Monday July 2 Denali State Park Coal Creek Trail

Woke up in the morning to rain, so we slept in a bit.   It did clear off and turned out to be a perfect weather day.  Started off in the mid 50's and then finished in the upper 60's with bright sun the whole day.

We drove down to Denali State Park, which is separate from the National Park.  One big difference is that you can drive right to places of interest.  We drove to the head of the trail called Coal Creek Trail.  This trail went up about 2100 ft and was 3.1 miles long.  We stopped at that point.  It did go on for another 28 miles which is what some people did for overnight backpacking.  Once we got above the tree line the views were awesome of the Alaska Mountain Range, which the Denali Mountain is part of.    Apparently, 3 of 4 people who come to the area, never get to see Denali Mountain, usually because the clouds are hiding it.  Our hike took us to fantastic view of the mountain range and while we got to see Denali in parts, we never got a whole view of it, because there was always one cloud that was in the way. 

The hike was a tough hike with a lot of climbing, but was worth it when we got there.  We stayed on top of the mountain for a couple of hours just taking in the view.  The weather was perfect and we just sat down on the tundra carpeting which is very soft.

View from the top of the hike - In the distance, past the first set of 

mountains, are the Alaskan Mountain Range.  These are the big ones

that are all snow covered

Start of the hike - lower levels with lots of brush

Coal Creek Trail

Coal Creek Trail

Coal Creek Trail

Denali partially covered in clouds

The trail went on another 24 miles - These were overnight hikers

Resting on top of the mountain

View from 3/4 to the top, looking up

Alaskan Mountains - Glacier in the middle

Alaskan Mountains