Denali National Park

Denali National Park

http://www.nps.gov/dena/index.htm

The next morning we got up pretty early so that we'd have time to drive the several miles back toward the park headquarter buildings, check into our campsite, and then get back to the campsite before we were picked up for the tour of the park. 

2nd Moose Close Call - This morning we were in the RV waiting on Sarah to get back to from the bathroom.  I was sitting on the bed facing the fron of the RV talking to Ed & Jeanette weh an enormous cow moose trotted past the front windsheild of the vehicle.  I was a little nervous that it was going in Sarah's direction, but amazined that it came so close to us, and that it was so HUGE!  I think I scared the bejezus out of Jeanette when I saw it.

The park really is immense - I can't say it enough. Even at almost 90 miles, that East-West road that you travel on doesn't even extend 1/2 way into the park - not even close. The park is almost 9,500 square miles of wilderness - that's bigger than 5 states, and bigger than New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. It's also unique in that a large portion of the park still allows subsistence hunting. The park was 1st established in 1917 as Mt. McKinley National Park, but was drastically increased in size in 1980 to its present size and the name changed to Denali NP. Denali is the native Althabascan name for the mountain and it means "The High One", or "The Great One". The mountain its self is really incredible. The surrounding land is only a few thousand feet above sea level, so even though the mountain, at 20,320 feet, isn't nearly as tall as Mt. Everest (29,029' tall), it is far more impressive to look at because nearly all of its height is right there in front of you. Everest is only a few thousand feet above the surrounding terrain.

A little background here: Denali NP is one of the few that only allows you to drive a short distance on its roads.  Actually, there is only 1 road into the park - a basically East-West road that extends about 90 miles into the park from the eastern boundary.  They allow you to drive about 13 miles into the park on this road, and if you want to go any farther, you have to ride on one of the tours (unless you're one of the lucky few who win a lottery for personal cars).  These tours are of various lengths and focused on specific things, like the wildlife or geology, or a general tour that touches on everything.  This is a great idea because it really minimizes the human impact on the roads, the scenery, and the wildlife, but it's one of those things that I'm glad they make everyone else do, but wish they didn't apply to me.  I like to go on my own pace and have some quiet (more on that in a minute).  You can go anywhere else in the park that you want, but you're going to hike to get there. 

We boarded our bus and began our tour ~ 8am.  I wanted to see as much of the park as possible, so we signed up for the general tour that went all the way to the end of the road (mile marker 90) and back, which takes about 13 hours!  It takes that long, of course, because you're constantly stopping to see wildlife, and they make several stops for bathroom breaks, scenic sites, etc.

1 bit of advice - if you ever take one of these tours, SIT ON THE LEFT SIDE!!!!  Sarah and I made the mistake of sitting on the right and were frustrated much of the morning trip because almost all of the sites and wildlife were off of the left side.  We skirted the perimeter of a valley by driving along the edge of a series of hills, so pretty much all we ever saw on our side was the side of a hill right out our window.  So, sit on the left side.  People get on and off the bus a lot, so you can almost certainly get back on the right side once the bus starts coming back.  The only other complaint that we had (and this one we couldn't do much about) is that across the aisle from us was one of those unbelievably annoying doofusses that just had to tell everyone how much he knows about everything and comment on everything the bus driver/tour guide said over the intercom.  And then later on during the day, he had the nerve to ask the tour guide, who was actually telling us important and interesting things, to please talk less so he could "enjoy the nature more".  As soon as he left I asked the tour guide to ignore him because he was an idiot. 

Anyway, regardless of where you sit, you're going to have a good time and see some beautiful things and tons of animals.  As I said, there were plenty of bathroom stops, longer stops at ranger stations and places to take a short hike and take pictures, etc.  The scenery is incredible and the park is just immense.  I really wanted to strike out on a long hike and get away from the road and all the people, but we knew today would be dedicated to the bus tour.  This is the only way to see a decent porportion of the park in a reasonable amount of time.  Hopefully tomorrow we could go on a hike.

Jason & Sarah's Pictures

The wildlife here is fantastic.  We saw caribou, beavers, moose, Dall sheep, lots of brown bears . . . just about everything.  The only thing we didn't see were wolves.  Apparently we missed them by just a couple of minutes, because Ed and Jeanette got some great pictures of some up really close.  (They decided to go on a short hike at one of the stops on the way home, so they hopped on the next bus). 

Ed & Jeanette's Photos

The scenery is equally amazing.  It was overcast today (the 1st time during the entire trip) so we couldn't see Denali, but it was still gorgeous.  Almost overwhelmingly beautiful - the mountains so rugged and the valley so vast, with glaciers on the mountainsides, patches of spruce forest surrounded by seemingly endless tundra that had just begun turning colors for the impending fall.  It was really amazing and one of my favorite parks so far.  I would absolutely love to see this place in the winter as well. 

These are two bull moose skulls and antlers o display at the Eilson Visitor Center.  Apparently these two guys were fightinga nd their atlers got locked together and they ended up dying of starvation like this.  One antler tine pierced the eye of the other moose.  Pretty terrible way to die. 

Sarah and I got back a little earlier than Ed and Jeaneete, so we started our dinner of burgers and noodles. 
It was a long day, but well worth it.  I really loved everything.