If I Were Going...: Alaska #7: Denali National Park

The High One

Coming back early from Bettles gave us an extra day and a half in the Denali National Park and Preserve area. Since we were flying back to Fairbanks rather late in the day and the Denali hotels were heavily booked (they always are in season), we decided to stay in Fairbanks for the night and then get an early start for Denali the next day,

For the next night, we booked a cabin at the Tonglen Lake Resort. The website made it look like a wonderful rustic cabin in the woods. And, indeed it was tucked away down a dirt road the even GPS had a hard time finding.

Male White-Winged Scoter

The property was lovely -- even in the fairly heavy rain that was falling when we arrived.

And, there were White-Winged Scoters on Tonglen Lake. It was dark, and they were far away, but I hoped they would move in and the rain would clear up the next day.

As it turned out, we ended up leaving before it was light the next morning, So, I never got good pictures.

The cabin was expensive -- $425 a night -- so I was a bit disappointed that there was no WiFi, no TV, no fridge, no restaurant (just a coffee shop/bar with a very limited menu) and that we had to schlep our luggage about 100 yards down a gravel path to our room (in the rain). It was lovely enough, with a comfy bed, nice amenities (read: shampoo and soap), a gas-flame stove and lots of privacy. It just wasn't worth the price. The place seemed to be some sort of healing retreat with yoga and classes and that kind of stuff -- and, I suspect it is geared toward conferences. There was a dinner going on the night we checked in. It just didn't seem to be for individual travelers.

But, it was just a room, so no big deal. I should have gone with the only other room available -- cheap, a little sketchy, but probably fine because all we really need is a bed and a shower (and, if we can get it, good Internet).

The next day we were moving to the room we had already reserved for two nights at the McKinley Creekside Cabins, when our itinerary would resume as planned. We were very happy with the accommodations there -- big room, refrigerator and a huge porch, that, unfortunately, we never used because of rain.

Our digs at McKinley Creekside Cabins

Best darn food in the Denali area

The restaurant had great operating hours (open at 5:00 a.m. -- that's how something near a National park should do it!) and perhaps the best food in the Denali area -- especially the salted caramel pecan rolls. Even though it is 14 miles south of the entrance, I highly recommend staying there and I have stayed lots of places near Denali

The grounds were nice, too, with a lovely deck by the creek. Once again, use was thwarted by weather.

Before we left home, we had booked a day-long bus trip into Denali on the first day we were supposed to be back; then, we would be going out to the Backcountry Lodge for a night. But, since we were there early and the weather was good, we decided that we should take a bus trip on the extra day as well. Scott got a reservation for 11:00 a.m., but the next day was clear, so we went to the Transportation Center and exchanged our reservation for an earlier one. We traveled out to the Eielson Visitors Center and back on the clearest day I have ever seen in Denali.

View from Eielson

Let me explain a little about the bus tours ...

There is one road through the Park -- Denali Park Road -- that begins at the George Parks Highway and parallels the Alaska Range for 92 miles, ending at Kantishna.

Map: National Park Service

Private cars can drive only the first 15 miles, except at the beginning and end of the season. Plowing begins in Denali no later than March, so visitors can drive up to 30 miles into the park by mid-April, unless there is another heavy snow. Bus service begins around May 20, after which car traffic is restricted to mile 15.

Savage River crossing; as far as you can drive your own car during season

Denali holds an annual Road Lottery event where winners may buy a permit to drive the entire road (if weather allows) on one of four days in mid-September. In years with early snow, the Park Road might open no farther than Savage River (mile 15); in milder years, lottery winners are able to go all the way to the end of the Park Road (mile 92). A fifth day of the Road Lottery, called Military Appreciation Day, is open only to active duty military service-members and their families. We have entered the lottery before, but never "won," even though the stated odds are 1-in-7 and all four of our family members have entered.

Canadian Lynx, 2008

Once the Lottery weekend is over, all private vehicles may once again drive up to 30 miles into the Park until snow closes the road, usually in late September or October.

We have driven the 30 miles before and it paid off.

We saw a Canadian Lynx and were able to spend time photographing it without the restrictions of a bus schedule or the issue of shooting through bus windows.

After snow closes the road, travel can be restricted to as short a distance as three miles! The Park is open then, you just can't travel anywhere in a vehicle.

