Day 18 Thursday July 17, 2014

Day 18    Thursday July 17, 2014

Up at 04:30 A.M. to allow time for the arduous task of custom packing to separate just the camping stuff and equipment that I will need to carry along with me for the 84-mile bus trip from the Denali Visitor Center into the heart of Denali National Park for my much-anticipated overnight camping adventure at Wonder Lake Campground.  Everything else that I won’t need for this visit stays on my covered motorcycle in the Visitor Center parking lot while I am in the Park.  I have a reservation on the 11:05 A.M. Camper Bus, a shuttle specifically for campers and back country hiker/campers.

Finally packing everything just so, I left my pleasant room at the Denali R.V. Park and Motel and rode into Healy, Alaska, a small town just north of Denali National Park and found a rustic strip mall with a Subway sandwich shop.  Ordering a breakfast sandwich from the friendly staff, I brought my meal outside and sat down to enjoy it in the warm sunshine and take in the view.  A passing elderly couple from Connecticut engaged me in conversation, saying that bus trips were not for them, because they had to contend with too many older people!  They asked me about my situation and I told them of my adventures to date, and my need to sell my motorcycle.  A fellow off to the side interrupted and asked about the motorcycle for sale- his name was Paul Aielo and he owned several of the stores in the strip mall, including a 1-Hour Photo shop.  He was a rider and was clad in black leather.  I asked him if he would like to take the BMW for a test ride and he agreed to do so.  When he came back to the mall, he agreed to buy the motorcycle from me after my overnight of camping in Denali and research bus transit for me and my belongings from Denali to Anchorage to pick up The Bev on Friday night at the Anchorage Airport!

Elated, I exchanged contact information with Paul, thinking that my super great fortune on this trip was in full force, with a sale of the bike no longer a worrisome hurdle.  Yay! 

I made my way into the Park, covered the motorcycle, and bordered the Camper Bus with 28-year veteran bus driver, Chuck, at the wheel.  In short order, Chuck stopped the bus having spied two caribou with impressive racks resting and chewing their cuds in the tall grass for the eager bus passengers to photograph.  He also spotted far off grizzly bears for us to capture with the help of telephoto lenses.  I successfully begged road workers at a rest stop to allow me to use their truck’s cigarette lighter to power my air pump to inflate my air mattress.  Stowing the now inflated mattress, I told Chuck that I had managed to get a blow job from the National Park Service, but he was unimpressed.

Soaking in the spectacular scenery at every turn, after an enjoyable 5-hour westbound bus ride on the winding dirt road into the heart of the Park, we finally arrived at the Wonder Lake Campground.  I discovered that the mosquitos were in full-swarm mode at the site that I selected as I set up the tent in the sunshine.  I shoved the air mattress and all of my belongings into the tent and dove in myself, killing all of the little invaders that flew into the tent with me.  Breaking every rule in the book, I started boiling water to cook my last remaining freeze-dried meal pouch of pad thai and eat it inside my tent to avoid contending with the mosquito onslaught just outside.  In short order both a curious and hungry chipmunk and a small bird had to be shooed away from the tent as I ate.

After dinner, I wandered down to Wonder Lake and found the very light rain shower there to add to the quiet ambiance of the lake’s shoreline.  I power-walked back to the campground in time to attend the National Park Service Ranger’s topic for this nights’ campground talk- “Mosquitos- To Swat or Not to Swat”, learning much about the enemy.  

Tired from the full day of activity, I prepared to enter my tent, but during a final look around noticed a partial rainbow begging to be photographed. The word “Eureka” emblazoned on the tent fly was captured in my photos of the rainbow.  Dreamland soon ensued.