Denali National Park

On the bus once again, this time to Denali National Park .

Denali National Park was founded in 1917 and was then known as Mt. McKinley National Park , although the name was never official. It originally covered about two million acres and only part of the mountain itself. The park was expanded in 1980 to include six million acres and all of Mt McKinley within it's boundary. The park now covers the range and breeding grounds of the large herds of caribou, brown bear and Dall sheep.

This is not a park like many of those we are use to. Six million acres is a lot of land. To see just a part of it is a lot of bus riding on bumpy, dusty gravel roads with the bus driver rounding many serious hair-pin mountain curves while shouting "Dall Sheep, high on the left". Most of us were paying more attention to the five hundred foot drop on the right! The buses are actually old school buses and out naturalist/driver had eighteen years experience driving a school bus full of kids so we felt comfortable in her hands.

We were met by a park ranger at the Savage River Ranger Station for our ranger talk about not walking on the grass and no souvenir hunting. We took a small hike with a nature guide looking at various trees, creeks and things. Just as we began, not 50 feet from the paved road someone yelled "Moose!". Sure enough just behind us was a mother and her teenager. She stood just looking at us while all the while our guide was scared out of her boots! She kept telling us not to stare, be very quite and move on. Of course we stood and took more pictures!

Our bus trip deep into the park was to be sixty eight miles to a location where we just might see the mountain. At this point we would still be some thirty five miles from the actual mountain. Denali , the mountain, is so big it creates it's own weather system. Most of the time it is covered with clouds, it is a rare site to see it unobstructed. I reckon that we saw about three fourths of the mountain but the top was rising into the clouds.

Watching for wildlife requires a sharp eye and one that knows what to look for. Unfortunately, I have neither. With the help of a few eagle eyed folk on the bus we did see brown bear, Dall sheep and one lone wolf. We also saw the Alaska state bird, a ptarmigan, special park squirrels and bear scat filled with 'unprocessed' berries. At one time we saw a sow (momma bear) and her two cubs eating berries. Another sow and her two babies were ambling through with the same thought in mind when they spied the first trio. I'm sure there were more than a few growls and grumbles that made the interloper and family hightail it to the mountain! The Dall Sheep were on the edge of extension in the early 1900s and they were the reason for the initial thoughts of a national park - to protect the sheep. Now there are sheep everywhere.

The bus driver has a high powered video camera that can zoom in and we could view the animals close up on the drop down video screens in the bus. The screens were a neat invention to help you see the animals and also a neat way to separate you from fifty bucks when they sell you the video of your trip.

It was a good trip, but If I had it to do again I would ride the green park buses into the park. The park buses are for your more adventurous soles , which I surely am not, who may be hiking or backpacking . They are also far less expensive and they don't have the running commentary. The bus will drop you off and pick you up at will, but they do take you to mile 97, which is the end of the park road. But for now our tour bus turns around and we bump back to "Glitter Gulch". Glitter Gulch, what I have since learned, is the term for the collection of lodges , restaurants and shops just outside the park entrance.

Tomorrow , it's on to Fairbanks.