Smiles and Miles on Our Trips : OFF TO DENALI TO HOPEFULLY GET A GLIMPSE OF THE "GREAT ONE" (BOONDOCKING AT DENALI STATE PARK - NORTH VIEWPOINT)

Today it was partly cloudy with the temperature starting at 53 degrees. Our plan for today was to drive about 81 miles to Denali State Park and boondock for one night.

We left around 11:15 a.m., and decided to stop at the Denali Brewing Company located along the Talkeetna Spur not far from the Parks Highway. This was the tasting room and they also had food to order for lunch.

Mel enjoyed a flight of craft beer.

And bought a beer glass to take home.

We also shared today's specials -- the Rowdy Cowboy pizza and a bowl of chili (see pictures below).

After lunch, we were on our way towards Denali.

And once again ran into an area of road construction.

Soon we were passing Trapper Creek. Trapper Creek is a small community north of Talkeetna Junction that offers dramatic views of Denali. The Trapper Creek area goes back to a time before the construction of the Parks Highway. Back in the 1930s, Trapper Creek was a mining town. In the 1950s, a group of Detroit homesteaders moved here calling themselves "The 59ers." There was no bridge, so settlers had to travel to their homesteads either by barge or over the winter ice from Talkeetna.

The Chulitna River is a tributary of the Susitna River in the southern part of the interior of Alaska. Three forks converge to form this river that eventually flows into the Susitna River near Talkeetna. As it began to rain, we continued on.

We passed the Lower & Upper Troublesome Creek Trailheads.

And then came to the Alaska Veterans Memorial. It is an outdoor memorial grove in Denali State Park that honors the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Alaska National Guard and the Merchant Marine veterans from Alaska (see below).

We stopped and got gas at a Speedway Express before going into the Denali State Park.

We had decided to stay in the Denali State Park (Denali View North) area overnight to see if we could get a glimpse of the "Great One," before we actually went into Denali National Park for 14 days.

Denali Viewpoint North Campground is located within the Denali State Park. Denali State Park is an integral part of one of North America's most spectacularly beautiful regions. The park's 325,240 acres, almost one-half the size of the state of Rhode Island, provides visitors with a great variety of recreational opportunities, ranging from roadside camping to wilderness exploration.

Denali State Park was established in 1970 and expanded to its present size in 1976. Its western boundary is shared with its much larger neighbor, Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly Mt. McKinley National Park.

The camping fee was $20/night, so we picked a boondocking site to back into and set up camp. The view below was what we were hoping would clear up and reveal Denali, the great one.

Above is an interpretive sign about Denali, while below is another about the first attempts and then success climbing Denali.

The above interpretive sign talks about Denali growing about 3/4 of an inch a year, while the sign below talks about playing the odds in bear country and how to stay safe.

The interpretive sign (above) told about the 1910 Sourdough Expedition to the North Peak. These miners from Kantishna were the first to approach Denali's summit, but chose the lower North Peak believing both that it was the summit and that their spruce flagpole could best be seen from that peak. Fueled by hot chocolate and donuts, they did make it to the North Peak. They went back and braged and lied that they had been to both the South and North Peaks, but it became just a tall tale until the 1913 ascent of the South Peak by the Hudson Stuck party. The sharp-eyed Walter Harper did spot the flagstaff placed by the Sourdough group and accredited them with their tremendous accomplishment.

The above interpretive sign tells how times have changed when climbing the "Great One," including the gear and clothing worn, and the transportation and routes taken.