Denali National Park & Preserve

Denali National Park and Preserve is accessible along the Parks between Fairbanks and Anchorage. We decided to spend a few days at Denali before our month long stay in Anchorage. We left Fairbanks the morning of June 25, and arrived at Denali about 3 hours later, on a beautiful clear day. A little on the cool side, but nothing that a light jacket or sweater couldn’t handle. We got settled in at the Riley Creek campground, and decided to take off on foot exploring our immediate surroundings. That turned into a four mile hike, with a stop at one of the park’s Visitor Centers along the way. Some fun facts we learned about the park and surrounding areas:

** Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet.
** Mt. McKinley was originally named Denali (“The High One”) by the native Athabascan Indians, but was changed to Mt. McKinley in the early 1900’s. There is an effort under way to have the official name changed back to Denali. (Most Alaskans refer to the mountain as “Denali”.)
** Denali National Park covers 6 million acres, but there is only one 100-mile road running through it.
**The road through Denali is only accessible by foot, bicycle, special permit, or tour bus.

We decided we would take a tour bus into the heart of the park so we could see as much as possible during our stay. We booked a tour on the Eielson Visitor Center bus, which takes you 60 miles down the 100 mile road. The round trip takes 8 hours as the bus travels very slow, makes numerous stops, and there is a lunch break at the visitor center. As many signs around the park attested to, “the animals in Denali can do whatever they want”. Because they are so protected by the structure of the park, we were able to observe a moose cow and her calf (right in the middle of the road); several grizzly bear sightings, including one mother with two cubs; many caribou (reindeer); a fox. Some of these sightings were really only observable through binoculars, but still an awesome experience. Again, it was another clear and beautiful day, and we were able to see Denali clearly all along the way. The views from the visitor center were nothing short of spectacular, and we were told this was a very lucky occurrence, days like this only happening about 20%-30% of the time. (Do you think they say that to all the tourists?) Either way, we were thrilled to see the mountain, and took many pictures, some of which are attached here.

Everywhere we go, Dan and I keep saying, “Wow, this is a once in a lifetime experience!” But it seems the most true since we’ve been in Alaska, as we likely will never pass this way again. Sometimes it’s only in retrospect that you are able to really appreciate how fortunate you are to experience something, but the spectacular beauty, remoteness, and rugged wild landscape of Alaska makes it hard to miss!

Next Stop: Anchorage, Alaska