Denali!
Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) National Park and Preserve was established in 1917 (though not the first area designated as a National Park – that goes to Sitka National Historic Park in 1910) and now covers 6 million acres (7,408 square miles) – the 5th largest National Park in the US. Denali itself stands 20.310 feet above sea level, the highest mountain in North America. We can thank Charles Sheldon and fellow naturalists for preserving this great natural area, initially to protect the Dall sheep from extinction, and giving all of us a vast land of wonder.
Our ride to the Denali area from Fairbanks with fellow travelers was about 5 hours, with one stop at a fun little store and café in Healy, Alaska. They also gave us the only type of close-up view I would ever want of a polar bear.
Princess and Holland America built adjoining resorts about 2 miles from the park, providing free shuttles and a walk/bike path to the Park’s Visitors Center. Non-resort meals and shopping was available across the road, so travelers are not completely dependent on the companies’ offerings. (The pizza place on the Princess property was pretty good.) Our room for the two nights looked over the river, providing both a relaxing sound as well as view (unfortunately – you can’t see Denali from there). We had an evening to walk along the river, do a little shopping, and sit in the outdoor area to listen to live music offered nightly.
Our Denali Wilderness Tour left at 5:40 AM – on a crisp, cool, and very clear morning. We were lucky. It is often very cloudy, especially along the mountain ranges that create their own weather systems, and fog is common throughout the summer months. Several guides said that only 30% of visitors actually get to see the mountain. The Park bus (a school bus)– the only conveyance allowed past mile 15, took us along the park road, slowly moving forward to look for wildlife. We stopped for our first views of Denali at 6:14AM
…and again about 15 minutes later when we saw three caribou. A few miles later, we watched a caribou running at full speed across a meadow. John and a few others caught site of the back end of a bear, and a few others saw a “wolf or coyote”. We waited but the predators would not emerge for a better look, so we continued on, getting our best view of Denali before milepost 60 just after the Polychrome Pass.
Due to road issues (its hard to build and maintain roads on permafrost), we had to turnaround a few miles further. Technically, the road continues to milepost 92, but we had to turn 40 miles from the Big One (which was disappointing – we thought we would be taken all the way to the mountain itself). On the route back, there was a bus stopped at Sable pass, where we had seen the caribou and possible wolf. This time the wolf was walking across the meadow in full view. The driver put the mounted binoculars on and through a screen inside the bus we could see the wolf clearly (unfortunately – any time there was a good view of him, someone stood up in front of the screen and I couldn’t get a photo). After 15 minutes watching the wolf go in and out of the brush, we had to move on. We never did see a moose, or a Dall sheep (I think I might have – they are very small and live very high on the mountain sides – but I could not be sure). The Arctic Ground Squirrels came out along the road to check us out,
though never when we were out of the bus, and of course we saw the Caribou. WE SAW A WOLF! There are only about 100 wolves in a park of 6 million acres, the drivers said they had not seen a wolf all season until that day. I saw the mountain and I saw a wolf – making me one of the luckiest people in the park all year.
After the tour, we returned to our room for a nap then back to the park to see the sled dogs.
Denali is the only national park with its own sled dogs. Over 2 million acres of the park are designated “pristine wilderness” – meaning no mechanical conveyance. Some sections can only be reached in the winter time when the rivers freeze, so any equipment that needs to be hauled in or out, needs to be by these friendly, gallant partners. During the day, you can meet them at their kennel (better in the morning – temps above 60 are very hot to the double coated Alaskan Huskies – so they pretty much just lounge on top of their houses in the afternoon).
But we did get to see the demonstration and meet the puppies.
We couldn’t come to Denali and not go for a hike, and there are many 1-3 mile trails starting near the visitors center, so we headed out on the Horseshoe Lake trail.
We were told it was 3 miles – it turned out to be a little longer, though with the pleasant weather and us in decently good physical shape, it was OK. We just complained about the steps. We did see a beaver. Still no moose.
The evening we relaxed and listened to the guitar player. We did wake briefly at 2:30 AM, but there was too much haze to see the milky way and the edge of dawn was visible.
Next stop – Anchorage!