AJR2: Alaskan Camping Experience

This past weekend, despite what my instincts (and the weathermen) were trying to tell me, we decided to tag along with the Ostby's and friends on a camping excursion to Denali National Park. The weather was less than ideal - rainy, cold, and windy with some sleet mixed in there but we made the most of it.

After driving for about 4 hours Friday night, we arrived at our first campsite and set up the tents. The next morning we continued driving on the Denali Highway -it's a 130 miles stretch of gravel/dirt road with a lot of potholes. We kept driving hoping to get out of the rain and find some sun but it was unsuccessful. We finally found a site that was somewhat sheltered from the rain & wind... It rained pretty heavily the entire night with strong winds. I think most of our tents collected some water in them and it sounded like we were going to blow away. By Sunday morning, the snow on the mountains was further down than when we started the trip - we've been told that's our indication of when the snow will reach the city. Overall, it was not the most enjoyable car camping trip but we at at least say we survived our attempt at it up in Alaska :) Due to the poor weather conditions it wasn't very scenic but that just means we'll have to attempt it again someday, especially since you're supposed to be able to see Mount McKinley along the way!