Denali National Park Road Lottery 2018
September 2018 was a quiet month for me… Well at least online it was. In real life? That’s a different story…
My heart was feeling weighted with comparison, frustration and the pressure to meet standards in the social media world that were not in line with my hopes or my faith. The feeling built up over the span of a few months, so I finally decided to take about a month off from social media to focus on the adventures I had lined up and to mentally and emotionally prepare for a cross country road trip my husband and I had in store. I won’t go into too much detail right now about my reasons behind the breakup with social media, primarily Instagram. But you can see my post here to get a brief peek into what I was feeling during that time.
Mostly, I’m here now to relive the wonderful moments I was out experiencing during those 30+ days. I took a lot of time off editing too (which honestly felt so amazing just to capture and let those memories rest in my SD card for a while) so I’m just now getting around to sharing some of those moments.
The Road Lottery in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska was one of the highlights for us during this time. In May 2018 I entered myself, my husband, mom and sister into the lottery with hopes that at least one of us with score some good news! Sure enough, my sister’s entry came through for us! Fast forward to September 16th, the four of us were starting our drive early in the morning to the end of the park road in Denali National Park.
CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT THIS WHOLE ROAD LOTTERY THING IS?
Each September the park hosts a four-day event called the Denali "Road Lottery." During these four days, winners of a lottery drawing are given a chance to purchase a single, day-long permit, allowing them to drive as much of the Denali Park Road as weather allows. In years with early snow, the Park Road might open no farther than Savage River (Mile 15); in milder years, lottery winners are able to enjoy a trip out to the end of the park road (Mile 92).
The dates offered in the Road Lottery vary each year. Generally, the event usually begins the second Friday after Labor Day.
Applicants must apply for the lottery, open May 1 – May 31 each year, to have a chance to drive the road in September.
The weather was quite perfect in my opinion. Since snow hadn’t hit us yet, we were able to drive all the way to the end of the road! Clouds hung around all day, so luckily we got our views of Denali early on in the day (due to the ever-changing weather patterns around Denali National Park, there is actually only a 30% of seeing the 20,310′ mountain). We had a quick picnic by Wonder Lake, saw lots of wildlife and caught a light glimpse of the Aurora on our way home late that evening. Now I’m just waiting for May 1st to roll around so we can enter again! Keep scrolling for a photo story of our adventures on the Denali Road Lottery.