There are some lovely spots in the first 15 miles, including a very nice nature walk along the Savage River. We stopped there a couple of times -- once I walked down to the River.

Savage River

I even saw a NEW bird species for me there -- some lovely little Boreal Chickadees ...

Boreal Chickadee

... that were hopping in the trees with some Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers ...

Myrtle Yellow-Rumped Warbler

I also saw a couple of Snowshoe Hares, all still in the summer coats. I saw no evidence of its coat starting to turn to its winter white.

Snowshoe Hare

Still, most of the great views are inside the restricted areas -- hence the bus tours, which -- I promise -- I will get to in a minute.

There are a number of reasons travel is restricted: First, the permafrost and the freeze-thaw cycle makes the road rather delicate and maintenance would be expensive if there was heavy automobile traffic. Second, the gravel road is very narrow with some areas with no guardrails, sheer drop-offs, steep grades and sharp turns, which makes it dangerous and would create horrible traffic jams whenever an animal was spotted, which is often. And, third, it would be very hard to patrol stupid tourists who don’t understand the dangers presented by Denali’s wild animals.

The solution is bus travel. There are three types of bus service:

Checking out displays at Toklat River

Non-narrated transit buses provide flexible travel to specific points in the Park. The name is a misnomer, because ALL the drivers provide some kind of running commentary.

Transit buses stop for wildlife, restrooms and scenery, just like tour buses, but you can disembark or re-board anywhere along the road, providing there is room on the bus you are trying to get on (and, no worries, they provide enough shuttles to get you out by the end of the day). This way, you can travel at your own pace.

And, you can change buses if your bus is too full or you don't like the driver or your fellow bus travelers.

There are four choices of non-narrated trips, of varying length and price: The Toklat River bus goes to mile 53 and takes at least 6.5 hours roundtrip for $31.25 per person. The Eielson Visitor Center bus goes to mile 66 and takes at least 8 hours round-trip or $40.00 per person. The Wonder Lake bus goes to mile 85 and takes at least 11 hours roundtrip for $55.00 per person. The Kantishna bus goes to mile 92 and takes 13 hours roundtrip for $60.00 per person. You have to bring your own food and drinks -- nothing but water is available in the Park.

Transits are great for return visitors who want flexibility (like us).

Sometimes the buses are crowded

There are three different narrated bus tours, in which you stay with the specific driver and bus and receive a full targeted lecture. They stop for wildlife and scenery and provide a snack or full lunch.

Photo taken 2013

The Natural History Tour, which focuses on the natural and cultural history of the Park, travels to the Teklanika River stop at mile 30. It includes several interpretive stops, with at least an hour of off-bus experience. It runs from early May to late September and takes about 5 hours. It costs $80.00 for adults and $40.00 for children.

The Tundra Wilderness Tour is a 7-8 hour excursion that provides in-depth information about the history of the Park, as well as looking for wildlife and photography opportunities. In late May, the tour travels as far as Toklat River at mile 53. From June to mid-September, it goes to Stony Overlook at mile 62. It costs $136.00 for adults and $68.00 for children.

The 11-12 hour Kantishna Experience runs from early June to mid-September and includes all the usual wildlife and scenery stops as well as a talk by a National Park Service Interpretive Ranger and some in-depth time in the Kantishna area. It travels the entire 92 mile road and costs $218.00 for adults and $104.00 for children.

Kantishna Area

These tours are good for first-time visitors or people with strong specific interests. We have done some in the past, but now prefer the flexibility of the transit buses. Regardless of how you travel, you should go to the Eielson Visitor Center; if you take a shorter route, you miss to much.

If you are camping past the Savage River Bridge, you can drive your car in and out -- but ONLY one time each way. To move around the Park while you are camping, you still have to use the buses.

Photo taken in 2013

You also have to pay a $10 Park fee for every reservation, but, on site you can get a refund by producing your National Park Pass. No, you can't waive the fee while booking; you have to request a refund. It has something to do with the fact that the tours are operated by a concessionaire.

None of the buses are luxurious – they are old school buses. But, they do the trick.

Scott on the bus

You can open the windows to take pictures. They are difficult to open, but once you get them down without crushing your fingers, you can get some pretty decent photos -- assuming the bus is aimed correctly. Getting the windows closed -- and getting them to stay closed -- is another issue.

