Just when I thought I had taken all the photos of Denali I possibly could, a view such as this punches me. When in Denali National Park, and after traveling about 50 miles into the park, you come up over a very steep series of switchbacks in the road and as you hit the height of land, this view is in your face. As you stand on this rise, before you below is a huge valley sweeping far to your right and left painted in beautiful golds and greens. But the cream of the view is Denali and its smaller partnering mountains in front of you which will completely take your breath away. This was like being at the Grand Canyon, for me. You hear everyone telling you the Grand Canyon cannot be explained in words or photos. Well, this view, this national part, this Denali cannot be described in words or photos. To me, this was the most beautiful view of Denali we have seen - barring some of the close ups from the plane.
Denali National Park is truly a place I could call home! This 600 million acre wonder is truly a world of its own. The size cannot be imagined and in a lifetime, you could not explore all corners of this expansive park. "Park" does not seem the appropriate word - "World" would more appropriately describe this world of its own. Around every corner is another magnificent vista that is indescribable. Here are some samples.
 |
| This is a braided river. In the spring it will be full. |
 |
| Denali is exposed in various places and around many turns on the Denali park road. |
Now, let's show you the wildlife. So far, we seen about 6 moose (and they ARE much, much bigger in Alaska!), but we didn't get great photos yet. I say yet, because we are going to try a place later this evening where the moose are congregating. A local told us that 13 bull moose were together early evening, last, so we are going to try.
Yes, we are so happy to say, we saw grizzly! Aka: Alaskan Brown Bear. We saw four on our first trip into the park. This is one photo of about 30 I have of this big boy, who actually came right up to the park road and by the bus we riding in. OMG. They are massive even though this photo doesn't express that.
 |
| Golder Eagle. We have seen 3 so far. |
 |
| Another brown bear. They all were interested in fattening up for the season. Grazing on berries and rodents. |
 |
| Caribou. We have seen a dozen or more. |
 |
| Ground squirrels by the dozens. |
 |
| More Dall Sheep than you can imagine! |
We didn't see a wolf, but they are extremely recluse, so we were not shocked by that. Grizzlies were really what we want to to see! Score.
Now, our hike! He were thrilled to have hiked Mt. Thoro, a 4300 foot mountain which is at the Eilson Visitor Center at mile 66 on the park road. When our bus got to the Eilson Center, the hiking trails were closed as there were 3 grizzlies in the area
Here is one of the grizzly bear that was preventing the hiking trail from being opened. The rangers keep all people away and wait until the bear clear the area. We waited for about 1 hour for the bear to wander away and they finally opened the trail. So, we took off!
 |
| This is the mountain we hike - STRAIGHT up! |
 |
| View as we got higher. |
 |
| Cindy on the top! |
 |
| Ira on the top! |
 |
| View from the top of Denali. |
 |
| The Building below is the Eilson Center which is where we started our hike. |
 |
| Ira on the way down. |
 |
| Cindy coming down the trail. |
Before we were able to hike, the rangers had to discuss with us bear safety measures, which the park take extremely seriously. You are coached numerous times at every stop, by every ranger and bus driver, how to act during a bear encounter. The key is NEVER run! Well, thankfully, I did not have to test my guts, as I'm just not sure if I could stand where watching a huge bear running at me. As it is a matter of life or death, I think I probably would have frozen! That being said, though we had to remain alert, we hiked nonetheless. Overcame some fear there. Whew!
Some park signs had to have nails driven into them, preventing the brown bear from grabbing them and tearing them apart. Ouch if they tried now!
They day we went into the park, it was 24 degrees! Note the frost on the deck of one overlook. There is only 15 miles that is open to cars. The rest, is accessible by bus (or with permits or if you are in certain areas). You must purchase a bus ticket to one of many stops along the park road. Wonder Lake is the farthest at about 90 miles. We stopped at Eilson Center which is at 66 miles. It took us 12 hours round trip for our journey as we got off and hiked. There are so many buses coming and going, you can hop back on a bus when you are ready to leave. But, that said, below is a photo of the height of the road (some falling directly off 1000 feet or more) and how narrow they are. Now imagine 2 buses meeting on that road! It was terrifying at times. There truly was a matter of inches (and few at that) between the buses. They know exactly how far they had to get over, wait for one bus to get 1/2 way by, and then the first bus could inch by. The skill of the drivers was amazing. I was thankful when we got off the really scarey section of the highway. Wow...that scared me more than the darn bear!
There is so much more to write, but for not, that's it. Got to go grab some dinner so we can go watch for moose.
Loving Alaska.
.JPG)
