The bumpy road to Denali
Saying goodbye to the historic town of McCarthy and the nearby Wrangell-St Elias National Park – for now at least – we were back on our Grand American Adventures minibus this morning to start the drive to the final National Park of our trip, Denali. The road to Denali was so long that we were having to break it up with a stop somewhere around the half way mark so today, we’d be travelling to a middle-of-nowhere town called Maclaren.
Our first stop today was back at the national park we had just left behind. Wrangell-St Elias is the largest National Park in the USA so despite being on the road for a while, we parked up to find we were in another part of the park giving anyone who hadn’t had the chance in Kennecott the day before to visit a park Visitor Center and pick up maps and souvenirs and giving us all the chance to experience more beautiful views across the park.
Another pretty view 
Spotting a caribou on the road
The rest of the drive was along another long, bumpy road. We made frequent stops to stretch our legs, see the views of the Alaskan Range and take photos and there was a bit of excitement when we saw a young caribou on the road.
We arrived at our overnight stop of Maclaren Lodge around lunch time. We’d be staying in, as the name suggested, lodge style accommodation with shared facilities. The main lodge area had a restaurant and communal area and after checking into our rooms, we went straight there for lunch.
After we had eaten, we had the opportunity to canoe down Maclaren River. Our arms just about recovered from our strenuous Kayaking experience in Valdez a few days earlier, we signed ourselves up and were soon being sped down the river on the lodge’s boat to the canoe rental hut.
Maclaren River is a braided river with some quite fast moving water and we had a great afternoon paddling along, especially when we accidentally got caught in a current and went took the opposite fork in the river to everyone else. We did of course all meet up again a few moments later when the 2 parts of the river once again blended into one ending our brief panic!
Our canoeing experience over, we returned to the lodge for an evening of socialising with the group culminating in a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity. Then it was off to bed ready for an early start to get back on the road to Denali in the morning.
The next morning, after a delicious pancake breakfast at the lodge, it was back on the long, bumpy road. We made a few more stops at scenic spots to view the surrounding scenery of the Alaskan Range along the way and had reached Denali by lunch!
Miss Travels 
Great post 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person