August 4: Denali State Park

We left our beautiful accommodation after a lovely and filling breakfast and headed north to Denali State Park. Adjacent to the National Park, a 325,240-acre state park located in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough adjacent to the east side of Denali National Park and Preserve. The trailhead was about an hour away, and once there we geared up and headed up the Little Coal Creek trail.

The path was fairly easy and accessible — some roots and rocks and across a stream — but we were able to enjoy the view as we climbed. We were headed up to the Kesugi Ridge, where, on a clear day we could have seen a view of the entire Alaska Range, including the 20,320 foot Denali. We passed through forests of birch and spruce and wildflower meadows, and tons of wild blueberries along the trail.

We had lunch at the top, where the ground cover was like the tundra we encountered on Cottonwood Creek Trail. As the clouds rolled in we headed down, and encountered some real rain (vs. the misty stuff we’ve had so far), so stopped to add pack covers and rain pants and hoods. The real issue was how much mud we encountered as we climbed down. It was only about 2,000 feet, but the ground didn’t absorb the rain water much, so we had several muddy slips and slides and some falls along the way.

Once we reached the trailhead we cleaned up as much as possible and boarded the van for an hour drive further north towards the National Park and our accommodation for the next 3 nights. Along the way one guide spotted a moose (which have so far been elusive for us) standing in a river bed, so we managed a turn around and a quick walk to where we hoped to get a view and a picture. Both accomplished, but it was pretty far away, so I’m still hoping for a better sighting soon.

We are all excited to be able to stay for 3 nights here at Creekside Cabins. We had a delightful dinner at the “fancy” place in the area — it’s called 229 after the mile marker it sits at in the main road — and is focused on farm to table and local Alaska flavors. It was quite special. We have an early day tomorrow as we wind down the REI part of the tour of Alaska, but we are hoping to see more wildlife as we explore the Denali National Park.