Personally, I like to leave them open, but some riders don't like the breeze.

The drivers give out all the rules upon departure. The two biggest ones are to keep your hands, arms and head inside the bus at all times (people who take photos with cell phones struggle with this) and keep perfectly quiet when near animals. This is so that the wild animals don't associate the buses with humans. That keeps the animals safe and creates a better environment for us to see animals up close.

Close up Brown Bear photographed from the bus

One of our drivers explained that school buses, rather than tour buses, are used because they are much lighter weight and, therefore, do less damage to the road.

The tour drivers and shuttle drivers are trained to spot animals and guests are also asked to speak up when something comes into sight. Generally, the drivers give you a decent amount of time to take pictures, but we have had some who were grumpy and/or in a hurry -- or quite punitive when riders break the rules (I get it, but perhaps a warning before driving away from a bear because riders gave out audible gasps).

Bus view

Still, the buses give you a great view of the Park.

Let me talk a little about the Park before I get back to my visit. Denali National Park and Preserve comprises 9,446 sq. miles in the center of Alaska and protects the highest peak in North America, 20,310-foot-tall Denali. The Park’s landscape is a mix of forest at the lowest elevations including evergreens and deciduous taiga ...

Forest

... tundra at middle elevations ...

Tundra

... and glaciers, snow and bare rock at the highest elevations ...

Denali peaks

Although Alaska did not become a state until 1959, the push to create Denali National Park started in 1906 and Mount McKinley National Park (I’ll talk more about the name later) was created in 1917. This is not that unusual – we currently have two National Parks in territories – U.S. Virgin Islands National Park and The National Park of American Samoa. The original Mount McKinley National Park comprised only a portion of the current Park and excluded the summit.

In 1947, the Park boundaries expanded to include an area with a train depot, important because there was no road access to the Park entrance until 1957. Now, with the George Parks Highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks, Park attendance greatly expanded: there were 5,000 visitors in 1956; 25,000 visitors in 1958; and almost 643,000 last year.

Denali from Eielson

The name of Mount McKinley National Park was subject to local criticism from the beginning of the Park. The original name of the mountain it celebrated was Denali, meaning "the high one" in the native Athabaskan language, but the mountain had been re-named after newly elected U.S. President William McKinley in 1897. The U.S. government formally adopted the name Mount McKinley after the Park was created in 1917. President McKinley never visited Alaska and had very little to do with anything in the state.

Denali at a distance

In 1980, Mount McKinley National Park was combined with Denali National Monument and named Denali National Park and Preserve. At that time, the Alaska State Board of Geographic Names changed the mountain's name back to Denali (great move!).

However, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names continued to use Mount McKinley.

This situation lasted until 2015, when President Barack Obama re-renamed the mountain to Denali, using his statutory authority to act on requests when the Board of Geographic Names does not do so in a "reasonable" time period. I have always called the mountain Denali, because, well, that was what the original peoples called it. I was happy when Obama made it official.

The base of Denali

Denali National Park and Preserve includes the central, highest portion of the Alaska Range, together with many of the glaciers and glacial valleys running southwards out of the range. To the north, the Park and Preserve encompass the valleys of the McKinley, Toklat and Foraker Rivers, as well as the Kantishna and Wyoming Hills. The George Parks Highway runs along the eastern edge of the Park. The entrance to the Park is about 11 miles south of Healy. The Denali Visitor Center is located just inside the entrance.

Denali views

On this trip, we stayed outside the Park the first three nights (as I mentioned, one night at the Tonglen Lake Resort and two at the McKinley Creekside Cabins) and then traveled all the way to Kantishna to stay at the Denali Backcountry Lodge for one night.

We took the transit bus out to Eielson on one day. As I mentioned, we had booked an Eielson bus the following day, but decided to add one when we got to Denali early.

We had glorious weather and views plus some decent animal sightings on the Eielson trip. Yes, the initial driver was a bit grumpy, but we stayed for awhile at Eielson and caught a different bus back. That gave me time to take a little hike through the tundra below the Eielson Visitors Center. It was just me and a couple of Arctic Ground Squirrels.

Hike on a lovely day

Bad weather came in the day we had originally scheduled a transit bus. As exciting as the tours are, 8-11 hours on a school bus is exhausting, especially when it is cold and damp. We slept in (we had a late night on the day we took the tour -- more on that later) and purposefully missed our departure.

Then, later in the day, we tried to change our scheduled bus to a later slot, but everything was booked until really late. We just spent time exploring the parts of the Park where driving is allowed plus some areas south of Denali near Cantwell. It was rainy, so we didn't get a lot of photos, just some birds, ducks and owls (I will talk about those later).

Ring-Necked Duck and Northern Shoveler, Denali Highway, Cantwell

We lost a little money by skipping the bus, but that was OK. I have learned to not sweat the small monetary losses that come from changing plans; they generally are worth it.

Backcountry Lodge bus

The trips out to the Backcountry Lodge and back were private narrated bus tours.

We had stayed at the Backcountry back in 2001 when we took the girls with us on a family vacation to Alaska. On that trip, we took the bus in and flew back on a small plane.

We had expected the flight to be oriented to sight-seeing, but it wasn’t, so we were disappointed that it was so quick and we didn't even slow down to see a bear running across the tundra.

Plus, we found out that, even when you fly back, your luggage comes on the bus, so you have to wait another five or so hours to depart the area. So, this time, we did the bus both ways. By far, the Backcountry Lodge driver, Missy, was the best; she went to great lengths to ensure we had good views of all the animals we encountered. And, the bus wasn't full, so we had lots of room to move around with our cameras.

Me on the Backcountry Lodge bus

The Backcountry Lodge is one of five lodges located in Kantishna, an unincorporated community that was founded as a gold mining camp in 1905. It lies in the Kantishna Hills at the junction of Eureka Creek and Moose Creek, three miles northwest of Wonder Lake and near the mouth of the Kantishna River. Although the community was once also called "Eureka," the Board on Geographic Names (those guys again!) officially ruled in favor of "Kantishna" in 1944, the name given to the post office that was built at the site in 1905.

Obviously, there are only three ways to get to the Lodge: bus, plane (yes, there is a small bush plane airport) or foot.

Backcountry Lodge from the air; photo taken in 2001

Several thousand prospectors came to the Kantishna Hills region after placer gold was discovered in the summer of 1905 along Glacier Creek. Almost simultaneously, gold was also found along Friday Creek. Claims on Eureka Creek soon followed as did mining towns, including Glacier on Bearpaw River, Diamond on Moose Creek and Roosevelt and Square Deal on McKinley River. It was pretty much a flash in the pan: by 1906, the area was mainly deserted.

Backcountry Lodge from the air; photo taken in 2001

Sitting on Moose Creek (where we saw no Moose), Backcountry has a two-story Main Lodge and 42 "individual" cabins that are accessed by a series of raised walkways. This time, we had a lovely cabin facing the rushing river.

Our cabin at the Backcountry Lodge

Unfortunately, the Backcountry Lodge is not very accommodating for a one-night stay. The bus out departs at 1:00 p.m. and normally takes 6 hours to get to the Lodge. Because we saw quite a few animals, we didn't make it there until after 8:00 p.m. Then, the return trip leaves at 6:00 a.m.

I am not complaining about the slow trip in. I could stay out until midnight for good animal sightings. It is just that our time at the Lodge was almost non-existent. At $650 per person, that's not much value!

Our cabin at the Backcountry Lodge

Since the Backcountry Lodge does day trips that stop for lunch at the Lodge and then go back, it would be great if guests staying only one night could go back on that mid-day bus instead. I made that suggestion on my review of the Lodge. I wonder if I could have negotiated that!

Photo: Denali Backcountry Lodge

The Backcountry Lodge prides itself on its Rustic chic cuisine.

I recall that, back in 2001, it was pretty good. This time, I was disappointed.

We had several choices for dinner -- salmon, pork chops or a cauliflower ratatouille.

Both Scott and I had the pork chop because neither of us are big salmon fans (shhh ... not a popular opinion in Alaska). The chops were huge, but too tough to even wrestle a slice off with a sharp knife. I don't know if I could have bitten into it if I held the bone in my hand. That may have been because we got there so late; but, I assume they have late arrivals frequently. I guess we could have complained, but we were tired and hungry. The chocolate cake we had for dessert was yummy, however.

Because we were leaving early, you would assume that the breakfast buffet that wasn't even completely set up when we go to the dining room would be fresh and hot. It wasn't. The French toast was lukewarm at best (and lukewarm French toast is NOT good). Hot syrup could have saved it, but the syrup was cold. Scott said the eggs were similarly cold and nasty.

The Backcountry Lodge is expensive (even when you consider that the bus trips in and out are included), so I would expect everything to be superlative. The bus trip was. The guide was. The cabin was.

Our cabin at the Backcountry Lodge

But, the meals fell far short.

For those who stay several days (and most people do), the Backcountry Lodge has a spa and offers guided hikes, gold-panning, mountain biking, fishing and local tours. We did some of those things last time, but this was a quick trip in and out, so we just ate, walked around the grounds until it got too dark and slept.

Moose Creek

I do recall that the last time we were there, which was in June, the mosquitoes were awful. A mosquito net and bug spray are essential.

Becca gold-panning, Scott hiking with mosquito nets; photo taken in 2001

As I mentioned, on this trip, we took two bus trips into the Park -- one out to Eielson Visitor Center and back on a sunny day and then the trips to and from the Backcountry Lodge, both on rainy, cool, misty days.

Eielson Visitor Center

This blog post includes photos from both trips -- sunny and rainy. I thought that made more sense than trying to talk about the Park in the same order as the pictures I took.

Just based on weather, you can discern which pictures were taken which days.

Now, let me share a little bit more about Denali National Park and Preserve ...

To climb Denali (which, no thank you, I will never do), you need a climbing permit and you must attend an orientation. This is a serious mountain that is prone to avalanches after early summer and can have violent weather any time of year. To date, more than 32,000 people have attempted to summit Denali, with a success rate of approximately 52 percent. More than 125 people have died on the mountain, some from falls and some from altitude- or weather-related issues. The tallest mountain in North America, Denali is serious business.

I would rather pose than climb!

Denali National Park and Preserve is located in the central area of the Alaska Range, a mountain chain extending 600 miles across Alaska

Denali

In addition to being the highest mountain in North America, Denali (the peak) has the highest vertical relief (distance from base to peak) of any mountain in the world – about 18,000 feet.

The mountain is still gaining about 1 millimeter in height each year due to the continued convergence of the North American and Pacific Plates.

Denali is primarily made of granite, a hard rock that does not erode easily, which is why it has retained its height rather than being eroded.

There are many, many layers of rock in the Park, the oldest from ocean sediments deposited between 1 billion-400 million years ago. These layers have been folded, eroded and affected by faulting, volcanic eruptions, magma intrusion, additional marine sedimentation and glaciation.

Rock outcrop at Savage River

Denali is still affected by intense tectonic activity.

The Pacific Plate is subducting under the North American Plate, creating the 720-mile-long Denali fault system that is part of a larger fault system that includes California's San Andreas Fault.

More than 600 earthquakes occur in the Park each year, most too small to be felt.

Two large quakes -- magnitudes 6.7 and 7.9 – occurred in 2002. They didn’t do much harm because of the remoteness of the area.

Glaciers cover about 16 percent of the Park, with more extensive coverage on the southeastern side of the range where moisture-bearing winds from the Gulf of Alaska drop lots of snow. The largest glacier, the 32-mile-long Muldrow Glacier, however, is on the north side. Although glaciers tend to move very, very slowly, Muldrow has "surged" twice in the last hundred years. Surging means that it has moved forward for a short time at a greatly increased rate of speed, due to a build-up of water between the bottom of the glacier and the bedrock below. That is something I would like to see.

Muldrow Glacier; most of the leading edge is covered in dirt, rocks and vegetation

Glaciers deposit rock fragments, including erratics -- large rock fragments carried great distances from their sources. Found throughout Denali, erratics are made of granite and can be the size of a house. Some are 30 miles away from their original location. Glacial rock debris also creates moraines and braided meltwater streams. The paths of these wide, shallow waterways constantly shift and intertwine their channels over valley floors.

Wide braided stream

Kettles are formed when blocks of ice buried under debris melt, collapsing the ground into depressions. When kettles fill with water, they are known as kettle lakes. The most famous kettle lake in Denali is 280-feet-deep Wonder Lake near Kantishna.

