Denali National Park

After four nights in the tent in Fairbanks, we treated ourselves to three nights at the McKinley Chalet Resort at Denali. Ahh such luxury! We toured the retail shops area, rested and caught up with some business. The next morning we left on the eight-hour Fish Creek shuttle tour. The sun was bright, and we had an excellent bus driver and guide. Cindy stopped whenever wildlife appeared and provided wonderful insights and stories. We saw several caribou, Dall Sheep, a Grizzly Bear, and many smaller animals and birds. We were awed at the appearance of Denali, meaning The High One. Mt. McKinley is its official name, but the natives prefer Denali or simply The Mountain. A mist often obscures the peaks of this magnificent mountain, so we were blessed to see it. Denali reaches a towering 20,320 feet. It is the tallest mountain in North America and even taller than Mount Everest if measured from base to peak rather than distance above sea level. The park was created in 1917 to preserve the Dall Sheep, which were rapidly becoming extinct. The park is wild and wonderful and has much to offer with many trails to hike, backwoods lodging, rafting on the Savage River and many more activities. You just have to come to Alaska to capture the overwhelming size of the state, mountains, and beautiful flora.

We were treated to a dogsled demonstration by the park’s rangers. The park has its own kennels where it breeds and trains its sled dogs. In the winter the rangers use dogsled teams to patrol the park. Nine puppies, a few days old, with their mother, Jenny, were a pleasant surprise to all of us on the shuttle. We did not get to pet them, but we could pet any of the other dogs. The Alaskan Husky is not a formal breed, but each dog is bred to have tough feet, a good nature, and a desire to run. Our spokesperson, Bridget, has been with the park for three years and works year round with the dogsled team. She demonstrated her skills by hooking up the dogs and riding a special sled around a circular track.