Day 81 - Sunday 9/6/2026 (Part 2) UPDATED - Granite Tors CG - The Sky is Alive

This was so crazy!  We were about to go to sleep and happened to look out the hatch and saw this - it went on for about 30 minutes!!  Beautiful!!

Days 77-81 - Wednesday thru Sunday 9/2-6/2026 - Denali; Fairbanks; Chena River; War Eagle!!

On Wednesday we woke up to snow again, but it melted quickly and was mixed with rain by mid-morning.  The high was almost 40 degrees, and the sun came out late and made for a beautiful afternoon.  We decided to forego riding the transit bus again, and spent a quiet, restful day in Denali National Park.  We had a lovely dinner of homemade freeze-dried meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans.  Yummy (one of Mike's favorites)!

It rained overnight and through the morning Thursday, and it was about 36 degrees when we checked out of our campsite at around 11am.  Mike got a little stressed when ER150's built-in compressor would not turn on while he was checking the air pressure in the tires.  Re-setting a fuse and swapping a relay in the fuse panel took care of the issue and all the tires were soon fully inflated for driving.

We headed toward the park entrance, which was about 39 miles away, and we drove our standard 3.5mph (instead of 35 mph) looking for wildlife the whole way.  The road was fairly easy to drive (gravel and some mud) and the only other traffic for most of the drive was the park busses.

We saw some more caribou up on a hill (maybe the same ones as a few days ago),

and we spotted a guy hidden in the brush watching the caribou. 

We figured he was probably a park ranger doing a survey or studying them.  

We watched a group of rock ptarmigans cross the road and huddle under a tree to try to dry off. 

They were so cute!  We saw a moose walking around in tall shrubs but it was way too far away and was raining, so we didn't get photos.  We saw this cool camper from Germany in the park (I think we have spotted it several times on our trip).  It was massive.

We stopped at the Riley Creek Mercantile

just inside the park and bought a t-shirt (of course 😂).  We saw that they had free showers, and a laundry facility there, so we decided to get our washing done while it was a rainy afternoon.  We were surprised and happy that it only cost $2 per load - when a bundle of their firewood cost $17...  We had paid up to $10 per load at other places (ouch).

We chatted with a nice couple of brothers from Michigan while the laundry was going, then we got everything loaded back up and headed out.  Our next stop was at Denali Grizzly Bear Resort near the park. 

There were two food trucks there in the parking lot, so we we decided to have pork fried rice and pad thai for our lunch/dinner.  It was good.

 

We moved on and soon stopped at Denali Gift Co. just north of the park and bought more t-shirts and sweatshirts.  I have no idea where we will put them all once washed - we need to make a donation of some clothes we aren't wearing (and other stuff) to make room 😲.  We headed on north to our campground on the Tatlanika river.  The campsite offered a good night's rest and offered 30amp RV electric, but we struggled with the voltage fluctuating during the night and couldn't power everything we wanted to (frustrating). They had a cute gift shop.

It was about 10 degrees warmer there than when we left Denali, so we opened the windows in ER150 and the kitties enjoyed all the new smells.  Our total drive Thursday was about 75 miles. 

On Friday we woke up to more rain, and headed to Fairbanks to re-supply.  It was forecasted to rain for the next couple of days, so we wouldn't miss much if we were busy with chores.  The landscape changed completely as we went up and down mountains and in and out of clouds. We crossed some cool bridges.

The conifers disappeared and the area was full of beautiful aspen and other hardwood trees.  There was much more green vegetation as well, we presume because it was warmer and more humid as we approached Fairbanks.

We stopped at a rest area to shower and make scrambled egg and cheese sandwiches for lunch, then went on to the Fairbanks Walmart for groceries and supplies.  We got it all stowed and drove to Chena Hot Springs Road to find a campground in the Chena River State Recreation Area.  The drive was beautiful with lush greenery all around, and there was water everywhere.  There was a dirt path alongside the road for much of the way - we figured out why when we saw this dog sled team training by pulling a 4 wheeler!

We saw a moose

in a beaver pond in the rain, and were able to get a phone camera picture from a distance.  We decided to camp at the Granite Tors campground, right on the Chena river. 

Behind our section of the campground is a pond.  There is a hiking trail at the entrance that looks like fun too.

It is very quiet and peaceful here, with only a couple of other campers around.  We got spot #21 for the 3 nights.

We drove about 125 miles Friday.

Saturday was very rainy and the first Auburn football game for the season, so we set up ER150's 32" Samsung television and Google TV and watched football all day!  War Eagle!!!  We'll take the W!!!  (Auburn 17-16 over Baylor in Atlanta).

Sunday was beautiful and sunny, so we were able to tackle changing changing oil, air filter, fuel filter, and checking other fluids and hoses, etc. in ER-150.  It feels good to get that done and out of the way (since we have more adventures ahead).

 

We walked around the campground and day area and saw a couple of beavers and ducks in a pond, but no moose.  This campground is just beautiful.

For Kenny and Laura, we thought about you when we climbed these granite hills (haha right!)  Many people do come here specifically for that reason though.

In the evening we relaxed and enjoyed the peace and beauty of the campground, and for dinner we had homemade freeze-dried chicken noodle soup!  Yummy!

Monday (Labor Day) we head to Chena Hot Springs Resort, to camp, enjoy the hot springs, get a massage, and hopefully get a glimpse of the Northern Lights! 🤞

Favorite street names (right beside each other):  Jennie Lane and Rebecca Rd. 💖

Thursday's journey: 

Friday's journey: