About That Anchorage and Denali (August 12 - 17 )

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello from Denali National Park! Before blogging about this pristine park, I will tell you about our stay in Anchorage.

We spent three nights in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska. There are 600,000 people in Alaska and half of them live in Anchorage. The city serves as the major transportation hub for all of Alaska. With a non-freezing Cook Inlet, container ships can come into port all year. We learned 1 in 11 people in Alaska have a private pilot's license. Float planes dot the many lakes. Many plane owners replace the  pontoons with skis for the wintertime.

Additionally, Anchorage is the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, which is Alaska's major sporting event. The entire route is 1,000 miles long (officially starting in Willow, Alaska on the first Saturday in March and ends at Nome, Alaska). Dog sledding has been very important in Alaska's history for carrying mail, and certain professionals (ministers, physicians, etc.) to outlying areas. Float planes and trucks now share in the burden. Alaska truly is the final frontier.

While in Anchorage, we took a city tour.

 An overlook of Anchorage on a very cloudy day. The Cook Inlet can barely be seen as it runs into the sky in this picture.

Our journey to Denali National Park from Anchorage lasted 6 hours and was 260 miles long. Along the way there were many signs indicating moose in the area. We did not see any on the highway, thank goodness.

Denali is Alaska's most well known national park. It was established in 1917 and contains 6,075,029 acres. The land is considered subarctic and contains Mt. McKinley (over 20,000 feet), the highest mountain in North America. It is also called Denali which is an Athabascan word meaning "tall one."
The only way to tour Denali, other than backpacking, is to take a tour bus throughout the park that lasts around 8 hours. There is one 92 mile road going into the park. We drove to the 66 mile point where tours turn back. This is what allows Denali to stay the way it has been for thousands of years. The pics below give an idea of the animals found in the park.

 Moose

 The bus uses cameras to show the passengers what they are looking at in the tundra, many miles away.

This is the bull moose we saw at the beginning of the tour on the screen inside the bus.

 Lucky us, as we were able to see Denali (which is covered by clouds two thirds of the summer)!

 Caribou on the television screen.

 Willow Ptarmigan

 Spruce Grouse on the tree branch.

 Dall Sheep

 Caribou crossing the road in front of our bus.

 Grizzly on the television screen.

A final view of Denali, taken at the end of the tour.

On Saturday morning, Roger, Bear and I drove into the park to see the Visitor's Center and as much of the area as we could in a private car. 

 We were lucky to spot a moose.

 Denali (two days in a row is very lucky)

 Taking a break at the Visitor's Center

On Sunday morning, we leave for Fairbanks, where we will be spending four nights before starting back to the lower 48. Thank you for reading the blog and your interest in our Alaska travels.