The Newsletter of Camp Denali
Written By Jerryne Cole
Wally left his Maine roots for Alaska in 1959, returning to then Mt. McKinley National Park in 1966 to manage the park’s visitor services. A year later, ready for a career change to public health, I left Seattle for a temporary summer job in Alaska with no clue that the man who hired me would become my life partner. As we got to know each other that summer, Wally introduced me to Camp Denali and to its storied owners.
By 1975 we had chased new ambitions together that included garnering our bush country Alaska bona fides. For four years we lived a homesteader’s life just outside the national park when winter access was only by a twice weekly train. (Think a 16x16 cabin, hauling water, using an outhouse at 30 below, butchering moose, scratch cooking with bulk grocery deliveries by train every six months, trading our downhill skis for Bonas and a trail-less backcountry). Government work had kept us afloat with kids and bigger digs when Camp Denali’s founders came to call - their retirement top of mind.
With fewer financial resources than we possessed energy, self-reliance, and the desire for a purpose-driven, family-centered lifestyle, we took a huge leap to assume ownership of Camp Denali. By December, two of Wally’s hand crafted, snowshoe-design rocking chairs became the down payment for Camp’s timeworn structures scattered over 57 extraordinary acres of tundra. The unwritten part of our commitment was to honor Camp Denali’s founders’ 24-year legacy– that the carrying capacity of the land can, and should, eclipse maximal growth and greatest financial gain.
Staff of 1976
Camp Denali was (and still is) a do-it-yourself proposition, always attracting a creative, committed staff who helped us shift it from its rough-hewn beginnings to its present rustic aesthetic. Wally’s relentless attention to detail, craftsmanship, and ingenuity rubbed off on the rest of us and transformed both our operational and business models all the while preserving a light touch on the land.
Meeting challenges to the wilderness character of the area honed our founders’ conservation ethic. They successfully opposed a hotel at Wonder Lake and their direct engagement with policy makers ensured that the 1980 park expansion included this remote area for winter habitat of the park’s caribou and wolves. During our watch, the National Park Service was politically unable to acquire several private land parcels vulnerable to development within the expanded park. Our involvement in the protection of several parcels culminated in the acquisition, renovation, and operation of North Face Lodge until it was financially feasible for our family to rededicate the site to tundra in 2021.
Camp Denali has provided all three generations of its stewards entrée to state and national nonprofit work on behalf of public lands. To Wally and me, though, the distinction of our past 50 years rests in the continuity of an involved and committed extended family who have now assumed responsibility for Camp Denali’s legacy.
© Camp Denali Archives
