Day 25 – Denali ATV – Ride On!

The Denali National Park is off limits to motorized vehicles, except for the main park road. That being the case, a number of off-road companies have taken advantage of the back roads outside of the park to give travelers a chance to see a different side of the back country.

Travelers have the option of riding in jeeps, side-by-sides, ATV’s, or Fat track vehicles. Pat and I opted for ATV’s so we could each drive (honestly, that was mainly because I don’t take turns on this stuff very well). The guides have you ride through a short obstacle course to make sure you can ride over some substantial obstacles before hitting the trail.

Then we were off into the wild dusty yonder. Surprisingly, shortly after starting our ride, we spotted a cow moose and two calves drinking from a muddy puddle. They must be used to all the engine racket because they hardly flinched as we drove by.

The guides led us on gravel and dirt backroads, around boulders, through ruts and dusty bowls, and along a riverbed for a chance to splash through shallow channels (no pictures of that action since I had to grip the handles to keep from being thrown off). Periodically they stop to give riders a break and share some local information such as the geology of the area and the history of the community.

It was a fun morning bouncing along, but boy was it dusty! When my helmet and sunglasses came off I looked like I had put on a heavy coat of foundation makeup, and had done a really bad job of it 😊

We were very glad that we were heading to an RV campground with a shower to get all the dust off.

Would I do it again? Yep… maybe with less dust next time and more splashing through the stream!


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