7.4.2022 Cabin and tour of Denali National Park

We awoke to a beautiful day and spent some time relaxing this morning before our tour.

We drove to the Denali Visitor Center...but first is a photo op by the sign!

Denali National Park and Preserve is over 6 million acres of land with one road and one entrance. This is truly a wild land.  A few weeks before our trip, there was a Pretty Rocks Landslide which closed access to the road at Mile 43 and abbreviated our potential tour. You are only able to access the first 15 miles of the park road to Savage River and then you are able to travel further only by buses.  

The only trails are near the park road but you can camp in one of the 6 campgrounds or do primitive and back country hiking and camping by permit only.

This became a national park in 1917 to protect the over-hunted Dall sheep.  The famous peak of the park is the Denali towering at 20,310 feet tall, but I would argue that the entire place has "star-power".  It is stunning.

We had some time before our tour so we took a hike near the visitor center.  This one is called the McKinley Station Trail.

I booked the Tundra Wilderness Tour which was about 6 hours. This went through beautiful vistas and had narration.  We were able to spot 4 out of the big 5 animals of the park.  It had a few stops where you could get out and take pictures and stretch your legs.  It was the best way to see what we could of the park as it is so vast and inaccessible to private vehicles past a certain point.  

First big 5 sighting, caribou. This guy was chilling on the side of the road.

Alaskan Fireweed.  It covers the meadows, seen along the roads and entire mountainsides.  It thrives in the environment of Alaska which is extreme.  It is edible and we even had fireweed ice cream! It is a great source of vitamin C, can be dried and used as a tea, used in jelly or jam and the stalks are cooked and eaten like asparagus.  Apparently you can even use it like Neosporin!

caribou

prairie dog

Dall sheep and lambs spotted in the distance

The caribou apparently like laying on the remnants of ice and snow because of the relentless flies and bugs that torment them.

A grizzly on the move in the meadows.

A close up of the beautiful fireweed.

4th big animal sighting, the moose!

The 5th animal is the wolf which we did not see.  

It felt like a long day on the bus and while it was the only way to see the park on a tour for us, it would have been nice to been able to have more time to take in the scenery on the stops they did allow.  

 Alaska continues to amaze us with its breathtaking scenery and wildness.