Today started out rainy and wet. The views of the mountains were even more obstructed. But, we packed up our campsite and meandered on down the highway.
Along the Denali Highway are several one lane wooden bridges. This one is over 1000 ft longView of the 1000+ foot bridge crossing the Susitna River
The view was generally less forestry and more plains, because of the cloud cover, my general memory of this area was views of shrubbery and wetlands. We did catch site of a small group of caribou, but we really didn’t see a snow capped mountain all morning.
We were also surprised at the number of rental RV’s that were on this road. We even saw a tour bus!
We stopped to help a Swiss couple in a rental RV change a tire. Their spare was a little low, too. Chuck keeps being glad we have that air compressor!
We decided to leave the main highway and explore a bit, we headed north on Maclaren River Road – the book said 14 miles to the Maclaren Glacier.
Maclaren River “Road” to the Maclaren glacier. Crossed minor water a dozen times in the four miles we were on it.Maclaren River “Road”, a bit rocky in placesMinor water crossing on Maclaren River RoadThis time, the water crossing was not so minor. The first fork of the river crossing to the Maclaren Glacier that we chose not to do.
But we decided this was a great spot to camp -we were still hoping to see wildlife, and it was very peaceful and serene here!
Drone shot of our camping spot near Maclaren RiverYou can see both forks of the river you would have to cross to continue to the glacier. The book called it “treacherous and deep” we opted to stay on the west side.From this panorama you can see from our campsite to the left, up to the glacier, and over to the beaver pond. No one else around.A little closer look at just our campsiteThe Maclaren GlacierBeaver pond near our campsiteOne of two beavers we saw at the beaver pond near our campsite
It was a quiet night, raining on and off. But the only wildlife we saw here were the two beavers, some birds, moths and mosquitos.
