Denali Highway – 135 mile-long road between Paxson and Cantwell in the Alaska Range. Opened in 1957, it provided first road access to Mt. McKinley National Park (now Denali National Park and Preserve)
Old freighter’s cabin at Talkeetna in 2005 Gold was discovered at Valdez Creek (near the headwaters of the Susitna River) in 1903. The first pack-horse and winter sled routes that supplied the mining...
Whitey’s cabin in 2004. When the Denali Highway opened in 1957 it was more than just a 135-mile scenic byway between Paxson and Cantwell. It was the connecting road from Mt. McKinley National Park...
Brushkana Creek cabin in 2013 The Alaska Road Commission (ARC) cabin on Brushkana Creek (shown in drawing) is one of the few remnants of the Cantwell-Valdez Creek Trail. Bruskana is a clearwater stream that...
The remains of the second Paxson’s Roadhouse as it looked in early spring 2013 The tumbled-down building in the drawing, located about three miles south of Isabelle Pass along the Richardson Highway, is the...
I believe this is dwarf or resin birch (betula glandulosa). Resin birch and dwarf arctic birch (betula nana) are similar and can occupy the same habitat and cross-pollinate, so identifying them can sometimes be...
One last panorama from our recent Denali Highway trip. This is taken from the viewpoint at about Milepost 6.5, looking north. Sevenmile Lake is in the foreground. Summit Lake can be barely seen...
Here are a couple of pingos we saw along the Denali Highway. I think they were at about mile 49. Pingo is an Inuit (Northern Eskimo) word meaning hill. The term was borrowed...
The Denali Highway is amazing for its wide-open vistas. Here are some panoramas from my recent Denali Highway trip. About mile 17, looking north About mile 35, looking north About mile 70, looking south...
I was taking photographs of Shrubby Cinquefoil along Brushkana Creek when a solitary Arctic Sulpher butterfly (Colias palaeno) alighted on one of the blossoms. Soon another Sulpher came along and after a little urging...
Here are a few photos of wildflowers I photographed along the Denali Highway last week. I’m no expert on flower identification, but I’ve given it my best shot. Alpine Arnica (Arnica alpina) – At...
