2015 Teklanika-Polychrome Bike
Every year after Spring Road Opening and before tour buses start running on May 20, the Denali Park Road is open to private vehicles to Teklanika, around mile 30. Normally private vehicles can only drive to the Savage River at mile 15. It is a spring ritual for us to drive to Teklanika and ride our bicycles to Polychrome Pass and back to Tek, about 31 miles. This ride includes Sable and Polychrome Passes, and a very personal experience in the Park. This year we had a beautiful bluebird day, marred only by brutal winds. We saw a sow with a cub by the East Fork of the Toklat, Dall sheep on Polychrome, caribou, fox, moose and an assortment of ground squirrels and ptarmigan. It was one of the hardest rides of my life because of the winds, but very rewarding in terms of the accomplishment and the relative solitude of the Park pre-tourist.
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