It starts at the Parks  Highway at 237 Mile and travels 92 miles through some of the thickest wildlife  and greatest scenery Alaska has to offer. While the first 15 miles of the road  is open to private traffic, the only way to see what lies beyond is usually on  one of the park’s shuttle buses, which transport thousands of tourists into the  park each summer.

Unless you happen to be one of the lucky winners in the  annual Denali Park Road lottery. And now is your chance to enter!

The 2011 road lottery is scheduled for Sept. 16-19. The application period is  June 1-30. Online application forms will be available at

http://www.recreation.gov/permits/Denali_National_Park/r/wildernessAreaDetails.do?page=detail&contractCode=NRSO&parkId=72314&topTabIndex=Permits

from 12:01 a.m. June 1 until midnight on June 30. There is a  non-refundable entry fee of $10 for each application.

As part of the all  online application process, lottery winners also will be billed the $25 road  lottery fee when they are drawn instead of paying it when they show up at the  park. Lottery winners will pay the $25 fee whether or not they  show up to drive the road. There are always lottery winners who don’t show up andthey have never had 400 people on the road.

The $25 fee will only be  refunded if the road does not open by 2 p.m. because of weather or road  conditions on the day of the permit. And if itis passable just part way you’ll only go that far.

In addition to the $25 road lottery  fee, all permit winners must pay a $20 park entrance fee.

Everyone who  submits an entry will be notified by email. Lottery winners also will receive a  letter confirming the day of their permit, with additional information on how to  obtain the road permit and how to prepare for the drive into the  park.

Names of lottery winners will be posted on the park’s website by  July 15.

Permits will still be transferable in that the person awarded the permit can give it to someone else if they are not able to go. The person transferring the permit must provide the original notification and a short note  explaining the transfer to the new permit holder, who must bring that  documentation to the park when they check in to get their permit.

I have been hearing the same old song about getting a grip on our energy independence since the Arab Embargo in 1973. Never happen – too many cooks in the kitchen.

The big recession, which is still here for a lot of people, started with high fuel costs in the summer of 2008. Crude prices affect everything – and I mean everything! Put that together with Japan’s problem and to me it doesn’t look good. Batten down the hatches.

From a friend . . .

A bear attacked this guy’s plane while parked in a remote field in Alaska. He had not cleaned it out after a long fishing trip and the bear smelled food.

He had 2 new tires, 3 cases of Duct Tape and several rolls of cellophane delivered. Then he went about repairing the plane so he could fly it home.

Two hundred years of glacial shrinkage in Alaska, and then came the winter and summer of 2007-2008.

Unusually large amounts of winter snow were followed by unusually chill temperatures in June, July and August.

Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com/news/environment/story/555283.html

I think I will start watching Alaska weather a little closer. We are planning a 2010 jaunt into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut with the goal of spending a day in Tuktoyaktuk on the Artic Ocean. The trip should be in late August through much of September and the weather will be a major factor.

 It is great to be able to add to our trip history that we survived the summer of ’08 in Alaska!

I had a couple of things I didn’t want to forget before our next trip.

• Order the current Mile Post – this tells you every thing you need or want to know – even tells you about the extraordinary views you can’t see because of rain.
• Extra fuel – with the low fuel light coming on twice (even though there is a large reserve) next time I want a little insurance.
• More room for “nit-naks” – we started with everything fitting in place and as we acquired more “stuff” and gifts (even three rocks), it got a little tight.

The last two can be handled with a hitch mounted carrier of some sort. Of course, it would have to come off for the ferry and store inside. Under 19′ you save quite a bit. (They did not measure us by the way so there may be a little fudge room.)

Also shorter runs between camps. We did this some – one day we only moved 65 miles, fishing along the way – but not enough. There needs to be time for some hiking and exploring (even in the rain) as pretty soon you are craving exercise.

We did stay away from Anchorage and spent 1 day in Fairbanks. The tourist stuff is ok but the real deal is the “bush.” You can find a re-created “gold town” in the lower 48 but you can’t find a Caribou herd crossing the Tundra.