- Pancake breakfast at a roadhouse
- Drive through the cloud-shrouded Denali Highway
- Caribou herd spotted on the road
- photograph another elk cow directly on the street
- Dinner at the 49th Brewing Company
We start today at 8 o'clock without having breakfast. After a short drive we reach Paxson. From there we turn onto the notorious unpaved Denali Highway. Only the first 20 kilometers are tarred, then the path leads over a gravel road. Most rental cars are not allowed to drive on the highway. To our astonishment, the road is for the most part very well developed and easily passable. The road leads up to 1200 meters above sea level. No or hardly any trees grow on the high plateau. The expanse of the alpine tundra is breathtaking. The only downer is that we don't see the snow-capped peaks of the Alaska Range today either. The clouds are too low and too thick over the wide valley.
Even today the animals are unfortunately rare. Another camper claims to have seen a grizzly just before us. But despite an intensive search, we do not get to see Master Petz. Towards the end of the amazingly quiet journey, the road is blocked by a herd of caribou. Unfortunately, two cars are right in front of us and scare away the nimble animals. After that we have already left the Denali Highway behind us. We drive north towards the world famous national park. There is a lot of tourist infrastructure here. We see another cow elk grazing directly below the road. We get out of the vehicle and watch the game from a short distance. This massive animal is impressive. Now we drive a little further to Healy, where we stay for one night at the moderately beautiful and unkempt McKinley RV Park. However, we have to fill up our fresh water tank and recharge the camper’s batteries. So we hardly get around it. The place is at least conveniently located. So we set out on foot to eat a yak burger at the 49th Brewing Company next door and to try a tasty home-brewed beer.
