Day 23, Friday, 5/11/18
Anchorage, Alaska


We left Riley Creek headed to Anchorage. Sad to leave Denali but the timing was good. Today the park started charging for a site. When we left this morning, every site had a car, tent or trailer in it. As we headed south, it started to rain so we took a detour to Talkeetna. It's a tiny, cute town and is a staging point for almost all Denali climbers.

We had a light lunch at the 75 year-old Roadhouse then took a walk to the ranger station. One of the rangers told us there was a ranger-led program about climbing Denali at the museum, so off we went. There's a large room with a 3D topo map of the mountain and surrounding peaks as well as the various climbing routes. Each climber has to pay a fee, go through an orientation and get checked out. The climbers staging in Talkeetna fly out to base camp on Denali (7000 feet, I think) and climb from there. Shit cans are mandatory - carry in, carry out. Apparently, only half the climbers make it to the top, weather being the biggest issue.

The Roadhouse
Mountains...
...and Tundra
As we left Talkeetna for Anchorage, it started to rain.



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