Random adventures are usually a good time – this one was a quickly planned camping trip out at Brushkana Campground on the Denali Highway. A buddy and I only stayed for one night but to me it was only to get away from all the relentless smoke up north (as well as having a short adventure).
The drive down to Denali highway from Fairbanks was very smoky and got worse the closer we were to Clear. Clear actually was evacuated as they have been battling a large fire. The time lapse video of the drive down shows the severity of the smoke pretty clearly.
We did make a few quick detours before we made it to Clear. A stop at Nenana Municipal airport was interesting: an old Douglas sitting in a field.
From what I understand this is not a rare site. The cost to remove scrap is expensive here in Alaska. So seeing a wrecked plane or many non-running cars is a common sight.
We arrived pretty late at the camp site – it was near capacity. The mosquitos were especially terrible as we were setting up tents. I was pretty worn out so I went straight to bed.
The following morning we woke up to a good amount of rain. The rain combined with the mosquitos drove us to just do some exploring by car vs a hike.
We drove as far as the Sustina River which would have been a great view if it was a nice clear day. It was nice to see nonetheless.
On the drive back we stopped by Mckinley Creekside Cafe for breakfast. It’s completely worth stopping by- great views, atmosphere, good food and service.
After breakfast we did stop by several areas to get some pictures and some video / time lapse.
Absolutely beautiful!