Denali National Park

The Park Road on a fine day with Mt McKinley in background - courtesy wikipedia

Ptarmigans turn white in winter so they are difficult to see against the snow

Nice rack Mr Caribou

Wildflowers were everywhere

Our bus buddies admiring the view

A small glacier we passed on the way

This wolf was stalking some caribou

A single Dall sheep high on left, then a herd of them lower right

Fox with his prey

A grizzly ambling across the valley

The grizzly closer up - notice his hump

Looking out from here we should see Mt McKinley - all we could see was mist

And again here - through these windows should be the view in the photo

This miniature of the mountain found in the visitors center

Yesterday Murray & I took an 8 hr bus tour into Denali National Park here in the Alaskan interior (the park is almost half way between Anchorage and Fairbanks). Marie & Eric had booked into a wilderness lodge at the end of the 95 mile Park Rd to spend 4 nights and be as close to Mt McKinley as possible, so we were flying solo. Our bus trip took us to the 66 mile point on the Park Rd to the Eielson Visitors center, and due to stopping to see animals and the nature of the road itself, that drive took 4 hours each way. On a clear day the view to Mt McKinley from this point is amazing, but as luck would have it, we were fogged in when we reached that point.

That is not to say we didn't have a great day - we thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the park - around every turn the vista changed and the bus kept stopping for wildlife. We spent several minutes watching a wolf stalk a group of 3 caribou, a fox ran by the bus with a tasty morsel in its mouth, a family of Ptarmigan wandered casually past with their chicks, solitary grizzly bears foraged in the open grasslands and a sow and her cubs were nestled safely on a ridgeline near some bushes. A bright, white dot on a distant hillside turned out to be Dall sheep when magnified with binoculars. They were the reason the National Park was established in the first place - to protect the numbers of these sheep. Now people come to see the awesomeness of Mt McKinley, and the frequently seen wildlife - especially the 'Big Five' - moose, caribou, Dall sheep, wolf and grizzly bear. We saw all of them except the elusive moose. We have now done 2 bus trips in Denali and 3 drives around Yellowstone NP, and not yet seen a moose in either place. Fortunately we have seen moose on other roads here in Alaska, so we are content with that. Especially the big male we saw returning to Anchorage the other day. Fall/Autumn (September & October) is the rutting season and is the best time to see and hear the moose - the male have huge racks (antlers) by then, and they rub them on trees to remove the velvet so the antlers are ready to do battle with other males. After the mating season they drop their antlers each year, growing a new, and larger rack the next year (health permitting) - antlers can grow up to 1" per day. During mating season both males and females can also be heard calling across the valleys.

Denali is the home of the tallest mountain peak in North America: Mt McKinley, which at 20,300 ft high, is about 1,000 ft taller than Mt Kilimanjaro - the tallest mountain in Africa. So far this year 9 climbers/hikers have lost their lives here on the mountain. Not for the faint hearted. The ranger was saying there were several reasons for death including loosing their footing, having a heart attack, confusion due to altitude (loss of oxygen) leading to errors in judgement when close to the edge, camping near a glacier (frequent earthquakes in this area shear ice off glacier - 3 people in same tent died from ice crash recently) amongst other reasons. Each climber pays a one-off fee of $300 to climb the mountain. I read that climbers on Kilimanjaro pay a daily fee, which sometimes causes hikers to try and speed up their climb to save money, which often inadvertently leads to altitude sickness. Two of my kids are climbing Kilimanjaro in September, so this is of interest to me. Take as long as you need Benn, Kim (& Daina)!

Our RV park here is nestled right at the back of the main Denali Village shopping mall, so it is very handy for RVers. Today we will check out the numerous shops with their Alaskan arts and souvenirs, and tomorrow we drive about 2 hours to Fairbanks where Marie & Eric will catch up with us, and we will spend about 3 nights.