the glaciers in the mountains beyond. It is an obvious river for rafting activity and the number of inflatable rafts seen on the river-bank was testament to its popularity and the number of people involved. There was a small island in the middle of the river and although we couldn’t get too close we could see a large moose grazing on the grasses that grew in the shallow water around the island’s banks. We then loaded up and headed for Maclaren which is about 200 km from The Canyon. The road became a jagged rocky surface and before long we had a puncture. There was quite a bit of fiddling around to work out how the lower the spare wheel but once that problem was overcome we identified an even more significant one. This second dilemma involved another slow leak puncture in the other rear tyre. We only had one spare! As luck would have it another guide working for the same tour company, driving the same Ford mini-bus arrived upon the scene and we snaffled his spare and after an hour’s delay we were on our way again, now travelling in convoy with the other group. However we’d only been travelling for about half an hour when we discovered that our heavily overloaded trailer now had a punctured tyre. This meant unloading quite a number of bags and other gear from the trailer to get at its spare wheel which was underneath. Our driver Charlie confessed that he’d had no punctures on this road before although his work colleagues had had many. Now Charlie has scored three flat tyres in a period of about two hours! The reason for this unfortunate problem was a combination of excessive load and a stony rough road where the stones are sharp edged and plentiful. An hour further on, both groups stopped at Gracious which is a tiny road-side service centre and shop where we managed to get tyres repaired and have some refreshments before heading on to the Maclaren River camp site where we are staying for the night in cabins with clean but very basic facilities. After a delightful meal of steak and sweet potato chips we went on a beaver viewing expedition with Matthew our boat driver and guide. He had a 6m ally boat jet powered which at top speed only needed about 150mm of water. He zoomed up the Maclaren River from our camp-site at breakneck speed for an exhilarating period to near where the river started at the face of the Maclaren glacier. We sighted two beavers in the shallow waters (3 degrees C) and observed their dams and building sites. They overwinter here without hibernation and survive on stores of willow sticks and leaves they accumulate in their dens. Although it was late on return from our beaver hunt it was still sunny and relatively warm. After a night-cap with the Brewers we headed for bed knowing that tomorrow is going to be a very long day on the road as we have to drive over 600 km and cross over the border back into Canada and then head for Dawson City.