After a day off, I was ready to get back on the trail again. However, we had a new crop of guests that morning, and the first day's activities were guided hikes I had done before. So I decided to go on a simple bike ride. Then a staff member recommended the McKinley Bar Trail, a moderate outing I missed earlier in the week. She said it was a beautifully photogenic hike. So my simple bike excursion turned into a cargo ride hauling camera gear, hiking boots, etc.

The cycling portion of the trip was a real treat. I discovered the true nature of the road much better than possible on the buses. The inclines were steep in places, but they were handled nicely by the under-inflated tires and low mountain bike gears. The hiking portion was moderately long, but nice and flat.

The mile or so of Spruce forest was a new experience in Denali for me. So far, the tallest vegetation I had hiked through consisted of chest-high willows. The endless expanse of tall evergreen trees reminded me of home.

The trees eventually turned into a wide expanse of thick willow, which ended abruptly at the McKinley River Bar. This river is much heavier than the Thorofare I crossed a couple of days ago. The McKinley carries the runoff from the huge Muldrow glacier.

Right off the bat I was faced with stream too wide and deep to hop across. I had left my hiking stick at camp, so I walked along the edge for a while until I found a large dead limb which I used to vault the stream. I carried that limb during my wanderings across the bar, and used it to leap across many other braided streams.

Here's me and my improvised stream crossing device.

About halfway across the bar, I reached the main channel of the McKinley River. There was no stick that was going to help me across this one.

If I had brought my sandals with me, I might have attempted to cross the river. Since I didn't, however, I decided to eat lunch and stick to exploring the north side of the bar.

Journeying solo in this vast expanse made the day an especially enjoyable one.

I halfway expected to see a bear or at least some Caribou on the wide, flat bar, but I didn't spot any. I did follow a fairly fresh set of Grizzly tracks, though, until they disappeared into the willow.

McKinley Bar Trail bike & hike GPS track. This ended up being around a 20-mile round trip.