Chapter Sixteen - Denali - "The Great One"

That’s right. After a leisurely morning with a stop at Starbucks to pick up wifi so we could get caught up on our diary and get it out to everyone, we finally got on the road to Denali around 10:45 AM, It’s a beautiful drive coming down from Fairbanks and on a crystal clear, calm day we had about a three hour drive to the Riley Campground, just inside the entrance to Denali National Park. The closer one gets to the park, the more breathless the scenery becomes. I can hardly wait for tomorrow when we will take the shuttle bus deep inside the park. The weather is incredible (73º) and tomorrow’s forecast is even a little bit warmer.

This afternoon Jan and I took a couple mile walk down to the Nenani River which flows by the entrance to the park. It was good to get out and do some walking and to once again enjoy God’s creation.

It seems that there has been a dispute over the name of the

mountain known as “Mt. McKinley” by our federal government and the Alaskan Board of Geographic Names which has requested that it be referred to as Denali. Alaska continues to try and have the name Denali recognized but the folks from Ohio, home of William McKinley, continue to block all of their efforts. Wouldn’t it be nice if just once we could all get along without these petty arguments.

Can’t wait to see Denali tomorrow!