Alaska Part II - Denali!

Alaska Part II - Denali
We spent 4 nights near Denali National Park. Denali is 6 million acres and is accessed only by one 92-mile road that cuts into it between the two big mountain ranges. It is a "trail-less wilderness," meaning that backpackers and hikers have to bushwhack to get anywhere. The park is enormous, and actually throughout Alaska I had the sensation that I was not making any real distance, no matter how far or how fast we drove.

Evening view from our hotel in Healy, Alaska. I think that's Mt Healy in the background, but I have nothing to confirm that. Our hotel was peaceful and lovely and warm, and we were about 10 minutes north of the park entrance. It was really lovely.

The Parks Highway (named for a person, not a destination), heads north from Anchorage and passes through the Anchorage basin (including the infamous Wasilla, a depressing looking little suburb with lots of gun, alcohol, and tobacco shops but jaw-dropping views!), and then starts to climb towards the interior. The highway is two-lane and the few exits aren't numbered. After climbing for hours, you get to the Broad Pass. When we drove through - both times - it was pretty heavily clouded. On the way in, the clouds were on two distinct layers, and it was very pretty if very cold, wet, and gloomy!

Once we passed the Denali National Park entrance, we passed into a much drier and sunnier region.

Mountain ridges in the park.

Mountain ridge peeking over the hills. This was the first sunlight we saw in Denali!

Denali National Park has several different micro climates and micro regions as you drive along the road. At first it's very wooded, then it opens up to fewer trees and more tundra-like vegetation, and then it more or less switches between variations of these. Several rivers dissect the park and run north towards Alaska's interior. This is the Savage River, the first major river as you drive along the park road. The turf around the river is spongy and springy because of conditions of permafrost beneath the thin layer of soil that covers the cold ground below.

The Sanctuary River valley was very different from the Savage and Teklanika River valleys. It was very beautiful.

Grizzly bear! And though it's a little too far away for our lens, it's a pretty nice distance from which to see a big, wild, hungry bear....

Spot the grizzly!

Ian and I have traversed this continent looking for moose. We've been to Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, the north shore of Lake Superior (Canada, folks), North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming looking for moose. We had just decided after two fruitless runs through Denali that if we failed to see moose in Alaska, it might actually be our problem. Then, lo and behold, a lovely little (huge) moose was having her snack right by the side of the road. We watched her and took photos for several minutes until she ambled away. Our faith is restored and we'll attempt to see more moose in the future.

Hungry moose!

Such a sweet face!

A bull moose! Now we just need a calf, and our moose family sightings will be complete. Maybe we'll go back in spring some year....

And he took a long, calm drink from the pool. These two moose sightings have done a lot to restore our faith in the species.

We got a tripod specifically so we could take pictures of the Northern Lights. Since we didn't see the night sky - too many clouds - we put the tripod to other uses!

The Teklanika River, looking roughly west. I believe that's Mt Cathedral, but I wouldn't put money on it. The Park road closes just before the Teklanika bridge after the park's summer season closes and before the snow falls.

On Thursday it stopped raining! We drove to the end of the park road and walked for about 3.5 miles. We turned around just past Igloo Creek when we discovered several large fresh piles of partially digested blueberries and decided against trying to meet a bear with a tummyache!

From the bridge crossing the Teklanika River after the gate on the park road.

On Friday morning, the mountain started slipping off its shroud of clouds and trying to come out. We stayed a watched for quite a long time and documented it. This is the first picture where you can start to see the shape of it; see below for the whole mountain view!

And the mountain is out! This is Mt. McKinley, 20,320 feet and growing, seen from the Savage River bed view point. According to the National Park Service, only 30% of people who come to Denali National Park see the mountain. That number includes the cruise ship trippers who ride the bus down from Fairbanks, stay a night at the cruise lines' hotels right outside the park gates, drive through once, and then head down to Seward for their boat rides, but still. It was awesome.

These are the mountains east of Denali National Park as seen from the park road.

The trees were the same color yellow as the lane lines, and they all looked sort of fluffy.

The Parks Highway, connecting Anchorage to Fairbanks. It's mostly two lanes (though with generous and frequent truck lanes for passing) and has no exit numbers. It's a very nice road to drive! And as Ian pointed out, unless you could see the jagged snow-capped peaks, it looks an awful lot like Wisconsin, only emptier, cleaner, and bigger.

The eastern part of the vista from the George Parks Monument, about half an hour outside of Fairbanks. This is looking south-ish towards the Alaska Range and Denali National Park. Alaska is immense!

The central part of the vista. Mt McKinley is just off the right edge of this photo.

The western end of the vista. Mt McKinley is visible on the left.

Love that tripod!

Look! There's Mt McKinley! 20,320 feet above sea level. It dwarfs the rest of the Alaska Range, and everything else around it, and it's apparently still growing.

Looking north from the ridge that climbs to Fairbanks is also stunning -- that interior valley is astounding!

Our last morning in Healy/ Denali, we had an amazing sunrise. And because Alaska is so far north, sunsets and sunrises last for (literally) hours. It was really lovely. And it didn't matter to us that "red sky in morning, sailors take warning" because we were leaving! I will say, however, that the Alaska Highway just north of the Denali entrance was damaged by high river water: the Nenana River crested at 14.4 feet, the highest it's ever been recorded (though according to Google record keeping started in 1990), and ate out a chunk of the roadbed.

Look! There's the mountain! Behind all those clouds.... The Denali viewpoints were not particularly scenic on the days we drove past. You can see the faint image of a low ridge (certainly not Mt McKinley) behind my right shoulder. You can also see raindrops on my jacket. It was still beautiful, just less stunning than if the mountain had been out.

Nacha the dog has such a sweet face! She liked me (I returned her Kong toy to her after she flung it out of her pen), but she loved Ian.

Kisses!

More kisses!

Cassin the dog was very pretty. He paid no attention to me but leapt and barked and ran circles when Ian got close to his pen. He was beautiful both still and in motion.

Most of the dogs were mildly interested but not enough to really get up.

And some didn't even open their eyes! It's a tough job, waiting for the snow all summer!

Pyro the dog says, I see you, 6'8", and I would like to defy you...

But I bet you scratch a mean belly...

And in spite of my initial hesitation, you get a kiss for your troubles!

When we got back to the Anchorage area, everything was under water. It was very beautiful though quite problematic for a lot of residents! There were lots of cars stopped for locals to take pictures too.