Most people that vacation in Alaska usually choose to take a cruise along the south east coast but if you really want to see the unspoiled wilderness of Alaska you need to visit the interior. If you have time to do only one thing in the interior of the state you should visit Denali. Denali is both a national park and the name of tallest mountain in North America. It was formally known a Mt McKinley but the Alaska people never like that name so it has been officially change back to the original name of given to it by the Koyukon who lived in this area.
Denali national park is both a park and wilderness area. This means that the 6 million arches of the park that are a wilderness is to be preserved in its natural state. There are no hiking trails, campgrounds, roads or buildings allowed in this area. People are allowed in the wilderness area but must be know how to survive in this harsh tundra. Most of the less adventurous people, like us, stick near to the 92 mile road which runs through the middle of the park and is used by the park buses to provide tours.
Denali national park is a mix of low-elevation taiga forest, high alpine tundra and the snowy Alaska range which run through south central Alaska. After an overnight stay in Anchorage we started the 270 drive to Denali. Along the way we stopped in the town of Talketna (think Woodstock for outdoors men) for our first look at the mountains and a peak at Denali. The Alaska range has its own weather system that causes it to be in clouds most of the time. Only 30% of the people who come to Denali get to actually see the mountains. We were fortunate and got a to see views of the mountains for most of our drive.
We did encounter a brief rain storm preceded by a rainbow right before getting to our hotel in McKinley village. Our hotel was actually a group of real log cabins nestled on a hill about a mile from the entrance to Denali national park. The gravel road up to the hotel was gravel and very steep We had a hard time getting up there in the car. Getting to the cabin also required going up a 3 flights of stairs up a series of decks. Luckily they have a van service to get our luggage up to the cabin.
The next day we had booked a tour of Denali. Last time we were here we did one of the shorter tours and only got 20 miles into the park. This time we took the Kantishna tour which went all the way to the end of the 92 mile road. This would give us the best chance to see wildlife and see all the different terrain the park had to offer. It was a long 12 hour tour but were told by people who had done it that it was worth the time.
We had another beautifully sunny day for our tour and were told by our bus driver and tour guide that this was one of the best days this season for weather. Even he was amazed at some of the views and he does this tour every day.
We saw some caribou and moose as we drove along the mostly gravel road in a modified school bus. Our first stop was at Savage River were I got this picture.
The views only got better from there as the mountains of the Alaska range and Denali came into view. I took a lot of pictures of Denali.from a number of different points trying to capture it true beauty and size. Most of these pictures the mountain is still 50 to 70 miles away and it feels like you can reach out and touch it.
We also had a close encounter with a bear who walked next to our bus on the way to get a drink from the river.
The park rangers and most of the park workers go out of their way to make sure there is no interactions between humans and animals. There are steep fines and rules for anyone caught feeding or interacting with any animal in the park and most people who come here seem to understand and respect that. The bus driver made sure we did not make any sounds as the bear walked by so that he would no get use to any human sounds. The animals seem to treat the buses that drive along the road as non threatening animals.
Besides the bear, moose and caribou we also saw a lot of dall sheep which roam around the steep mountains.
After 6 hours we reached the end of the road. This is by wonder lake which is where Ansel Adams took one of his most popular photographs of Denali reflecting in pond by Wonder Lake. Because of wind and lighting I could not reproduce the shot but it is easy to imagine what is must have looked like in person
At the end of the road we also got a tour of an old gold mining camp. During the tour they described the life of Fanny Quilegy who was one of the pioneers who seem to thrive in this harsh land. Even after she and her husband Joe got rich from their gold mining she decided to stay. Even though I understood how amazing it would be to live here and spend days staring out the scenery I don't think I could take the 40 below weather in the winter.
On the way back the driver kept us entertained with other stories of the people who lived here and explained the ecology and geology of the park. It was really interesting and it was clear that he had a passion and love for the wilderness.
We got some more views of Denali which had started to cloud over a little.
However the clouds and change in lighting made the polychrome area look spectacular. The picture doesn't full show the varieties of colors glistening in the sun but its desert like appearance is a interesting contrast to the other snow covered mountains.
As we got to back to the beginning of the road we caught some more moose who seem to be howling.
12 hours in a bus riding a gravel road may sound grueling but it really did not seem long or uncomfortable at all because of all the things we were able to see.
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