The Catskill Chronicle

August 22-24, 2009

Mount McKinley or Denali (“The Great One”) in Alaska is the highest mountain peak in North America, at a height of approximately 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park. The mountain is large enough to create its own localized weather.

My buddy and I went down to Denali this weekend. That’s a big mountain!

We were blessed with clear skies leaving Fairbanks. We could see the peak from the city. That’s 250miles away! That is really far to be seeing something That’s twice the distance my childhood home was from NYC. And it wasn’t that close to the city.

You can’t take your car into the park, so they have buses to take the visitors all around.

We attempted to take the bus out to Wonder Lake because the mountain was unusually clear. Perfectly clear, but only made it 60 of the 90miles in before we had to catch the last bus back our campground.

We saw some bears right up close. Freaking grizzlies. Those guys are strong. I watched as the cub causally dipped his paw into the hard packed earth as if it was chocolate pudding. Then he was pulling up roots 1/2 inch think and tearing them as if they were cooked spaghetti. OMG. Those things are strong.

I’d harbored a secrete disdain for bears through out the trip because of the inconvenience they’d cause me packing and unpacking my life everyday on the bike; being super careful about food and contaminating anything else with scent. But now, after seeing them that close….I had a healthy amount of fear for the bastards. Pepper spray was not going to save you in a bear attack. Nothing would save you. Tip #6 Stay away from bears.

It was really cold that night. We got back to camp in the dark. Cooking was a pain in the ass. The stoves wouldn’t light because the fuel was frozen….the pasta wouldn’t cook because the water couldn’t get hot enough…etc. Eventually we went to sleep cold and unsatisfied. Which was fun too:) It was the first real miserable night of the trip so far. Our rapid decent into self pity over undercooked pasta was comical and lightened the mood.

Breakfast went slightly better:)