seasons story and photos of by tom moran he Denali Park Road is a 92-mile, mostly unpaved thoroughfare slicing west–southwest through Denali National Park and Preserve in the heart of Alaska. From the park entrance, the road rises steeply through gentle spruce forest before breaking into open tundra, winding over a series of passes and dead-ending less than 30 miles from the park’s 20,310-foot eponymous mountain. Bears, caribou, moose, and other wildlife frequent the picturesque route, which is mostly off-limits to private vehicles. As you may have gathered, it’s a glorious place for a bike ride. In 2018, I bicycled the road three times: in the spring, before the road opened for tours; in June, near the summer solstice; and on Labor Day, as the brief subarctic summer drew to a close. S p r i n g Cycling Denali in mid-May has A crowd at Polychrome Pass snapped pictures of the two major advantages: first, you can drive the initial 30 miles of the park vertiginous drop, the river braids far below, and the road, making it feasible to then ride jagged snowcaps of the Alaska Range foothills. A few into the heart of the park as a day trip. Second, shuttle buses aren’t also took photos of us — some of the statistically tiny running yet so cyclists own the place. Indeed, the parking lot at Mile number of Denali’s 650,000-odd annual visitors who see 30 overflowed with bike racks on the park from a bike saddle. May 19, the day before the road opened for buses. I loaded up my Trek Mamba and set out into the then took a spectacular route back before backtracking to rendezvous with park with four other cyclists from my uphill to Polychrome Pass, clutching a three more friends who had ridden hometown of Fairbanks. Conversation mountainside hundreds of feet above a from the park entrance to camp with us circled around our respective bike river plain. Wildlife began to emerge — for the night. adventures as we broke into open past Polychrome we stopped to watch We pitched our tents on a hillock tundra near 3,900-foot Sable Pass, four Dall sheep graze on a hillside of dry, flat tundra ringed by snowpack, the first major high point on the park below us, then we spotted a grizzly fetching our drinking water from slush road. Snow patches clung stubbornly lazing a half mile away. at the edge of a frozen lake. The night to the brown hillsides around us, At Stony Hill Overlook, where a passed in blissful quiet, save for a covey appearing like an expressionist tremendous view of Denali sometimes of willow ptarmigan that strutted canvas. Ground squirrels and stops half a dozen buses, we had the through camp, testy and vocal in their ptarmigan darted along the road mostly cloudless peak to ourselves. nesting season. The temperature as shifting winds forced us to don Then the group shrank. My friend Jay dropped below freezing, but the next tights, hats, and gloves despite air and I continued farther into the park to day dawned warm and calm. temperatures in the 50s or 60s on this camp while the others retreated to Mile We found a park transformed. sunny day. 30 and the drive home. Jay and I raced Buses rumbled by with regularity. A From Sable Pass the road dropped down a sun-dappled 23-mile downhill, crowd at Polychrome Pass snapped to the East Fork of the Toklat River, continuing to Wonder Lake at Mile 86 pictures of the vertiginous drop, ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG/MEMBERS 19 the river braids far below, and the and confirmed a pair of bears were brush to our left. They seemed to jagged snowcaps of the Alaska Range much too close to the park road to be speeding away from a bear, and foothills. A few also took photos of pass safely. So we did what one does remarkably, they matched our speed us — some of the statistically tiny sometimes in Denali: we waited for a and trajectory, bounding effortlessly number of Denali’s 650,000-odd ride. Minutes later, a bus braked to a through the roadside grass and WALLY AMY MAP: annual visitors who see the park from halt and we loaded our bikes on board willows at more than 20 mph. For a bike saddle. for a quarter-mile ferry. Gaunt after 15 or 20 seconds, the trio paced us, Not that the buses don’t have their a long winter, the two blond grizzlies standing out from the background uses. A few miles farther along, we grazed heartily as we passed less than blur as we watched their movements encountered two bicyclists stopped 50 feet away. in amazement and awe. We had come by the roadside. “Sow and a cub are More animals awaited. As Jay and in search of wildlife, and