Wonder Lake

Every time you see a photo of Wonder Lake, it has a Moose in it. I have never seen a Moose there. Perhaps the Wonder comes from, “I WONDER where the Moose is.”

This time, we did see two Moose fairly close to the lake in the early morning fog, but still not IN the lake.

Two Moose in the foggy rain

Because of its elevations and cold temperatures, much of Denali is permafrost. On top is a one-inch-to-10-foot-thick active layer that freezes and thaws seasonally.

Permafrost "slump"

Below that is 30 to 100 feet of ground that stays perpetually frozen. The freeze/thaw cycle can cause heaves, humps or strangely positioned vegetation. As the climate warms, more and more permafrost melts, creating all kinds of problems, including eroding road beds.

The north and south side of the Alaskan Range have completely different climates. The Gulf of Alaska carries moisture to the south side, but the mountains block water to the north side.

This brings a drier climate and huge temperature fluctuations to the north. The south has transitional maritime continental climates, with moister, cooler summers and warmer winters.

Morning mist between the boreal forest and the mountains

Vegetation in the Park depends on the altitude. Tree line is at 2,500 feet (I learned in Peru that tree line gets lower the closer you are to the poles; while it is at about 20,000 feet at the Equator, it is at sea-level at the North and South Poles). Most of the Park is a vast expanse of tundra. The lowland areas, such as the western sections surrounding Wonder Lake, are dominated by spruces and willows, often quite small because of the very short growing season.

In the tundra, mosses, ferns, grasses and fungi grow on the topsoil and there are numerous muskegs, spongy waterlogged tussocks and deep pools of water covered by solid-looking moss. Wild blueberries and soap berries provide the bears of Denali with the main part of their diet.

Fall vegetation

Over 450 species of flowering plants bloom throughout summer all over the park and, in fall, many of the plants turn brilliant yellow, orange or red or a deep rust brown. We were there during the transition period, with the plants getting more brilliant each day.

Denali is a wonderland of animals. And, of course, photographing them was my main goal.

Always ready, even in the rain

We saw 23 Brown Bears (AKA Grizzly Bears), most of them very, very far away ...

Grazing Brown Bears

... some just far far away ...

Bears on the move

... some far away ...

A brief break from eating berries

... and a sow and her two cubs right by the road ...

The family

We stopped and watched them for some time as they munched on berries and then worked their way down the hill to the valley below.

Moving around

While they were beautiful bears, I was concerned that the mom looked awfully thin for the end of the season. At this time, bears should be getting fat in preparation for the long winter.

Thin mom

Granted, Interior Brown Bears have a much sparser diet than Coastal Brown Bears that get huge eating salmon. But, this one looked too slim. The cubs looked pretty good, though.

Nice-looking, but damp, cub

You might notice that most of these bears are blond, some almost white. That's pretty typical in Denali. I thought it was genetic and it partially is. But, Missy told us that it is also because the bears bleach out during the long summer days.

"Blondie"

We also saw a very rare animal for Denali -- a Black Bear. I have seen tons of them elsewhere, but there aren't many in Denali and they tend to hide away in the forests. I have heard that less than 5 percent of visitors see one. The one we saw was standing on an open rise not far from the Backcountry Lodge before the sun was even up. It was there for just a few seconds before it jumped and then ran away. I got a great look at it, but I didn't get a photo.

If you don't know the difference between Brown and Black Bears, click here.

We saw about a dozen Caribou, all members pf the 3,000-animal herd that lives year-round in Denali.

Male Caribou

The largest group included a male who had just shed the velvet from his antlers -- so recently that the antlers were still blood red. The others were still in velvet, which is a thick, soft covering that looks like velvet and contains blood vessels that carry nutrition to the rapidly growing antlers. Caribou, Moose and Deer grow and shed antlers every year. Only male Moose and Deer have antlers, but both male and female Caribou grow antlers; the males, however, have much bigger antlers. MUCH BIGGER!

The Caribou in the middle has just shed his velvet

We even saw a Brown Bear and a Caribou across the tundra together ...

A distant stand-off

Although, it is not unusual to see Dall Sheep in Denali, they are usually very, very far away on the tops of the mountains.

See the sheep?

