Day 30
Thursday, July 7
Denali National Park
Today was an early wake-up day. We set our alarm for 5:00 A.M. so we would be ready to catch the bus at 6:00 for a 92 mile trip to the back side of Denali National Park. Denali National Park, established in 1917, is composed of 6 million acres of mountains, river valleys and beautiful vistas. The centerpiece of Denali is Mt. McKinley, a 21,000 ft. mountain. Only 30% of those who visit Denali National Park are fortunate enough to see Mt. McKinley due to clouds that build up almost every day that hide the mountain from view. We were fortunately part of that 30%. Not only did we have an unobstructed view of the mountain, we were able to see and photograph the mountain most of the day.
The Athabascan Indians, the Russians, and another Eskimo tribe in Alaska each named "the mountain" something that roughly meant "great mountain." It was known as Denali through most of the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1896 a prospector from the U.S. was looking for gold in this area. When he saw the mountain he decided that it should be named after his candidate for president, William McKinley. It made no difference that Williams McKinley, then a candidate for President of the United States, had never set foot in Alaska and was not an outdoorsman. He was later elected as President. The state of Alaska still refers to the mountain as Denali while the federal government refers to it as Mt. McKinley.
As we reached the mile 15 mark on the park road our bus driver pointed out the very top of the mountain peeking out at us. As we progressed through the park our glimpses of the mountain began to grow larger and larger.
The road through the park is a long and winding gravel road with many steep inclines and many hairpin curves. Many miles of the road hang on the side of the mountains with no guardrails and terribly steep dropoffs along the side.
Spring is in full bloom in the park and Bluebells, Fireweed, Alaskan Cottonweed, and Mountain Lupine were in bloom everywhere.
Our tour continued until we reached the Denali Backcountry Lodge. The beautiful lodge is nestled at the bottom of a canyon well below the road that leads to it.
Upon our arrival at the lodge, we were greeted by the lodge manager and invited into their dining room for lunch. Following lunch we were invited to pan for gold, go on a botany hike, visit their bar and lounge, or just walk the grounds and enjoy the beauty of the river that runs by the lodge.
We checked the information about the lodge and found that they recommend a minimum of a 3 night stay at $430 per person per night. That covers your room, food, and activities. You still have to pay to get there plus activities such as white water rafting, jet-boating, etc. We all felt that as nice as the lodge was, it was a little pricey.
Our trip was supposed to be a combination of wildlife viewing,Mt. McKinley viewing, and lunch at the Denali Backcounty Lodge. We accomplished the last two of that list before 1:00. We were able to see the mountain and we arrived at the lodge for lunch about 12:30. We saw only 2 caribou cows and 2 bears on the way, and unfortunately they were all at a considerable distance from the bus. Our return trip proved more successful in the wildlife viewing department.
We saw 2 bears, 1 bull caribou, a huge fox, a ground squirrel, a ptarmagan with chicks, a duck with ducklings, two rabbits, and two dall sheep.
While some were too far away to by photographed too well, some were nearby. By the way, a Ptarmagan (the P is silent) is the Alaska State Bird and is what the prospectors in Chicken wanted to name their town. To their dismay, they couldn't spell Ptarmagan, so they settle on Chicken.
Although our trip was long - 5 1/2 hours on the bus each way - it was an enjoyable trip. We saw lots of beautiful mountains,
quite a bit of wildlife, and had lots of laughs on our way. Tomorrow we go whitewater rafting - that should be a sight. I'll let you know how it goes in tomorrow's blog. Til then -
Happy Trails.
No comments:
Post a Comment