for a few right by the side of the road,” they I flew down from Sable Pass, three joyous moments, the caribou had warned. We took a look for ourselves young caribou materialized from the shared our journey. specialist for bike tours in Central Europe Visit Central Europe – a paradise for cycling Vienna to Prague Greenways Salzburg to Prague NEW! Vienna to Krakow Amber Trail Budapest to Krakow Amber Trail Electric Assist Bikes Passau to Vienna Danube Trail Vienna to Budapest Danube Trail Prague to Dresden Tours for Road Bikes www.topbicycle.com For a free brochure email us: [email protected] Czech Republic Slovakia Austria Hungary Germany Poland 20 ADVENTURE CYCLIST JULY 2019 S u m m e r I joined Jay for another trip into the park, this time accompanied by his wife Nancy and their two 12-year-old daughters. An athletic family to the core, they planned to ride two tandems to Wonder Lake Campground at Mile 86 and back in a total of four days and while I tinkered with a rubbing brake Visitor Center at Mile 63 before had already ridden in from the park pad. I didn’t need a headlamp for the catching a bus to Polychrome Pass, entrance earlier in the day. I came in task; it was just past summer solstice, then riding another 11 miles to Igloo separately and caught up with them to and the sun set at 12:24 am only to Creek Campground. Meanwhile, spend the night at the Teklanika River rise again at 3:32 am. When I poked Jay, Molly, and I continued past Campground at Mile 29. my head out of my tent at 2:45 am, Eielson under mostly cloudy skies, Teklanika isn’t always the quietest birds were chirping and it was bright but slammed on the brakes shortly campsite because folks with camping enough to read. afterward when we spied a grizzly permits can drive in. But this evening The following day, Nancy and Lizzy sow and two cubs nosing around the the RV generators were largely silent, pedaled 23 uphill miles to Eielson underbrush a half mile ahead. their din replaced by faint voices and barking dogs, sporadic raindrops, and the gentle gurgle of the nearby river. Another noise was conspicuously absent. A recent frost had (mercifully) vanquished the eternal hum of Alaska’s legendary mosquitoes. We ventured out the next morning under overcast skies with a tailwind and temperatures hovering in the 40s. The summer unspooled beside us. Snow lingered on distant mountains, but lush green coated the hillsides. Rivers gushed from snowmelt. Bluebells edged the road, and caribou bounded down the slopes to our left. At 6:00 pm, about nine hours after we started, our quintet powered up a slight hill to arrive at Wonder Lake, a tent-only campground perched on spongy tundra a short walk from its placid namesake. Unlike Teklanika, the campsite was overrun with mosquitoes so we adults covered our skin and sprayed on repellent before decamping to the cooking shelter for a potato dinner. Molly and Lizzy adopted a more comprehensive strategy, crouching inside bug jackets stretched over their entire bodies. I was a little jealous. The mosquitoes grow bolder, and I defended every spot of exposed skin ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG/MEMBERS 21 The summer unspooled NUTS & BOLTS beside us. Snow lingered on distant mountains, but denali park road lush green coated the GETTING THERE September after they stop. During this time, The nearest major airports are in Fairbanks, private vehicles are permitted to Mile 30. hillsides. Rivers gushed 120 miles north, and in larger Anchorage, 240 miles south. You can reach the park from CONDITIONS from snowmelt. Bluebells either city by rental car, by various private The first 15 miles of the road are paved, edged the road, and bus services, or by the Alaska Railroad and the rest is dirt and gravel. Road (alaskarailroad.com). For bike rental in conditions vary from terrific to slow, the caribou bounded down the the Denali area, try Bike Denali (facebook. latter usually after road grading or rain. I’ve slopes to our left. com/BikeDenali). On the other hand, Alaska ridden the road on both road and mountain Airlines only charges $25 for bikes. bikes and recommend the latter, which are more stable on the numerous downhills. A few miles later, Jay and Molly GETTING AROUND If you do go with a road bike, I recommend skidded to another abrupt stop. As Park shuttle buses operate from May 20 knobby tires. I approached them from behind, I through mid-September (nps.gov/dena/ Prepare for fickle weather from freezing spotted the reason: a pair of velvety planyourvisit/shuttles.htm).