Blogs from Denali National Park, Alaska, United States, North America - page 5

Fairbanks to Denali National Park 124 miles Days 18-19-20 August 3,4, and 5 (Saturday, Sunday Monday) We had another delicious country breakfast in a little diner with some friends we have met in the group before hitting the road to Denali National Park. The drive was beautiful crossing several bridges, one over the Tanana River and catching glimpses of Mt. McKinley, North America's highest mountain (elev. 20,320 Ft.). We unhooked the car 2 miles out of town in a pullout beside the Nenana River then crossed the Hornet Creek Bridge. We stayed at the Denali Rainbow Village. It was so exciting when we arrived because Stan and Georgann our friends from Lago were waiting for us. They have been on a tour of Alaska also with three other coaches. They have taken a different route than ... read more

Today we got to visit one of the most northern National Parks in the U.S.A. Denali National Park, home to Grizzly Bear, Caribou, Wolf, Lynx, Golden Eagle and many other animal and bird species. We had upgraded our natural history tour which would have been a 4 hour tour in the park to an 8 hour tour, which turned out to be a great idea. The temperature reached a high of 59 with occasional light drizzles. The wind however got to be pretty crazy. The Alaskan Mountain Range was spectacular with amazing views around every corner. Many peaks are above the height of California's Mount Whitney, but of course Mt McKinley stands head and shoulders above the rest at a little over 20 thousand feet. What makes climbing it so hard is the far northern latitude ... read more

Today was hike day for Ron, Caroline, Joe and I. We took a bus ride about 15 miles into the park to the Savage River trail. As the name suggests it's a trail that follows along the river. The scenery was awesome and the 2 mile hike was not too bad. The worst part was the wind and temps in the low 50's. Unfortunately the only wildlife we saw was an arctic squirrel which sounded his displeasure of us being there. After the hike we headed back to the Visitor's Center for a quick lunch. We had to eat quick so we would not miss the dog sled demonstration. We were able to pet some of the Alaskan Huskies and see their environment up close. We even got to see the new 6 week old huskie ... read more

As we made our way to Denali National Park today we encountered several challenges. The first one was a pace car which led us through some of the areas that have been on fire. The fire literally came to the edge of the highway. Next a cow (female) moose and her calf (baby) ran right across the road in front of us. Thank goodness I had the camera on my lap so I was able to snap a couple good shoots of the two of them. Our next challenge was big time road construction and yet another pace car. They had totally dug up the road so the ride from point A to point B was pretty darn rough. From the time we left Fairbanks (9:30) to the time we arrived in the campgrounds at Denali ... read more

Dear everyone, Skagway. A very interesting little Alaskan port. We docked early in the morning and went off on our bus to the dog sledding camp. We started with a unimog ride up the steep mountain to where the dogs were. They got really excited as soon as they saw us as they knew that soon they would be running which is what they are bred to do. They pulled us on a summer sled as there wasn't much snow in Skagway. It was amazing!! After our ride we had time to fuss all of the dogs and get licked by them. Then we went to the camp for a talk by a musher, someone who has her own team of dogs and enters races. Then it was the bit that I was very excited about....puppy ... read more