Denali Road Lottery Round Two

Denali from just before the Eielson Visitor Center

Ryan won a road lottery ticket for Denali National Park this weekend (usually the road is only open to buses but for four days in September they open it up to private vehicles via a lottery system). This is the second year in a row I've gotten to go (my cousin had a ticket last year). We rented a minivan and headed up there with my cousin and two friends from Anchorage. We got pretty lucky with the weather. Even though the fall colors were a little past their prime (unlike last year) it was warm - in the high 50's and it didn't rain on us. It was very windy in places, especially the second night at our campground, but our tents withheld the wind fine.

We saw bits of the mountain which is pretty lucky because one only has a 30% chance of seeing it on any given day in the park. We were also very lucky with wildlife viewing but I will save that for the next post. For now, here are some scenery shots.

Polychrome area

Late evening sun

Denali from the Eielson Visitor Center

A peek at Denali entering the park

That's Denali in the background, I swear