Riding the Road

Last week my friends Jenna, Travis, and I were trying to decide how we wanted to spend our day off so decided to take a bike ride into the park. They allow us to rent a bike from work for free so I thought…why not? I'm not much of a bike rider myself but my boss, Eric Van den Hoogan, suggested that we put the bike on the bus, ride down to Savage River, then bike back into town. He said it would be about a 14 mile ride and that it was pretty much all down hill. So I was all for it. Mountainous scenery plus a down hill ride…sign me up.

We had planned to catch the bus at 2:30. We went down to the store, rented our bikes, and we were on our way. We left a little early and rode down the bike path until we made it up to the Wilderness Access Center (WAC) where the shuttle buses come to pick you up.

When we got there Jenna and Travis went one way and I went the other to put my bike up . Then when I came inside they were no where to be found. What?! They had ditched me!! Those punks! I thought that, and then I thought that maybe they went venturing around to kill time for an hour. So, I wondered around the WAC a little bit, got some info. about how to camp back country from the front desk, chatted a little while with a cute guy, drank some coffee. All was good.

Then, before I knew it was 2:30, I ran to the bus and they still weren't there. Oh no! They were going to miss the bus! So, I got the driver to wait and I ran around desperately trying to find them, and still no luck. I guess I would just go solo. That's cool, I almost wanted to do it alone anyway so I could take my time and really enjoy it.

On the bus ride over, I was anticipating this bike ride and getting more and more excited by the minute. I had two tourists riding behind me asking me all kinds of questions about my time here and the ride I was about to take. Some people around here call it "the interrogation". Haha! Then all of a sudden the bus driver started slowing down and said…."Look, there's Mt. McKinley!" So we stopped, got out, and took a picture. It was so magnificent! That was definitely as clear as I've seen it so far….just glowing behind the mountains in the foreground.

It was then that I knew this was going to be an unforgettable ride. The mountain was out, the weather was perfect, and best of all, I was going to be able to take my time and enjoy it.

When we arrived, I got my bike off the bus, walked around the Savage River trail a bit then took off down the road. We could not have picked a better day to take this ride. It was absolutely gorgeous; a little cloudy, but you could still see almost all the mountains as clear as day. What was even cooler was…..the longer I rode the clearer the sky became. So, as you can see, the mountain was out loud and proud. I stopped so many times just so I could sit and stare at it.

It was so nice to be out in this instead of just being on a bus, where your sight is limited. Here, I can have a extended open view of everything. I was just riding looking left to right trying to take it all in and not miss a thing.

Once I got to this point in my trip, you could no longer see McKinley. But, in my opinion, I thought the scenery was even greater than the view of the Mountain. The pictures do not give it justice. It was quite a sight. And, even better, from this point on you can fly down the mountain. It was SO much fun!!

By the time I got back it was about 7:00 and I was starving. So I returned the bike to the store, went to a local restaurant, Prospectors, and had a much needed dinner. While I was there, I got a text from Jenna apologizing and saying that the bus wouldn't wait. I was so confused, so I went over to her room to see what she was talking about and it turned out that she and Travis had caught the 1:30 bus, an hour before me. She said that they both were calling for me and couldn't find me anywhere…..too funny. She was so worried that I was going to be mad about it, but I wasn't at all. I'm actually really glad it did happen because I know I wouldn't have had the same experience that I did had we been together. We both agreed that we should do it again and maybe next time together.