Denali National Park and Preserve

Mt. McKinley aka Denali

Who wants to go for a ride? The magic phrase that gets three dogs highly motivated. Amazing how three couch potatoes can leap out of a deep sleep and be at the door in a split second! And so began our wrap up of our stay at Denali National Park and Preserve. What a great stay it was. This park is all about the present and the future. It’s about the here and now.

There is the research center that studies the environment and habits of the park’s wildlife. It’s about the tour directors and the Park Rangers and the bus drivers. All these people who remain updated and informed of the latest news of and in the park. When you begin your journey into Denali, it’s a big deep breath of freshness. No old gold, coal, diamond mines and their trappings. Nobody telling you what it was like here 50 years ago. Mt. McKinley has been there for a while, and it will stay for a while! Nature does what nature has to do to provide the wilderness what is necessary for its survival.

The RV campgrounds were packed and had no openings for the foreseeable future. There is so much going on at the park - RVers, Tenters, Research Scientists, Photographers, Artists! Serious Mountain Climbers and Casual Hikers are there for the same reason - to enjoy a pristine wilderness - to see it and leave it as they saw it. Maybe that explains the general close camaraderie as you move about. Everyone has had to make a serious effort to get to Denali, and they appreciate the fact that others have done the same.

As is our custom on arrival, we zoned out. It hadn’t been a really long jump from the last campground, nor had it been a tough trip, we just both wear out from the shutting down and setting up process. The youngsters, PaL, are ready to go…now…the mountains are calling! We arrived on Friday, made arrangements for our first adventure, an 8 hour bus tour of Denali. PaL were kind enuf to keep an eye on the fur balls, otherwise we were going to take separate tours. Their scheduled tour was for Saturday so we scheduled for Sunday. Unfortunately it rained all day Saturday, but still they were impressed with all of it. They scheduled another tour for Monday with a different mode of transportation. It’s hard to believe how many people can be in that park and how few it seems.

The tour buses run all day with about ten minutes between the buses. The shuttle buses run on a schedule that is posted at all the congregation areas. To shuttle from one Park center to the next is a free shuttle, but if you take a shuttle out into the Park there is a fee, but not as expensive as a tour. We were all encouraged by the large number of young couples with young children exploring the Park. All the little children were very well mannered and seemed sincerely interested in the facts surrounding them. Hundreds of young people weighted down by their backpacking load passed our RV. Going and coming, they seemed very determined and I felt exuberant for them as I did for PaL’s intensive hike achievements!

Our tour on Sunday was the same as PaL had been - different driver, same route. It was a gorgeous day. Our bus driver was very chatty, almost to the point of irritation for me. We did have an exciting trip however. The “big five” for Alaska means, bear, wolf, moose, elk and sheep. We saw them all. Pictures for proof!!!! Barry and I came to the same conclusion that just looking at the wilderness was more then we could have asked for whether we saw the wildlife or not. There is so much to look at It was a very humbling experience. We have all learned about glaciers, ice fields, kettle ponds,, calving, and the footprint they make as they move through the mountains. We’ve learned a lot about bear, moose, reindeer, caribou, musk oxen, Dall sheep, wolves, coyotes, rabbits, and even Arctic ground squirrel. Some of it we knew, some we’ve learned here in Alaska, but you cannot learn anything about a mountain until you touch it, smell it and climb it!

PaL took on Mt. Healy - a very strenuous hike. They thought it was as strenuous as the Mt. Marathon had been. What a rush for them when they made it back to terra firma! Barry and I took a much less strenuous trail. There is still a lot more to learn and very little time to learn it!! A word about the wildflowers of Denali. They are so numerous and varied that there is a book just for them. They are so fragile looking but so tough and courageous! One big contribution to the Park’s beauty. We have become "scat" searchers, and to my surprise there is a book entitled "Scat and Trails!"  With all the scat on the trails, we always carried our bear bells and bear spray!  There were lots of moose with calves around our campground.  Word is that moose have come to realize that bear will not be in the same space as humans and they s.  a bit safer.  There are no bear in the campgrounds for good reason.  A very adamant and strict program is in place to discourage bear

Notice I saved the cuisine for the last thought. I think that the last count of eateries we had visited was 12 - 10 of which where sure winners. Ponderosa Pizza was excellent, another who’s name slips my mind was not so good. So that makes us 12 for 14. Still really good batting averages! Each town has it’s offering of Alaska beer. Denali Breweries in Talkeetna, Alaska Breweries in Homer and Kenai Breweries in Anchorage.

From the MABarry - over and out!