This time, we saw about 30 of them at slightly closer range than normal dotted dramatically across a very dark mountainside. Dall Sheep, like Bighorn Sheep, have horns that grow continuously throughout their lives. Both male and female have horns, but, once again, the males' are bigger, curving forward as they grow.

A better view of Dall Sheep

Although Dall Sheep are almost always high up on the mountains, I have once seen two down at the bottom of the valley in the river -- very unusual.

Dall Sheep in a braided stream; photo taken in 2008

We saw quite a few Alaskan Moose, primarily in the area where you are allowed to drive your own car right at the entrance of the Park. This is where the Moose gather for the rut, which was getting ready to start.

Moose rut area (with Moose, left)

Alaskan Moose are huge -- much bigger than the Shiras Moose we have in Colorado. We hoped to see some bulls with huge antlers. We did see a number of bulls, but the only one with really big antlers was far away deep in the willows.

I wanted to see this guy closer

But, we were fortunate to see ... and get pictures of ... a lot of beautiful animals, some really close.

Alaskan Moose bull

We saw both bulls ...

Alaskan Moose bull

And cows ...

Alaskan Moose cow

We also saw a Moose cow and calf cross the George Parks Highway outside the Park and stop to graze at a pond by the side of the road.

Grazing by the highway

Another rare animal we were fortunate to see was a pack of Timber Wolves, as usual, very, very far in the distance. Scott and I have both seen Wolves in Denali before, but, once again, most people don't see them.

Five Timber Wolves

This pack was frolicking as the moved away from us -- occasionally stopping to rest before getting up to move further on.

Of course, we saw quite a few Arctic Ground Squirrels, especially some very eager to pose for me at the Eielson Visitor Center.

Arctic Ground Squirrels

And, near the Entrance Visitor Center and Transportation Depot, we saw a lot of Red Squirrels.

Red Squirrel

We also got up close to a Porcupine (alive; not smashed on the highway, the way you normally see them!) scrubbing around in the bushes.

North American Porcupine

Denali also has Coyotes, Hoary Marmots, Shrews, Pikas, Red Foxes, Martens, Canadian Lynxes, Muskrats and Wolverines, but we didn't see any of them this time. We did catch a brief, distant glimpse of a Beaver swimming around its lodge.

Unfortunately, we were not in Alaska during the right season, so we didn't see a lot of birds. I had really wanted to see (and photograph) three specific birds:

White-winged Scoters, which we saw a Tonglen Lake and then later down near Cantwell, south of Denali. I had seen only a male one before; this time I saw a male and females ...

Left, male White-winged Scoter; right, four females with the male

... Northern Hawk Owls, of which we saw THREE and I was able to photograph two of them at length ...

Northern Hawk Owls; left, in Cantwell; right, inside the Park

They were not at all shy as I approached them. Well, at least, up to a point when one flew away ...

Cantwell Owl takes off

THAT was very exciting.

Denali Owl preens

I also wanted to see a Gyrfalcon, but you can't have everything you wish for.

In addition to the Boreal Chickadees and Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers I mentioned earlier, we saw a number of Canada Jays (formerly called Gray Jays, but renamed by the American Ornithological Society last year). They are among the most common birds in central Alaska.

Canada Jay

I encountered a few very active Black-billed Magpies that can be found rain or shine ...

Black-billed Magpies

We also saw two family groups of Willow Ptarmigans, which were also in their summer plumage. I have seen -- and photographed them before, but this was the first time I really captured the red eyelid on the males.

Willow Ptarmigans

As we traveled about, we also saw a couple of Northern Shovelers ...

Northern Shoveler

... some White-crowned Sparrows ...

White-crowned Sparrow

... Belted Kingfishers ...

Female Belted Kingfisher; Photo: Scott Stevens

... and a Dark-eyed Junco ...

Slate-Colored Dark-eyed Junco

We also saw a Golden Eagle and quite a few Northern Harriers, but they were impossible to photograph from the bus. I like this shot of a Northern Harrier, even though it is blurry ...

Northern Harrier soaring above the Eielson area

Because many of the rivers and lakes of Denali are fed by glaciers, glacial silt and cold temperatures slow the metabolism of any fish living in them, preventing them from reaching normal size, and many of the silty streams don't really have any fish. That's why animals aren't often seen feeding in the streams. Animals do, however, use the shallow gravel stream beds as roadways because travel is easier along these corridors.